Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Rose & Paige

The Kiddo got this one for Christmas. It was purchased at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH.

Title: Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Rose & Paige
Date: January 2018
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Delilah S. Dawson
Artist: Nicoletta Baldari
Colorist: Nicoletta Baldari
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Nicoletta Baldari

This is an all-ages Star Wars one-shot featuring the Tico sisters before the events of The Last Jedi.

Faced with the task of gathering needed supplies on an uninhabited planet, and lacking equipment, Rose cobbles together wheeled vehicles to scout the planet's jungles. Resistance General Lazslo is skeptical, and Rose's own self-doubts are one of her biggest obstacles, but she goes ahead with her plan, and ends up having to save her sister from some unexpected danger.

This was one of the least violent Star Wars stories I've run across. Just Rose and Paige against nature and bad luck. The real conflict is Rose's struggle for her own self-confidence.

It's a bit more wordy than it really needs to be, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more focus on Paige, since she is the character that we know less about, but it still manages to be a charming adventure that feels fresh and different while still unmistakably Star Wars.

Nicoletta Baldari's artwork is wonderfully expressive, and a nice fit with this feel-good story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Star Wars Adventures #1

From last summer's purchases.

Title: Star Wars Adventures
Issue: 1
Date: September 2017
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons
Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Jon Sommariva

The copy I got is the "RI-B" cover variant.

The opening chapters of two stories here, set in the Star Wars universe with an all-ages style.

First up is "Better the Devil You Know" featuring a pre-Force-Awakens Rey, living as a scavenger on Jakku and forced into a situation where she must save her Junkboss, Unkar Plutt from enemies or risk having him replaced by an even worse local mobster. I really loved the art style on this story, especially the cute and fierce interpretation of Rey, who is portrayed as confident and capable even while stuck in the bad situation has was in on Jakku,

The second story featured Emil Graf an explorer traveling through "Wild Space" with a small crew of odball companions. Emil doesn't get much to do in this story, as the bulk of it is a flashback to prequels-era Coruscant and an adventure involving a pickpocket who tries to steal from Obi Wan Kenobi.The flashback story was fun, and the framing sequences did a good job of introducing Emil and his crew with a nice sprinkling of humor.

In the end, I was more interested in reading more of Rey's story, but I did enjoy both.

Rating: 7.5/10

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #9

I took the Kiddo to Newbury Comics in Hyannis recently. I was looking for a couple of the new Magic: The Gathering comics (one of those was reviewed here, the second is up for review sometime in the next few days), and I let him pick out one comic from the all-ages shelf. This was his choice.

Title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Issue: 9
Date: July 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Katie Cook
Artist: Andy Price
Colorist: Heather Breckel
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Bobby Curnow

This is the Newbury Comics retailer variant cover for this comic.

Big Mac has to repair the gazebo at the apple farm, but he's run out of nails. So it's into town for a hardware store run. Unfortunately, it's festival day in town, and everyone wants something from him. There are also repeating encounters with a group of ponies who are trying to launch a large package of fireworks from a catapult.

The most amusing aspect of this story is that Mac's dialogue consists almost entirely of "yup" and "nope", no matter what manner of mayhem (and there is plenty!) that he gets recruited into. He does get a bit more internal monologue via the captions, but whenever he's talking to anyone else it's just "yup" or "nope".

There were also a lot of nice little bits of side dialogue that added some good laughs to the story, and a very amusing full-page map panel showing a bunch of quick adventures that added to the excitement (or exhaustion) of Mac's day.

I felt that this dragged in places, but part of that was from not knowing the minor characters very well. There were some good jokes, and the overall storyline of Mac being unable to get his simple errand done was effective.

The kiddo enjoyed the parts involving things blowing up.

Rating: 6/10

My Little Pony Micro Series #6

Things have been busy with the day job lately, so I haven't had a chance to read or review very much.

One new development, though, is that my son (age 5) has started to show an interest in comics. So lately there have been a few occasions where we've been at a comic shop and he's asked me to buy him one. I let him pick what he wants from among the kids' comics I'm going to feature those for  next few reviews.

I'll start with what could be my (and his!) official first step toward becoming a brony.

Title: My Little Pony Micro Series
Issue: 6
Date: July 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Bobby Curnow, Brenda Hickey
Artist: Brenda Hickey
Colorist: Heather Breckel
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Bobby Curnow

It's time to get ready for Hearth's Warming Eve, and Applejack is determined to make this the best holiday ever. And we all know that making a holiday the best holiday ever is something that seldom ends well.

Sure enough, among all of the apple sorting, apple peeling, apple coring, apple baking, apple mashing, and apple... um... is "cidering" a word? Anyway, suffice it to say there is a lot of work to be done mostly involving apples. And that is a problem, because some strange and mysterious creature is replacing all of the apples with squashes.

That's right, it's the dreaded Sass Squash. No, I'm not making that up. Sass Squash.

Applejack becomes obsessed with catching the Sass Squash, and she's going to do it with no help from anyone because this is going to be the best Hearth's Warming Eve ever! Yeah, that is not likely to end well either. Hopefully the other ponies can keep Applejack from going, well, out of her gourd. (Sorry. I'll stop now. Don't squash me. Okay, really stopping now.)

The slapstick bits were silly and obvious, but the plot had enough twists to keep it interesting, and this was my first look at the MLP world, which is fun and well thought out with just the littlest hints of pagan flavor to it.

This issue had the Newbury Comics retailer exclusive variant cover.

Fun story, if somewhat predictable.

Rating: 6/10