Critical Role's Vox Machina Origins is coming to Webtoon as a free prequel comic

Critical Role officially revealed Vox Machina Origins as a free Webtoon comic at SSDC, giving fans of the animated series a new way to follow the crew before the events of The Legend of Vox Machina.

The announcement was made at SSDC and reported exclusively by Polygon. The comic is described as a prequel, meaning it will cover the early days of Vox Machina — the adventuring party at the center of Critical Role's first campaign and the Amazon Prime Video animated adaptation. It will be available for free on Webtoon, the popular digital comics platform.

Vox Machina Origins isn't a brand-new concept — Dark Horse Comics previously published a Vox Machina Origins comic series in print, written by Jody Houser with art by Olivia Samson, covering the group's backstory before the main campaign began. The move to Webtoon suggests Critical Role is looking to reach a broader, more casual audience through a free-to-read platform that skews younger and is heavily mobile-friendly. Critical Role has been steadily expanding its multimedia footprint, with the animated show running for three seasons on Prime Video.

No release date for the Webtoon series was announced alongside the reveal. Fans — known as Critters — are likely to follow closely given the appetite for any new Vox Machina content ahead of or between animated seasons.