The comics are primarily based on the characters from the 2010 relaunch of the franchise and its television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, as well as the anthropomorphic spin-off Equestria Girls.

Though the comic, like the TV series, is aimed at young children, the writers and artists have consistently taken risks, including expanding Sombra's storyline, the Friendship is Magic miniseries, introducing little violence, and more.

They have been well received, having presented complex, multi-issue story arcs, and included material to appeal to the broad older fandom, featuring cultural references and show elements enjoyed by them.

Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise, started in the 1980s, has had several animated television series and direct-to-video movies to help promote and sell the associated toy line collection; over the years, there have been five "generations" of designs and associated characters and setting.

[2][3] In 2010, Hasbro aimed to relaunch the My Little Pony line, following the recent success of the re-envisioning of the Transformers franchise, and brought in animator Lauren Faust as the creative developer for the show; in addition to developing the looks and characters to be featured in the toy line, Faust was also tasked with creating a new tie-in show as to provide programming for its new cable network, The Hub (now Discovery Family; owned by Discovery Communications and Hasbro).

[6] The resulting show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, was well received by parents, but found another unexpected target audience through the Internet photo-board, 4chan, primarily adult males from 13 to 35 years old.

[8][9][10] Hasbro was also caught off-guard by this surprise demographic but have come to embrace it, using licensing deals to market clothes, media, and other merchandise beyond the toys to the older audience.

[13] Cook stated that she has been a My Little Pony fan from the first generation of toys, and found that with this series, "the characters are strong and lovable, the stories are well-written, and there's an underlying sense of humor to the show that's very hip", making it a "great all-ages property".

[18] Price has stated that Hasbro does give them freedom to write and draw the comic as they see fit, typically only asking for changes to achieve "a little bit more show accuracy".

[21] The comics take place in the same fictional universe as the television show, in the land of Equestria which is populated primarily by ponies (including unicorns and pegasi), along with numerous other sentient and non-sentient creatures.

For example, the first four-issue story includes the return of Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, a major villain introduced in "A Canterlot Wedding", the finale of the TV series' season 2.

[29] Zahler stated that prior to the comics he had seen a few episodes, and considered the characters as developed by Faust to be "wonderfully represented" and that the show itself had "a very classic cartoon element" that made cross-generational writing easy to do.

[29] Cook herself wrote the third micro-issue featuring Rarity, and saw the single-issue format as more like "episodes of the TV show" compared to the larger arcs of the main series, and can be "slice-of-life stories that really explore the character" without bringing in the full cast.

It focuses on stories that cover the mythological history of Equestria and development of magic in the land that had been only briefly touched on within the animated series, such as the character of Star Swirl the Bearded and other key figures.

Like the series of chapter books of the same name published by LB Kids, each issue follows the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they solve mysteries around Ponyville.

It follows the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they try to figure out why the Everfree forest is filling up with trash, and solve the mystery behind the strange behavior of the ponies in Ponyville.

It centers around a retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women with Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy as the March Sisters.

It centers on the Mane Five from A New Generation opening a summer camp to teach foals about the usage of magic and the hijinks of a mysterious cryptid lurking nearby.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike find themselves stranded at a train station due to heavy snow and pass the time by reading Hearth's Warming stories.

A 40-page Deviations comic was published on March 8, 2017, presenting a timeline in which Princess Celestia chooses Prince Blueblood instead of Twilight as her personal student.

[40] Motion comics of the My Little Pony series and other IDW properties were published through a licensing deal with Madefire, as announced at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con with releases starting in August 2013.

IDW believes these will help further attract children to the comic and have plans to do this with another ongoing series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more in the future.

[44][45] As of July 2014, IDW has sold more than half a million of these packs, and have taken steps to trademark the line as well as expand to include their Skylanders comic series.

Dan Hart for Bleeding Cool News, who had not previously seen the show, praised Cook's script for quickly introducing the characters and the world, and Price's ability with facial expressions.

[48] Dakster Sullivan, writing for Wired's GeekMom column, further praised Cook and Price for doing "an amazing job bringing the spirit of the characters from the small screen to the comic book world".

However, she praised that "Cook and Price's enthusiasm and skill" helped to overcome the predictability of the show, making it "a lot better than it needs to be for a property with an existing, devoted fanbase".

[50] Paste considered that while the first four-issue comic arc did not quite reach the humor of Adventure Time, it "still bustles with passion, fun, and personality despite a few rough edges".

[51] Bleeding Cool magazine placed Katie Cook as one of the top 100 Power List people in the comic book industry for 2013 for her contribution to the success of the My Little Pony series.

[18] In light of this number, IDW announced plans to run a second printing of the first comic along with the collectible box set in December,[55] and ultimately ended up reprinting the issue four times.

[56] Adams also states that digital sales remain strong, with the comics often holding spots within the top 10 selling books on the iTunes Stores.