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Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins (Collected Editions) #1
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Vol. 1
From the creators of the hit show "Critical Role" comes Vox Machina's origin story! Writers Matthew Mercer and Matthew Colville team with artist extraordinaire Olivia Samson and colorist Chris Northrop to bring you the story of where the heroes' journey began.
The band of adventurers known as Vox Machina will save the world. Eventually. But even they have to start somewhere.
Six would-be heroes on seemingly different jobs find their paths intertwined as they investigate shady business in the swamp town of Stilben. They'll need to put their heads-- and weapons--together to figure out what's going on...and keep from being killed in the process. Even then, whether or not they can overcome what truly lurks at the bottom of the town's travails remains to be seen!
Collects Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins comics issues #1-6, one of the best selling digital comics ever!
The band of adventurers known as Vox Machina will save the world. Eventually. But even they have to start somewhere.
Six would-be heroes on seemingly different jobs find their paths intertwined as they investigate shady business in the swamp town of Stilben. They'll need to put their heads-- and weapons--together to figure out what's going on...and keep from being killed in the process. Even then, whether or not they can overcome what truly lurks at the bottom of the town's travails remains to be seen!
Collects Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins comics issues #1-6, one of the best selling digital comics ever!
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2019
269 people are currently reading
7517 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 835 reviews
July 9, 2021
This was surprisingly good.
And I didn't even know what the hell this actually was until I was halfway through & one of my kids saw what I was reading, then kindly explained it to me.
Ok, so the short version is that this comic is based on characters created by voice actors who got together to play D&D, streamed it, and somehow turned the whole thing into a wildly popular phenomenon amongst geeks.
Having said that, this should have sucked. I mean, this looked like a cash grab and most of these spin-offs suck.
THIS DID NOT SUCK.
This was lighthearted, funny, and didn't take itself too seriously.
Plus, the art was quite nice!
It's basically a fun D&D campaign in comic book form. So, if that sounds like something you might like to take a peek at, go for it. I was quite honestly surprised at how charming Vox Machina: Origins was, and I'd definitely read more if I get the chance.
And I didn't even know what the hell this actually was until I was halfway through & one of my kids saw what I was reading, then kindly explained it to me.
Ok, so the short version is that this comic is based on characters created by voice actors who got together to play D&D, streamed it, and somehow turned the whole thing into a wildly popular phenomenon amongst geeks.
Having said that, this should have sucked. I mean, this looked like a cash grab and most of these spin-offs suck.
THIS DID NOT SUCK.
This was lighthearted, funny, and didn't take itself too seriously.
Plus, the art was quite nice!
It's basically a fun D&D campaign in comic book form. So, if that sounds like something you might like to take a peek at, go for it. I was quite honestly surprised at how charming Vox Machina: Origins was, and I'd definitely read more if I get the chance.
October 22, 2019
I shame-facedly confess that I’m not as familiar with Critical Role as I would like to be, and I fully intend to remedy that in the coming year. Feel free to deliver any spankings, shin kicks, or wedgies you feel are warranted for my being a bad D&D nerd.
That said, this is a delightfully fun introduction to the CR characters. Sure, it’s a typical, RPG-inspired fantasy set-up: disparate, diverse, self-interested characters unite in common cause before deciding to band together on a more permanent basis to seek adventure, accumulate treasure, and right the wrongs. Still, this is my brand of fantasy—high adventure meets urban hijinks with comedic shenanigans thrown in for good measure.
Fans of Jim Zub’s D&D comics will eat this up. And, I humbly* suggest that those who dig this book will also enjoy The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple (not to mention the forthcoming Heloise-starrer THE PART ABOUT THE DRAGON WAS (MOSTLY) TRUE, coming in December 2020 from Parliament House Press—mark your calendars, friends).
Looking forward to a deeper dive into the CR universe!
*I should note that I don’t, in fact, do anything humbly. I even eat humble pie in a cocksure manner. (I was going to say “I eat humble pie cocksurely,” but apparently “cocksurely” isn’t a word. I arrogantly hereby suggest that it should be. Make it so, official word people.)
That said, this is a delightfully fun introduction to the CR characters. Sure, it’s a typical, RPG-inspired fantasy set-up: disparate, diverse, self-interested characters unite in common cause before deciding to band together on a more permanent basis to seek adventure, accumulate treasure, and right the wrongs. Still, this is my brand of fantasy—high adventure meets urban hijinks with comedic shenanigans thrown in for good measure.
Fans of Jim Zub’s D&D comics will eat this up. And, I humbly* suggest that those who dig this book will also enjoy The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple (not to mention the forthcoming Heloise-starrer THE PART ABOUT THE DRAGON WAS (MOSTLY) TRUE, coming in December 2020 from Parliament House Press—mark your calendars, friends).
Looking forward to a deeper dive into the CR universe!
*I should note that I don’t, in fact, do anything humbly. I even eat humble pie in a cocksure manner. (I was going to say “I eat humble pie cocksurely,” but apparently “cocksurely” isn’t a word. I arrogantly hereby suggest that it should be. Make it so, official word people.)
October 31, 2019
4 stars
I
loved reading this. I can never have enough Critical Role. If you’re a fan of watching those nerdy ass voice actors play D&D every Thursday night like me, you’ll probably love this. I can’t wait to get more, and I really hope they bring one of these out for their current campaign, The Mighty Nein, as I’m more partial to that campaign and those characters! I enjoyed the art work and the storyline and would definitely recommend.
loved reading this. I can never have enough Critical Role. If you’re a fan of watching those nerdy ass voice actors play D&D every Thursday night like me, you’ll probably love this. I can’t wait to get more, and I really hope they bring one of these out for their current campaign, The Mighty Nein, as I’m more partial to that campaign and those characters! I enjoyed the art work and the storyline and would definitely recommend.
December 22, 2020
This was great. A fantasy adventure with lots of hijinks and humor. I love how the beginning was structured, meeting our group of adventurers in successive issues before they even meet each other. I like how the authors didn't shy away from the fact that this was based on a D&D campaign. Fans of Jim Zub's Dungeons & Dragons comic will definitely dig this. I wasn't even aware Critical Role was a thing until I read some of the other reviews and that didn't hamper my enjoyment of this at all.
May 20, 2018
This was fine, but I wonder how good it could have been if they’d hired an actual comic book writer. Or someone who knew anything at all about Vex’ahlia.
June 30, 2018
Imagine, if you will, "...a bunch of...nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons." Live. On the internet. Every Thursday night. They call the show Critical Role and their group of disparate and sometimes desperate adventurers Vox Machina because they like bad puns. But those adventures took place in private for over a year before they were persuaded to go public by Queen of the Nerds, Felica Day herself. Implausibly, their ridiculously niche netcast becomes so popular that they can fill actual theatres for episodes with a paying public audience, sell mountains of merchandise and drown in unsolicited fan art contributions, the best of which end up in a printed book. But that's not all - a synopsis of the early, unbroadcast adventures of the crazy Machine Voice adventuring party (did they really mean Vox Ex Machina?) isn't enough for the rabid fans. A six issue e-comic series is produced and eventually gets two print omnibus editions - one is a limited edition hardback in a slip-case, bound in faux leather, with some bonus material at the back. It cost a fortune but it seems to have sold out. And this is it.
Vox Machina: Origins has artwork that captures the characters well and some neat graphic techniques that evoke tabletop fantasy roleplaying really well and the story itself tackles how this group of more or less crazy future savers of the world met whilst trying to get paid for figuring out how a swamp ended up cursed. Unfortunately, it's too short. Whilst the actual adventure of the cursed swamp is brought to a satisfactory conclusion, two of the legendary group don't appear in the story at all. They must have joined later. Hopefully there will be more Origins to come in the future.
Look, seriously, this is all true:
https://geekandsundry.com/shows/criti...
I've listened to the entire first campaign. All several hundred hours of it. Some of it more than once. Keyleth is the best. The cows were awesome. "We're basically gods," was the most hilariously, serendipitously ironic statement I've ever heard. Zara was fabulous. So was Gilmore. The black-powder salesman was stupendous. I am super-nerdy. Get over it.
Vox Machina: Origins has artwork that captures the characters well and some neat graphic techniques that evoke tabletop fantasy roleplaying really well and the story itself tackles how this group of more or less crazy future savers of the world met whilst trying to get paid for figuring out how a swamp ended up cursed. Unfortunately, it's too short. Whilst the actual adventure of the cursed swamp is brought to a satisfactory conclusion, two of the legendary group don't appear in the story at all. They must have joined later. Hopefully there will be more Origins to come in the future.
Look, seriously, this is all true:
https://geekandsundry.com/shows/criti...
I've listened to the entire first campaign. All several hundred hours of it. Some of it more than once. Keyleth is the best. The cows were awesome. "We're basically gods," was the most hilariously, serendipitously ironic statement I've ever heard. Zara was fabulous. So was Gilmore. The black-powder salesman was stupendous. I am super-nerdy. Get over it.
May 4, 2025
3.5 🌟
War ganz nett, aber nicht so gut wie der andere Band den ich davor gelesen habe.
Außerdem glaube ich , dass man hier wirklich die Serie oder die anderen Comics kennen muss um es genießen zu können.
War ganz nett, aber nicht so gut wie der andere Band den ich davor gelesen habe.
Außerdem glaube ich , dass man hier wirklich die Serie oder die anderen Comics kennen muss um es genießen zu können.
April 4, 2022
We all know Vox Machina by now, but their earliest adventures have mostly gone untold...until now! See how the team originally formed as they each individually attempt to stop a plague threatening the town of Stilben, only to discover that teamwork might actually be the better play - if they can stop themselves killing each other first.
I've not heard all of the original Critical Role campaign, but I feel like I've heard enough to understand the personalities of these characters, and this first adventure for them handles them all pretty well. The balance is a little off, which is where the story gets dragged down a bit - Scanlan overwhelms everyone else when he's around since he talks a mile a minute, while Vex and Vax get a lot more focus than anyone else. There's also the dragonborn-that-shall-not-be-named which is always awkward to see, but he's easy enough to kind of ignore if you squint hard enough.
The plot itself is decent, and definitely shows some forward planning for further adventures rather than just a one-off. Once everyone gets together things definitely improve, but it takes half of the book's page count to get there, which isn't great.
The artwork from Olivia Samson is very pretty, even if most of the locales are kind of drab and brown. That's more because of the story needs than a knock on her art though, it's not her fault everything's set in a sewer or a swamp.
Vox Machina's first adventure is a bit messy, but it has a good heart and solid characterisation of everyone's favourites, which is pretty much Critical Role all over, to be honest.
I've not heard all of the original Critical Role campaign, but I feel like I've heard enough to understand the personalities of these characters, and this first adventure for them handles them all pretty well. The balance is a little off, which is where the story gets dragged down a bit - Scanlan overwhelms everyone else when he's around since he talks a mile a minute, while Vex and Vax get a lot more focus than anyone else. There's also the dragonborn-that-shall-not-be-named which is always awkward to see, but he's easy enough to kind of ignore if you squint hard enough.
The plot itself is decent, and definitely shows some forward planning for further adventures rather than just a one-off. Once everyone gets together things definitely improve, but it takes half of the book's page count to get there, which isn't great.
The artwork from Olivia Samson is very pretty, even if most of the locales are kind of drab and brown. That's more because of the story needs than a knock on her art though, it's not her fault everything's set in a sewer or a swamp.
Vox Machina's first adventure is a bit messy, but it has a good heart and solid characterisation of everyone's favourites, which is pretty much Critical Role all over, to be honest.
Read
March 5, 2024i watched the first episode of the show and literally fell in love so now i’m reading the comics but um… this was very boring. i think the humor translates better on tv
November 3, 2019
i am a longtime DnD player/dungeon master, however i am not a Critical Role fan and this was essentially my first in-depth experience with Vox Machina. and.... it was kind of crap.
the art was generally nice but suffered heavily from sameface syndrome - and yes, that was to be expected with the twins. but when Keyleth starts to look like Vax starts to look like Scanlan starts to look like Vash starts to look like Vex starts to look like whatever those cleric/paladin characters were called... that was really grating.
the writing did a bunch of "tell not show" through character dialogue, which yes, i understand that it's an adaption of a tabletop campaign delivered mostly through spoken word. but like... this is a graphic novel. you have more to play with here. images! panel layout! body language! make use of it all! don't just infodump in speech bubbles.
i was already not a fan of Colville's writing and this did nothing to budge that opinion. at times i was totally lost on what was going on and that could have been easily remedied by more focus on storytelling techniques. again, show don't tell. there was a bit towards the end where Vax did a thing (i won't go into spoilers) but instead of showing that thing happening, it shows the aftermath of it, and then later on he tells the other characters how he did it. that didn't need to be told. could have been shown when it happened. even alluded to would have been better than just infodumping through speech bubbles!
on that point: speech bubble placement was weird on multiple occasions and made the conversations hard to follow, especially when there were a lot of them - for gods' sake, SHOW DON'T TELL. there were also a couple of parts where the art was just a basic DnD board with letters representing characters and doors, and yes... i get what you're going for with that, and no... it throws off the pacing of the story and is weird and alienating for anyone who comes into the story without a knowledge of that stuff.
look. it was a slog to get through. i considered DNFing. it was a really mediocre story and i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of Critical Role. i'll be giving it to my critter friend because i know they'll give it a good home.
the art was generally nice but suffered heavily from sameface syndrome - and yes, that was to be expected with the twins. but when Keyleth starts to look like Vax starts to look like Scanlan starts to look like Vash starts to look like Vex starts to look like whatever those cleric/paladin characters were called... that was really grating.
the writing did a bunch of "tell not show" through character dialogue, which yes, i understand that it's an adaption of a tabletop campaign delivered mostly through spoken word. but like... this is a graphic novel. you have more to play with here. images! panel layout! body language! make use of it all! don't just infodump in speech bubbles.
i was already not a fan of Colville's writing and this did nothing to budge that opinion. at times i was totally lost on what was going on and that could have been easily remedied by more focus on storytelling techniques. again, show don't tell. there was a bit towards the end where Vax did a thing (i won't go into spoilers) but instead of showing that thing happening, it shows the aftermath of it, and then later on he tells the other characters how he did it. that didn't need to be told. could have been shown when it happened. even alluded to would have been better than just infodumping through speech bubbles!
on that point: speech bubble placement was weird on multiple occasions and made the conversations hard to follow, especially when there were a lot of them - for gods' sake, SHOW DON'T TELL. there were also a couple of parts where the art was just a basic DnD board with letters representing characters and doors, and yes... i get what you're going for with that, and no... it throws off the pacing of the story and is weird and alienating for anyone who comes into the story without a knowledge of that stuff.
look. it was a slog to get through. i considered DNFing. it was a really mediocre story and i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of Critical Role. i'll be giving it to my critter friend because i know they'll give it a good home.
October 31, 2019
Just your standard d&d story with decent art and a balance of humour.
July 13, 2019
I read this as someone who hasn't watched Critical Role, I am only barely acquainted with it, but I was an avid AD&D player when I was young. This book does do a pretty good job of recreating the fun that can be had when you find a group of players who are really gelling together. The book never "punished" me for not being a Critical Role viewer, and I don't think it matters that I have some roleplaying experience either.
Just good fun, really.
(Read as six single issues.)
Just good fun, really.
(Read as six single issues.)
February 11, 2020
A standard DnD adventure with amusing dialogue, decent art, and a moderately involving story. I haven't listened to the Critical Role podcast, so I'm clearly not the target market for Vox Machina: Origins, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless. It's a pleasant introduction to the podcast's world and characters that even a neophyte can grasp.
The dialogue especially crackles - you can tell this story originated in an audio medium. The art is above average for an adaptation like this, though it's extremely static. Word balloons course down the page like a verbal waterfall while all the characters remain still. I'd return to another Vox Machina volume or maybe even give the podcast a spin.
The dialogue especially crackles - you can tell this story originated in an audio medium. The art is above average for an adaptation like this, though it's extremely static. Word balloons course down the page like a verbal waterfall while all the characters remain still. I'd return to another Vox Machina volume or maybe even give the podcast a spin.
April 24, 2021
Pretty good for the comic book media tie-in prequel to an ongoing podcast where you basically listen to people play Dungeons & Dragons. I have never listened to the podcast or played D&D, so I was hesitant to try this, especially since I got burned by The Adventure Zone series, graphic novels based on another D&D podcast I do not follow. At least the humor in Critical Role is not as forced, desperate, and unrelenting as in The Adventure Zone.
The actual story here is a convoluted affair with a whole mess of factions -- mercenaries, assassins, adventuring groups, a criminal organization, and a demonic organization -- investigating and causing deaths among poor people in a generic fantasy world port town. A small group of adventurers -- a fairly typical mix, maybe a little too similar the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy -- coalesce out of the chaos with meet-cutes, grudging enemy-of-my-enemy alliances, and routine team in-fighting and snarking.
The characters are all likable in their roguish, brutish, and brooding ways and almost carried the book for me, but I think once was enough for me and this franchise.
The actual story here is a convoluted affair with a whole mess of factions -- mercenaries, assassins, adventuring groups, a criminal organization, and a demonic organization -- investigating and causing deaths among poor people in a generic fantasy world port town. A small group of adventurers -- a fairly typical mix, maybe a little too similar the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy -- coalesce out of the chaos with meet-cutes, grudging enemy-of-my-enemy alliances, and routine team in-fighting and snarking.
The characters are all likable in their roguish, brutish, and brooding ways and almost carried the book for me, but I think once was enough for me and this franchise.
June 15, 2022
I have not watched any Critical Role, and only know the characters vaguely from internet osmosis. This comic introduces six of the lead characters as they separately investigate the mystery of a swamp district where people are dying at unusual rates. Some say it's a curse, but if so, it seems like it was intentionally engineered. The book struggles overall with too much dialogue per page and the visual problems of including characters with extreme height differences together in panels. It's fairly obvious this was adapted from an audio-only original source. But the fight scenes are engaging, the humor is strong, and the three half-elf characters in particular get to show their personalities and begin to reveal their backstories.
November 10, 2021
I was going to pace myself, but then this was so much fun that I just burned through it tonight anyway.
It’s an interesting look at how (part of) this group of adventurers came together and I can’t wait to see how some of the backstory stuff in here comes up as I make progress with Campaign 1.
(Also, where do I apply to join the Keyleth Protection Squad?)
Looking forward to reading the other volumes.
Edited to add: I think I most enjoyed the dynamic between Vex and Vax and Scanlan’s
It’s an interesting look at how (part of) this group of adventurers came together and I can’t wait to see how some of the backstory stuff in here comes up as I make progress with Campaign 1.
(Also, where do I apply to join the Keyleth Protection Squad?)
Looking forward to reading the other volumes.
Edited to add: I think I most enjoyed the dynamic between Vex and Vax and Scanlan’s
April 8, 2020
I went into this knowing basically nothing about Critical Role, and it still works. It's an origin story about groups of adventurers in an RPG world coming together. There's a fair bit of humor, lots of personality, some good action, and a decent villain. It takes a while to get there, but it's still a pretty enjoyable journey, especially if you don't mind a tinge of meta to your D&D. The art is pretty good throughout, keeping its cast of characters pretty distinctive, and the magic effects work well too. I'm not sure it's going to make me start watching the series, but it's a good sign that it works so well for someone who isn't already in the know.
July 1, 2022
Shout out to my friend and college roommate TraineeBee who bought this which lead to me eventually reading it too! I'm not familiar with either Critical Role or the Vox Machina series (although I'm definitely interested in the latter now). Luckily, no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy this story!
And I did enjoy the story. In many ways it's your typical mismatched-adventurers-group goes on an adventure, but there can't be enough of fantasy stories like these. I liked the twins best, they were fun with all their banter! I also really liked Keyleth, she's really sweet :) Unfortunately I didn't like Scanlan that much and I didn't always enjoy the humor, some jokes/scenes I found a bit inappropriate.
Overall a quick and fun read with a creative world and an interesting cast of characters. I'd recommend it if you like fantasy graphic novels or even if you're not too familiar with the format but would like to give it a try!
And I did enjoy the story. In many ways it's your typical mismatched-adventurers-group goes on an adventure, but there can't be enough of fantasy stories like these. I liked the twins best, they were fun with all their banter! I also really liked Keyleth, she's really sweet :) Unfortunately I didn't like Scanlan that much and I didn't always enjoy the humor, some jokes/scenes I found a bit inappropriate.
Overall a quick and fun read with a creative world and an interesting cast of characters. I'd recommend it if you like fantasy graphic novels or even if you're not too familiar with the format but would like to give it a try!
April 21, 2023
This was a great origin story for the Vox Machina team, and having watched the first 2 seasons of the show first (and a very healthy amount of the original YouTube content), this is perfectly on brand and the teams tone is forever consistent in the best ways. It feels as though each character wrote their own dialogue, and the real charm of DND truly shines through, with little easter eggs and nods for regular players. Serious without taking itself too seriously, I really look forward to getting the rest of the series.
March 7, 2021
This graphic novel really communicates what it is like to play a game of Dungeons & Dragons. It includes team building, roleplaying tropes, and an interesting adventure with a few twists. The characters all have strong personalities and the art is really attractive.
November 7, 2019
Its not that good as I expected. But its an ok read I guess. I think its time for me to start campaign II binge.
July 15, 2023
i had a good time, obviously—it’s vox machina! i love these characters so much. this volume weaves their separate paths together in a way that feels like really natural emotional development. the plot was less impactful to me; i found it mildly confusing, but it still made room for epic action moments. also Scanlan’s dialogue is fantastic.
i’m not in love with the the art style, though, and the way text is formatted (the heavy font, the speech bubble size) was hard for me to follow—challenges of switching from graphic novels to comics for the first time, i think. i anticipate liking the next volumes more. looking forward to bigger adventures and the additions of Pike and Percy!
i’m not in love with the the art style, though, and the way text is formatted (the heavy font, the speech bubble size) was hard for me to follow—challenges of switching from graphic novels to comics for the first time, i think. i anticipate liking the next volumes more. looking forward to bigger adventures and the additions of Pike and Percy!
Want to read
August 25, 2023everyone shut up and mind your fucking business
November 19, 2022
This was fun, cheeky and easy enough to follow. I appreciated that the good nerds of Critical Role didn't tie this so closely to their game/show that you needed to have followed it. I am *loosely* aware of the group and their ongoing game, but this is wholly it's own story and self contained. There are a couple of D&D specific jokes I caught and I'm sure a lot more available to those really in-the-know. I really enjoyed these characters and the approach to world building/storytelling. Would gladly come back for further adventures.
January 30, 2022
I'm a big fan of the Critical Role live action show, and after bingeing the 1st 3 episodes of the Animated show on Amazon I needed more before next Friday.
Enjoyed this origins story of how the group initially formed and how they blundered through their first adventure.
Enjoyed this origins story of how the group initially formed and how they blundered through their first adventure.
October 17, 2020
Super fun read, so nice to see how these guys all met and to get back to some content containing my faves!
January 9, 2020
I'm just starting to dip my toes into Critical Role, the three-billion hours long D&D video podacst (slight exaggeration) adored by hundreds of thousands of fans (no exaggeration). They seem like a good bunch, and I've heard great things about it -- how could you not, with a fan base that giant -- and a recent Kickstarter campaign to create one 22-minute animated special of the group's origin story amassed over $11.3 million in 45 days.
They asked for an incredible $750,000 to make one 22-minute animated specials.
They got $11.3 million dollars in 45 days.
Now they get to make TWELVE 22-minute animated specials, and exclusive streaming rights on Amazon Prime... and Amazon Prime has already renewed it for a second season before the first has even aired. Pretty cool, right??
So, what is Vox Machina: Origins? It's a graphic novel that tells the story of how this motley crew of six adventurers all got together in the first place. This story predates any of the podcasting campaigns that we've all known, so it's fun to see who was hanging out with whom, and why, before they all ended up adventuring together. There's a lot of fighting, meta humor, adherence to D&D rules within the confines of the story, and even character sheets at the end.
The only issue I had was the artwork. The facial expressions were plenty evocative, but there were many characters that looked very, very similar. Several times they were in disguise and all wearing the same outfit, and their faces weren't dissimilar enough for me to determine whether they were male, female, human, half-elf, important, or an expendable Red Shirt. I wasn't sure how to feel when someone got arrowed in the face. "Oh no! Who's going to heal... oh wait, never mind."
Even if you don't watch Critical Role--I've only watched one episode, clocking in at over three hours--there's still a lot to love in a D&D-based fantasy graphic novel. If any of the topics above sound remotely interesting, then I'll wager this is something you'll enjoy.
They asked for an incredible $750,000 to make one 22-minute animated specials.
They got $11.3 million dollars in 45 days.
Now they get to make TWELVE 22-minute animated specials, and exclusive streaming rights on Amazon Prime... and Amazon Prime has already renewed it for a second season before the first has even aired. Pretty cool, right??
So, what is Vox Machina: Origins? It's a graphic novel that tells the story of how this motley crew of six adventurers all got together in the first place. This story predates any of the podcasting campaigns that we've all known, so it's fun to see who was hanging out with whom, and why, before they all ended up adventuring together. There's a lot of fighting, meta humor, adherence to D&D rules within the confines of the story, and even character sheets at the end.
The only issue I had was the artwork. The facial expressions were plenty evocative, but there were many characters that looked very, very similar. Several times they were in disguise and all wearing the same outfit, and their faces weren't dissimilar enough for me to determine whether they were male, female, human, half-elf, important, or an expendable Red Shirt. I wasn't sure how to feel when someone got arrowed in the face. "Oh no! Who's going to heal... oh wait, never mind."
Even if you don't watch Critical Role--I've only watched one episode, clocking in at over three hours--there's still a lot to love in a D&D-based fantasy graphic novel. If any of the topics above sound remotely interesting, then I'll wager this is something you'll enjoy.
December 30, 2019
3.75
I'm going to try to separate myself from the hundreds of hours I have already spent with these characters and focus on the comic itself as much as possible. However, I do feel like this comic banks a bit too much on peoples love of Critical Role. The art style was pretty and the story was interesting but not unique. Some of the characters felt a little bit forced or 'off', Scanlan in particular read differently to how Sam played him. Overall I'm glad I own this as I am happy to own anything Critical Role and I will keep this for my collection, but I won't be rushing to read it again.
I'm going to try to separate myself from the hundreds of hours I have already spent with these characters and focus on the comic itself as much as possible. However, I do feel like this comic banks a bit too much on peoples love of Critical Role. The art style was pretty and the story was interesting but not unique. Some of the characters felt a little bit forced or 'off', Scanlan in particular read differently to how Sam played him. Overall I'm glad I own this as I am happy to own anything Critical Role and I will keep this for my collection, but I won't be rushing to read it again.
April 26, 2020
I enjoyed how every character was so distinctly unique and had different relationships with one another. The art was whimsical and engaging. I also appreciated how the creators didn't shy way from making the story sound like a d&d campaign. My only complaint is that there were occasional rough transitions where content was clearly cut out for space.
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