Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Mollymauk Tealeaf

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins

by Jody Houser (Writer), Hunter Severn Bonyun (Illustrator), Taliesin Jaffe (Draft Writer)

What strange events created Mollymauk Tealeaf?

Entertainer, fighter, and performer, "Molly" has a knack for hiding his true self behind the shifting color and shape of a personality he seems to wear like his singular coat. But as with every member of the Mighty Nein, his past will eventually catch up with him...and it's a strange one indeed.

Join Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins writer Jody Houser, artist extraordinaire Hunter Bonyun, and Critical Role's Matthew Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe as they reveal Mollymauk's evolution from empty shell to vibrant individual, and the dark corners of his past that even he is afraid to examine.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Graphic Novels Comics, LGBT

56 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[JJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me like Molly so much more than I did when I was watching the show.

[Ben A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally, my reviews for these Critical Role origin comics begin with something like "So far, this was my favorite." I'm not sure if it applies in this case, but I will gladly take this volume over a majority of the comics and stories I generally read. This one is definitely an engrossing story with hints of sadness, and I excitedly tore through it, nearly unable to turn the pages fast enough. At this point I cannot get enough of the world and the characters. And may I just say that the art by Hunter Severn Bonyun was excellent and she is an artist I will definitely be keeping my on for anything she does next.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

CW: death (of loved ones)

I adore the Mighty Nein and I have been thinking more and more about rewatching the campaign again because I do miss them. I think most of this story was already known through the campaign but I still enjoyed this tremendously. This made me nostalgic for the early campaign and reminded me of my first watch-through and getting to know everything about these characters, seeing the circus, Yasha and having the comic end with the first instance in the campaign in which we meet them was great.
It's been some time since I spent time in Exandria (too long, in my opinion) and I really enjoyed this story, also due to the stunning art style.

[cathán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your honour I love him

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the Mighty Nein Origins I liked this one best (so far).

[Marissa Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, but I miss him.

[Dani's Forehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having a character start as a (young) adult from the start can make a backstory short and while there's always the mystery of who Molly was before they woke up, this story isn't about that.
It's about what they did since they became Molly and that was a nice way to go about it, to show how Molly became Molly instead of looking who they were before.

[Windekresstard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received today, read today.
Ah, the art is absolutely beautiful. The story telling is fun. My only complaint was that it wasn't longer!

[iasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️‍🩹 terminando do jeitinho que começou a campanha, chorei

[Sivert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. Beautifully illustrated

[Saoirse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly wasn't allowed to live past episode 26 because of how annoying I would have been about him if he'd been there for a whole campaign

[Ivy]

why bald

[Willemijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars? I'm unsure about my feelings towards this book. I adored Mollymauk in the campaign, so I was very excited to read more about him (especially since I didn't fully finish watching the campaign), but I was left slightly disappointed?

The story that was told was over rather quickly and I felt like it didn't really have an exciting plotline start to finish? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. But there were more thrilling/emotional/intriguing graphic novels in this particular series. And I like to be sucked into the emotion of a story.

Once again, I adore the art! It's incredibly detailed. A lot of love and dedication has been put into this. People can create such beautiful things.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

These comics are beautiful and touching. I was intrigued to see how they did Molly’s with his patchy past but I liked it overall. I didn’t feel it was as deep as the others I’ve read and felt more emotionally invested when Yasha came in, but I still enjoyed it. I don’t feel like it showed much that we didn’t know unlike the others did.
I loved the art style but thought some of the images were a bit chaotic with similar colours making it hard to see the details sometimes.
Overall, great read. I love these comics.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this a solid 4.5. Of all the Mighty Nein Origins comics I’ve read, art style wise, this is my favourite. Bonyun captured Molly’s character perfectly through her intricate design and choice of colour palette, and I especially appreciated the way she incorporated the tarot cards to pinpoint significant events throughout the story. In terms of the actual narrative, I enjoyed it! Coming from finishing Caleb and Fjord’s comics, I would have liked to have seen more vulnerable moments of Molly’s past (as any time they did come up it felt all too brief) but still a great comic!

[Dan McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic bridges the story of The Nine Eyes of Lucien and the start of Molly's story in campaign 2 of Critical Role. Starting with his resurrection and finding the circus and ending with Molly and Tasha walking into the tavern in Trostenwald.

The art is beautiful, each page is full of details. The pages of important moments in his life are designed around depictions of his oracle cards.

A great tribute to my favorite character of campaign 2!

[Tamara Morrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

this was a great little comic on the beginning of Mollymauk Tealeaf and how he joined the circus
I loved the art work, especially how they incorporated the tarot cards to the story and the art.

any fan of critical role would love this comic

[Becca Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an eARC of this graphic novel.

Boy, where to start. This was absolutely everything I could've hoped for from a Mollymauk origins story! It fit in particularly well with the timeline we've already learned between stream and companion novels. His and Yasha's time at the circus is something I've always wanted to learn more about since we didn't get too many details in-campaign. This was the perfect taste of that and filled in such great pittle details about Molly [and his gear].

Plus I've gotta shout out, this might be my favorite art from the Mighty Nein Irigon comics. Every volume has been spectacular, but this one, in particular, appealed to me.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite one so far. I loved the artwork.

[kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

mollymauk my beloved

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fav 💜💜💜

[Tali]

After reading all of the books in this series (that are currently out hi beau) this and Caleb’s have to be my favorites. Nott’s is in third place and the rest or kind of forgettable.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a little under a 4 for me. Pretty art but the story felt a little empty (badum tss) and rushed rather than detailed.

[salem · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far my fav of the origin stories of critical role. Mollymauk is already one of my favourite characters in this made my liking just increased.

[liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

mollymauk love of my life
this is my favourite mighty nein origins comics it’s so beautiful and it made me love molly even more (if that’s even possible)

[Willow Pingel · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is gorgeous and I love this funky little tiefling 💜💜💜

[V K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art’s amazing, story is good (not really giving us much extra lore / elaborate backstory though)

[Dany Doncel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tarot spreads to mark the passage of time, and to compliment the themes of the story! Genius.

[Chanel Chapters · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you don’t know who you are, be a dazzling bi bitch carni.

Major crush on Molly - I’d let him sling my cards anytime. 💙


3.75

[Arlette Krijgsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to get a physical copy of this because it is gorgeous.