IDW Publishing’s Mane Six Micro Series is now more than half complete, and the latest installment features the literal (and figurative) yellow pegasus Fluttershy! Written by Barbara Kesel, drawn by Tony Fleecs, and lettered by Neil Uyetake, it’s now time for the otherwise stage-frightened pegasus to have her turn in the spotlight. How does it stack up? Read more to find out.
Do be warned that this review will take a detailed look at some 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.
The Fluttorious S.H.Y.
Fluttershy, as a character, has to be one of the toughest of the Mane Six for whom to develop new story ideas. It’s an easy crutch to go back to the well of “Fluttershy must face her fear and become more assertive,” a trap that even the show staff has fallen into from time to time. How do you retain Fluttershy’s core traits and still have her experience some growth without it being something that gets wiped away by the great reset button of episodic nature?
Barbara Kesel had a tough draw with Fluttershy, but she’s taken the pegasus by the wings. Instead of traveling the easy route and doing a standard “Fluttershy has to face a scary threat,” story, Barbara has instead tackled a more nuanced, difficult subject: Fluttershy’s insecurity of a talent. This is something that you could use anypony for, but Fluttershy is a particularly good, though not obvious, choice because it finally lets us look at another side of her personality besides “being scared” and “likes animals.” Being an introvert, Fluttershy naturally has problems expressing herself to those outside her immediate circle. Though Angel is mute, he is the perfect foil for Flutters as usual. With him, Fluttershy is able to open up and air her doubts about her latent talent for knitting and sewing. She’s wondering if she should expose her secret talents at Princess Celestia’s Extreme Art Contest, and summoning up some of her own courage, Fluts finally decides to enter her knitting masterpiece into the contest.
Clik here to view.
Salvador Angel doesn’t put up with any of Fluttershy’s complaining.Overall, Kesel has a very good handle on Fluttershy’s voice, though the solo dialogue with Angel can be a little much at times. It reads like an extended version of the opener to “Putting Your Hoof Down,” and it works much in the same way to set up the story. Still, Fleecs imbues a lot of character into Angel which Barbara surely put in the script, which makes his lack of dialogue readable. They could have done thought balloons a la Garfield or Snoopy in Peanuts, but it works. While she might seem a little wordy sometimes, it’s definitely less wordy than Dash in Micro #2 and it fits right in with Flutters’ personality. Being quiet and reserved doesn’t mean you say nothing, and Neil Uyetake varies his lettering size to help emphasize her quiet moments.
The issue is very condensed—it only takes place in two locales and involves a select few characters. This actually works in its favor, since the goal is to examine Fluttershy’s battle with her own opinions of her art. Kesel chose a very relatable subject—we’ve all struggled with critics and our feelings on the things we create. Whether it’s art, writing, music, or anything else you’ve made with your own hands, we’ve all experienced reactions, good or bad, to our work. Fluttershy’s lesson and experience is something that I imagine a lot of people will see themselves in, and it’s a good story to tell to help boost Flutters’ confidence without resorting to her being afraid.
Joining Fluttershy as a foil in this issue is Rarity, who knows all too well how to deal with criticism. The nice thing is that while Rarity does give Fluttershy words of encouragement and acts as a counterpoint to the critics, she does not force Fluttershy to take any actions. Like a good friend, she’s the gentle nudge that gets somebody to pick themselves up and make their own decisions. It was smart to use Rarity in this way, and we’re not going to complain about having more fashion horse.
Objects du Art
Returning to draw a complete issue once again is Tony Fleecs, who previously lent his art to the second Micro Series issue, which featured Rainbow Dash. Fleecs should be familiar to most fans of the My Little Pony comics, as he’s provided many covers for the mainline comics.
Unlike the mainline comics, which have separate art and color people, Fleecs handles both the linework and the coloring in this issue, and he returns back to the same well that he drew from for Micro #2. Compared to Dash’s micro, I would say his pony art has generally improved, especially when considering the main character. Fluttershy and Angel both come across with lots of energy and emotion, and there’s little to quibble with how he’s portrayed them. The full two-page spread where Fluttershy unveils her chamber of extreme knitting is a spotlight of the issue, with the combination of hand-lettered effects and extremely detailed background creating a knitting wonderland for the reader to explore. The only drawback is that the rest of the issue can’t quite stack up in comparison; nothing matches up to this spread, even when Fluttershy unveils her piece de resistance later in the issue.
Clik here to view.
Definitely some interesting faces on Rarity there.Other characters don’t fare so well in some places, with some wonky facial expressions and anatomy on Rarity and Princess Celestia. Most of the expressions do hit when it counts, but there are several panels where I’m left scratching my head. To say we’ve been spoiled by the quality of the mainline series is a given; the consistency applied to all of the characters by Andy Price and Amy Mebberson is a tough standard to meet, especially when on a deadline and doing double duty on lines and colors. While the overall issue can’t hold up to the mainline comics in terms of consistency, the overall art is much better than Fleecs’ last outing and ranges from average to fantastic. He even manages to sneak in some fun by using his comic covers as the background art in the gallery, which eagle eyed readers will notice.
When it comes to colors, Fleecs’ treatment is about the same as it was for Rainbow’s issue. He sticks with a mostly flat palette, with little defining shading and instead uses light and dark tones to create depth and layers, much like the show. This works well in some areas, like the big two-page spread, but most of the comic is left feeling just a bit flat without some extra shading. Fleecs does take time to color lines, and he varied his approach this time, minimizing use of black in backgrounds by using a darker blue or magenta instead. This gives the linework a different character, and makes it look gentler. It’s subtle, but different enough from Rainbow’s issue that I noticed it. By keeping the background color lines consistent, it makes the world feel less like Flash and more like a comic, which helps give the book its own feel.
Clik here to view.
Her couture sense is tingling!Lettering is provided by series standby Neil Uyetake, who has a dense script with few characters to deal with. Overall, the effort is good, with few mistakes. The effects lettering is provided by Fleecs, who hand-lettered large effects for fun. There’s several areas in the book where word balloons were well-integrated into the art, though it looks like Fleecs drew these balloons in by himself. You’ll know it when you see them, but it’s a great example of how lettering and ballooning is a critical part of the reading experience and how they can influence the art of the book in a positive direction.
One Art, Please!
Overall, Fluttershy’s spotlight comic is a good book. Barbara Kesel puts in a good first shot at writing Pony, and Tony Fleecs turns out some good to great art to make a book that all fans should enjoy. While this issue ranks below Micro #3 in terms of quality, that’s a pretty high standard to meet. At this point it is probably the #2 in the quality rankings and is definitely worth spending the four bucks to add it to your collection. The feature spread alone is worth it.
With the Mane Six’s Micro Series now more than half complete, we’ll be seeing two completely new creative teams in the next two issues, and then the sky is the limit. We know that the Cutie Mark Crusaders are already in for issue #7, and here’s hoping that other favorites like Spike, Luna and Celestia will get their own issues as well. The more the merrier!