Covers of Artists You Should Get Signed (Part 1)

With the start of Season 7 a little over a month away the fandom is already stirring with excitement.  Message boards, Facebook groups, and Reddit posts are popping up daily with speculations, leaks, and discussions about anything and everything for the new season. And with the arrival of the new season comes new merchandise. As we know, Hasbro is in the market to sell us merchandise and we've accepted it. We not only look forward to these new toys or DVDs, we even take it a step further and as fans of the show, make our own collectibles as well. This is why the My Little Pony convention scene are popular events for fans of the show.

With the success of the My Little Pony comics, it was only a natural match that we would see artists and writers of the comic and these conventions come together. These people are fans of the show just like us, they just have a unique job where they get to use their talent to produce official My Little Pony material. Every artist I've ever talked to has been ecstatic to talk to me and the fans of their work and are happy to autograph covers. One time I told Tony Fleecs he didn't need to sign the cover I bought since he had signed 10 other covers earlier that day. He almost snatched the comic out of my hand so he could sign one more.

So here is a list of some covers of artist I think everyone should try to get signed if you plan on attend any cons.

Andy Price

1.) Friendship is Magic #9 SDCC 2013 Variant

This is just a beautiful cover. One of the first "limited" covers to be popular, this cover was one of the two for sale at San Diego ComicCon in 2013.  This was the first SDCC after IDW started putting out comic, and they began with a good start. Featuring DJ P0N-3 on the cover, she takes up the majority of the cover's space, giving the impression that this exclusive cover was really special and should be picked up. Sadly, I have to start this list with a little bad news. Rumored to have been limited to only 1000 covers printed it is becoming a lot harder to pick up this comic. Recent searches online shows only one comic for sale and it's a graded comic, driving the price way up and making it difficult to get autographed.  But, if you are lucky enough to own this cover or can pick it up for a reasonable price, it should be on the top of your list for covers to get Andy to sign.

2.) Friendship is Magic #43 Indy PopCon

A more recent issue of the comic series, this cover is a really neat issue for collectors. Breaking the 4th wall a little, this cover features Twilight in a sound booth with the pony version of Tara Strong doing voice lines for Twilight Sparkle. Yeah, it's a little confusing, but ultimately a fun cover. Since its a more recent cover, it's not too hard to track down issues to pick up online. I purchased a few covers from eBay for a very good price. As a bonus, if you are attending a Con with both Any and Tara, consider getting both to sign the cover to make it extra special.

3.) Friendship is Magic #20 Cover A

While not particularly a newer cover, this one wasn't a special variant or a limited run. It was just a regular cover sold at comic shops, so the price of this cover should be affordable. The cover features a nice action shot of Princess Celestia fighting against alternate reality Princess Celestia.  This comic was apart of the Reflections story arc (which was one of the better arcs released so far in my opinion) so this makes it an issue worth making special.

Tony Fleecs

1.) Friendship is Magic #7 Retailer Incentive

I will never pass up an opportunity to talk up this cover.  When I saw this cover sitting in a case at my local comic shop, I knew I was going to be buying more than just the regular cover each month. This issue was the third part of the Nightmare Rarity series, and the action had just gotten serious. Tony was able to convey the seriousness of this issue with this cover before even opening it up. I'm a sucker for anything that isn't the cheerful and happy theme that generally a plenty in the My Little Pony universe and this cover shows the not so cheery side of a usually bright world. It just screams "This is why My Little Pony needed a comic book, so we had the chance to have this image for you to collect." I absolutely recommend getting a copy of this cover to get Tony to sign for you.

2.) Friendship is Magic #4 Jetpack Comics and Larry's Comic Variant

OK, I'm going to cheat a little on this one. I'm going to suggest a pair of covers instead of just one because this pair of connecting covers is too good to separate. As you can see from the picture I don't have these signed yet myself, but it is on the top of my list for the next time I can attend a con that Tony is going to be at. They are early issue, limited run covers by Jetpack Comics and Larry's Comics, so it might be difficult acquiring them, sadly. The battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon/Luna has been used multiple times through out the comic series, but I feel these 2 covers are just a step above the rest.

3.) Friendship is Magic #24 Jetpack Comics Cover

Tony Fleecs has done a lot of variant covers for My Little Pony, so it's not a surprise that his list concludes with another one.  Jetpack Comics was a regular for limited run from issue #1 up to Issue 19, when they stopped doing the connecting covers with Larry's Comics. I thought this might have been he end of their exclusive variants outside of convention covers, but on Issue #24 we see the return of Jetpack Comics. This cover is an homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer with appearance of Spike and Flutterbat rounding out the Vampire theme. Just an overall cool cover to own, and a great choice for one to get signed. 

Amy Mebberson

1.) Friendship is Magic #1 Midtown Comics Variant

When it comes to Issue #1 covers Amy Mebberson was the queen.  For the launch issue of the comic series we saw Amy have 8 different variant covers. While all the covers were great, one cover seemed to be the fan favorite and that was the Midtown Comics cover. With Derpy taking up a huge majority of the cover space, this is an excellent choice for getting a cover to get signed when attending a con.

2.) Friendship is Magic #16 Hot Topic Variant

Out of all the Cutie Mark Crusaders characters Scootaloo doesn't seem to be featured a lot on the MLP covers. So when a cover came out that had Scootaloo as not only the main focus of the cover, but also a nice action shot, I was really delighted to see it. It doesn't hurt that fan favorite Rainbow Dash is on the cover as well.

3.) Friendship is Magic #19 Hot Topic Variant

Another cover from the Reflections story arc, the Hot Topic #19 cover is a good choice when searching for covers to get signed. The design and outfit of alternate reality Luna was one of my favorite characters drawn in the comic series. Not only can you see the devious look that alt Luna has, but the concerned look of regular Luna just really makes the pairing of these two characters on the cover as a great choice.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article where we go over covers by other artists like Sara Richards, Agnes Garbowska, and other artists.

A Glossary for Comic Book Collecting

Now that the introduction is out of the way, let's go over a few terms I will be frequently using throughout my articles when it comes to the comic books.

THE SERIES

IDW has put out several comic book series since its initial launch in 2012.  Friendship is Magic was their flagship series and is still running to this day. As of writing this article, they just released issue #50 and it doesn't look like it will be stopping soon. This series frequently has multi-issue story arcs that can span 2, 3, or even 4 issues.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #5 Cover A

The Micro-Series was a 10 issue series that ran not long after Friendship is Magic launched. Each issue focussed on 1 particular character. The first 6 issues covered the mane 6 cast with the last issues being dedicated to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, Celestia, and Luna.

My Little Pony: Micro-Series Issue #2 Cover A

Friends Forever is a series that pairs 2 characters from the My Little Pony world together in a stand alone issue. This series frequently say background characters being paired up with more popular characters from the show. It has been going on for several years now, but it due to end in the next couple months.

My Little Pony: Friends Forever Issue #5 Subscription Cover

FIENDship is Magic was a short 5-issue series that was released weekly for one month back in 2015. Like the Micro-Series, it focussed on one character (or group of characters) but instead told the backstory of the My Little Pony villians.

My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #4 Cover A

There have been several special issues like the Annual (a comic released once a year but usually has more pages than the regular comics), the Holiday Specials (done around Christmas time), and the Equestria Girls comics (that features the alternate dimension version of the ponies of Equestria).

My Little Pony Annual 2014 Cover A

THE COMICS

The comics usually are released with multiple covers for each issue. The actual comic inside is the same but the cover is a different image. There is typically the main cover (what you will mostly likely see if you go to a comic shop) and a subscription cover (for orders that are a reoccurring subscription; which most comic shops have).  The early issues had multiple main covers. These covers are generally $3-$4 a piece.

Friendship is Magic Issue 1 Covers A-F

After the main cover and the subscription cover, there is the retailer incentive. This is a program put in place by the distributor (IDW in this case) to reward comic shops who buy several issues. If the shop buys a certain about of comics of an issue, they can buy a retailer incentive cover. These covers are a little rarer that the main cover and subscription cover. For the My Little Pony series, the typical retailer incentive is a 1:10 (said as "one in ten"). So, the comic shop has to buy ten comics order to buy one retailer incentive cover. These typically sell for around $10 a cover, but the price is decided by the comic shop. Every once in a while there are even rarer retailer incentives that IDW makes. For Issue #2, there was a 1:50 retailer incentive. When IDW reprinted issue one under the theme Hundred Penny Press (an issue #1 to sell for $1) they had a 1:100 retailer incentive. These special rarer retailer incentives obviously will be sold for a premium price since it requires the comic shop to purchase a large bulk of comics. They can range from $50 up to $200 depending on how many the shop had to purchase.

Friendship is Magic Issue 3 Retailer Incentive

Another type of cover you will run across are retailer exclusives. These are covers that are commissioned by a specific retailer or comic shop. The most common retailer exclusive we are in the My Little Pony comics was the Hot Topic variant (a word used to mean a specific cover). They were sold at Hot Topic stores and on their website for about $5.50. Another retailer exclusive that was common was Jetpack comics and Larry's comics retailer exclusive covers. These were covers commissioned by comic shops. As they don't have the buying power of a major retailer like Hot Topic, there wasn't a whole bunch of these comics made. They are usually limited to under 1000 created or less (some even rumored to be as low as 125).

Friendship is Magic Issue 24 Jetpack Comics Exclusive

Lastly, there are convention covers. These are basically retailer exclusives, but instead of being tied to a specific store or comic shop, they are linked with a specific convention or event. There is almost guaranteed a convention cover every year at San Diego Comic Con. Several MLP cons like BronyCon and Everfree Northwest usually have a cover as well. These covers are first available to purchase for those attending the convention in person. If any are left over they may appear on a website for sale. These con covers are usually pretty limited so they can become one of the harder covers to get if you are not going to be attending the convention yourself.

Friendship is Magic Issue #9 San Diego ComicCon 2013 Cover

THE TEAM

It takes a lot to take a comic from an idea to sitting on a shelf in a comic shop. Several people work on the comic I'm different stages to get it in your hands.

The writer is the person (or persons) responsible for writing the story for the comic. If you've read a comic and thought "wow, that was a good issue!" then the writer is probably who you should be looking at to thank. There are several writes throughout all the MLP comic series. Katie Cook is probably the most know as she started writing for the comics since issue one.

The artists are the people in case of drawing out the comic that will appear in the pages.  Just like the artists, IDW uses several artists through their series. Andy Price is the most common artists, frequently teaming up with Cook.  (A lot of people feel the Cook/Price being the key storylines to read). Tony Fleecs and Agnes Garbowska are other frequent artists. Aside from the regular artists there is also cover artists. These are the people who drew a specific cover for that issue. While a lot of the regular artists will also draw covers, there are several covers artists who have only drawn covers, like Sara Richards or Mary Bellamy.

FIENDship is Magic Issue #1 1:25 Retailer Incentive

There are many more things to discuss about the comics such as sketch covers or original art pages, as well as things to go over like "how to find a comic you're looking for" and "properly protecting your comics" which I will go over in future articles. Keep coming back to check on more interesting things about the My Little Pony Comics.

Let's talk about Ponies and Comics!

Hello! My name is Triox. I am a 35 year old Brony living in San Diego, California. And I am a hardcore collector of the official My Little Pony comics published by IDW.

I moved to San Diego in September of 2012. By this time season 3 was a few months away and the Brony fandom was in full swing of its popularity. One of the things I was looking forward to was taking advantage of San Diego's pop culture, no doubt popularized by the famous San Diego Comic Con.  After finding out that there was going to be an official comic coming out in November of 2012, I found a local comic shop I liked and asked them if they were going to be getting the comic in.

Image used to announce the official My Little Pony comics

The person working at the store wasn't sure if I was being serious. Most of the people who shopped there who were my age were into the more mainstream comic series that Marvel and DC were frequently putting out. After assuring him that I was serious, he said he would look into the comic series.

November came and issue #1 came out, and boy was it a success! There was over 100,000 pre-orders for issue 1. In fact, it was one of only two comic series to break top 100 for that year that wasn't Marvel or DC!

I made monthly trips to the comic shop to pick up the issues, and it was the highlight of my month. When issue 7 came out, I noticed a cover in their case. This cover had the most of the main cast locked up in a prison and I HAD TO OWN IT!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #7 Retailer Incentive

From that month on I was sucked into the world of comic book collecting. I created a pull at my local comic shop and told them I wanted a copy or every single cover they got in. I wanted everything!

That was 4 years ago and I am still going strong with collecting the covers. As of writing this (February 2017) I have over 400 unique covers, which equals to about 70% of all the covers IDW has put out. But I'm still constantly trying to track down the ones I am missing. I have made several friends through my interest in collecting the My Little Pony comics. I have met several of the comic writers and artists. I've have taken 2 hour train and bus trips to try and pick up the missing covers.

Meeting Artist Tony Fleecs at Pacific PonyCon 2016

Sure, it might be a little extreme, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!