IDW Publishing will launch a new ongoing My Little Pony comic series in May with a new cast of characters and some familiar creators.

My Little Pony #1 will feature the characters from the Netflix film My Little Pony: A New Generation, which debuted last year (see “‘My Little Pony’ Goes to Netflix”):  Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, Pipp Petals, and Hitch Trailblazer, collectively known as the Mane 5, and their sidekick Cloudpuff, a fluffy winged Pomeranian.  The plot of the first story arc involves a quest for a stolen Unity Crystal, without which Equestria will lose its magic.

The creative team for the new series is writer Celeste Bronfman and artist Amy Mebberson, both of whom worked on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  The first issue will have a main cover by Mebberson, a variant cover by JustaSuta, and a retailer incentive variant by Brianna Garcia.

IDW wound up its My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic series last year (see “‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ to End with Issue #102”) and followed up with a new mini-series, My Little Pony: Generations.  The publisher lost two other Hasbro licenses, for G.I. Joe and Transformers, but stated at that time that it would continue to produce My Little Pony and Dungeons & Dragons comics (see “IDW’s G.I. Joe and Transformers Licenses to Conclude at End of Year”).