Oculama

Phew! This really was a matchup of intrigue for BOTH of these comics, and both executed in their own delicious way.

First off, I am over the moon about the textures y'all are bringing to the table. Right off the bat with the opening panel of the cooking fish, and straight into the trees, Kong's brain texture, and the cracking earth, to name a few favorites. The parallel stripe texture in the tones adds a lot to, imho, without being distracting from the more important elements of the art.

The backgrounds here are also probably my favorite out of this first round. I can almost hear the jungle noises in the campfire scenes, the bar looks convincingly (albeit for king, deceptively) warm and comfortable, and the city outdoor scenes strike a great balance between the excitement of the nightlife and the dangers lurking therein.

Your expressions are doing some capital W work here as well, especially for your antagonist OCs. Seeing Merc's smile slide off her face as soon as Marley is unconscious really gives us a nice inking as to her character, insofar as it is intended in this take on her. Everyone's expressiveness also lends a layer of depth to Kong's stoicness that serves our developing impression of the character quite nicely.

The storytelling in these pages unfolds in a really tantalizing way. Out of all the excellent entries this round, this one, page for page, did the best job at making me excited to flip to the next page. The way you've parceled out information on King's origins never drags, but give me juuuuust enough to keep me curious. Likewise, the way you unveil Merv and Val as dangerous just by their decidedly non-benevolent intentions for King (in the flashback and in the present) really heightens their presence as antagonists.

The flashback is folded into the rising action of the comic very effectively to that end (love all the oculama restaurant/ bar cameos, btw). Merc and Val's ruthless actions contrasted with their outwardly pleasant demeanors in the past and present are a delight (love the playfulness and recall of the "going home with the prettiest girl" line)

And of course, Kong showing up at the end of the flashback gave me a bit of a chill. layers on LAYERS with this one! The just-recognizable enough silhouette gives the reader enough of a reason to double-take on his figure before that ah-ha! moment hits.

My only critique re: pacing would be that the merc and val's entrance via the gravity increase seems a bit rushed (but only a bit) next to the pacing of other elements. I would have loved a panel of the gravity power taking effect w/o dialogue, and THEN getting commentary from the characters.

A really big step up from an already rock-solid opener. I Look forward to seeing more of King and Kong whenever circumstances allow.

Aaahhh! The plot, she thickens!

Like with your first round comic, I'm really into how there's very clearly something bigger going on around these capable gravity-benders and their activities. I'll be very excited to read how it all comes to a head if y'all get to that point. You also continue to do a brisk job incorporating your opponent OCs into those larger happenings organically while not giving much of the game away.

There's so many little touches here I adore, and that do the comic's flavor a great service. The largely wordless sequence of Mercedes lifting smokes off the doctor (I love that you've let her keep Tony's jacket) was a great character moment, a nice segue to bring King and Kong in on the action, and made all the more funny being punctuated by Merc sarcastically asking whether King is a cop. I also enjoyed the art shift between the past and present scenes, with the lines in the present being a bit cleaner, albeit more static. Subtle, but just enough that you notice when you shift from one point in time to another.

Speaking of the multiple time periods, I'm a sucker for a good framing device, and you've executed the interrogation scenes effectively to that end. The shifting of the truth from what we see to what Merc and Val say is quite fun.

This may be more an issue of my own reading comprehension, but it did take me until my third read-through to piece together exactly what happened at the end for King to end up getting shot. The introduction of the second gun into the action is clear enough, and I'm at a loss to think of another way you could have indicated Merc was drawing it to herself (nice work there; the gun moving on the second to last page is so subtle I didn't even realize what it was right away), that doesn't make it TOO obvious. Ultimately I don't think this is a weakness of the comic by any stretch, but maybe just food for thought for future comics.

I did have a few other minor points of confusion with the comic, mostly to do with what still does and does not feel clear within the comic itself (and acknowledging you're clearly setting up more reveals if future rounds are in the cards). It was not clear to me, for example, whether the "they" Valentine goes to meet up with are supposed to be King and Kong or someone else entirely. I'm also not entirely sure I understand what King and Kong were after in the comic, and unless addressed in a subsequent comic, would make their deaths feel a little empty.

These little quibbles aside, I did love a lot of the overarching elements of the writing. Val and Merc's care for each other, and willingness to go to lengths against others and against their own self-interest says a lot without stating a lot. On the flip side, that they are clearly not fully honest with each other either, all of which lends to the increasingly wonderful depth they have as a couple.

I also want to give you guys kudos on the backgrounds; like with your round one, the world your story takes place in feels concrete and real, enriching the reading experience. In this particular comic, it also provides a nice contrast to the stark and dark enclosure of the interrogation room.

Smashing work overall; had a tremendous amount of fun reading this comic :)

Another strong effort from Team Pleepy, though not quite to the heights of the first round.

There were a number of extremely striking scenes, with both the drop kick and the Greatest Suplex in the Suplexiverse being standout moments, and the visual gags of Kong's Nat 20 stealth check and Mercedes being held like an unruly cat were great. That said, the lack of backgrounds became more and more noticeable as the comic progressed.

The setup nicely tied together the aftermath of both teams' preceding rounds while adding some twists and friction sources I'd love to see expanded on. However, when seeing three of the characters deal with so much, Kong's narrative importance and characterization felt a bit like an afterthought outside of the slugfest. Also, and I may be telling on myself here, it took me a couple read-throughs to figure out what exactly happened during the climax. A bit more foreshadowing on that one panel of Mercedes looking at the gun, like a bit of gravity action wiggling it her way, would have been useful.

Still, good stuff.

Well, it breaks my heart to give a low overall score, but an excellent half of a comic is still half of a comic.

The artwork was on point as always, from the top-notch lighting work to the double graviton bitchslap straight out of Kung Fu Hustle. As I said before, you've got the pulp feel down. Writing-wise, you did a good job of tying Mercedes and Valentine into King's backstory, though it is a bit disappointing to see no trace of what happened to them in the previous round.

What you have is worth being proud of and I'd love to see you guys collab again in the future. You were cooking.

This was a lovely comic from you two and I enjoyed reading it very much. The pacing was good and you guys also had some good gags.
The surprise hit in the coat closet and “what am I suppose to do with a gun?” Really got me.
I also absolutely loved the backwards pile driver (I think that’s what the move is called?) I thought that was so badass. The fighting moves were all cool, but I really loved how y’all did that one.

The one thing I wanted to point out, is I think the motion and action lines you guys had probably would have been just fine without the blur effect, I think that actually was more distracting than additive to the motion.
I think your motion lines were pretty strong just on their own with the line work.

Overall this comic was fun and really enjoyable! Thank you so much for letting us read and I look forward to more from you both.

What an absolutely gorgeous comic, great use of negative space and the use of spot blacks was very well done. Good layout and the pacing was very promising. I could keep gushing, just lovely work.

A bummer that ya’ll ended up having tech issues and were unable to finish up the rest of the comic. I liked what you guys were building up too. I hope to see you guys re-submit after the fact because I’d really like to see where you guys were going with this story thread.

Though overall I did really appreciate what ya’ll did submit for this and I look forward to more work from you both in the future.

I love the framework of this tale in having a pair of unreliable narrators recount events. To go from their demeanor and execution in their incident report alongside what really happened in those flashbacks is pretty inspired storytelling. I also love that you two kind of give your collaborations your own signature by showing off your different art styles side by side. Using one artist for the flashbacks and one for the present was SUCH a smart idea. The distinction really drove the 'this is happening at different times' home.
Also those combat scenes <3. I don't know if its the grittiness of your inking style, but I really felt those hits as they were inflicted and the weight behind trying to bear them between Kong and Valentine. Really I have no notes. This was again a stellar showing from you two.

You two really have found your stride in round two. the art feels top notch and like you decided to stay a while in some panels to add extra 'don't really need it, but I want this to be pretty' details and it shows! The backgrounds, environment and especially that bar scene in the flashback had to be one of my favorites.
It kills me to know that this comic was not a victim to tablet/battery issues that we didn't get to see this in its fully glory by deadline, but I certainly hope to you submit this tale as a whole in future. You cooked up something pretty intriguing I gotta know what happens!

First off, I was a little confused at the start. then I understood the whole interview/flashback scenario going on and it was really cool! But then I got confused again at the end. I am unsure what was going on with the clone thing or exactly how she got shot with her own gun? The plot is a little lost on me.

Confusions aside, I did enjoy the dynamic of the interview and flashback, especially Mercedes' antics. The action scenes were quite impactful. Overally it was a fun read, though not quite as much as the first round.

Stand out part: the contrast between white and black backgrounds for the interview versus the flashback. It really sells the time difference and helps make sense of a premise that can easily become confusing. Even if I did find the plot a little confusing, the main premise of the comic covering past and present was crystal clear after a few pages.

What exists is pretty cool, though if I am understanding this right, this ain't finished. I think I heard there was a catastrophic hardware incident. That's unfortunate. I liked where this was going.

The art is pretty and that flashback scene really effectively makes the opponents seem awful villains worth taking down. Though they're cool evil lesbians so I'm still probably rooting for them. I guess it's left to the imagination how the veil rogues would turnabout this fight.

Stand out scenes include the double hand prints on the ground and that sinister panel in the bar where valentine is watching from across the room.

Whaa, this comic is so surreal and fascinating. The jumps in time, the bodies, the conspiracies, it's hard to find words when I feel so jumbled around. It's a great feeling though, rather than hopelessly confused, I'm hopelessly intrigued: I have to know more about everything going on here, it's satisfyingly unsatisfying and complicated and challenging in a way I adore. Even with all that strangeness, your characters shine through, the intimate way they feel about each other and detached way they feel about the world around them. It's astounding how much two characters who can't be near each other can live like they're all alone together.

Ah, this comic has so much going on just from the pages that are done. The art is really perfect at capturing that heavy action vibe, with its bold spotblacks and contrasts. The plot is dark, but never feels bleak, miserable or without its vulnerabilities. Every character was efficiently introduced and felt complicated and interesting right from their first page. It's a shame that we couldn't see how things shook out, but as an introduction it was beautiful. The relationship between your own characters feels especially complicated and harrowing, whether it's going somewhere positive or only leading into a further spiral.

Extremely cute and expressive art! My favorite bit is Mercedes being picked up by the scruff like a disgruntled kitten. My one complaint is I'd like to see a few more backgrounds. I like how you worked on different panels on the same pages, it helps the comic feel more like one big cohesive thing.
I like how you interweave the characters and give them an interesting reason for conflict! It's also cool how the story continues on from the last comic. I feel like there's a lot of interesting places you could go from here in the future. Lots of good small jokes and fun character moments.

Sorry you weren't able to complete the whole comic! The art is really nice. I really like how everything has a lot of texture and the backgrounds especially are really pretty and have a lot to look at. The action is all very clear and understandable and there's a lot of good dynamic framing. The little cameos are very fun.
Writing is sort of hard to judge in an unfinished work, but I feel like there could have been more balance in giving every character time to shine? I kind of feel like Mercedes is a bit out of character. I do like tying the characters backstories together but it was a bit confusing for me figuring out how far back the flashback was supposed to be.

Super solid entry and a great pivot from the funny heist feel of your last comic to a very serious debriefing that explores your characters past the personal goal of breaking the curse job wise. The josh for king is very brutal and I loved how amazing the finisher was but I do think a little more could have been done with the character before shuffling him off the stage plot wise. I think a bit of the same for king but still a very good job with the climax I still kinda sad a lot of the mystery behind the pair wasn’t explained but a very nice job with th cloning angle

It’s such a bummer to see that drawing tools denied us the finish to this comic as I really really love you guys style and very tight clean storytelling especially that lariat panel that u showed off it looks killer!. I think the exploration of your opponents was good if not just a bit confusing( again I’m sure clarity was there for the full comic) on the kidnapping part of kings interwoven baclstory but played out well enough I followed what was happening even though I know u guys defaulted I am really looking forward to he finished version if u guys are still feeling the tourney juices

I only have about an hour left to vote on these so forgive me for being a bit daft but im not going to lie i have no clue how King would have died other than "well mercedes just picked up the gun and killed her" also there was something in there about clones? not sure 100% what was going on in the last few pages but i dont have a lot of time to go back AIEE

what I do know however is that there was a real nice setup for this round that kept me hooked on what the FRICK was happening and whats going on with Valentine GOOD GOOD

It is a shame this was not finished i loved how this was going i wish i could have gotten to see more, there was a great build up of momentum for what was there and im glad the opponents got to the scene a lot faster this time, really appreciate that in an OCT comic so for what was there im glad we at least got some good mercedes moments in before it ended.

Art is still a damn knock out for the pages, these tones are absolutely delicious and make it look so SOLID, baby!! SOLID STATE SOLDIERS!!

I like the continuity from the last round. Sensing some sort of implied message that king is a clone related to our duo of gravity benders which is a little interesting.

Loving the juxtaposition of the omissions in the interviews between what actually happened. Such as the locker room.

One thing that wasn't exactly clear to be was how antigravity would influence a bullet that's already been put into motion at such a distance where it'll take a while to slow it down. I assume it's the effects of both their gravity fields in close proximity? Besides that i think King should've gotten to do a bit more besides talk until King's end.

flirting and some degree of deception i see. 👀

not sure if the girls are the best fit with Veil but a cynical view of money is definitely one way to get a story propelled. i do also appreciate our cast actually sitting down and discussing what they wish for.

I do like the environments on display here, from the campfire in a jungle and a well populated bar. To extend from that the palm shaped craters are a great shorthand for one of the gravity powers combined with King noticing what's going on first.

Really unfortunate that Eric's tablet had a critical failure, i wish you the best in resolving that.