Oculama

A nicely punchy story, that also makes fine use of the almost inherent duality of these characters. You capture the calm and manic personalities very tidily, and Zag feels messy in a lot of (good) ways that make him a very fun addition to Oculama. Great use of color too; I think that went a long way in contrasting each of the characters. My big critique would be that the ending feels a bit too pat. To be expected with a week-long round, but the rest of the comic has such great energy I'd love to see something similarly splashy from future Zag comics. Great job!

Definitely one of the funniest comics in round 1; Zag and Sparrow play off each other so well already conceptually, and your execution of that dynamic was a real treat. The jumps from location to location in the tower felt very organic, and I was having so much fun I honestly forgot it was a death match until the end! I did have a *minor* issue parsing the action on page 2, re: which side of the door characters were on, and re: the fact that the Sparrow had already begun cleaning other parts of the castle, but otherwise the action flowed wonderfully, and you kept up an really engaging pace of gags and hijinks. Props especially for how well you do the visual contrast of the clean and still unclean locations!

I will absolutely bring myself at some point to make a reference to Funboland in my comics at some point. The art was great, not only quality wise, but also design wise: one can practically see Zag zooming around in his tower in absolute disbelief. The one thing both you and your opponent got absolutely on point was Zag's hideous charm: in both cases, the over the top dialogue really brings it home. Really made me love Zag.
The entire eviction notice gag was especially fun in this context and was really quite fitting for such a terrible man. Him being revealed to be a rat in filth was also quite amusing to watch for lack of a better word. I am actually glad I didn't have to suffer through the death of such a comedically wicked character.

Raw entertainment right here. The one thing both you and your opponent got absolutely on point was Zag's hideous charm: in both cases, the over the top dialogue really brings it home. Really made me love Zag.
Though the art style might not be as pleasant or as refined as others it actually proved itself very appropriate for Zag, the terrible wizard. Perspectives and proportions were actually always there, which I don't think I encounter often (if at all) in such simple styles.
It also really says a lot about just how entertaining it is to watch Zag's shenigans by the fact I mentioned his name 6 times in my 2 reviews (+1 reference without name) meanwhile I just had to look up Sparrow's name.

Charming art and writing that got multiple audible laughs out of me. Top marks for Zag's facial expressions in particular and the very good bureaucracy gags. My only real complaint is on the last page; I feel like the "well I killed him" bit should have been above the "Hitman Union's on strike" bubble. As-is, the flow is kind of weird.

Zag was delightfully camp, Sparrow was a fun protagonist, the final punchline got me good, and there was an appropriately large amount of Charlie content. I'm hoping to see a lot more of this duo's adventures in the near future.

Pleasantly grody vibes throughout and plenty of fun visuals. Honestly, though, I don't think it quite nailed it. The facial expressions and such were good, but it just wasn't quite funny enough to make up for the lack of an involved narrative or characterization. The inconsistent grammar, spelling, and punctuation didn't help. I understand that it's part of the improvisational aesthetic, but it felt distracting. Committing fully to either standard SPAG or lower-case, "punctuation is a crutch for the talentless" would have worked a bit better for my taste.

Still entertaining, still a fun read, just not quite enough to get by on vibes and laughs alone.

OH BOY this is a fucking treat. This has to be my favorutie matchup in the entire tournament. I adore the way you're able to switch between Zag being an absoltue scrunkly and the more detailed horrid version of zag like we see on the first 2 pages. This was super well done and I'm impressed by how much you're able to convey with so few lines, it's really incredible. Seeing this really makes me want to see what you could do with more than a week cause what you got here is super good and I'm sure it only gets better. There's nothing really negative I can say about this comic I absoltuely loved it and I lost it when Zag got hit in the head with the magic orb. Funny Hilarious comic, Amazing job

OH WOW So Zag is super terrible in this and I love him for it. You really bring the brutalism that the black diamond was missing, can't believe Zag would do that to Sparrow and then take a big bite out of Charlie, what a horrid wizard Zag is. Your comic is filled and just oozing with personality, you really get to understand how horrid Zag is through it and the style of the comic really reinforces that, it really reminds me of like old school internet comics and I love it for that. This is like a huge shame because I don't want to pick between either of you two cause you both did such amazing jobs and I would've loved to have seen more rounds from Both Zag and Sparrow. Amazing job such a great comic, toughest matchup for sure.

This comic has every interaction between these two characters that one could ever want to see the way that these two rival forces clash in a display for clean vs crust really tickled my funny bone I have to say I loved every second. I think it was so satisfying to see all the little sight gags like the man eating jelly cube eating all the bank men who zag just writes off as adventures was probably the funniest joke out of all the battles so far. I do wish Killing zag was a bit more complex then the Im melting gag but it was quick and clean great work!

This was a really solid comic and I really love how awful Zag is, it takes a powerful artist to just make the most crusty ass nasty man on the site and just play have him go around as a curmudgeon living in trash. I really enjoyed how strait forward this comic was I did enjoy that the cleaning product wasnt some weakness to him but just hurt like hell because he was sprayed in the eyes. Overall I think my biggest complaint is Id just like have seen a bit more but it cant be understated how hard it is to finish a comic within a week great work!

Oh fishstick this was so much fun to read. This was such a great mash up and a real strong start. Great Round one comic.
I laughed so much, that chamber pot of secrets got me real good. You also have such a charming style and you have great story pacing and your panel layouts a real nice.
The first thing that comes to mind for me is on page 4, panels 3 through 6, even after re-reading it a bit, im not exactly sure how they get out on to the window ledge?
Otherwise, really fun comic and I had a real good time reading it!

What a disgusting little trash man wiz is, and I mean that affectionately. This was a fun, straight forward story and a really fitting first match up. I really liked your sound affect choices and you did a good job with your panel layouts.
The only thing that particularly sticks out to me off the bat is some of the world bubbles are kind tight and could use a little formatting/spelling corrections. Which is something I also struggle with on the regular. Maybe a bit more consistency in font choice as well.
It was a fun goofy comic and and a fun first round entry!

Love this. This was such a fun romp and we got so many good and cringey lines from Zag that made me do double takes and go "Wait, who's toes??" XD You really drove home the filth in ways that went beyond just the rubbish in that magical tower. Way to drive home that muck in a myriad of creative ways- not to mention having your character actually fail. Die even! Too often these battles end up with your artists character winning the day, its a nice change of pace to see someone taken down a peg by a dirty wizard of all things, haha!

Lovely and amusing gags. I especially loved the spray bottle to the eyes XD Zag is unsettling filthy and it makes for hilarity. I think your character in both comics came off as more memorable and I know this wizards name by measure of the fact this character made sure to let me know who they were. I admittedly had to go to your opponents character page to doublecheck who they were. I would recommend having your comic proofread by a pal or running the script through a word doc for spelling in order to really make those jokes sell. Nothing's worse than flinging a gag that's mispelled and the reader ha to doubletake on.

Fishstick - I was super entertained by this comic. The writing was really entertaining and fun and it captured both characters beautifully. The art is also very nice even though I wish it was more finished. However, I was able to understand everything clearly. I love your paneling choices and composition as well as the character expressions! You really brought Zag and Sparrow to life! Even though the comic wasn't colored or shaded, I felt like I was indeed in a wizard's castle which is pretty cool. This is such a strong showing for you overall and I cannot wait to see more of your work! Well done!

Wiz - Zag the Terrible really lives up to his name. Zag's colors are so crazy it made him pop out in all the panels but I think it works cos it reflects his personality. I love how you drew Zag's face on page 8 and his over-the-top expressions are hilarious af. The backgrounds could use more TLC IMO as they felt a bit flat compared to the animated nature of the characters. Overall this is a pretty fun comic that showcases both characters who are naturally going to oppose each other. It's like they are fated to meet in this tourney!

A delightful chase through well drawn and delightfully expressive characters! I loved the funny DnD nerd references throughout the the castle chase and how well you showed off what Zag the terrible is all about(The clutter. The stink. The villainy.The gelatinous cube). Furthermore, I loved how you used Sparrow as a great foil to Zag! Being written as believably unshakable as a the Joe Everyman janitor would have to be to function as a citizen of junction. who has to put up with world enders and the like was done amazingly well. The final highlight would be the amount of detail you put into the panels while keeping the pace of the chase is of particular high praise!

I love that you guys went similar routes with how these two character meet and come into conflict with equally funny banter between the two! your colors and expressions are great and I like the creatively disgusting way Zag dispatched Sparrow and the cleaner to the eyes part made me laugh. I like that your zag is at the same time opposite but similar to fishstick's take more Goblin Lord with a potty mouth and in your face attitude works well with the garbage wizard motif hes got going on and makes for splendidly funny dialogue a great showing of skill!

FRICK what a good comic this is! You made Zag the Terrible seem like so much fun to write, I'm jealous I didn't get matched up with him this round! Your story structure and joke writing are beyond solid, I think I might have laughed the hardest reading your comic from this round. Zag referring to the bank men as foolish adventurers, the setup of the full inbox, BY GERLIN'S GREASY BEARD! I loved it. Sparrow's unflappable straight man to Zag's absolutely bonkers, stinky, disgustingness works so well. Your art is pretty loose in some places (those week long deadlines are a harsh mistress), but also very detailed in others, and it was always easy to tell what was going on. It seems like you had a lot of fun working on this comic, at the very least I had a lot of fun reading it! I really am excited to see more stories from you ♥

What are the odds you two get paired up?? Your characters are so good together. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Zag the Terrible is an icon, he's a legend, he has something to say, and he is the moment! Now come on now! I love that you both had very similar setups for your stories, that both went in two wildly different directions! You both had sort of similar dynamics between the two, which I also found funny. These two characters work so well together! It's a bummer one of them will be dead tomorrow. This was a light, funny comic and hey, full color! That's impressive on these tight deadlines. I will say there were some things I noticed that were probably due to the time crunch, a couple typos and some colors in places you probably didn't intend, but that's show biz baby! You have a fun and well thought out comic here, I can't wait to see more!

This was really excellent work. Exceptionally charming writing and art. I'm a fan of Sparrow and I really enjoy how you characterized both her and your opponent in the comic. Zag as a dirty, but classically kooky wizard was really good.

My main conceit is more of a suggestion, but if you're able in the future, I think solid blacks would have gone a long way to help fill out a lot of the space. None of it was misused, more that it'd help out some I think. A little more visual differentiation would go far. On the whole though, great comic. You did super well!

This was a super fun comic. I particularly enjoyed Zag as a character - he's just a lot of fun to me. I hope you bring this manic energy on to any future comics you do on Oculama, because I'm here for it. In the future, I'd like to see you slow down a bit on some of the parts. Your character design is fun, but you need a little more practice on the fundamentals of your work and give it a little more care. My advice for someone in your position is to look at the artists you like and then look at the artists they like. You may find some new inspiration to work from and improve yourself from that as well! This was a very good comic, please do more!

This comic is such a tour de force of story telling, simplistic yet effective and expressive style. I am just a fan of everything. THEYRE SO PRECIOUS I CANT I LOVE THEM. Every thing about this entry just works, the writing to the gags, the moment to moment flow, even the jokey-but-effective world building?!?!!

To explain what i mean and what elevates this in my mind as an OCT fight comic I love how you, on every level, 'elevate the bit' of the original character, bringing it to dramatic heights that work beautifully with the narrative. The stink wizard actually having his own mega tower, then leading to the downfall of overdue payments, THEN having the place demolished for FUNBOLAND?!! AMAZING.... I have to use that setting at some point. Fucking Golden

This comic is fucking hilarious Im so happy with each of these comics and yours being this short but ingenious display of comedy. I adore so much about Zag i am so fucking distraught at the idea of even possibly losing the little fart wizard.

Your comic is this short, punchy affair that kept me smiling all through out, the domain of the Wizard being a fucking back alley trash pile? The solid setups to immediate and well framed payoffs that make each joke satisfying and memorable? Fucking peak OCT Content right here. Will never forget the Zag. Poop Wizard Forever