Comic mini-review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #51

Comics are coming thick and fast from IDW at the moment! I already have the Guardians of Harmony special issue, which will be reviewed soon, but for now we're back to the main series.

Tony Fleecs' cover appealed to me more than the "toga party" sub cover

A new writer this time! James Asmus, writer of much other stuff including quite a few X-Men comics, makes his Pony debut alongside regular artist Tony Fleecs and colourist Heather Breckel. In this arc, which will apparently somehow tie into Season Seven of the show,* Asmus gets off to a solid if unspectacular start with a fairly interesting story, introducing a suspicious new pony. Most of the character interaction is decent, though a bar scene is a bit odd and I can't see Fluttershy ever using the term "wrestly-doo". A bigger problem, given the importance of book magic, is the absence of even a passing reference to the Bookworm arc. Hopefully that was a choice, not a research failure. Fleecs' art is fine, though it's a bit weird having Fluttershy flying so much and Rainbow flying so little. Enough here for me to be cautiously optimistic, but not enough for me to proclaim Asmus a Pony comic genius. I await the next issue with interest! ★★★

* I'm being deliberately vague here. I know what was announced.