Critical Role: Vox Machina — Origins vol. 3

In case anyone was wondering, I didn’t get around to checking out any of the “Critical Role” podcasts before picking up this second volume.  So I’m continuing to experience Vox Machina’s world solely through the medium of its spinoff comic.  Which continues to be pretty good even as the second volume delivers a more episodic story structure that begins with the team defeating a monstrosity known as a Bog Baby.  As they relax in the inn afterwards, Goliath team member Grog starts acting strangely and has disappeared when they wake up the next morning.  Their efforts to track him lead the team to an old friend of his, a dwarven cleric named Pike.  Having a cleric on hand turns out to be just what the team needs when it’s revealed that Grog has been spirited away by a sorcerer-turned-lich who wants to use the fighter’s body to take his place amongst the living.  Defeating the lich is easy.  Breaking the curse that he placed on Grog, however, is going to be hard.

Artist Olivia Samson returns from the first miniseries and her art is every bit as good as it was there.  It’s sharp, colorful, and full of little touches that feel true to the character’s personalities.  Taking over from series creator Matthew Mercer as writer for this volume is Jody Houser.  I don’t think the series lost a step in terms of characterization or wittiness from the changeover, as the main cast remains thoroughly likeable, the new additions are fun, and Scanlan once again gets all the best lines.  Where this volume loses me a bit is in its structure as the story feels like its changing gears every issue to pursue something else.  Still, the stories themselves are entertaining and despite my ongoing unfamiliarity with “Critical Role” I never felt like there was some kind of reference that I wasn’t getting.  For all I know, the story could have been made entirely out of references to other stories in this world and I was just missing out on wall-to-wall fanservice.  Whatever the case is, vol. 2 of “Origins” is still good enough to make me want to check out the promised vol. 3 when it finally arrives.