Comic review: Friends Forever #16: Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon

Jenn Blake's Sub cover: simple but effective

Villains month is over, and so we're back to nice, friendly My Little Pony characters like, er, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Oh well, looks like there was an extra entry! This intriguing pairing (well, for Friends Forever) brings a new name to the IDW comics: Jenn Blake, who's quite well known for her pony art already, just not drawing a full comic. Jeremy Whitley handles the words, while Heather Breckel is the one with the colours. This comic looked interesting to me; was it? Let's see.

What I was hoping to see in this book was an insight into the friendship between Ponyville's two most obnoxious young bullies. Fanfic authors have done all sorts of things with their relationship, so it shouldn't really be too hard for professional comic creators to do the same. Unfortunately, they don't really manage it: you won't have any grand epiphanies after reading this. Fortunately, that doesn't ruin the comic, as it's a fun story in its own right.

Honestly, I'd prefer to see a few of the real schoolfoals, not just references

Whitley does show us the posh ponies' lives from DT's own perspective, but there's not much insight there – with the important exception that yes, Diamond really does like Silver on her own merits. That's almost sweet. I'm not sold on Filthy Rich's depiction, which feels a little uneven: he surely can't be gulled that easily by his brat of a daughter. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, meanwhile, are pretty much how they always are. The best character in this issue may well be the Velma-like Prancy Drew. Shame about some awful typos, though. ("Shined"? "Sugerlump"? "Cheerily"?)

Blake's artwork is very nice on the whole: the ponies look right; their expressions are, well, expressive; and there's a decent amount of variety to ther poses. (Look, for example, at the panels where the CMC are trapped in the Castle of the Two Sisters.) Breckel's colours are as bright and clear as ever, so this is a nice comic to look at. One off-putting oddity, though, is that mares like the Mane Six are shown as being hugely larger than fillies. I'm not sure why this was done, but it's really distracting.

Silver Spoon can look adorable when she wants to. Diamond Tiara... not so much

This is a pretty solid issue when it comes to Easter eggs: there are a lot of them, but they don't really get in the way. I particularly like that eternal third wheel, Twist, reading a copy of Locke & Key – though doing so in class seems a little out of character. The one mildly iffy moment is the prominent use of Blake's own OC, Sappho (unnamed in the comic) in a scene reminscent of "The Crystal Empire, part 1". Her cutie mark is hidden for what I can't help feeling may be don't-upset-the-soccer-moms reasons.

I think this is a pretty good comic all round. It's not one of the greats, and there are a number of missed opportunities when it comes to exploring Diamond and Silver's relationship, but nor is it a failure by any means. There's always plenty going on, there are some very good jokes (Pinkie's chocolate river being the pick) and it's nice to look at. For that reason, while I wouldn't call this unmissable, I don't think you'll regret it if you've already bought it.

How come AB can get her bow under the hat, but SB not her horn?

Yays

• Fun, engaging storyline with plenty happening
• Prancy Drew is a good guest character
• Enjoyable interplay with the CMC, Pinkie etc
• The artwork is mostly very good

Neighs

• A disappointing lack of real insight into DT & SS's friendship
• Several glaring typos in the first few pages
• The filly-mare size gap is much too large
• Since when was Sweetie's magic blue?

★★★