Sometimes the solution is to take a stealthier approach.
Creative Staff
Writers: Jody Houser, Matthew Mercer
Artist: Olivia Samson with Juan Pablo Massa
Colorist: Diana Sousa
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover Artist: Jonah Baumann
What They Say
Why use a dragon to freeze a town?
That’s the question Vox Machina is asking after their encounter with Skysunder and the defrosting of Westruun. With the town blaming the attack on Realmseer Eskil Ryndarien, who once saved Grog’s life, Vox Machina makes tracks to clear the Realmseer’s name. But as happens in these situations, the trail leads to some unusual places.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Not every problem can be solved with fists. Unfortunately, Vox Machina doesn’t have much leverage or clout to get Eskil out of jail. Ultimately, all that the Realmseer can do is give the group a clue as to the real instigators of the attack on Westruun. Scrying points the group toward the international thieves guild known as the Clasp. It’s the same group that Vax and Vex get mixed-up with in their backstory novel Kith & Kin.
So the party is split, temporarily. Vex still doesn’t know how deep her brother’s connection with the group goes and for comic-only readers, well, they would have no idea. We watch Vax do sneaky-sneaky rogue shit and waltz straight into their local headquarters like he belongs there. Which, in a way, he sort of does.
While Vax is off working that charisma to get some answers, the rest of the group keeps hearing more and more about missing children in the area. Some going back as far as a year ago. The sneaking suspicion that something dark is going on starts to draw Keyleth into wanting to take action to find the missing kids.
My usual complaints about telling this story in bite-sized morsels of comic pages remains. Reading Kith and Kin made me wish that they had just cranked out a novel series of early adventures. While people may think the animated series is fast-paced, it has nothing on the breakneck speed of the comics.
The artist team continues to put in work, with some solid background work and well-framed action. I’m still not fond of the style, but it is what it is. The coloring for the series remains great. I have no idea how this arc is supposed to wrap in one more issue unless they’re stretching everything out to a 12 issue run. Knowing what I know about the missing kid stuff, there simply isn’t enough time to cover that event. That leaves me very curious as to how the next issue will go.
In Summary:
Vax goes it alone for most of this issue, leveraging a connection that the rest of the group isn’t aware of. In the early days of Vox Machina, everyone has secrets. Watching Vax do rogue things is a good time, proving that the group is capable of doing more than killing things. A decidedly low-action volume, the origin of the threat Westruun faced remains clouded behind walls of intentional obfuscation. Somebody clearly wanted several folks out of the way. The lingering B plot still lingers, and there isn’t much time to address it. I wonder what awaits the group in Emon.
Grade: B
Released By: Dark Horse
Release Date: February 9, 2022
MSRP: $3.99 US
