Critical RoleCritiques

I love the animated series. I'm fond of the podcast (although I gave it up because I wasn't willing to commit probably a year or two of my work commute to catching up) and the book? I think it's good to sate my hunger for more Vox Machina as I wait for the next season to roll out. I wouldn't use this as an entry point though - I don't think it quite has the flavor right. But for existing fans? I think they'll enjoy it.½

As a huge D&D fan, I've been meaning to get into Critical Role for a very long time. I haven't yet found the time to sit down and get into the podcast, but I saw this and had to buy it! I'm so pleased with it - the art style is fantastic, the story is very well done and it's a brilliant introduction to the characters even though I don't know them that well yet. It's exactly what I want from a story based around D&D, with great characters and witty dialogue and things gone wrong (as always) and a ragtag team of adventurers who mesh together somehow.

Ahh this is a great series so far. This time poor Grog gets summoned by his dead father and winds up possessed by a ghostly demon. His friends rescue him but he is not yet 100% better. His friends need to find magical items to help him before he is lost for good. Graphics are amazing as well as the banter between the group of adventurers. Looking forward to the new volume coming out this year!

I have no idea what this is. However, a lot of the artwork is extremely gorgeous. That's what the stars are fun. That artwork.

I love all the art and seeing our beloved characters in the beginning of their journey is such a treat!

Did I know what Critical Role was when I started this book? No. Do I know what it is now? Still no. It sure is something though. Can't say I didn't like the book, so whatever sort of weird popular culture this thing may be, it's created a good graphic novel and that's all that matters to me.

(I'm not old I swear!)

Great fun and excellent artwork.

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.

Great fun and excellent artwork.

It appears there are two entries for this.

(dang, people are so cranky.)
I loved this. Fantastic art, everyone was so handsome, and lots of fun action panels. This is actually my first real introduction to these characters in their baby forms (I'm a Mighty Nein gal), and I loved their dynamics.

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/critical-role/
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.

I expect you have to be a Critter (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2416018290) to appreciate this book properly but assuming you are, I can't see how you could fail to like it. The art is so abundant and varied in style that at least some of it is bound to be up your street and the character biographies are fun reminders of not only our heroes but their allies and enemies.

The different artistic approaches to the same characters, based on the same basic descriptions, is one of the interesting aspects of this project, which with its large format and high print quality has been given the care, attention to detail and sheer love it deserves.

Matt Colville does an excellent job with the characters and dialogue: having seen the campaign and knowing its progress and results, it’s super fun to see these new old characters and the shadow of Vox Machina shaping them. I loved watching the burgeoning character dynamics in this arc, especially between Keyleth and Vex (that hug, aww). And although I love the new campaign and characters, it’s always great to return to Vox Machina. Really missed Pike and Percy, though. Hope to see them in the next arc.

Also, funny, how I thought that no one could topple Vax from the position of an all time fave, with him being a tragic disaster bi and all. But, same as with the campaign, Scanlan just saunters over and steals every scene.½

My review of this graphic novel can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=620PdZ7FIkI

Enjoy!