Oculama

REAL close one here. Not that I was expecting any less from the two of you's exemplary first round performances.
The sheer, tactile brutality of this round is simply delectable. The art's a little sketch-y in places, but it adds to the mood as much as it detracts. The pre-existing relationship between the two is less clear than in Magistelle's round, but no less heartwrenching for it.
There's a lot heartwrenching about this round, from the return of Bela's family situation and the medicine gone bad, to the fact that Elba, so enthusiastic even against a close friend in One Seven, is somber and hesitant against Bela.
And of course, that somberness carries through to the end.
But that's not to say that there aren't some upbeat moments.
The sheer mythical scale of Elba's power continues to surprise and delight.
Especially the "You are not free yet, My Daughter" which implies all kinds of interesting and fun things about Elba's family situation, and the alternate font for Birugdere.
And of course, the burnt out husk of the club gives a real, visceral sense of Elba's power in a way that shooting a laser through a skyscraper doesn't.
The closeness to the ground makes the scale of the destruction she enacts feel all the bigger.

Elba being a cousin is VERY fun, and adds a really interesting bittersweetness to the whole round.
I feel like the two of you both leaned hard into the other's style of combat, with great results from the experimentation on both sides.
And the ART.
The sheer detail.
The CITY SKYLINES.
The writing's nothing to scoff at either. There's stuff I didn't get 'til the third read through. The foreshadowing of "We'll talk with her", of "I'm always right."
All the talk of "pageantry" and the reveal that she never needed her hands to work.
And all those Elba EYES.
How they change, how the third one opens.
Great stuff.
Rooting for you.

I loved your palette a lot, loved the characterization of both parties, and you made tons of cool choices so good on you! A few of the actions scenes had be a tiny bit confused until I examined them closely for a bit, but that may just be a me thing, so please don’t worry and take with a grain of salt. Overall I really liked your story and hope to see more from you~

I weep for everyone involved! Loved the family angle so much, and your characterization was great on every character, made me really feel deeply for them all. Action scenes are clean and concise, left me hankering for more. I could read a dozen comics of Elba and Bela’s relationship, and the fact that you made me love these characters in such a short amount of time is truly awe inspiring! Keep up the wonderful work!

This is damn good. You've got a lot of energy in the action and you demonstrated such a drive to make this as brutal as possible, which is appreciated. You have some terrific fight choreography and your usage of lighting was clever to keep it simple and allow yourself the ability to do more. You used your space a lot better than round one and did much more background work which was extremely appreciated. It made the action much easier to follow and know just where everyone was in space.
The main issues are one of detail and clarity. While the lighting usage was good when the spotlights and club environment was in full swing, there's a lack of detail within the line-work and in giving some better distinction amongst the rubble and other background elements. It holds a lot of that back, because it ends up just being unclear.
All that being said, again, this is an absolutely terrific comic and hopefully, we see Elba again in the future. Great work.

We've discussed this comic verbally and at length, so a good deal of critique is not needed on my part as you're well aware. You've made what is currently a contender for a best comic on Oculama and it will be pointed to and referenced as one of the best for the entire lifetime of the site by its community. Regardless of any sort of feedback, this is a slam dunk effort.

There is literally only one particular spot that could be improved upon. Page 5 - Panel 3's Elba is a little bit awkward and feels off. It's not the most dynamic or pointing pose, but it feels like it's just uneasy standing as well as the arms being pushed up too close. If you ever collect this comic to use as a portfolio piece (as you should), take the time to fix that particular panel up some. Everything else is excellent, that's the only part that could be improved by a larger margin.

Hopefully, you're proud of what you've done. Superb work.

This is such an aside, but I rather enjoy how you infuse your content warnings into the art like it was meant to be there. Handy, but also creative. This fight was GRISLY. Too often I think artists choreograph these battles in environment and promptly forget it, but its great to see once these two come to blows, its not without collateral damage. A missed shot has to go somewhere, and that mayhem just spreads throughout the club. You have such great action, but I wish you'd given Elba more time to be that ominous presence. That shadowy panel on page 8 feels like it could've had so much more gravitas and intimidation if it was bigger and encompassed the top of the page. Which isn't to say you don't have those moments. The page where Bela hacks off Elba's arm is radical in the space you give it on the page. To say nothing of how Bela is dispatched- its clear you have love for your opponent infusing Bela's lore and relationship with their siblings- LOVED that page where Toni and Ronan can be seen looming in the flames with the Hag looking on.
This couldn't of been a better match up of fire and ice. I'm only bummed only one of you get to move forward. I need more of both!

Th thing that I love that you're doing is from round one you're not just tossing a character in to fight an opponent round to round, you're walking this tightrope of introducing a character, establishing a motivation,setting the foundation of the relationships he has via backstory and having them pay off, all in the span of two rounds, which is SUPER HARD to do, but as a veteran of the tournament circuit, you make it look effortless. It's uncanny how quickly your comics manage to pull people in to pulling for Bela and the dynamics of their family- even if the opposition happens to be a part of that family. I think it was great to have a calm before the storm where those two actually talk- and once that talks over, Elba dispenses with ringing the bell and gets right into it.
Your fight choreography is the kind of stuff I've no doubt many artists on this site will come back to reference. It's clear you're in your element with this type of composition and posing. Each panel really emphasizes movement and speed as these two lay into each other. I can also appreciate that while many artists sort of dress up a fight, you endeavor to make punches and kicks hurt and leave impressions like Elba's konked nose.
With such a fantastic showcase of powers I don't think anyone expected such a quiet and rather heartbreaking ending. Bela isa reluctant kinslayer in the end, but its a good thing he has some family left.

You promised grotesque violence and you gave us grotesque violence. Fights in tight spaces hold a special place in my heart, especially between characters for whom collateral damage is the default setting.

As much as I enjoyed the chaos, though, I feel like chunks of the fight slipped from "intensely kinetic" to "lacking polish," especially once the fire spread and the combatants were the same color as the background.

I also feel like there was more that could have been done with Elba's characterization. This is two times now we've seen Elba go sicko mode and then feel terrible afterwards, but without a clear look at why. It's just not clear enough what makes her tick.

Again, it was a terrific scrap, but it left some storytelling opportunities on the table and was too loose for its own good at points.

Speaking as an incredibly petty and anal bitch, I'm struggling to find a flaw here. Impeccable coloring, backgrounds, conveyance of motion, everything you could ask for to bring this sort of spectacle to life. Making them family was a terrific decision and you made the most of the narrative potential there.

This was an incredibly ambitious piece that you somehow managed to execute to perfection. Much as I'd like to find half a star to dock somewhere to maintain my critic bona fides, I'm stumped. Top marks.

The lighting and vibes are amazing in this!

The damage elba takes in this was brutal and that xray shot stands out as my favourite as that whole sequence is just. I had a smile on my face in an expression of terror.

The first page is also quite neat and sets up the vibes going, even forshadowing the brutalness of the fight with the person killed. I also enjoy seeing big pages full of little details. You know me.

If i had one issue with this comic its that your linework isnt as good as usual. I think if i had to guess, getting all these pages done by the deadline the focus was on the colours, layout, etc. Because everything else is magnificent.

Gods damn!!!!

That city! The skylines, the clouds, the action scenes! The backgrounds!

What an amazing comic!! You pulled off similar scenes and stories its hard to judge these two. The lines are crisp and the colours, while not as atmospheric as moids are still amazing.

Story wise though i am a little confused about what happened to our boy though. Hes half ice ghost now? Im not quite sure whats going on there. If i have any issue thats it though. Most everything else is so good.

You’d think Bela would’ve caught on that fighting in an enclosed fire hazard of an establishment that serves alcohol would not be the best place to start an all out brawl to the death with a walking matchbox! Jokes aside I really loved the fighting choreography in this one! The way you draw explosions and fire engulfing things is amazing. It was a nice touch to have Elba be forced to see the fallout her killing Bela will very likely put on his siblings. Really messing her up there but it made for a great final page!

Damn! I really didn’t think you could top the last round in terms of quality but I’ll just shut up now! Holy shit what an amazing brawl. The whole thing was a crazy ride from start to finish but the thing that hit me the most was the characterization. There were a lot of good lines too! The way Elba accepted death at the end really hit hard. I feel like many people in this tournament are struggling with the page limit and I can tell you wanted to tell more in both of your rounds. Here’s wishing you luck should you make it to the finals on finishing the story you want to tell!