IDW Main Series #70 Review

Feels like it's been forever since I reviewed a main series comic, which really says a lot about the quality of them as of late. Anyway, these comic reviews always begin with a retrospective of sorts detailing any major events real world and fandom/show related. The IDW comics were currently preparing to wrap up a five part mini series of the "Ponyville Mysteries" comics, which not only had no real relation to the books (which have stopped being produced, likely because Nicole Dubac has either left or being forced to leave and Mike Vogel was busy writing "The Best Gift Ever") but were also marred by the CMC constantly making accusations without proof. Only the third one had been at all interesting, and that was more for providing show canon designs for Scootaloo's aunts and briefly having an appearance by a redeemed Diamond Tiara (probably the last appearance we're going to get from her in any sort of show media, outside of maybe the occasional cameo). The main series, meanwhile, decided to reuse an idea of Pinkie Pie gaining magic powers for their August issue (exactly one year from #57 which not only did the concept first but did it better). And everyone panned it. Meanwhile, the show was reeling from a whole new wave of leaks in countries overseas, and drama on Netflix where the license looked like it was about to expire, then it got pushed back but only Seasons 1-4 were added, then finally the expiration date vanished and all seven seasons were added (with Season 8 already on the way for the countries with the leaks). And of course, in the real world attention was once again shifted to the MeToo movement with the Kavanaugh hearings that seemed to change the expected outcome of the mid-term elections. So with so much chaos going on in the world, IDW really needed something to keep interest in the main series going, especially with a looming hiatus for the U.S. approaching. Were they able to produce a better story and revive the seemingly floundering main series, or did they end up putting it on life support? Well, let's find out.

The story opens with Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds away and then setting down to rest on a cloud. She's not able to get much rest in however, before Derpy shows up with the mail. She ends up knocking Rainbow Dash off her cloud and send her crashing to the ground, quite by accident. But it's okay, Derpy apologizes and delivers a letter. Rainbow has been invited to attend the Golden Horseshoe Gals game night at Sweet Apple Acres. She anticipates a fun night, but finds it's just a boring bingo match hosted by Applejack. However, it turns out that the gals really don't like bingo, they want to have some real fun (and Applesauce wants to meet some stallions). Applejack is more than a little distraught by this revelation, especially when it turns out that the gals invited Rainbow specifically because they knew she would be rude enough to complain. I feel like that's pretty mean, especially on Granny Smith's part, she was basically lying to her granddaughter for years and instead of having the courage to tell her directly, she used one of her friends to do it instead.

Rainbow Dash decides to spruce things up with extreme bingo! Rather than just call out numbers and fill them in, she deposits various bingo balls all over town. The winner gets a meet and greet with the Wonderbolts (Applesauce expresses interest in meeting Soarin). Applejack protests, she doesn't like the idea of the gals going out into Ponyville and getting hurt. Rainbow reassures her that won't happen, but as everyone starts to head out she begins to have second thoughts.

Before long we have a rather interesting revelation, Granny Smith's N ball is in a griffon's nest atop the schoolhouse. Apparently an unnamed griffon has made friends with the students and built her nest atop the school for unexplained reasons. Granny Smith fetches a ladder, but Applejack insists on going up to fetch the ball herself because she doesn't want to see Granny Smith get hurt. She retrieves the ball only to come face to face with the griffon, who accuses Applejack of disturbing her nest. Applejack knocks the ball down but the griffon starts to peck at her, and Granny Smith just leaves her there because she's tired of Applejack trying to hold her back. Again, Granny Smith is being kind of mean, that's her own granddaughter she's abandoning to the mercy of a griffon. She'll be lucky if Applejack doesn't end up seriously hurt because of that. I get that she doesn't want her granddaughter overprotecting her, but that's no reason to just abandon her and leave her to fend for herself.

Apple Rose, meanwhile, goes to Sugarcube Corner and meets Pinkie Pie. Pinkie deduces that the ball must be hidden inside one of the cakes and starts to devour them one by one. Mrs. Cake shows up on the scene later and reveals that the ball was left with her. Some have said this was Rainbow's payback for "Secrets and Pies", which does admittedly make more sense than her actual payback in the comics (Rainbow has twice been the victim of "Do it to her and see how she likes it" and both times she was the one who ended up hurt by her so called friends, so she is the last pony who should be doing that kind of thing to others).

Goldie Delicious heads to Twilight's castle to find her ball and Twilight turns her entire castle upside down to search for it to no avail. Then Spike comes in with the ball, thinking he laid an egg. It's worth mentioning that this is the first comic to feature Spike's wings and they do look good on him. It's still kind of odd that he thinks he just laid an egg all by himself though, I guess maybe Twilight hasn't taught him about the birds and the bees yet.

Applesauce finds her N at the windmill and ropes Bulk Biceps into helping her retrieve it, then later she finds her I at Carousel Boutique with Rarity and we get a bit of a meta joke about how they share the same voice actress (Tabitha St. Germain). Then we have a montage of the Golden Horseshoe Gals finding their bingo balls all over town, even as Applejack continues to suffer at Granny Smith's expense when all she wants is for Granny to be safe.

At last only the Os have yet to be found but they're all inside the Castle of the Two Sisters. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it's dark and stormy, so Rainbow and Applejack both agree to call off the game. Even the gals agree, but Granny Smith goes into the castle anyway and when Applejack chases after she snaps that she's tired of always having her granddaughter be so overprotective. But just then a ledge gives way and Granny Smith is left hanging. She falls, but thankfully Rainbow is able to catch her mid drop and deliver her to safety. At a campfire, Rainbow apologizes for taking things too far, Applejack apologizes for being so overprotective, and Granny Smith apologizes for not listening to Applejack's concerns, and all agree to meet somewhere in the middle. Though as some reviewers point out, Applejack apologizes for a lot more than she needs to and Granny Smith apologizes for a lot less than she should.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? I think the best way to describe it is "Grannies Gone Wild" but done better. "Grannies Gone Wild" was so uneventful you have to wonder why it was there, this issue delivers on everything the episode failed to provide. There's actual stakes, actual conflict, and more of a story. It would've been easy to make Applejack stupidly overprotective like in "Somepony to Watch Over Me" or Rainbow Dash be irresponsible, immature, and reckless like in "28 Pranks Later" when she ignores all pleas to stop pranking, but the issue takes the high road and meets somewhere in the middle. Applejack has good reason to be concerned, and Rainbow actually realizes that she went too far. The Golden Horseshoe Gals all get a chance to shine and there's some good humor, though I find it sort of odd that a lot of the characters here are ones that would be voiced by Tabitha St. Germain (Granny Smith, Applesauce, Mrs. Cake, Rarity, and probably the griffon since minor roles like that tend to cycle through frequent VAs like Tabitha, Andrea, Peter, Brian, and Ian). The conflict, admittedly, feels a little sudden as I have a hard time believing Granny Smith would go into the Castle of the Two Sisters just to find a bingo ball and win a contest. And that the castle has gotten to the point where it's falling apart enough for ledges to break away (once again drawing attention to the fact that the castle and the Everfree Forest have kind of been forgotten now, whereas before they used to be a major source of mystery). And as some reviewers pointed out, Applejack ends up apologizing for more than she needs to when Granny Smith was the one who kept ignoring Applejack and treating her like something to get rid of. I mean, she didn't tell her granddaughter she doesn't like bingo (meaning she lied to her), invited Rainbow Dash solely because she was hoping she'd be rude enough to complain about how boring bingo is, disregarded Applejack's warnings to be careful, left her granddaughter to fend off an angry griffon all by herself, and yelled at her after Granny Smith ran into the Castle of the Two Sisters by herself. Still, that's the only major complaint I have and it's not enough to drag down the issue. I'd definitely recommend this one, especially if you were left disappointed by "Grannies Gone Wild".

Now, I have a few more comics on the way so you can expect reviews on them in the days to come, along with my review of the Season 8 finale and then all the blogs that come out after it.

Comments

[DGJabberwocky]

I feel that in some cases, the writers feel that the lesson needs to be taught 2-3 times

Like, you mentioned Somepony to Watch Over Me, Grannies Gone Wild and now this comic, all highlighting Applejack's overprotectiveness

Another example is Owl's Well that Ends Well, The Crystal Empire (briefly touched upon) and Molt Down, all highlighting Spike's insecurity that Twilight will kick him out/abandon him

[SuperPinkBrony12]

4952199 Well when "Owl's Well that Ends Well" only lead to that because everyone was so stupid, I can see why they would want to revisit it and bring it up in a more meaningful way. Plus, in the latter two instances Twilight actually cared,