Oculama

This comic has so much heart to it, and while I'm not surprised to see the two of you put out such a nicely-written story of empathy and hijinks, it is pleasantly surprising to see that KJQ is, in his way, one of the nicer fictional bosses out there. Of the three finalists, this one stands out in the heartwarming category by far. Even with all the great exaggerated cartoon expressions (maybe even because of them), you make Ara feel incredibly sympathetic, even as she's about to blow up a building.

There's really no wasted words anywhere in this comic, and looking it over a third and fourth time I'm really humbled by how much is conveyed by such tight dialogue. There are quite a few punctuation errors, and the placement of the text both within the panels and bubbles appears a bit slapdash in places, but on a first read-through none of that really gets in the way of the story, so very little harm done.

I'm a bit conflicted on how I feel about the use of gingersnap and bootleg in this one; one the one hand, brief and throwaway as it is, their use in Ara's introduction and establishment of grievances feels on-character. On the other, to have them show up twice to get blasted away twice doesn't do much for me, and I would have almost preferred the birthday party could have proceeded without them getting blown away a second time; it feels disruptive both in-universe and out of universe in what was winding down to be an otherwise cute ending.

Artistically there's a lot to like here - the expressions of course, are gold. Ara's face seems a bit all over the place, but given the emotional roller coaster her birthday has her on, that can probably be excused (LOVE LOVE LOVE that third face on page 9). The colors keep everything lively, and I'm really into just how many effect backgrounds are in the comic, not just page to page, but panel to panel. It's all delightfully lively, but never especially distracting from the comic flow. There's a few small effects that I feel could have been a bit stronger (the wizard party feels rather empty, and I think would even if I hadn't seen it in the krissy/ myrtle round 1 comic, and the explosion behind Ara on the bottom of page 6 is a tad underwhelming), but the pages themselves are still very good, so those are more nitpicks than anything.

Some of these layouts are really smashing too - pages 1 and 3 have some really nice overall structure, and I like the repeated imagery of characters just vibing between the waves of music notes that creates parallel between the first and twelfth pages.

Finally, well done on some real knockout comics for the Double Trouble; Ara and KJQ are two of my favorite characters to come out of this OCT, both in terms of their designs and the stories written around them. :D

This is a super-fun date night story - up front, the small details and the focus on the different enchanted golf holes are an absolute delight. Not just rendered very beautifully, but the mechanics of each hole actually makes me stop to consider them in a way that adds almost a bit of interaction to the fun of reading; I'm never really confused what the holes do, just fascinated enough to take an extra beat to ponder them~~~

And the COLORS! Tremendous work with coloring the characters and for the nighttime shading. The Scenery establishing shot conveys the right balance of chill and magical, and the splash pages with Kriss' bomb attack/ bomb attack aftermath are delightful!!!

Your designs for the opposing OCs were another strong point; the knights provide a bit of a challenge in expressiveness, but they look terrific in your style, and the blue shading was an inspired choice for depicting them (I especially dig the panel with the bomb getting electrified on page 7). Ara has a sort of blank-eyed cartoonishness to her that is at once cute and almost a bit unsettling, but in a way I enjoyed a lot. KJQ has an almost punk-like feel to him in this, and I liked how you shaped his face, with some subtle but substantial focus on the face shape.

There's a few relatively minor visual elements that muddle the introduction of the toons and the knights. The biggest would be that I completely overlooked that Crazy Castle was on page 5 until my third read-through. They're obvious enough once I know where to look, but I think the generally soft/cartoon-y look (not a criticism - I LOVE the look of the art) of everything else in the comic, plus the anthropomorphic elements (The eyes and the red gloves) being so dark-on-dark make them missable before the other characters point them out. I'm guessing this plot point was simply a victim of the time cap, but I would also have loved to see what became of Crazy Castle - the comic gives my just enough line to start caring about this stonework guy, and then he disappears! On the one hand, great work getting me invested in a side-toon. On the other, is he okay???

I'm continuing to enjoy the chatterbox/silent contrast between Kriss and Myrtle. There's a lot of dialogue in places, but it never feels like too much, and the characters are generally delivering either interesting lines or just the right amount of words to mesh with the action. ("this isn't part of how you play minigolf" had me cracking up FR) There are enough typos in the text that I feel an additional round of proofreading would have elevated the text measurably, but the story is solid regardless.

This being the final round of the comic, I would have liked the final obstacle in Kriss and Myrtle's date-path to have felt a bit more... climactic, i suppose? I can't fault the comic in a vacuum, but it does feel like the "problem" in the comic is dispatched with enough ease that it doesn't feel like a problem at all, any more than say, a pair of golfers going too slow ahead of them might have been. I'm torn on that analysis though, because the stakes at least do feel very appropriate for a date story, and make it so that the return to golfing (and a kiss!!!) feels like a natural transition back.

I've loved following along with these two lil wizards throughout the double trouble; thank you for gifting us all with their extended meet-cute. Well done, and a very strong OCT showing altogether :)

Really nice effort here balancing a LOT of pages of action where all six of the OCs are in play. That kind of juggling is no joke, so kudos for tackling it. I appreciated the time taken in-story to highlight Myrtle and Kriss' magical expertise as well; they felt properly applied to the problem (stuck in a tapestry) that the comic presents for its protagonists. And speaking of protagonists, I applaud the decision to have the knights team up with one half of your opponent OCs for this final comic. Seeing them work cooperatively outside their own tag team does a positive credit to their characters and makes them a bit more endearing, imho. I would have liked to see Ara and KJQ utilized with a *bit* more depth here (aside from a bit of cartoon physics logic they feel interchangeable with a more generic BIG BAD BOSS/minion duo); KJQ especially feels like he doesn't have enough lines to stand out in a reader's memory post-read.

The overall plot of the comic being pretty low-frills (not a bad thing in a vacuum! I appreciate that it was pretty clear what the stakes were from the get-go), I think may have also hampered the comic insofar as it does feel like the individual quirks of the OCs were more window dressing than core to the tale. We get the fun jokes here and there (the horse-sickness, the horse-puns (which were much appreciated), the Stiviano gag (VERY funny), but they almost feel like personalizing gags added in post.

I'm a big fan of how crisp the first few pages of the comic are - you're doing a lot with relatively little in the way of detail/ lines, and I think carried through an entire comic, that's a real strength of your collective story telling.

The clarity of action in your joint comics has gotten stronger over the course of the tournament, and I'm really impressed how crisply the visual elements fit together on the more polished pages. There are, I think, some lingering clarity issues that hinder the first few read-throughs of the comic, where the comparatively minimalist line-art works against you. (A few examples: unclear who is holding the horse on page 3 if you don't already know which knight is the horsegirl, the purpose of the panel with Ara (?) holding a bomb on page 4, unclear what happens to the horse between pages 7 and 8 (it turns evil and then disappears?) KJQ has a big splash page fusing all his critters together and then the beast only shows up again on-panel to get tied up, difficult to parse exactly what's happening with the missiles and jack's arm on page 13 (where did those missiles come from?), and what exactly are KJQ's eyes supposed to be bugging out about on page 15?)

My favorite part of the comic were the big action splash panels, which demonstrate a lot of skill with layout. Page 5, especially, sticks out to me as the highlight; the use of the tapestry pattern to box the action was a great choice, and the little lion guy in the corner was juuuust the right little punctuation of humor to the page. The two-page toon melee was similarly a nice bit of work, and using the energy beam/ skating trail as action dividers added a lot to the compositions. My favorite panel division was KJQ uniting his minions into the chimera beast - both the overll layout with KJQ at the center, and the structure of the bottom panel as they stare down the fearsome impression/visage of the beast get top marks in my book.

Congrats on the steady output for the Double Trouble, and please give yourselves a pat on the back for a fun bounty-hunting, con-smashing, toon smashing adventure with these fun knightly guys ;)

Depressive Ara was an unexpected yet welcome surprise. Artwork was great all throughout, loved how expressive everyone, especially Ura, was. Very fun and wacky plot, you included 6 characters very naturally. It was a smooth read I could totally see being printed as a commercial product. Lovely duos that I feel were all written well and in character and almost everyone got a moment to shine. Obviously I also must mention that keeping such a high art quality throughout so many pages is nothing short of impressive; and at this point I'm just struggling to come up with more compliments to meet rhe word count.

Well my opinion about the artstyle and its quality is probably not too dissimilar to that of the majority when I say I absolutely love it. It's flashy, polished and very charming. I have to say though, I was not the biggest fan of how you chose to include the opponents' characters as an inconvenience on the side solved in one panel. It hardly feels like a battle and I overall found that most of my enjoyment came from your art more than anything. Still its a nice comic packaged with a fitting title, always pleasant continuity and bombastic presentation.

I LOVE this one. I love your everything from head to toe I want to kiss you on your hot mouths. I have to admit the sketched page bits scared me thinking the ordeal would be half sketches, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was the exception, not the rule. The art overall was clean and caught my fancy. Everything else? Phenomenal, splendid, I can write you 5 times this word count over if you want me to gush about everything. I followed you in your past 2 comics this tournament and this one just blew those out of the water. I loved the integration of everyone, their representaiton and their exaggeration. A multi-page sequence of pure unadulterated violence and actual fighting that was as entertaining as it could be. The whole thing was interesting and intriguing backed by SOLID gags. This is the sequel to happy souls I've been wanting. Please more, what do you want? Feet pics? My dignity? Take it all

LOVEd the birthday party twist at the end, Ara Ura is best girl and deserves all the stolen presents. Aw King Jack you really do care <3333
The story did feel rather disjointed at times and the beginning was much less strong than the ending, but I still had a really fun time through the whole thing. This comic was the funniest of the bunch I feel; there were so many lines that made me laugh, like the "Was your mom in a hentai?". I also loved the gag where Ara Ura's photo of her parents is like copyrighted or whatever. I felt Ara Ura's real emotions about her birthday and feelings of not belonging also gave this comic a more emotional core

LESBIANS GIRLS GIRLS YES YES YAY LETS GO. Loved the minigolf date theming and the big damn kiss at the end girls stay winning forever <33333. I also really enjoyed the reasons the other characters were at the course, to defend a castle or rescue a toon. It was easily and quickly set up which made it easy to get into the story. I did feel that after all that set up that the scenario was resolved rather quickly, but it also ended gayly which is much more important. The colors and looks of the characters was perfectly on point and I think this comic was my favorite visually.

I liked the recap-style set up of just what exactly is going on and the more fantastical setting. I also cackled at Ara Ura giving that "silly bunny" monologue. I loved seeing her get to practice her career skills. She will be a great middle manager someday. maybe. I thought you were experimenting with lots of unique and creative panel layouts and angles. Unfortunately I did sometimes have a hard time understanding what was happening especially in the big battle. This may have in part been because of the comic's unfinished nature. It was still a fun read! I really like the page where the bust down the doors and ride in.

Shentini - Oh my gosh what a fun and colorful comic! The explosion of psychedelic colors perfectly captured the energetic atmosphere, and it felt like I was on a wild sugar rush while devouring every page.

All along you both led me to believe that King Jack and Ara were up to no good then you hit me right in the feels. That was very sweet of Jack to do all that for Ara Ura, especially after reading about Ara's backstory in the previous pages. I love how you cleverly pulled in Kriss and Myrtle in the storyline through the mixed tape while Sir Gingersnap and Bootleg stood out as the delightful comedic relief to an already hilarious comic.

Your ability to create a storyline that is both chaotic and cohesive is truly impressive. I can't stress enough how well you two work together as a team. Individually, your comedic prowess and exceptional writing skills shine, but when combined, they create a phenomenal comic experience.

Clinky - Oh my goodness! The hilarious cover art and the title had me already laughing out loud. I couldn't have asked for a better start lol. I thought the mini-golf setting was a very good choice and I absolutely love the creative twists you put in each hole to give it more fantastical flavor. They were so cool I wanted to just get in there and play them myself lol.

The showdown between King Jack, Ara, Bootleg, and Sir Gingersnap was as chaotic as it was fun. Everyone looked so adorable in your style. Ara Ura's expression on page 11 had me chuckling – it captured her enjoyment of the explosions perfectly (which we all know is totally in character).

The cherry on top was the last page, which had me exclaiming "Awwww!". Kriss and Myrtle taking their relationship to the next level was such a heartwarming moment. I can't wait to see what's in store for them next!

MintyLex - Wow what an ambitious storyline you got there. It's unfortunate that it was unfinished but I super appreciate that you're still able to give us a comic to enjoy! I am not sure what font you used in the beginning but the font you used on pages 15 to 17 suited your comic much better! I can't remember if I pointed this out in my previous review, but don't be afraid of spot blacks (and tones) as they add a lot to the finished look of comics without doing a ton of work.

My favorite has got to be page 5. The perspective really gave the events of that page the impact it deserves. And IDK why I find that panel with the fish talking on page 4 panel 3 so funny. Love how clean your lines are too in the pages that were polished. I hope to see more of Sir Gingersnap and Bootleg in the future. There are not a lot of medieval-themed characters that are running around and these two are a lot of fun!

I just gotta say that its amazing the amount of passion and love you guys have been putting into all of this pairs comics and building up so much personality and life with each of their adventures and face offs have just been an amazing treat to see unfold! The premises of this comic is great because until it was Ara Ara told us about her reason for being upset it was a mystery why jack was on his own doing the hit and I loved the heart warming reveal that he was doing it for Ara Ara to make her feel better a great "put the hookers and blow away for a sec" moment that was surprising but not uncharacteristic for the boss man! the level of color/detail has been amazing per usual and I really loved the use of color palettes used for everyone to convey mood like when Ara gets mad and sets off the bombs and then she mopes away in heavy blue is just stellar.

So I gotta start out by saying! THAT FREAKING KISS!!! <3 I have been waiting for each entry of this ongoing date night with these two and this last comic was no exception! actually scratch that ITS THE EXCEPTION! I'm dying from all the glorious interaction between everyone and the all out slapstick brawl they having going on. The use of the golf course work great at a good first date as well as showing off the fun and magical nature of the two characters without even having to have them cast spells. couple that with having it lead into a great story conflict between the toons and the knights thats very believable and funny was amazingly well thought out! The glitterbomb! was amazing thats all I can say is it was amazing! I have to say the only sad thing about this comic is that the duo's comic arc had to come to an end <3 I hope we do a double trouble 2 because I enjoyed this pair so freakin much!

Lastly but certainly not least! you guys are masters of coming up with a great and mighty story I loved this full episode adventure from beginning to end and your art was no slouch either! the teams charging into the castle was of special mention as being peak action! and nice use of the team up as well for wizard/knights vs the king and his dragon( umm bunny) henchman! I especially liked the toon morphing ray that you used on the horse that was amazing and I loved the whole throwdown panels and frames were just so well done! I cant wait to see more of either of these characters apart or together and I learned alot from you guys comic wise just from reading your great comics! no matter who wins your all sharing a comically crowded spot on the #1 spot of the rankings