Oculama

Wow Wolke this was an emotional trip from start to finish. Your writing here really gets to shine I was captured by it from the very start. It had such a great and steady build up to learning more and more about Bliss and figuring out why they do what they do. All of that culminates into a real somber ending it hits hard. A mercy kill fits incredibly nicely in this story. And your art helps heighten the story itself, you've got so much detail in here and through repetition you really do get this feel that it is the final moments of Bliss. Great job on this

Sheeeesh this is a really nice comic. You've got such a nice use of colours throughout everything is just so vibrant and fun. Really impressed with how you were able to not only show Bliss' introduction and origin story but also were able to give focus to The Sheriffim. It's a real nice blend and showcase of both characters personalities. You did a really good job on this and while I probably shouldnt have I absolutely lost it when the bed CRONCHED this poor little dying child. And then having the sheer mad ladery to put "Rawr im a dinosaur" I bow down to you. Hilarious. Great job

Well that was a ride! I can't help but love such chaotic action and a spiral of shit hitting the fan progressively worse. All of this somehow kept fully coherent with great details too! (Yay for child death and the bed scene overall) Lots of nice background and side characters really made the world/setting feel alive and a great introduction/start to a killing spree. I do feel Sherrifm's death might have been a bit lacking in the humour it sought being anti-climactic. I greatly enjoyed the calm before the storm and the sudden burst of action. Thrilled to follow where Bliss' villainy and particles go after this great introduction.
In truth, I regret not being able to make this review longer, but I've got nothing more to say for better or for worse.

I did not know what to expect seeing a 32 page comic that starts with a clear victor already.
I didn't expect to love it as much as I did I'll say first of all. I must begin with the fact that Sheriffm being 3D and standing out from his 2D surroundings is gorgeous and a great call (especially the texture and foil weapon) to make him look just like a toy. The 2D art is even better and fits well with the theme. My only visual nitpicks are the text and text bubbles (particularly Sherrifm's) feeling like they were made with MS word. Minorly I feel the only panel that didn't ring well with me repeating is the citizens since it's quite a big/important art piece to see again. I'm sure the joy baseline drew some great parallels to real world problems, and as much as I usually have a dislike for such things as I feel it cheapens the story to hinge on reality, this one felt justified and definitely anything but a negative.
I can't stress enough how much I like how you wrote the characters. Sheriffm's personality being an angel melded together with a olden' cowboy really brang it home in contrast to the defiant machine. Also, as much as I criticized the visuals, they were just what I said: Nitpicks. They overall were a great plus, and the citizen panel, despite being repeated, gave me a great appreciation for the comic. I also said it in the review for the other comic, but I just LOVE seeing standerbys and side characters appear in the comic.
And one last thing before I turn this review into a mini-read on its own: The one panel I felt positively about "repeating" is the one where the speech bubbles appear after Sherrifm's hesitation. I don't think a traditional second bubble or second panel directly beneath would've been as good.

This was a very nice round to look at. The colours and shading where very well made and it was just a joy to look at. It was very clear to read.

It was a very nice intrduction comic for futrue rounds. I would love to see more of this wacky robot lady. I will say, I would of liked her to have sassed with the cowboy angel a bit more. I think maybe even a little ending words with them would of helped that.

You lose at least half a star because I felt sad that the girl was crushed to death. Besides that it was a very entertaining round.

While intresting to start a comic at the end of the battle. I would of liked to have seen more of a variety of images in here. As it sort of makes the pacing drag a bit with the reuse of simlar/same panels. It really holds it back for me, like even just a wide shot to establish the area would of helped. .

Again I really would of liked to see the actual battle that their talking about. More show less tell as they say.

It is an intresting dive into Bliss motives and such. And I did like his one liner at the end that was pretty powerful.

I think this was a nice start of an origin story for Bliss!
You're overall art work throughout the comic was consistent! and good story pacing. I also really liked the bibilical angel design working you gave for Sheriff in the last page. I thought that was a slick design twist you gave for the character!
The only things I note off the bat is with Bliss's facial design, there are some pages where Im not exactly sure what face she is making or there is a loss in clarity because its competing with other visual element in the panel..
Most notably on page 5. Her and the other bots pink expressions become a little blurred/ loss in clarity because the pink is competing with the peach/salmon background. Perhaps a Green or cooler tone would help it pop and give some clarity.

Overall I had fun reading this story and I think you did a real fun first round comic for the tourney!

I really appreciated the angle you took with this!
lil more mellow in tone and pacing, Not what I was expecting at all from a Sherriffim and Bliss battle! Which I Liked!
I appreciated the heavier folks on dialog to carry the narrative here,I really enjoyed the "But I do know how to put a stallion down" line of dialog. gave me an "oh dang" when I read it the first time.
The biggest critique I that comes to mind is there are a lot of competing visual elements throughout the work, between the traditional work, digital imprints and textures, Going grey scale with some clashing color palates. It's mostly makes them all compete with each other visually. which can Which I think is a good thing to experiment with! Perhaps going forward give a few more limitations (Like only doing complimentary colors, or one type of added in texture) Just to help limit some of that visual competition but you still have room to play!

I really liked the direction overall that you took with this and appreciate a bit more experimental/visual novel approach to how the story was read. Keep it up!

I wasn't expecting an origin story on such a tight turnaround! Bliss is fun and funny and terrifying, which is to say, I love her. I love that she started life as a goober with wonky red glasses. Your writing is as strong as ever, the pacing and flow of your comic is fab! It starts off slow and then ratchets up very organically. I like the way you used your opponent too! Sheriffim is a cool character and I think you did a good job of making him seem appropriately badass, while still killing him. (And squishing his kid! Another hilarious bit)

You art is fun and full color, great work!! You had a really good mix of different camera angles in your panels, that's something I want to try to improve on! I also love the chonky lines you used in some panels, that bot in the front in the second panel on page one is just so *chefs kiss* I just love a good chonky line. Great work all around!

Okay, first off, I saw 32 pages and was instantly terrified! Not to diminish your work, but I definitely noticed that was because you reused some panels. I think it was smart and resourceful to reuse some elements with the deadlines being so teeny weeny, though! And the writing over it was so strong, it didn't bother me reading through.

Your twist on Bliss being burnt out on JOY was.... heartbreaking! You really thought out what could be motivating her beyond being a fun murder bot and it made your comic really stand out. I honestly loved reading their conversation. I also love how The Sheriffim is just like, this 3d object imposed over the 2d comic, it's very fun. His being such warm colors really sold the sort of sunset vibe of the comic, too! Bliss's expressions were just brutal to watch too in those last few panels we see her, just. OOF!

so this comic IS FREAKIN GREAT! I love the morbid humor of the situation and the high speed aspect of it all erupting in this crazy vibrant macabre dance of murder honestly was super great and entertaining time and the "Rawr im a dinosaur" made me fell so bad for how loud I laughed and I was so conflicted because I was hyper invested in Sheriffim getting that kid to safety like 2 panels ago. I think as a heat of the moment quick battle it worked really well and I enjoyed it but I will say it felt a bit abrupt with the final explosion when i thought the battle was just starting.

So the opposite side of the spectrum for this comic makes this so hard to choose because its the "sadness behind the laughter" and the aftermath of the battle that really make the dialogue hit with how deep you went with Bliss character and backstory exploration your strength for GREAT writing shines through immensely and writing made me miss that a few of the panels were reused because the conversation was just that good. I think Sheriffim didn't say much in the comic worked pretty well and the few line especially the on the last few pages really hit hard and honestly I wish both of these characters could continue because I love them both so much.

Corn - 'Rarw I am a dinosaur' gave me a chuckle but then I realized what just happened and I got sad. Either way if a comic has successfully made me feel a wide range of emotions and managed to surprise me, that's a big plus in my book! The way you drew Sheriffim moving about like a paper cutout was so good and dynamic (referring mainly to page 6 in particular). I wish there was more to how Sheriffim met its demise but then I guess a doll would certainly be disintegrated by a flame that tremendous (loved the FX on that one btw). The colors are so beautiful and pastel-like it's so hard to imagine that it was a death match at first until we got to the ending. Really great job!

Wolke -- 'Wow' and I truly said that out loud after I read this comic. This is such a dark trip into the human consciousness depicted through a robot with artificial intelligence..or am I reading into this too much? That endless quest to seek the next dopamine hit until it became meaningless is an angle that I never would've thought to explore through a character like Bliss but it made perfect sense! The whole comic was such a journey and I found myself glued to every word and every panel. I was engaged the whole time and that was remarkable. I came in reading the Black Diamond entries expecting to be wowed by the spectacular and creative ways the combatants would kill their opponents. This was one of those entries where I truly cared more about the journey toward the end than the actual kill. Well done!

This is very much what I expect from you and I am so thrilled to see it featured here. You know your strengths and you really drive it home with your choice of character. Bliss is definitely not what I expected, but I am here for this kiiiinda psychopathic robo! Not to mention a full color fully rendered comic in under a week is nothing to sneeze at. you know your process and what you can deliver in a polished manner and this is no exception. VERY impressive work.
Narratively, if I had one note, it'd e that I would've liked to have seen Bliss and your opponent interact more. Or if you were going 'crossing like ships in the night' angle make it something compelling to them both. That's not to say there wasn't some high flying action, but for all the chaos, seeing a connection in some way felt secondary to the bells and whistles if that made sense

I did not expect this and I kind of love that I didn't. Thirty two pages! And all of them actually needed for the story you were trying to tell. You made some very smart moves reusing and rehashing existing art and modifying it for your aims to tell what you wanted to tell and I think you succeeded wonderfully. There was detail where there needed to be detail, explanation in the dialogue where there had to be because when you boil it down, this comic starts at the end of a conflict and is just two characters talking after the fact, but I wasn't lost and you had be transfixed throughout with Bliss' perspective and crisis of joy. I love comics where the artist plays with the order of events and I think this is no exception. Honestly some of your best work, keep it up :)

Love the dark humor here! The idea of a permanently happy robot just doing the most comically heinous crimes ever is so golden. I love the origin story as well, and the idea that the Sheriffim is initially this paper doll is so wonderful (is it in disguise? was it given life by the child's apotheonic powers? who knows but it tickles my brain so nicely).
The part where Bliss kills the child was a bit unclear to me at first, I think you could have zoomed in a bit more and possibly leaned into the shock value by making it a bit more explicit... not too much though. And as I'm sure you know the ending is a bit abrupt but given the deadline that's to be expected.
And needless to say the art is absolutely stunning! Gorgeous linework and colors, it's all such a treat to look at. Really strong round, it's one of those where I love both of these so much it's a shame someone has to win, haha.

This is such a tour de force of philosophical exploration, like it's less of a fight and more of a deep dive into what makes these characters fundamentally different and it's just so brilliant. I love how it all takes place more or less in one single moment. I also really love the multimedia style, the use of photos and real props and drawings on paper and all these different things make such a powerful and visually distinct aesthetic.
The distinct way each character speaks and the way their personalities clash... and how that's supported by the multimedia style in how they look super distinct... and the sparseness of your imagery makes the repetition and the little moments pop so much.
I think of all the comics this round, this is definitely the one that stuck in my head the most. It's just so unique and thoughtful.

This fucking comic thru me for a whirl, your style and comic ability are off the fucking max, this match hurts to judge and you know EXACTLY WHY, you made that shit HURT and the result is amazing for it.

You set up such an unlikable stinker that it makes me wanna root against them at all times, and it only doubly works with the characterization of the opponent that sends this home as a fun read to me, and one bitch of a character i wanna see BITE IT!!!

Amazing camera and paneling work throughout all of this

Btw the fucking ultrakill reference does not go un fucking noticed. Fuck yeah

FUCKING STAR STUDDED WORK, WOLKE

God your work has leveled up so goddamn much i adore this goddamn comic and everything it accomplishes, at first i was FLOORED with the 32 pages but man you paced them so fucking well theres no way i could have ever seen the depths of each character explored in a more satisfying way, it had me captured all the way through and properly enthralled me to seeing more of both characters. God fucking bless

One of the hardest to judge off sheer principle of how different each of the comics are, this one pulling me along for a ride i never expected with a somber and melancholic tone i adored. BRavo