Become a Comic Master: A Review of Co-Mix

Have you ever wanted to create your own comic? Now you can in this storytelling, party game about weaving a fantastical, heroic (or dastardly!) yarn.

Gameplay

In a three to five player game, each player is given a comic page board. At the start of each round, players all agree on a title (or use one of the game’s suggested titles) and then draw 12 comic panel cards. Each card has a picture on both sides of it. Players then attempt to play nine pictures onto their boards to create a story that fits with the agreed-upon title. After one player finishes creating their story, the 90 second sand timer is flipped and the remaining players have until it runs out to complete their own stories. If they still have blank spaces left when the timer runs out, they must randomly place their cards on the remaining spaces.

Next, players take turns telling their comic story, pointing to each picture and explaining how the story unfolds. After that comes the reviewing phase.

Each player has a token for ‘most original,’ ‘most exciting,’ and ‘best composed,’ as well as one neutral token.

Players must place one facedown token on each story, including their own. After everyone has voted, the tokens are flipped over. Only those stories which receive the majority of tokens in each category will score points, as well as the people who voted with the majority, so it’s in your best interest to review honestly.

After the voting, all cards are discarded, a new title is agreed on, and players start again. The game lasts for three rounds.

In a six to ten player game, players will be on teams when creating their comic and share the burden of telling the stories. However, they will vote separately, and win separately, so you will be competing against your own teammate.

Review

Co-Mix has some very creative artwork, and a handful of characters that appear on multiple comic panel cards, which does give you the feeling of creating a comic in a set fictional universe, which is a lot of fun and strengthens the theme of the game.

There are also a lot of panel cards and the pictures do tend to be quite flexible so that they fit into multiple different stories. The rulebook itself offers several examples of how the same set of cards can be told as multiple different stories, and it’s actually a lot of fun seeing the different ways each player uses and interprets their cards.

The game puts a unique twist on both storytelling games and party games. The voting system is familiar while adding the unique twist of trying to vote with the majority. The team mechanics are also unique, having players competing against one another. This actually adds an interesting dynamic, though some players might not enjoy competing against their teammate. It’s also just more fun to create your own story by yourself.

Co-Mix is a lot of fun, because it’s just so enjoyable to create your own comic. It might have missed the mark slightly in its team play, but if you like storytelling games, this is one you shouldn’t miss.

Pros: Great theme, fantastic artwork

Cons: Team play is not quite as much fun, some players may not enjoy competing against their teammate

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.