Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Mollymauk Teale… (2024)

Generally, my reviews for these Critical Role origin comics begin with something like "So far, this was my favorite." I'm not sure if it applies in this case, but I will gladly take this volume over a majority of the comics and stories I generally read. This one is definitely an engrossing story with hints of sadness, and I excitedly tore through it, nearly unable to turn the pages fast enough. At this point I cannot get enough of the world and the characters. And may I just say that the art by Hunter Severn Bonyun was excellent and she is an artist I will definitely be keeping my on for anything she does next.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC.

This made me like Molly so much more than I did when I was watching the show.

Of all the Mighty Nein Origins I liked this one best (so far).

Received today, read today.
Ah, the art is absolutely beautiful. The story telling is fun. My only complaint was that it wasn't longer!

why bald

A great read. Beautifully illustrated

Molly wasn't allowed to live past episode 26 because of how annoying I would have been about him if he'd been there for a whole campaign

I give this a solid 4.5. Of all the Mighty Nein Origins comics I’ve read, art style wise, this is my favourite. Bonyun captured Molly’s character perfectly through her intricate design and choice of colour palette, and I especially appreciated the way she incorporated the tarot cards to pinpoint significant events throughout the story. In terms of the actual narrative, I enjoyed it! Coming from finishing Caleb and Fjord’s comics, I would have liked to have seen more vulnerable moments of Molly’s past (as any time they did come up it felt all too brief) but still a great comic!

This comic bridges the story of The Nine Eyes of Lucien and the start of Molly's story in campaign 2 of Critical Role. Starting with his resurrection and finding the circus and ending with Molly and Tasha walking into the tavern in Trostenwald.

The art is beautiful, each page is full of details. The pages of important moments in his life are designed around depictions of his oracle cards.

A great tribute to my favorite character of campaign 2!

4.5 stars

this was a great little comic on the beginning of Mollymauk Tealeaf and how he joined the circus
I loved the art work, especially how they incorporated the tarot cards to the story and the art.

any fan of critical role would love this comic

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an eARC of this graphic novel.

Boy, where to start. This was absolutely everything I could've hoped for from a Mollymauk origins story! It fit in particularly well with the timeline we've already learned between stream and companion novels. His and Yasha's time at the circus is something I've always wanted to learn more about since we didn't get too many details in-campaign. This was the perfect taste of that and filled in such great pittle details about Molly [and his gear].

Plus I've gotta shout out, this might be my favorite art from the Mighty Nein Irigon comics. Every volume has been spectacular, but this one, in particular, appealed to me.

Favorite one so far. I loved the artwork.

mollymauk my beloved

My fav 💜💜💜

After reading all of the books in this series (that are currently out hi beau) this and Caleb’s have to be my favorites. Nott’s is in third place and the rest or kind of forgettable.

2.5
Beautiful illustrations, fun story but nothing that was really memorable.

Maybe a little under a 4 for me. Pretty art but the story felt a little empty (badum tss) and rushed rather than detailed.

My favourite little cursed guy

Good background, very original. I really wish that this character had received more attention to fill out his story in the campaign. So many pathways to follow.

Mollymauk si conferma la genderfluid icon che non ci meritavamo, ma di cui avevamo bisogno.
La scam plot mi ha molto divertito e i momenti con Yasha mi hanno fatto sciogliere, ma questo c'era da aspettarselo.

This is a very fast paced story revolving around Mollymauk Tealeaf’s early life and his adventures before meeting the Mighty Nein. It’s gorgeously illustrated and designed, though I felt the story moved a little fast without real thought for pacing. Regardless, this is a great story for Critical Role and Molly fans!

The story jumped around a bit much for my liking but the colors and design are unbelievably gorgeous

Crying over the purple man again.

Molly always had such a brilliant and intriguing start to his "life". Obviously bigger questions of who was in there before Molly have been generally explored more, but I'm glad we got to see Molly in the very beginning and watch him flourish in the circus, and really grow into who he was.

Reading this along with the Nine Eyes of Lucien, I believe they've carved out a brilliant story of Mollymauk, Lucien and Kingsley - and we really get to know this brilliant character whose time in the campaign was so short lived.

And bonus points for the Yasha meeting and getting to see their relationship begin to form.

Long May He Reign.

This comic is up there for me with the Yasha and Nott comic! It was very fun and I really enjoyed learning more about the carnival and Mollymauk pre-mighty nein as we really only knew a few things. Also loved how the cards were used throughout the comic layout - very fitting!

(Honourary shout out to seeing more Yasha in this comic, as I've always wanted to see more of Yasha and Molly's dynamic together in the carnival. Also, I am obsessed with the way Yasha is drawn in this comic!)

This one was nothing special, but it didn't really make me mad either? It was... fine. All the super interesting parts of Molly as a character are the things that happen when he's not even Molly. Sorry, but I've never been the biggest fan of this character; not, again, to say that I have anything against him, but I just didn't quite see the hype!

Some of the things I wasn't so fond of in this comic... the character design for Lestera and Gustav had them both be SO skeletal in build, it was a little uncomfortable. At first when I saw Molly's build I was concerned, but I figured he'd just dug himself up from his own grave, so it made a certain amount of sense that he be malnourished. But then Lestera is pretty over the top in how thin she is too, it was almost awkward to look at.

On the flip side of that, I found the pacing of this story a little strange, like, why not make the whole story about Lestera and the tarot cards and learning the trade, why not have her directly tied into the adventure the whole way through, and then end with her death as a capstone? Instead, the book was split into strange segments that sort of mimicked a D&D story I guess, except this isn't something that was played out in actual sessions at the table, so why have it be paced this way?

To stop complaining, I did love the design of the tarot cards and the way they framed the pages so we got to see the various themes explored. I really liked Yasha turning up and feeling "empty", and how Molly got to flip things around and be the welcoming committee for her, the way the carnival was for him when he first emerged into his new life. The flower imagery around Yasha is quite lovely, and it's sweet to see these characters form their bond.

And I thought the whole plot around saving a town from a con artist was fun, it had some Robin Hood vibes, or just noble-thief vibes, which is such a fun part of what Molly might have been as a character with a bit more time to grow on CR. The pacing was a little strange in that it felt like a tacked on extra adventure to close out the comic, but I did like watching it play out.

So yeah! Not a ton to say about this one. A nice little curio for my shelf.

Mollymauk my beloved. I'm such a sucker for this character but honestly not a fan of The Mighty Nein campaign overall. He was really the only part I liked and then was tragically taken from us too soon and I will forever be mad about it. Anyways, I was very hesitant about this since TMN seem to only disappoint me and I was prepared to be let down one last time, but seeing as I love the Vox Machina comics, I should have had more faith. This was absolutely lovely. It was wonderful to see Molly again and see his origins. The art was beautiful, and I love them giving Molly long hair. I loved seeing him grow and become the character I so adore. I also loved seeing him meeting Yasha, as their friendship is so dear to me. Love that they made her huge and the little panel of him standing on his toes to whisper in her ear. I also loved that they used tarot cards for little chapter headings. My only complaint is that I really do wish this was longer. It was very short and I would have liked to see a bit more development of the relationships between Molly and some of the other characters, but I imagine they only had so many pages they were allowed. Still, this was very good and I really really liked it.

The best part about this book was how short it was. I was at the library picking up a book on reserve, and picked up a few graphic novels/collected editions. As I was checking out, the librarian mentioned this was part of a Dungeons and Dragons collection. I've never played D&D, but I'm aware of it's racist origins, and the recent commitment it has made to become more inclusive.

Unfortunately, this story isn't actually good. There isn't anything that is groundbreaking or specifically creative. The good guys are all basically good, except when they have to be manipulative to correct a wrong done to them. The story is focused on Mollymauk Tealeaf, a... monster of some kind... who shows up and joins a circus troupe that travels from city to city. They are a motley band of people, beings and monsters. The message is good, and a necessary reinvention of a story inherently based in fantasy. (Short version: humans are white, intelligent and good; trolls are ugly, dark and evil. This isn't hard to research and fairly easy to verify.)

If this had been marketed as YA, I could see my way to two stars. But I've read YA before (not a ton, admittedly) and good reading tends to be good reading.

Narratively this feels very much aimed at fans who enjoyed the stream and probably leaves too many loose ends for readers picking up the book without previous knowledge. Knowing the stream of campaign 2, I appreciate how nice and peaceful reading this felt to me.
Hunter Bonyun's art continues to amaze me and the colours in this fit well with Molly's personality. The framing of the pages with plot-relevant Tarot cards is a beautiful stylistic choice and the picture of Molly huddled in a blanket with a large cup between his hands is a precious thing to see and the members of the Fletchling &Moondrop circus are beautifully designed. Seeing the changes in Molly's design on his journey to who we meet when the campaign starts is beautiful. I almost didn't catch it during the first panels she appeared in, but now we know where Molly's coat came from. Nice detail.
For the art alone this is worth multiple readings for me, to spot all the details in the background.

I think because Mollymauk is my favorite of the PCs in this campaign I had really high expectations for the comic. Too high to be realistic lol, and I take responsibility for that.

I really enjoyed it, though I do wish some parts would have been a little less rushed through. I know it's hard when you have a limited number of pages available though.

The art was gorgeous and the coloring was very vibrant which really fits with his personality. I did have a slight problem with the way the tarot card border / header (not too sure how to refer to it) was integrated into the pages where it appeared. I struggled figuring out why it bothered me, but every time I saw them my eyes struggled a bit with reading the whole page. That's a very subjective thing obviously, but yeah.

Still a great addition to the series!

Not perfect, but possibly the best of the Mighty Nein Origins graphic novels (I haven't read Yasha's yet): accessible to readers who aren't already familiar with the character, and follows what we know of the character pretty faithfully, even filling out the story of one of his flashier cons that got mentioned in passing during the Mighty Nein game. It's too short to give the story or characters much depth, but makes a decent teaser for newcomers, and some fun for existing fans.

Little art gripes: *everyone* (except the more muscular Yasha) has the same thin-verging-on-gaunt body type (did it have to be EVERYONE?), and artists should know it IS possible to make a dramatic pose WITHOUT pointing your toes (which often just looks unnecessarily awkward).