IDW G5 Maretime Mysteries #1

[ZakuConvoy]

Previously, on My Little Pony...

When are these ponies going to learn to not treat magical board games like...games?! Okay, I guess I get the confusion.

You have to roll a 3 or higher in order to read...

So, how is it?

Actually, I found this one to be a pretty solid start to this miniseries! I kind of like where this is going so far.

Art-wise, this artist's style works really well with the Tell Your Tale art style. Everyone's animated and lively. There's some really expressive faces in this issue. All while staying on model. It's just nicely done. No complaints from me about the artwork.

Writing wise, this issue is mostly setup. But, it's not uninteresting setup. We get a few nice moments from our characters. And it sets up it's main conflict well enough. And it's got a interesting twist that you might not see coming! (...If the comics posted above didn't give it away). It doesn't have a bunch of jokes and puns on every page, like some of the comics do, which...could be a plus or a minus, depending on how you feel about that kind of thing. But, the characters all feel in-character. No one's written poorly. Everything's just kind of ...chill...until that ending, anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this scenario.

So, yeah. I think I'm recommending this. So far, it's a pretty solid start. Check it out, if you can!

Spoiler

I WANT to see Izzy and Pipp trying to make that unicycling video together. That needs to be it's own issue, stat!

Misty lies to her friends about being busy today like they all are. Time to catch up on that newest season of Chronicles of Chevelier, I guess. One is the loneliest number...

"Hey, my little tea leaf!" D'aww...Alphabittle's still trying to make up for lost time by spending time with his daughter.

"Mane-Go Tango" He truly was always meant to be a dad. He's already got the puns down.

They even have their own custom daddy-daughter checkers set together. That's so cute! Even if it is only virtual. Those skins don't download themselves, after all. (...unless they do)

Misty's chibi "gwumpy" face while she's losing at checkers is so cute!

Alphabittle's actually giving his daughter some pretty decent advice here. It's just a sweet little scene.

"You sure know what you say to make a pony feel better about losing" "That's what dad's are for!" Until you finally beat them, and then they spiral. Don't ever beat your dad at anything, Misty. He won't take it well. He'll chase you through the woods wanting one more rematch.

Alphabittle actually is a secret game-master, when you think about it. It really hasn't come up since the movie, but he does seem to have a love for puzzles and games, doesn't he?

Alphabittle ends up asking Misty to check out a new tea shop in Maretime Bay, Brewtanical Wonders. In order to...DESTROY THEM!!! Nah, he just wants to check them out I guess. It does kind of seem sinister, since he does run a tea shop, too, though. But, it actually barely ends up factoring into the plot.

Because, for some reason, Misty is a little lost in Maretime Bay. Now, this doesn't make a lot of sense, really. She's been spying in this town for...a year, maybe? At least a few months. And Maretime Bay just doesn't seem like it's THAT big, anyway. Certainly not big enough to get lost in. But, meh, I'm willing to let it go. Maybe it's just a part of town she doesn't visit a lot. Or maybe the town really is expanding? Maybe there's a bit of a boom, now that all the races are intermingling together? You could explain this away, even though it feels like the author just thinks that Misty is new to town.

Anyway, Misty gets lost and ends up finding a old antique shop she's never seen before. Those are always fun! The Emporium of Eccentric Antique Oddities!

It's not even owned by a mysterious old man. The owner gives off more of a hippie vibe? Like Miss Grotke from Recess.

Again, Misty's (owo) face while she's listening to a random music box is pretty cute. The artist was having fun this issue.

And apparently, Misty is ALL ABOUT those vintage hats. That reaction is a little intense.

And then she sees...THE GAME! Maretime Mysteries, which they make sound like is based on real mysteries about Maretime Bay. So, it's..."edutainment"...*shudder* The most powerful evil of all!

And hey, then Misty finally finds the tea shop she was looking for. Enjoy it, this is the only panel it shows up in. Also, Sprout's mom is apparently one of their customers! Nice cameo! And a clone of Trixie!

So, Misty goes back to the Brighthouse, and then the others start coming back from their activities. Sparky has the magical hiccups and needs some tea to help treat them. Because we can't escape this baby dragon's bodily emissions even in the comics. They are inevitable. Although, in this version, the magic only lasts a few seconds and then they turn back to their original form, I guess.

Then we finally get to see more of this board game and it's....a little bland looking, I'll admit. It just looks like a field, but I'm sure there's some neat effects, depending on where you land.

I DO like that the game pieces feel like they're partially inspired by the G4 Manes. The game tokens include: a book (Twilight), a butterfly (Fluttershy), a rainbow (Rainbow Dash), A horseshoe (Applejack), a crystal (Rarity), and a heart (Pinkie). I'm not entirely sure that was intentional, but it's a neat touch, regardless.

And after reading the rules, they roll the dice...and unleash a g-g-g-ghost!

And...honestly, the ghost comes across more like a over-enthusiastic Dungeon Master moreso than a real villain. She's probably just happy someone's playing her game again. AND they read the rules! Do you have any idea how few people bother to do that?!

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I got all caught up this weekend, but I'm going to approach this pretending I haven't read issue 2 yet.

Story: meh. Like you said, it's all setup. It's all fine stuff, but there's just not much to digest yet.

It is weird that Misty is acting like she just moved here, and unfortunately that's a big chunk of this issue. Even if we rearrange things and place this immediately after she got her current look, she's been visiting the place for months. We can't say "She doesn't get out much" because she didn't used to live in the Brighthouse at all. When she visited Maretime Bay, she was completely out and about. It gets worse if TYT is canon, because that adds a lot of visits. We could try to explain it as her having tunnel vision during her spy days, but it's a stretch to cover what's obviously a writer mistake.

Sparky has hiccups and I am terrified.

Art: not liking it as much as the Set Your Sail series. I have one distracting complaint, and that's that this artist is drawing little noses instead of muzzles. But there is not much else to complain about. I still like this current strategy of adopting TYT as a house style, giving the artists a common reference to aim for instead of having them go off on wild flights of fancy. People sometimes whine when comic publishers go for a house style instead of letting the artists do whatever, but I think this is helping the artists more than it's constraining them. "Draw expressively, not well" is a hard lesson to learn, but it's one the TYT look encourages.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

It is weird that Misty is acting like she just moved here, and unfortunately that's a big chunk of this issue. Even if we rearrange things and place this immediately after she got her current look, she's been visiting the place for months. We can't say "She doesn't get out much" because she didn't used to live in the Brighthouse at all. When she visited Maretime Bay, she was completely out and about. It gets worse if TYT is canon, because that adds a lot of visits. We could try to explain it as her having tunnel vision during her spy days, but it's a stretch to cover what's obviously a writer mistake.

I think they do attempt to hand wave it away with a line about her "not ever visiting this part of town before". So, there was a attempt.

The problem is that Maretime Bay really doesn't come across as a big city that you could really get lost in within any of the other media. It's the mid-sized town, to contrast against Zephyr Heights being the gigantic metropolis and Bridlewood being the small rural town.

So...it's just a conceit we have to accept to make the plot happen. And that's fine. But, it is a flaw.

I still like this current strategy of adopting TYT as a house style, giving the artists a common reference to aim for instead of having them go off on wild flights of fancy. People sometimes whine when comic publishers go for a house style instead of letting the artists do whatever, but I think this is helping the artists more than it's constraining them. "Draw expressively, not well" is a hard lesson to learn, but it's one the TYT look encourages.

I think it helps that TYT is a 2D series. It's easier for artists to mimic a 2D style in another 2D medium.

Before, I think different artists were trying to mimic Make Your Mark's style, with...varying results. It's probably just harder to translate character models for a CGI show into a 2D drawing and still make them look like themselves. TYT has more streamlined designs that artists can just mimic without really having to basically figure out a new design on their own.

But, yeah, the shift in focus to TYT's style has made the art a bit more expressive and consistent between different artists. Just a general overall improvement, really.

Art: not liking it as much as the Set Your Sail series. I have one distracting complaint, and that's that this artist is drawing little noses instead of muzzles.

I actually had to go back and look at the art again, because I didn't really see that the first time (or even the second time in the second issue). But, I think I see what you're talking about now.

It's the little shadow underneath the nostrils that are making them look a little more "rounder" like noses in certain panels, right? That seems like more of a coloring "problem" than anything. The line-work itself seems pretty solid. The artist is just adding depth where they maybe shouldn't.

It doesn't bother me, personally, but I could see it annoying you if you can't unsee it. The rest of the art is solid enough that I don't mind a little shading "hiccup".

 

[CoffeeHorse]

The problem is that Maretime Bay really doesn't come across as a big city that you could really get lost in within any of the other media. It's the mid-sized town, to contrast against Zephyr Heights being the gigantic metropolis and Bridlewood being the small rural town.

So...it's just a conceit we have to accept to make the plot happen. And that's fine. But, it is a flaw.

For now it is a flaw, but I'll be all for it if IDW makes a consistent effort to portray Maretime Bay as much bigger than it appears in other media.

I think it helps that TYT is a 2D series. It's easier for artists to mimic a 2D style in another 2D medium.

Before, I think different artists were trying to mimic Make Your Mark's style, with...varying results. It's probably just harder to translate character models for a CGI show into a 2D drawing and still make them look like themselves. TYT has more streamlined designs that artists can just mimic without really having to basically figure out a new design on their own.

But, yeah, the shift in focus to TYT's style has made the art a bit more expressive and consistent between different artists. Just a general overall improvement, really.

I can attest that trying to mimic MYM style in 2d is hard. I keep trying and I'm still not satisfied. These poor artists have to turn in 22 pages on a deadline. I couldn't do it. Those heads are a time sink.

I think even the backgrounds are getting more lively. The artists have more time left after drawing the ponies, and they're finding places to have fun.