I just saw Oxhorn's excellent video on this comic, and I gotta say, it was amazing. The writing, art, and the overall atmosphere of this comic are breathtaking. When I have the time, I'm gonna order a hard copy of this gem. Anyways, I just wanna talk about the comic book and the lore it adds to New Vegas.

The video for anyone wanting to watch:


WHAT I THOUGHT:
What I appreciate most about this comic is that it not only goes in-depth on the lore of Benny, but it does so in a way where it brings in a new perspective on his character. Reading this, you learn that Benny is not that bad of a guy. He just wants to change his way of life. He wants to live knowing that he is gonna call the shots and not have to bow down to any dictator, warlord, or old, corrupt government. He knows that he HAS to do some grimy shit to get there, and he is willing to do it.

Chance's story is depressing. Not a single word was uttered by him in this story, but you can understand and feel his weight. He could've been a pretty interesting character to talk to in the game.

My favorite part is the private conversation between Chance and Benny. Benny tells his tale of his old friend and how he eventually killed himself through chems because he wanted to relive the past again. Benny brings up a good point in that dwelling on the past and wishing to relive it won't do you any good in life. In fact, it could destroy you. He believes that moving forward with your chin up is the best way to live life. He even gives Chance a chem vile and let him decide if he wants to begin again, or to stay in the past. From reading this comic, I can say that Benny is one of the few characters in New Vegas that has truly let go.

What are your thoughts? Let's have a discussion.

what truly amaze me in this comic is how Freeside full packed of people around it, people on the roof & so on. well maybe that wasn't Freeside, but the actual concept for FNV was actually this kind of thing, its big & lots of people around it. its really feel immersive to read this to get the hang of it.
man I can't imagine how FNV would it be if only it was develop on different game engine to make such thing great.

I must admit that I heard of this years ago but I never actually read it due to never owning the collectors edition (and tbh I wasn't interested in lore or New Vegas at that time anyway). From what I watched on that Oxhorn video, I'm glad they went through detailing New Vegas' prologue and the characters that are in it. Benny, McMurphy and Jessup are all characters that are involved in the intro but lacked the character depth I felt many other characters in the game had. Benny had the most depth, mostly due to him having the most screentime out of the three (and of course McMurphy being dead) yet McMurphy and Jessup could be regarded as a typical Great Khans who didn't have much depth, filler characters may I say. I'm glad they fleshed out these characters in All Roads.

As for Chance, I feel as if they could've detailed his character a lot more. He just seems like a way for them to provide purpose to Chance's map, grave and knife in game, add a perspective of someone who survived Bitter Springs, give more understanding of the other characters to the reader and act like a generic badass. I mean, he's literally unstoppable killing all those fiends but do we ever learn more about him and does he ever express emotion other than implied during his memory of Bitter Springs? He has much lost potential to his character, and I understand that if they wrote the comic after writing the game he has to die otherwise the game wouldn't make much sense, but his death didn't impact anything in the slightest. It's not mentioned in the intro or any dialogue in the game from what I've seen so it's rather dissatisfying imo.

Other than that, I appreciate it and think it's a well-needed story to understand characters like Benny and Jessup for the limited screentime they both had, but Chance's character was completely unnecessary and could've been left out with nothing much lost in terms of the quality of the story. It coincides with New Vegas very well with the singer Benny mentions and Chance being too hung up with the past to not "Begin Again", one of the main themes of New Vegas. The story is well-written but it has a few flaws too, that which I've already explained.

I feel the comic really offered a glimpse into what the devs really wanted to do, but could not make. Like stated before, freeside looked more like a slum than ever. With all sorts of terrible people and activities going on. And it was contrasted by the decadence and lights of the strip.