Vox Machina Origins

Vox Machina Origins is a spin-off comic series from Critical Role’s Vox Machina.

The story is about how the members of Vox Machina meet and form the party. Basically, the story is before the official start of CR’s Vox Machina campaign.

I believe this was requested countless times by critters who wanted to know how Vox Machina was formed.
Yes, you read right. The beginning of CR’s Vox Machina isn’t the real beginning. That is because the members of Critical Role had already been playing for a while prior it was broadcast on Youtube.

To be honest, I wasn’t too interested in this, but I purchased it anyway to support Critical Role.

There are three books, and the one I have is a library edition which has the first and second part together. The part 3 is readily available on Amazon kindle but I wanted a physical book which seems to be out of print sadly.

I will be honest here. I did not enjoy the comic, and this is coming from a guy who reads a lot of comics. There isn’t anything too wrong with the comic itself. My issue sterns from a habit more than anything else.

You see, when I was reading the comic, it felt too quiet.

Why not play a music or something then?

Well, I don’t mean “too quiet” that way. Like I said, it’s a habit. Having spent over 1,000 hours watching/reading Critical role episodes. I’ve grown a habit of expecting various chatters, Matt Mercer’s voices, and so on.

Yes, I was expecting a D&D session. But it is not a D&D session. It is just a comic.

No arguments among the cast, no laughs, no eerily synced movements from Taliesin Jaffe and Marisha Ray. It was missing too much of the real fun in Critical Role episodes.

Which, again, is not the fault of the comic itself.

One of actual flaws of this comic is a lack of variety in character designs. Aside from Grog, every male character seems to look identical. They’ve got the same facial shape, eyes, mouth, and even hairstyle.

For an example, for me to distinguish Vax from other male characters, I had to either look at his ears or outfit.

I also found the story fractured, making it hard for me to focus. It goes one event to another without much explanations.

Normally, in such situations, Matt Mercer would explain what was happening. Not in this case of course.

Overall, if it wasn’t the connection to Critical Role, I would have discarded this comic as a trash. That’s my honest take on the comic.

The comic itself may, well, suck, but the bonus materials are nice to look at. Sadly, the style this comic has is just too different from my imaginations. But that’s just a subjective opinion. You may love it.

Until next time.