***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE NERD BLITZ PATREON***
Welcome to week 2 of, hopefully, 3 celebrating and reviewing Free Comic Book Day books from years past!
Hopefully you’re all digging this little trip down nerd memory lane.
Now this is a book that I missed the boat on the year it released because Rona fucked FCBD up the same way it did everything else, but luckily good ol Fitty man was able to nab me a copy last year.
I read it once and thought it was okay, but I haven’t really gone back to it until now.
So let’s take a chance, roll the dice, and see if this is a good addition to the Exandrian canon!
This is a big bad ***SPOILER ALERT*** for Critical Role Campaign 1.
And I really mean it this time!
Cover by Hunter Severn Bonyun with Stephan McGowan: A bit more stylistic than I would prefer, which makes it a bit harder to recognize a few members of the party.
I kinda dig the dreamy frame around them, I really dig Keyleth, Grog, and Percy’s dynamic action poses.
But there’s not too much to it.
Overall, it’s kind of a mixed bag for me.
Art by Hunter Severn Bonyun: Thankfully the guts are a bit better, though a few of the instances where we see the VM crew look a bit wonky.
At one point I’d swear Keyleth was a Firbolg, but I think that’s on colorists Stephan McGowan & Maricela Ugarte giving her a weirdly super red nose.
I think it’s also due to the character telling the story maybe imagining herself as Keyleth, but she’s not a Firbolg either so it’s just an odd choice all around.
But, that aside, it’s far better, it feels a bit more confident and relaxed to me than the cover does.
It really seems to pop more.
So I dig it.
Story by Jody Houser: In a Whitestone tavern, a group of locals are complaining about the wedding of Vex & Percy and how it’s not happening in town, where they could all benefit from it.
As they sit around, they trade stories they’ve heard about the legendary heroes that are Vox Machina.
Now this is not at all what I was expecting out of this book, meaning the titular heroes having what boil down to be glorified cameos.
But I actually found myself liking it more now than I did when I read it, and it’s placement in the Critical Role timeline makes it even cooler.
Set way after the other Vox Machina Origins comics as well as the end of campaign 1, but just before the final Vox Machina One-Shot episode, this 10 page story is a great bit of dancing between the raindrops of continuity to see how the big bad of that One-Shot found out about the wedding and set his plan in motion.
I also like seeing the man on the street and their perspective of the legendary heroes of Vox Machina.
It’s like those interviews after the battle of New York in the first Avengers (yes, I made this reference solely because Ashley Johnson (Pike) plays the waitress in Avengers and I wanted to point that out, but I feel it’s actually working out in my favor too).
Sure, we’d watched all of these fuckers in 5 movies leading up to it, but it’s still fascinating to see how they impact the actual people in the universe.
You all know I love this shit, but it’s pretty cool to see it kept fresh like this, to have it picked up by a new handle and examined through a different point of view is good.
Adds a new layer to all of the stories surrounding these characters.
It’s littered with references and inside jokes to make long time Critters grin as well.
If you can find this when you go out this year, and if you dig some hardcore fantasy, pick it up and let’s talk about it.
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And finally, given the state of the world, do what you can to leave it a little bit better than you found it.
As difficult as that may be currently, it can have an impact far greater than you know.
Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
