Reviews - The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour

I cried… a LOT. I know that Eleventh Hour is a lot of folks’ favorite TAZ Balance arc, so HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS if that’s the case. (I always say Crystal Kingdom is my favorite because that’s when everything starts to gel, plot-wise, but it’s a very very close second for Eleventh Hour because suddenly everything has STAKES and BACKSTORY.)

The way that Carey Pietsch drew the THB’s flashbacks was HEARTBREAKING and I was just fully sobbing for those pages. (Peep how Taako’s flashback panels have static INSIDE THEM while Magnus and Merle’s have static only as the background! HMMMM!) Her Istus is exactly how I pictured Istus, too, which of course ALSO had me crying. And the way the team incorporated the “Lunar Interlude” scenes as part of the narrative was so smart! (Crazy how Garfield is obsessed with Magnus’ blood, huh?!)

This was an extremely challenging arc to adapt into graphic novel format because of the time loops and the 83920203 side-plots that Griffin had running in Refuge during the original podcast, so I’m blown away with how cohesively and beautifully they told the story. I’m actually doing my first *full* re-listen EVER of the podcast right now (about to finish Petals to the Metal) and man am I psyched to get to Eleventh Hour because of this graphic novel.

At the virtual launch event they said they’re well into work on Suffering Game (holy shit if they made me cry this much with Eleventh Hour I am NOT prepared for “arms outstretched” lmfaooo help) and have even started Story and Song so… WHEW. LET’S FUCKIN GO. I’m so so so excited for the concluding two (or more probably three? MAYBE FOUR, FINGERS CROSSED?) graphic novels. Time to go cry some more.

melliedm's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Definitely my favourite of the TAZ comics so far! Loved the way they converted the audio comedy of the loop into graphic form. This was definitely the most heart wrenching one of the series, too.

ponch22's review against another edition

5.0

The Adventure Zone, Vol. 5 The Eleventh Hour is book #5 in the continuing series of graphic novels based on The Adventure Zone—a D&D real-play podcast where brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy play Dungeons & Dragons with their dad & author Clint.

Here There Be Gerblins (2018), Murder on the Rockport Limited! (2019), Petals to the Metal (2020), and The Crystal Kingdom (2021) were all 5-star adaptations of the first ~37 hours of improvised role-playing, while The Eleventh Hour tackles the next ~11 hours of the Balance arc.

It's been years since I finished listening to the TAZ Balance story (of which The Eleventh Hour is part 5 of 8), so it's hard for me to remember what story elements had to be cut to squeeze everything into 350 pages of graphic novel. But there was probably not much, seeing as how this is the longest of the series so far. All the major plot points seem to be here—

Tres Horny Boys are sent to the small mining town of Refuge, which is stuck in an (almost-)impenetrable bubble with the Temporal Chalice which has caught the town in a time loop. Every time the clock strikes noon, the town falls apart, our heroes beef it, but everyone is sent back to 11:00am (with no one else aware they're caught).

It's always great spending time with Taako (Justin), Magnus (Travis), & Merle (Clint) as they continue hunting for cursed magical artifacts. And as always, illustrator, Carey Pietsch's artwork & character designs are nearly flawless.

This is the first time reading the story made me want to go back and revisit the podcast—I haven't loved any of the TAZ arcs as much as I loved Balance, but I'm OCD enough to continue listening to every episode as they come out. Maybe instead of half-listening to each new episode, I should go back and relisten to the ones that started it all.

Can't wait to read the final three novels... This story is all starting to connect! And knowing where it all ends, I'm excited to see it interpreted by Casey and Clint.

pellegrinic's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

e_r_elmwood's review against another edition

5.0

The Eleventh Hour will always and forever be my favorite arc of TAZ, and they did a great job adapting it to the graphic novel format. I will never be able to think about the line "You're going to be amazing" line for too long without ugly crying.