These flowers are known to come in nearly every hue except for blue. Despite the name, "black dahlias" aren't true black flowers and often come in a more burgandy, plum color instead. Compared to the usual positive meanings of the dahlia flower, the black dahlia carries a more darker meaning: Betrayal.
Voting is closed.
Goldie
With the tone set by last round, I love that the creeping fear has elevated to new heights. The twists and turns here were so good, I didn’t expect them at all! You two make a great team and convey this desolate no hope feeling very well, on top of your strong paneling, lines, and colors. Your story is super strong and I’m so eager to see more from you two! Keep up the good work!
Goldie
You both make a fantastic team, your colors and line work look great all throughout the comic! I appreciate all the tiny details in each background in the panels, there was a lot of TLC there. There was some super excellent tension between Effi and Mopie here, and I’m so eager to see how their dynamic gets affected by the events that happened here. Very excited to see more from you two, keep up the good work!
Pengogo
What a turn of events! The dry horror in this is really well portrayed, with everybody's motivations being easy to read but never too bluntly stated. The way the robot is set up, everybody feels like they're just trying to survive no matter the consequences. The palettes are fantastic in this regard, loud and saturated in a way that actually enhances the horror rather than distracts. As an issue, the framing device chat logs don't feel like they add a lot of character. They're important for explanation's sake, but they don't feel like they add an interesting perspective when they break up the story. Still, everything is so fascinating, it's hardly a game breaker. Great job!
Pengogo
The coloring here is an obvious standout, but the way the art tells its story is absolutely beautiful. The backgrounds are lush and lived in, and the characters' acting (showing off both complex emotions and a complete lack of them) pull you in immediately. The creative page layouts are especially effective, they're so clean and easy to read but so ambitious. The story itself feels a bit contrived and predictable, but the way the characters are written, you still feel every beat hard. Well done!
sunilill
I really like the use of the chat logs in between pages, that was a creative choice to explain some background lore while also not having to draw it out (and it does work since the information, at best, would be pretty hard to showcase through a traditional comic form while also feeling natural).
I do feel like compared to the last comic, the art quality dropped a teeny bit. While likely just a consequence of starting off really strong, I do feel like the choice of colours/values in the background along with the crosshatching details ended up muddying the details between the characters, backgrounds, and panels. I noticed this issue happening more at the beginning. You just needed to boost the contrast between the characters and backgrounds and this issue would have been easily fixed.
Otherwise, the use of colours are great to depict the mood and tension of the comic, and the writing is pretty damn strong. Good job!
sunilill
I'm really impressed with the artwork in this one. The amount of detail and crosshatching used for a 17 page comic is a little insane, but it pays of immensely. The panelling for this is pretty damn strong, and I love the symbolism used on page 15 to depict guilt.
When I do take a closer look at the artwork, I do notice there are some minor issues with the perspective. This is due to two things: either awkward placement of the horizon line and/or vanishing point, and lack of form when constructing objects (specifically with the shelves, even if it's a small detail, fully constructing out to see all the sides does help a lot). Also, I can't help but feel the death by brain aneurysm was a bit of a cop out writing wise. It just feels a little random I guess. Maybe with more time at the drawing board it could've felt more natural to the story.
Overall, this is a really beautiful comic. I love the continuation of the painterly textures are inking. Honestly, it does feel like you almost made this comic with traditional means. How your drew the cat was really good, and they're really cute. And I really like the composition for page 10.
Piñata
Dude.
Duuuude. This was delightfully creepy! There was so much utilized to your advantage here that went beyond just story. Your coloring, narrative set up and that detached interspersed text communication while the horrors ensued was just really captivating. Each time I got to the corporate having their DM chat I dreaded turning the page to see what poor Rowan was going through.
Speaking of- what an excellent visual representation of a character having a mental breakdown. The squiggly lines and blue down to the intensifying colors really really lended itself to having the reader even feeling a little unsettled. You had great unsettling moments that is really building the horror of events to a fever pitch that only the finale can resolve.
I especially loved the grisly death by headbutt from EFFI and that great spot black and glowing eyes framed within the broken space helmet. This comic is just chock full of iconic panels, I can't quite choose which one was my favorite.
Great showing. I really don't know whose gonna take this
Piñata
Your heavy handed ink and pencil detailing of your characters and environments never cease to delight. That hyper rendered horticulture dock is just a lovely boast of talent and marriage of your respective skills that is great to see page to page. The ship feels fully realized, the places they move around in feel like there's a map to where they're going as opposed to being a reader and feeling lost as to where characters are. That's no easy feat, so it bears lauding.
I've never see an more unsettling cat XD I love that gaunt stretched face and unblinking stare as we get to the room poor Rowan has locked themselves in. The build up of growing panic that something unwelcome could be inside of you, in side of someone else, just waiting to take over and destroy all you hold dear without proof or evidence is a powerful thing and wonderfully depicted here. I was as convinced as Rowan it was all over, I don't blame them or Mopie for feeling so convicted due to emotionality and suspicion, but man the payoff of the guilt that descends on Mopie's shoulders once they realize they should've trusted EFFI- down to reminding us of the opening words is perfect. What a tight and well crafted story!
Pizza Man
I love how much this comic took me for a ride. Seeing all the twists and turns made this comic a real page turner! I was quite shocked at how quickly Mopie went from calm and collected to "I gotta murc this kid". It felt a little abrupt and could've possibly used a bit more build up to really raise the tension and paranoia of the comic. I really like the small visual details sprinkled throughout y'all's comic. The files on the side of the chat box and the metal bar panels right before the big inciting incident are the ones that really stood out to me. Oh man, that ending panel has got me asking so many questions! I love the reveal with Owens that's all I'm gonna say on that! Great work!
Pizza Man
I can't believe you two upped the quality more than your round one but damn if you didn't pull out all the stops to make this the most visually impressive comic you could! I love how the conversation between your duo and Fletcher slowly escalates until it's too late and bodies start to drop. There's parts in the writing that confuse me like when Mopie instantly believes Fletcher is infected but it also intrigues me. It feels like Mopie is hiding something about herself that would lead to that conclusion and I'm super curious what that could lead to in the future. Amazing comic!
Eric
This was a tough one. The art and story in this is excellent. Really, just top-notch. This is a tremendously well done comic. The heavy shadows and very lovely gloomy colors really cemented this as a horror comic in a gorgeous way. The story is suitably gory and just a great dive in read, especially with that cliffhanger ending.
My main criticism for it is that there's a little too much in the "terminal chat" department. While it is elucidating, this could have been in a more artistic way, even if it remained as a terminal chat. Different angles, different views to keep the comic momentum. Maybe even showing some of the action during it with the terminal chat listed overhead.
Still, super excited to see more from both of you - you make a great duo. Great work!
Eric
Superb job here. Really great environmental storytelling and the art is so excellent. The solid blacks are really gorgeous and support the colors in a way that really give a lot here. However, the colors should be pushing their lights in a stronger way. The cat's eyes being a darker tone than the other parts in the scene feels very at odds with what should be a major focus of the design and everything else. Hopefully some brighter colors can be used next time where appropriate. The story was a fantastic dive in and the paranoia causing the death of innocent members is what this sort of genre is all about. All in all, tremendous work for you both!
Wolkemesser
The title page format was good in the first round, and now that I see it being used continuously across rounds, I will go on record as a big fan of it. The rapturous sort of poses of the characters on each have been really neat, if not necessarily revealing ingresses to your Hypo comics so far.
Colors and lighting are big stars in this round, imo. The green and serene outer portion of the greenhouse ends up being a terrific pulpit for EFFI and Mo to try to communicate with Rowan from. It’s a setting that does not do much explicitly to ratchet up the horror vibes, but accomplishes much by contrast with the darker, red-soaked room that Rowan is trapped in. The symbolism – trapped in one’s own mind, the challenges of reaching out to someone whose own psyche puts itself between them and those that care about them – are obvious, but gorgeously and effectively presented.
More broadly, the page layouts remain solid, especially the wide scenery shots. My favorite is the greenhouse walkway on page 5, where you show off multiple lovely angles and manage to meld perspectives of the same bridge without even needing a panel divider. The final shot of the greenhouse, with Mo shaking in the doorway, is a striking composition as well, and I adore the page shift to the black background, which makes for a gutting last image to leave the reader with.
Rowan’s already-underway but still progressing breakdown comes across in an unignorable way over the course of the comic. Between the situation he finds himself in at the beginning of the comic, and his would-be rescuer’s inability to get on the same page, it feels VERY convincing that he wold break down the way he did, and the final murder-accident (?) feels as inevitable as it does tragic.
(Not to say is was all grim – you got a decisive laugh out of me with EFFI’s “it looks like you’re describing a normal cat” line).
The show-stealer in terms of storytelling elements is the disconnect forming between EFFI and Mo. You’ve walked the “who was right?” line comfortably on EFFI’ side, but Mo’s position on opening the door is painfully understandable, and more importantly, wonderfully human. It’s a decision driven by fear in part, but also a caution that makes sense for a search-and-rescue in their situation. Mo may have been (as far as the comic lets us know) wrong about what was going on inside the room, and she may have handled Rowan’s fears poorly because of her own, but it makes sense to a reader that she might react so poorly when confronted with such a potential danger, and the firm rejection of her fears by EFFI.
EFFI fascinates me most of all in this entry. The optimism and brightness of the first round is still there, but the comfort that brings to the characters around her is starting to become something that unnerves them (Mo specifically), or at the very least is doing less and less to allay their fears. You’ve ultimately done a very impressive job of keeping EFFI as the person/robot she was at the outset – chipper, serious, and goal-oriented. But gradually that’s less of a reassuring thing, and there’s a brilliance to the writing in accomplishing that. That she offers no direct comfort to Mo, who is clearly having a traumatic response herself (SO curious what’s happened with her under the sea), serves to put a really effective punctuation on this.
I appreciate the heck out of having you two as opponents this round. Really compelling characters to write and bring to life on our end, and a chilling, beautiful use of all the characters involved on yours.
Comment posted: June 8th, 2026 at 1:39 PM