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Up front, I love how you've stitched your humorous beats into the opening handful of pages. It serves the double duty of providing some initial levity and giving the reader a sense for Ishar's character - thoughtful but with a bit of a disconnection from her surroundings that makes her feel equal parts inscrutable and relatable. The contrast between her seriousness tone being used to ask the child why it won't eat buffalo wings made me gut-laugh out loud on my lunch break. (My first read-through of this was on mobile and I'll admit I completely did not register that the wings were a photograph).
And on the note of placing your spoken beats, ending the fight on the one-liner/ decapitation combo is a bit abrupt, but I'm 100% on-board with it. It's quick, brutal, and honestly a bit shocking on the first read-through, but you frame it so well, and it feels like such a rewarding pay-off for Ishar's opening dialogue with the baby.
(Also, the low-angle on that last panel kicks ASS)
The action here is superb. You hit a balance between sketched and refined that serves the high-speed movement of the fight extremely well. There's a roughness to it on the surface, but the economy of detail is actually quite elegant, which becomes more apparent on each read-through. There are a *few* spots where tracking the movements of the fight, and the character's place therein, gave me a spot of trouble, so there's room for improvement, but honestly nothing that detracts seriously from enjoying the flow of the comic.
On the top of minimal detail, I am especially awed by how gorgeously you convey the lighting of the restaurant with not a lot of linework or overwhelming contrast - there's a lot of angles to tackle the daylight-through-the-window look, and I absolutely adore how you've done it here.
I want to gush a little bit about your cover too, before I wrap up here - your use of color, like your sketch-linework, is not especially loud, but very well measured, and that coupled with your soft linework contrasts *beautifully* with the sharper, blocky text. I'd print it out and put it on the wall if I had a big enough printer, honestly.
Right into the action! I dig it! And the action is worth diving right into, no doubt. I love how clearly the physical movements of the fight parse; your brush style lends a lot to the dynamism and weight of your figures.
The angles here are absolute dynamite! Barely a panel goes by out of the 16 where you don't absolutely NAIL a perspective that made my eyes pop. Even when using simpler angles, you feed the reader compositions that get the heart racing (that page eight jump-shot? are you kidding me?? *chef's kiss*). I have a few isolated points of difficulty parsing action, but nothing major.
I'm digging the prey/ predator/ eat and be eaten narrative you've laid the fight over. It's very sparingly on display through the lion's share of the comic, but you time the points where the comic re-focuses on this dynamic quite well. I will admit it took me more than one read-through to fully appreciate what you had set up with the ram and wolf imagery, but it was well worth the read-throughs to get a handle on. It really heightens a lot of the smaller details, like how Rend lingers over Ishar before and after the throat-ripping, and the beat where the mask gets knocked off and Ishar gets a real look at what she's facing down.
On that note, I appreciate the repetition of the lone wolf over the lamb panel. I like how you use it to visually ground the fight in the rose field, and how nicely you build it up as a standalone statement on the fight over the course of the comic.
Similar to how I enjoyed the underlaying of the hunger theme, I like how you squeeze a respectable amount of characterization from both OCs while going quite lightly on explicit in-story/ in text explanation of either. Ishar's serene dedication to the child and the detachment she goes about pursuing it, and the few glimpses we get of Rend (and perhaps more importantly, the glimpses we get of Ishar glimpsing Rend), speak volumes.
Ziyanthus
What a pleasant comic! I really liked how the environments came together, with efficient pencil-like rendering giving the comic a bright and dreamy feel. The rendering and paneling framing remains clean and focused, with an especially nice cinematic feel to some of the chosen shots. The characterization with how Ishar handles the baby was fun. In terms of the comic's writing, it felt like there was little justification for the conflict between Ishar and Rend. It was a battle for battles sake, rather than a fight between characters and their warring desires, motives; All said, the action was smooth and captivating.
Ziyanthus
What powerful compositions! A captivating read the makes clear its thematic ideas from the get-got. I love the comic's rendering, lending the whole comic a dream-like feel with its painterly styling. The comic is also extremely clear and readable for a painterly, a major feat given how many dubious attempts I have seen over the years. The little splashes of color are used well in the compositions, highlighting drawing the eye to areas of focus while establishing the conflict as gruesome. A high energy, dramatic fight! The displayed characterization is a little weak for the characters, but overall the comic sticks the landing with its wolf and hunger metaphor. On that note, shout out to the composition on page 13.
Pengogo
Wough, this comic's conservation of detail is amazing. Every line matters, and it takes so little to establish strong scenes and characters. This applies in both the art, but also the writing. The world feels empty aside from everything that matters, but that also means every single line feels like it matters. I think the outside of the Looters could use a little more definition as a background, but it might have lessened that very effect. The writing here is perfect, every character is strongly established and full of personality. It's brutal and emotional while losing none of its absurdity.
Pengogo
Geuh, the painterly etherealness of this passes from writing to art and back again so seamlessly. This is such a terrible nightmare, nothing feels real but in a way where that only heightens the sense of danger and fear. The action here has weight to every little movement, although the action itself feels restrained: every pose is big, but people feel like they could move around more! That could lessen the effect of the stage like beauty though, so perhaps it's a compromise well spent.Both characters are such monsters, their strange features and personalities completely heightened to beautiful effect. Lovely!
I can see a very nice understanding of anatomy underneath your sketchy work here. Your character art is very alive thanks to your confident lines and I think the little bit of characterization we get with Ishar in the beginning of the comic helps carry a lot of weight for endearing me to both her and The Baby, which goes a long way! While I wish we had a little more of that very lovely red sun that we see in the beginning to help give it more color, this was still a lovely read. I super hope we see more of Ishar in the future on here, tournament or not! Great job!
You have such lovely gestural drawings for all of your action. It's really nice and fluid, I get a real sense of the movement and motion in this comic with the way you made up the characters. That being said, I wish we had a little more definition overall? Some of the action and characters get a little lost in the comic. However, I loved your sheep and wolf metaphor in the art and I thought this was a fabulous fighting comic. We don't have enough of those it feels like! I really hope we get to see more of Rend in the future, regardless of you hitting round 2 or not. Great job!
YOU..... YOUUUUUUU YYY_+y-+Y YYOOIUIDUSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!! SAAAGGGYYYYYYYYYYYYY@Y!YY!!Y!!! !!ASAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! I HTE YOUUUUUUU !
YOU ARE WOMEN ENJOYER SUPREME !!
I HAILL THEE. HALLOWED BE THY NAME !!!
I HATE THE GENIUS OF THAT FUCKIN' FIRST PAGE JOKE I KNEW I WAS IN FOR SOMETHING CRAZY. I knew you were funny but man this is some shit that had me DYINGGGG Bro i could NOT!!! AND THE FUCKING BRUTALITY OF THAT EnDing Aaahghg i loved every second of this comic, can you tell? I fucking love rend i love the baby i love IIT i love the looters AOOO The action the pacing its top its PEAK!! okay im done.
Love the comic and love the action, for the most part the gestures and motion is readable, but unfortunately a lot of the actions and moments are lost in the rushwork, so its pretty hard to tell on certain parts whats happening and what angle things are at, some of the paint blobs, - while pleasing to the eye- are hard to tell what is going on
The framing of the round is really neat tho, with the wolf and the sheep? especially using your own stage, Vili you DOG, YOU!!! I want to see MORE REND!!! RIGHT NOWWW!!!! NOOOWW!!!! DO IT NOOOOOWWWWWW!!
First impression of are definitely not what I expected. For someone who looks composed and put together, its great to have that one sided exchange with her child where its clear she's a bit unmoored not really knowing what to do before the meet-cute with her opponent. I think that brief exchange offers a great deal of personality for us to chew on. Really love the choice of brush you're using for your pages and your combat choreo almost reads like a storyboard. I especially love the progression of the flip on page 7. It almost reads like a triptych.
This entire battle reads like such an off the wall line of realization from a new Mom that I really enjoyed. also baby's first tooth! gotta celebrate those milestones XD
Despite tournies, especially round 1's being randomly assigned, I think you and your opponent are wonderfully matched. Your style, character and vibes have really proven to be such a treat by way of showcase. The both of you work in values and form as opposed to linework which is a real treat to pore over. Your pages read like a series of gesture drawings which really lend themselves to movement and dynamism once we get into the bare knuckle fighting. You even got some great SFX additions which really enhance some of those combat beats. The both of you have made this a tough vote, which is always great. Wonderful work.
InkySlime
These where both so much fun to read. You both have such Dynamic fight sequences! and lovely page layouts on both sides.
awesome comics!!!
Comment posted: October 21st, 2024 at 8:39 PM
johannhawk
Saggy: Really enjoy how mobile this fight is. Got a giggle out of the photobashed buffalo wings.
Viladee: love the collateral damage and compositions. Really making use of all 4 arms here.
Comment posted: October 7th, 2024 at 2:35 AM
Prometheus
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF TOP SHELF
Comment posted: October 6th, 2024 at 7:33 PM
Piñata
I love that both these characters feel like they share the same style aesthetic. It'll be great to see them babe off in style!
Comment posted: September 23rd, 2024 at 10:28 AM