While the mainline IDW Friendship is Magic comic series is gearing up for its second major story arc, the companion Micro Series has unleashed its second installment, and this time it features our proud prismatic pegasus, Rainbow Dash. Written by Ryan K. Lindsay and illustrated by Tony Fleecs, Micro #2 aims to show us what she is really made of. Read on to find out my thoughts.
Do be warned that this review will take a detailed look at the events and details in the book. Spoilers will be kept to a minimum, but if you want to read the book blind, turn away now. You can find the comic book at your favorite local comic book store, online retailers like Things From Another World, or digital distributors like iTunes or Comixology.
Learning to Fly
Rainbow’s Micro is written by Ryan K. Lindsay, whom we interviewed in the leadup to this book’s release. Mr. Lindsay admitted he was new to the franchise, but he wanted to take the character seriously and dove head-first into the source material. Hiring someone new or not too deep into the franchise is not necessarily a problem. It could lead to some rough edges, but having a multitude of perspectives and creative minds can only help broaden the takes on the characters. So long as the work is good, the more the merrier, I say.
The story details the disruption of life and weather in Ponyville by a particularly jerk-tastic cloud. The cloud is actually home to two grisly gremlins, Big Boy and Runt, who draw the power for their cloud and storm from the negative emotions of ponies. Rainbow is none-too-pleased about this interruption at her aerobatics performance, and tries to thwart the stormy shenanigans of the gremlins, with little success. The book details the struggles of Rainbow and Ponyville in the face of dark clouds ruining their fun.
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First airplanes, now clouds. Gremlins ruin everything.Unlike the first Micro featuring Twilight and the mainline series, this particular issue relies a lot on dialogue between Rainbow and herself. While there are a pair of weather gremlins to act as a foil, the real battle in the story is the fight between Rainbow’s outer bravado and her inner doubt. This has always been a core tenet of Rainbow’s character, and Lindsay does a very good job of addressing this dichotomy without hitting the reader over the head with it. Rainbow loves being awesome, she loves showing off, but she does those things because she is afraid of the alternative—failure. Dash’s dialogue seems a bit too smart for her at times, with Lindsay using a good amount of flourishes. But that may just be how she thinks, as her dialogue with other characters does not seem all that far off from what we’d usually expect. Either way, Lindsay’s cleverness makes Rainbow’s struggles seem fun instead of a chore.
Applejack has a prominent role in the story, acting as Rainbow’s foil; the ground to Rainbow’s sky as it were. While Dash is brash, AJ is humble and reserved. It’s a dynamic that works well in the show, and Lindsay’s use of Applejack is quite appropriate, both as foil and friend to Rainbow Dash. Applejack is just as loyal to Dash as Dash would be to her; AJ just has a different way of expressing it.
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Television and PNN? This is, uh, new.Like other issues of pony comics, the Rainbow Dash micro is not without its references and homage. One that has drawn a bit of criticism is the use of television interviews in the vein of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Up until this point, the concept of television in Equestria was unheard of. Though it is not high definition TV from the 21st century, it’s an anachronism in a world that, at best, has old time cinema. Lindsay has defended this from the perspective of working with tropes and tricks of the comics world and said specifically that it’s an homage to TDKR. It’s defensible, but it’s another chip away from how people view Equestria. The comic has other references contributed by both Lindsay and Fleecs, like Rainbow’s flying-V (based on our very own Wulfolme’s Photoshop) and the interior of Rainbow’s cloud house, which was referenced from an image that’s been floating around. The written references are either clever (The Fortress of the Fantastic) or a bit forced (Mule Tzu’s Start of War), but on the whole balance out towards the clever.
Condition: Grounded, But Determined To Try
The visual contributions to the book are provided by Tony Fleecs, who up until now had only drawn variant covers for the mainline series. Fleecs supplies both the linework and colors for the issue, and as a debut and followup to the Twilight Sparkle Micro, it’s a decent job. Compared to Zahler, Fleecs has a lot less wonkiness in his anatomy and expressions, so if you were unhappy with Twilight’s issue, Rainbow’s might be more to your liking. Fleecs has a competent grasp at drawing ponies, and his designs for the cloud gremlins are very cute—one of them reminded me of an angry little Cid Highwind. What I find lacking is the range of facial expressions, which are not as broad or nuanced as Price’s work. Admittedly, that is a very tough standard to meet, and Fleecs still turns in a serviceable job with flashes of excellence. Unlike Zahler, I didn’t notice too many outright strange faces—they ranged from acceptable and maybe a bit repetitive to nailing the face of determination against all odds that Rainbow loves to wear. It’s a step up from Micro #1, but those expecting something exactly like the mainline series in style will need to accept this book’s art for what it is.
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Rainbow Dash: Confirmed for AFOL.Like Rhonda Pattinson in the TS Micro, Fleecs has chosen to color in the inkwork for nearly everything in the book, which I believe is a poor choice for these particular books. Part of it is because doing colored linework is labor intensive, and due to the nature of deadlines and the fact that Fleecs pulled double duty on colors and linework it means that there’s little time left for shading or atmosphere generated by the color. Part of what seems off about colored linework is that due to the nature of ink and style, the varying consistency of line thickness triggers an unconscious comparison to the show. Thanks to Flash’s nature of reusable symbols and vector stroking, the line thicknesses on the show are always consistent. Never too thick or too thin, they’re just right and always taper off at the same rate. This is extremely difficult to do in traditional work, not to mention that varying thickness is an important tool often used in comics. Asking this to match the show in terms of consistency is a fool’s errand, and thus it will always draw a “this isn’t quite right reaction.” If the colored lines were a bit darker or had a tonal shift, this might be a bit different, but as it stands using a similar line palette to the show tends to make the characters look less distinct. Colored lines often reduce contrast, so this is not unexpected. Ultimately, I find myself wanting more shading instead of colored lines.
While the use of sepia for the television bits is quaint (albeit inaccurate), it’s about as adventurous as Fleecs gets with the palette. Blue and gray gradients dominate the backgrounds, and I found myself looking for a little more variety in the sky colors. The high point would definitely be near the end, where Rainbow performs an amazing feat. Fleecs uses color excellently there, and the difference between that panel and the less flashy ones prior does act as a good surprise.
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In the running for one of the best panels in the comic.Lastly, Neil Uyetake is back on lettering duty for this book. I did find the special format for the gremlin’s dialogue to be especially creative. It’s subtle and an effective differentiator, giving them a sinister but still readable dialogue. But once again I find myself distracted by the overall lettering treatment in the book. I hesitate to keep harping on the lettering, because I have a feeling it’s not on the priority list of the general audience, but like good typography, the devil is in the details. Uyetake clearly has talent; his imaginative treatment for the gremlins is a mark of that. But when I see easily fixable problems like unjustified travel across panels, sloppy tails, and tangents it brews some frustration. The frustration is not because it’s bad, but because it’s almost there, like a beautiful sports car that has some unsightly panel gaps. With some more attention to detail, Uyetake’s lettering would look better and improve the book as a whole.
Fleecs provided the general sound effect lettering and titling, and they are for the most part tastefully used and appropriate. About the only thing I could say is that he could have varied the color or style at times to reduce the repetition, but the treatment is serviceable and does the job. He even manages to sneak in a nice looking KRAKADOOM, which I always like to see now and then.
Just An Earthbound Misfit, I
If you’re a Rainbow Dash fan, I think you’ll enjoy the Rainbow micro. It’s got plenty of what we love (or love to hate) about the speedy blue pegasus. It gives us a good look into how she ticks, and Lindsay’s wordplay is a good read. If you’re not a Dash fan, it might be a tougher sell, but it’s still a good story even with the rough edges. The next Micro Series issue will be Rarity’s, with the first arc’s creative team (Andy Price, Katie Cook, and Heather Breckel) taking the helm for the one-shot about the most fabulous of ponies. The preview pages already look stunning, and you’ll be able to find it at your favorite distributor in April. If you’re still waiting for one based on your favorite pony, you will find ones for Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack (in that order) coming soon from IDW.