HunterxHunter Special 02 – well, Kurapika was shown to have cheated, but at a test which was unfair anyway, and inadvertently anyway. He thought he failed but his little friend Pyro/Pylo/Pairo had helped him out. It was cute, seeing this flashback, but the previous chapter was much more remarkable for its brief character sketches than this one, which was much more typical than the average Togashi – at least until the harrowing final pages about the Ryodan’s executions, that is. 

One Piece 691 couldn’t maintain the same level of brilliance of the previous chapter, but with a rousing speech from Usopp, it was still a satisfying and impressive one!

Naruto 612: The idea of concrete wasn’t a bad one, but everyone standing around marvelling at how a few groups of guys could be coordinated to take things in turns was daft, and the chapter itself was over in a flash. Still sub-par!

HunterXHunter 340 special was a treat for fans – not only the first chapter in many months, but a flashback to tie in with the upcoming movie that showed Kurapika’s headstrong personality as a child and even his parents. Great stuff!

One Piece 690: after a few slow chapters, this one was absolutely awesome, unexpectedly because it swung back to Vergo, Smoker and Trafalgar Law – Smoker got to make an awesome gesture and Law just got the arc’s best moment. Now Oda just needs to maintain this level of brilliance and a troubled story arc will become an awesome one.

Naruto 611 carried on the mess of the last few chapters, but then made some story progress at least by having the cavalry arrive. So I suppose the war is no longer absurd, but what happened to the others keeping this lot at bay?

Half Prince 58: I believe Meatbun-bun can deal with the baguette – now there’s some dramatic dialogue! It was all a bit random, but the end of the chapter, with Prince urged on alone, was nice, and the art was very clean and crisp. Nice!

My Little Pony: Friendship is magic comic #1

So it’s looking very likely indeed that the top-selling comic of the year will not be anything Avengers-related, nor X-men. Not movie-boosted Batman or Spiderman. But the comics for My Little Pony. I’m not sure how I feel about this beyond amused. It’s at once very sad and also brilliant.

Issue one was a good one – I liked how it was very different in tone from the cartoon, yet not out there in the bizarre further reaches of fandom. It was clearly aware of fan fixations and even went further than the cartoon in acknowledging them – witness Derpy led to her capture by a line of muffins, or the character fans have named ‘Doctor Whooves’ glancing at a watch – but it was not at all defined by trying to be like the source or please its fans. It was rather more boyish than even the most action-packed episodes: the nasty creatures from the season 2 finale kidnap the CMC and replace much of Ponyville with clones or zombified mind-controlled versions of the populace, and only our main heroes can rescue them all with some fisticuffs. Stupid faces, fast pacing and vicious punches ensue, all of which is very comic-books-for-boys.

‘It’s clobbering time’, says Rainbow Dash at one point, a nice nod to comic legends. The artist is also very keen on visual references, developing the little Big Lebowski cameos of the series – we see Blues Brothers ponies and a Magnum P.I. pony, for example. It all feels more free-wheeling and random than the TV show, and that’s refreshing. It probably won’t have as big an emotional impact on me as some of the fandom’s best comics have, especially long-running ones like Ask-TheCrusaders or Jappleack (much as I still dislike the .mov series), but honestly, they’re judged by very different standards and these official comics have to be much broader in their appeal, which they have managed.

It’s still ponies. It’s still girly and simplistic and no, it doesn’t deserve to outsell the best of Marvel and DC. But there’s a phenomenon going on and it’s a fun one to watch – and I for one am enjoying it immensely. 

One Piece 689: I kinda feel like this whole chapter could’ve been done in a couple of pages. Ah well.

Naruto 610: Teleporting giant tentacled bulls to sent energy balls at huge eyeball monsters. Naruto is really, really stupid now. 

One Piece 688 had a big bold sacrifice and a good cliffhanger – but I’m hoping for the pace to pick up.

Naruto 608-609 More daftness from this big old fight. Obito sends his torso into other dimensions and Kakashi punches the bits and pieces that appear. And that’s supposed to be impressive?

Yotsubato! 81.5 – ahhh, I don’t know what it is about Miura that’s so endlessly cute, but there’s definitely something. Bless her little socks! The chapter was a funny one, too – more of this camping story will be very welcome.

One Piece 687 was the best chapter in a while. I had forgotten Tashigi looked like the girl from Zoro’s flashback. This chapter basically revolved around Zoro being an overwhelming badass – while also not quite being able to be too monstrous. Great stuff, and great for his character. 

X-Force 026. Ffffffff did they just………with Kurt? Well, there were signs, I suppose, but this somewhat annoys me. That was nowhere near enough after everything. Still, the Second Coming storyline remains fascinating and the art in X-Force is mighty impressive. Especially compared with the crap in Uncanny X-men.