Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins Library Edition Volume 1

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins #JL, CW, YN & NtB

by Sam Maggs, Jody Houser, Cecil Castellucci

Critcal Role's The Mighty Nein Origins is collected for the first time!

This first of two volumes collects the whimsical, tragic, and sometimes haunting backstories of Jester Lavorre, Caleb Widogast, Yasha Nydoorin, and Nott the Brave. Delve deep into their pasts and witness what led them to the Mighty Nein.

This hardcover collection features stories and art by fan-favorite Critter creators, in direct consultation with the cast of Critical Role! It's a must for any fan's library.

Collects:

Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Jester Lavorre
Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast
Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Yasha Nydoorin
Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Nott the Brave

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Queer, Dungeons and Dragons, Comics Manga

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2023

About the author

SAM MAGGS is a bestselling writer of books, comics, and video games, including Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope, Tell No Tales, Con Quest!, and Marvel's Spider-Man PS4. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk. Visit her online at sammaggs.com or @SamMaggs!

Reviews

[Sivert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a great collection of stories!

I especially loved the Bren story, I could physically not But the book down through the whole thing. So that one alone gets 10/10 from me.

[Essi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jester Lavorre ★★
Yasha Nydoorin ★★★
Caleb Widogast ★★★★
Nott the Brave ★★★★

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't be unbiased about these stories. Critical Role means everything to me, and I miss the Mighty Nein something fierce.

(Do have to admit Kirby's art style is not for me, so kinda sucked that 2 of the 4 stories were by his hand.)

[Victor Norrman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to see the characters we love, but the stories were a little lacking I think.

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful artwork, though the art for Jester and Caleb’s story was my favorite. I love these characters so much! Very excited for the next omnibus to release with the second half of the Might Nein origins.

[Lia Koering · Rating 5 out of 5]

GORG😗😗🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous (and pricey) edition of four of the origin stories of the Mighty Nein characters written in conjunction with Matt Mercer and the voice actors embodying the various characters. In this we have, in order, Jester Lavorre, Yasha Nydoorin, Caleb Widogast and Nott the Brave. So let me talk about them individually.

Jester's story has lovely art and color palette and while the story seems to go on a bit long (I haven't checked but I suspect it is the longest by page count). We meet Jester as a young girl, Sapphire, whose mother is one of the most sought after courtesans in the realm and is also Agoraphobic and overprotective to the extreme. Jester is rarely allowed outside the building and turns inward to her art. Until she meets The Traveler, who at this time she believes to be another kid like herself. It's a story about their dangerous shenanigans until Jester finally leaves the nest. It is by far the happiest story of the bunch.

Yasha's story was the weakest (and I'm not saying that because Yasha is not my favorite character. I like her don't get me wrong but she's at the bottom of the pile for me). It seemed overly long for the story it's telling but that might not have been so bad had the art been better. William Kirkby's art in this is...I wish I could see it as the editors extolled it. It's a muddy, heavy lined, out of proportion, bodies don't look like that mess. I outright hated it. Yasha's story is pretty tragic though so there was potential for it to be good. She's taken basically as the spoils of war but raised by the leader as her own. That works until she falls in love with another woman taken in the same way. Only more sadness results and we leave her on the steps of joining the Nein.

Caleb's story is tied with Nott's as my favorite (I'm biased, they're my favorite two characters in the Nein but in full honesty Caleb is the type of character I always fall for). Caleb's story starts with joy, him getting a rare spot at the Solstryce Academy where he and a couple others, Astrid and Wulf are mocked for being country bumpkins. They are selected for special training which is obvious to anyone but them they are being groomed and tortured and probably experimented on (which is probably why three country folk were selected). They are left scarred inside and out and used as weapons for the empire. Also they're a thruple (the pages get pretty spicy within the bounds of what's allowed on a page) so Caleb is canonically a poly pansexual from what we can tell. And then his story goes beyond tragic as the gas lighting and outright magically enthrallment takes him to a dark place, to dark things and then he breaks.

Nott the Brave's story is very much the saddest of them all. Kirkby's art is back. It's still ugly but at least not as bad as Yasha's (so...that was an artistic choice?!?) And I can't really review it without completely spoiling it if you haven't caught up with the Mighty Nein (I am not but I had already been spoiled for all this because what it's 4-5 years ago now that it aired?) What is done to Nott is horrific and really one of the more interesting twists.

So very glad I got this edition and I know I said it's expensive but honestly is more expensive than buying the comics individually? No, not really. It's worth it.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects 4 of the origin stories. Individual reviews below.

Jestor Lavorre by Sam Maggs, Hunter Severn Bonyun & Cathy Le - ★★★
I haven't listened to any of Critical Role but a comic should be able to stand on its own. Introductions to the characters would have helped a bit. Still it was a light and fun comic. I liked the art and animation style coloring.

Yasha Nydoorin by Cecil Castellucci, William Kirkby & Diana Sousa - ★
This thing dragged on much more than a 50-page comic should. The art was awful. It looked like a knock-off fantasy Rick and Morty comic. Not at all what I want in what should be a gritty story.

Caleb Widogast by Jodi Houser, Selina Espiritu & Diana Sousa - ★★★
A really dark and depressing story of a young mage sent off to school where he was twisted into being a monster for the Empire before breaking free. Surprisingly erotic as well as Bren develops a throuple while in school. Not bad, but also not as fun as other Critical Role comics.

Nott the Brave by Sam Maggs, William Kirkby & Eren Angiolini - ★★★
This may be the best of these origin stories I've read so far. It's about a halfling family captured by goblins. It ultimately could have used some more fleshing out but it's not half bad.

William Kirkby's art is growing. I absolutely hated the first one of these origins he did. He still needs to learn how to draw pupils. If you can't draw eyes as an artist that's a real problem as they are the most expressive part of a face. But the backgrounds were detailed and lush. Once he gets facial features down, he'll be a capable artist.

[Katheryn Haskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaah! Every since seeing Vox Machina I've been interested in the other campaigns as well, I'm so glad I've managed to get my hands on some of Mighty Nein! I'm very invested now because of these origin stories. My only real complaint is that they aren't all together so I have to get another volume to read the rest xD.

Jester - ⭐⭐⭐
I was kind of surprised Jesters was as tame as it is! I was kind of expecting like a circus or something. Regardless, it was a fun little tale, but it didn't make me feel particularly invested in her. Still entertaining though. And her mom 🥵

Nott the Brave - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This one hit so hard man 😭😭 Poor Nott. This story is heart breaking on so many levels, I can't even. Instantly and easily my favourite.

Yasha - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The gays be gay, and they're cute as shit. It's also very tragic though. This one had a lot of text to it, and was really long, it was nice to get so much back info! I did feel that the art style in this one was weird though? Maybe it's because I read it last, or maybe its cause I was kind of pissed off at life while reading it, but it was distracting for me.

Caleb - ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
DAAAAMN. Liam O'Brien really doesn't like to have parents, eh? This one escalated SO DRAMATICALLY. Like damn. Just damn. I'm excited to see what happens with his character.

[Monica (Tomes Project) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of the origin stories for the characters of the Mighty Nein. I'm watching the campaign for the first time, and I'm around the 65 episode mark as I'm reading these volumes and there's nothing in here that's particularly crazy with spoilers of things that I don't know at this point in the show.

Yasha's story by far was the most interesting to me since there's so much still that I don't know about her character at this point in the series, but the art style made her issue an absolute slog to get through. All of the character stories were really solid, though Caleb's I think benefited the least from this addition to his story because so much of this was exactly what we've already seen relayed to us through the campaign. Jester's story was my favorite in this collection. Between the art style and the the story that it told of her life with her mother and the Traveller, I was fully invested in her story for every page.

[Maggie]

There was clearly a lot of thought and care put into this collection. I love that each of these stories are essentially about the isolation our main characters experienced before the campaign starts, and that each story ends with another member of The Mighty Nein looking at the main character. Beautiful! What a succinct, subtle way to summarize what the campaign has to say about the power of connection.

In terms of story, I did feel like Jester's was the weakest only because there wasn't really any new information revealed, while Caleb's to me was the most interesting for that same reason. But overall, the collection is an interesting supplemental to the campaign! The composition and coloring of certain pages are truly stunning.

[Lutin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore this book. Amazing quality in art and writing and material. The fact that the art style changes with every story makes them all unique and distinct, and it works very well in showing the kind of stories and characters they are. I especially love Caleb's story - his story is a tragic and heartbreaking one. The inclusion of Frumpkin just broke my heart a little each time he appeared. The art was fantastic and there was some super powerful panels in the high point of the story. 10/10 recommend, although I dont think the comics are as easily enjoyable or understandable without any prior knowledge to the Mighty Nein.

[Steph L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely stories and great characters. Read this if you know The Mighty Nein and want to see their stories before they became a group. If you don't know these characters, this is a great entryway into their world without needing to know much of the lore. If you want to dive into Critical Role, this is a great start because you get a flavor for the characters, and you can still enjoy watching the campaign.

Characters-10

Atmosphere-10

Writing-10

Plot-9

Intrigue-9

Logic-10

Enoyment-10

[Eren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars (8/10)

I love the art for all of them. Caleb's was the strongest overall: story, art, paneling, etc. The most immersive, I think. Yasha and Nott's were good as well; I enjoyed William Kirkby's very distinct art style especially. The art for Jester's was stunning, but the story felt amateurish, and wasn't particularly interesting. I'm certainly not a comic making expert, or even a novice, but the paneling felt too spread apart and inefficient, mostly big splash panels. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot overall, very glad to have it in my collection

[Elise Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know a fictional world is good when it can be built upon, and all the characters have multiple layers to them. I love Critical Role, I’ve loved Vox Machina, and I’m falling more in love with the Mighty Nein. I enjoyed getting more fleshed-out stories of the past lives of Jester, Caleb, Yasha, and Nott the Brave (Veth). The panels are so well done, and the dialogue is exactly right for every character. These campaigns go beyond the actual Dungeons & Dragons game. They have created amazing stories and people.

[Wonkyjaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

I think the weight of my love for these characters and maybe my previous knowledge of their stories carried me through this collection. The art was gorgeous. I think some of these stories would have benefited from being given a little more space. They’re very much unfinished beginnings for who these characters are and wouldn’t stand alone at all, but that’s what I was expecting for the most part.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were enjoyable comics offering a deeper understanding of The Mighty Nein as characters. They aren't perfect by any means. For example, I did find some issues with the pacing, but these are short comics, so it's to be expected. However, they were effective in explaining how their personalities were shaped to what we see in the main storyline. The art for Jester and Caleb suited my tastes more than Yasha and Nott's.

[livia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me how much I miss these characters, and how forward I'm looking to the tv show coming out this year. I loved that, unlike in the first series, they didn't limit themselves to a single art style, making each chapter distinct in its own way. Story wise, Jester and Caleb's chapters were standouts. I felt like Yasha's was a bit too long in comparison, but her art style was the most interesting.

[Phantoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jester Lavorre - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Yasha Nydoorin - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Caleb Widogast - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nott the Brave - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved them all. The stories were incredible. Yasha is only 4 stars because I'm not a fan of the art style but her story was just as good as the others. To pick a favourite I'd say Jester, but Jester was my 2nd favourite character of Mighty Nein (Caduceus being my favourite).

[Elara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las historias 10/10, el estilo de dibujo varía en cada una, siendo Will Kirkby el autor de dos de ellas y, aunque su estilo de dibujo funciona para Knott, desluce por mucho la historia de Yasha. Cuesta centrarse en el hilo narrativo con ese tipo de dibujo (desluce tantísimo que incluso es imposible de comparar con el de Knott siendo la misma mano dibujante en ambas historias).

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might have been one of the saddest shits I’ve ever read. Like, I adored seeing Jester’s childhood and her mum and her joy, but then it was punch after punch after punch in the gut. Like pleaseeeeeee let me breathe a second guys (also I get doing Caleb and Nott back to back, but damn was it fucking painful to read guys)

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories were awesome- only reason for the four star review is the art style in Yasha's comic. The others have such an awesome, super-detailed art style while hers looked like a little lacking, the story was good though! Was just hard to focus on that with the art style.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: pet death during Caleb's story. I wish I had had that warning going in. It's not graphic, just upsetting.

Anyway, I'm not as familiar with the Mighty Nein as I am VM or BH, so I almost liked the backstory more knowing very little about their current selves.

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I've been waiting for the library edition forever and it was worth it.

[Sean Camoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff, as expected from Critical Role. Huge fan of the Nein, an$ can5 wait for volume 2.

[Dostan Racerkid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jester Lavorre - ☆☆
Caleb Widogast - ☆☆☆☆
Yasha Nydoorin - ☆☆
Nott the Brave - ☆☆☆☆

[Michael Mason-D'Croz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good … but not as good as Vox Machina.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid writing but some of these backstories feel a bit cramped by the format.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

World building, characters, and the artwork are all superb.

[piper :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

jester's art style has me foaming at the mouth!!!