A review by danilanglie
Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Yasha Nydoorin by Cecil Castellucci, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer
2.0
I love Yasha a lot, but honestly this origin story comic for her didn't really work for me, sad to say!
For one thing, it felt like just a survey of her backstory instead of a story in its own right. Weird to have the bulk of the story be about Zuala and her original tribe, but then tack on the time with Obann at the end too. I wish it had been just one or the other. Maybe a brief overview on her over-all journey, and then a focus on just a smaller moment, a particularly illuminating incident that taught her something about her life and her beliefs.
None of the characters really shone for me, it didn't feel like I got to know Zuala or Skyspear, or, really, even Yasha, as people? The story about duty to the clan making the romance forbidden just didn't feel all that juicy or specific or earned. I really didn't like that she was given the name "Orphan-Maker" as part of the ceremony, before she'd actually done any killing as part of her destiny. That felt a little hollow to me too.
I also didn't like the art style, sorry to be down on every aspect of this! It just felt really muddy and like it was lacking momentum? I don't know much about visual forms of art but when I read a good comic it feels... kinetic, to me, like I get the sense of the motion of the page. This didn't give me that feeling.
I like having this as a curio of Critical Role, there were a few images that I did think were very pretty and evocative, like the hand-holding shot, and Yasha being saved by the Stormfather... but in all, this one didn't really stick the landing.
For one thing, it felt like just a survey of her backstory instead of a story in its own right. Weird to have the bulk of the story be about Zuala and her original tribe, but then tack on the time with Obann at the end too. I wish it had been just one or the other. Maybe a brief overview on her over-all journey, and then a focus on just a smaller moment, a particularly illuminating incident that taught her something about her life and her beliefs.
None of the characters really shone for me, it didn't feel like I got to know Zuala or Skyspear, or, really, even Yasha, as people? The story about duty to the clan making the romance forbidden just didn't feel all that juicy or specific or earned. I really didn't like that she was given the name "Orphan-Maker" as part of the ceremony, before she'd actually done any killing as part of her destiny. That felt a little hollow to me too.
I also didn't like the art style, sorry to be down on every aspect of this! It just felt really muddy and like it was lacking momentum? I don't know much about visual forms of art but when I read a good comic it feels... kinetic, to me, like I get the sense of the motion of the page. This didn't give me that feeling.
I like having this as a curio of Critical Role, there were a few images that I did think were very pretty and evocative, like the hand-holding shot, and Yasha being saved by the Stormfather... but in all, this one didn't really stick the landing.