Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life and today, we are entering the last two reviews of Party With Pinkie. I gotta say that while I have enjoyed this retrospective, I am ready to put this behind me and start writing Trotting Through The Snow reviews. Anyways, our review today takes us to the world of IDW comics as we look at Pinkie Pie's Mirco comic and man, you know this is early in the show as it's pre Alicorn Twilight and it ends with a letter to Celestia. My, how the show has changed.
Covers
Cover A
Cover A is cute and we do know that Pinkie is into scrapbooking and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Pinkie actually had a wall like this in her room.
Cover B
This cover is much more in line with the story as we see Pinkie with all her snacks getting ready for a night at the circus. And this one really pops much more than the first and I appreciate that it actually ties into the story.
Staff
Ted Anderson - Writer
The writing in the story was rather top notch and actually did an admirable job capturing the feeling of Pinkie Pie.
Artist - Ben Bates
I believe that Bates is an artist that I've not covered before in any of my IDW reviews but looking at his archives page on IDW's website, he seems to mostly work on the art for MLP and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I get behind that as I like both of these franchises.
So, while I've not reviewed any of his work, I am familiar with it as I have read all of the Mirco-Series and he did the art for the CMC issue.
The Plot
We open at Golden Oaks Library (ah, memories), where we see Twilight reading and Pinkie comes in all excited about something.
Pinkie starts talking really fast and we find out that she has won tickets to see her favorite clown, Ponyacci perform and right as our two friends are about to enter and they come across an old pony that says he doesn't think anyone can make him laugh. Pinkie and Twily enter the tent to watch Ponyacci and we see that he is indeed a great performer.
And it's clear that Pinkie is enjoying herself and after the show, Pinkie and Twilight go behind the tent to meet Ponyacci, so that Pinkie can have Ponyacci sign her Ponyacci doll. When they go to meet Ponyacci, they find out that Ponyacci is the old pony that Pinkie and Twilight before the show. And they find out that Ponyacci is thinking about retiring as he's getting too old to put on a show every night as it's rather exhausting and he thinks that he can't do it anymore. Pinkie is heartbroken at this news and feels as though, nothing can cheer her up. And it stays that way for a few days.
Pinkie feels as though, Ponyacci is letting his fans down but Twily informs her that is Ponyacci's decision. Spike says that he wishes that he could have seen Ponyacci perform as he sounded inspiring. And that gives Pinkie an idea to inspire Ponyacci to not give performing. Which leads us into a musical number titled Laugh Ponyacci Laugh. Now, if you've read my Captain EO comic adaption review on A Look at Disney or going all the way back to my first Trotting Through The Snow event, when I reviewed AJ's Mirco, I've often made the complaint of songs in comics as without the music, the lyrics are just words.
However, there is a key difference between those comics and this one where I'm willing to make an exception. Pinkie is the type of character that would break out into song and I could actually Shannon Chan-Kent's voice singing. And plus, it doesn't hurt that this song was actually covered by an artist in the Brony music scene, which helps to give it some legitimacy.
I won't be covering the song itself but I'll leave the video there for anyone that wishes to listen to it. This doesn't convince Ponyacci to not retire but Pinkie gets a bright idea as Ponyacci was giving Pinkie a lot of constructive criticism over her performance to help her improve. And this is when the comic ends and see that Ponyacci has opened up a clown school and is teaching a new generation of clowns. Twilight is surprised that Pinkie isn't taking the course but she isn't because Ponyacci has already taught he a valuable lesson.
Putting aside my fear of clowns, this is actually my favorite of the Mirco-Series. It's very sweet and feels so much like Pinkie that you can hear Andrea Libman's Pinkie voice throughout the comic and you can truly see how much Pinkie looks up to Ponyacci and that sometimes as a fan, we have to be willing to let our heroes go.
Characters
Main Character
Pinkie Pie
This was hands down one of the best ways to highlight Pinkie in comic form and it just felt amazing to watch be so excited and you really did feel for her as she went through the emotions that she was feeling after learning that her idol was leaving the scene.
Supporting Characters
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight played like the straight mare in this comic and that often seems to be the case in a lot of the IDW comics with Pinkie as the duo were paired up again in one of the Friends Forever comics.
Perhaps, I overspoke on how often the two are paired up but I will say that this pairing makes the most sense, when you want to do a story that focuses on Pinkie and keep the comedy strong. And it's not hard to do (see Feeling Pinkie Keen, you don't have to have an awful and borderline offensive story to have Pinkie and Twilight be the focus). Though, it is rather strange to go back and read a story that is set before Twilight became a princess.
Ponyacci
Ponyacci is a great character, when he's not wearing the clown makeup. Kidding (not kidding). Joke aside, Ponyacci is the kind gentle soul that has been in the clowning game so long that he knows a thing or two about the game but doesn't feel that he has it in him to perform anymore.
My Final Thoughts
I love this comic. As I said before, it's my favorite of the Mirco-Series and probably one of the best MLP comics that I've read as it does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of the character that this comic is about. Join me next time as we close out this Party by looking at...
Pinkie Pie and The Rockin' Ponypalooza Party!
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