Oculama

Another fire round from Ember! (Yes I will drag on this joke for ever)

The story was really exciting and easy to follow, even with the new twist! Visually, I think there was a nice balance of far-off shots and close-up, expression shots, which made it very easy to follow. I also really did appreciate how you had a short but concise synopsis for the previous round, especially since that round's aspect influenced this round as well.

I think the only part I did get slightly confused was Lucy's flashback. For a spit second, I did not realize it was a flash back, so perhaps if it had a gray overtone or if it had different panel lines, it would have been a tiny bit clearer?

Having said that, I did think the fact that you did add Eve to the story was very nice, as I love when opponent characters are featured well in OCT comics! Excited to see how the story follows up from here, especially with the new secret plan!

I will say, I do really love how your story with Lucy has that slight gritty tone to it - hero life isn't all just fun school life and saving people!

Again, the round was very nice visually, with clean line art and even colors! I especially loved the last two pages, as they were both visually and narratively entertaining, giving us an exciting cliffhanger. Like the first roundround, I loved the dresses you gave everyone! It really matches their character.

Just a tiny thing, but it was a bit hard to find Lucy in the first page because of the rain - perhaps if there is a tiny bit more contrast in the brightness/saturation, the main elements of panels might become easier to find? In that sense, Ember's hair and fire was very pleasing visually, as it did add a (literal) flair to the comic.

However, that is more on the nitpicky side, since the story was still easy to follow and fun to read! Excited to see how the story unfolds, and please let Lucy get some warm tea after all the rain…

This is a great comic. I was wondering how you were going to develop the narrative but the story progression from round one into round two is so well done. You really did something that both escalated the stakes for Ember, as well as develop some intrigue. The tones still remain a great choice but I would love to see it develop more in the next rounds - especially if you can leverage it towards playing with lighting as well during it. Other than that, this was another solid comic - you're doing great stuff here. Great work!

A nice continuing escalation to the stakes here. Lucy is a solid little character. I would like to get to know her more in the context of the time period and you're doing a good job dropping that out. The story is straight-forward - maybe a bit of a retread of round one. I could see it being more interesting had you done a little more of the attack on Polaris, with another page or two devoted towards giving us more to chew of that. Maybe even cutting to the other students back at the party. Artistically speaking, I believe you should practice your trees some. Given that you're not focusing on heavy inking over your colors, this feels like a very good opportunity to paint out your background, especially since we've got nothing but foliage here. Regardless of if you're continuing to the next round or heading into BIRD WARS, I doubt this is the last time we'll be seeing it. The rain was really great - as was playing with the steam and everything else to carry across the fire with the water. It was a daring effort and you did a great job with this comic. Good work!

There were some really solid foundations set for this round and I love how this comic takes them further! I liked the setting of intrigue in place of another test, and with the characterizations of both Ember and Lucy, it really sold the intensity of the situation. The comic was clear and really readable with all the tones. The way the event was livestreamed to the rest of the school is a cliffhanger to end on too.

Conversational round! I liked how this comic is directly after your round one. I liked how the environment frames the majority of your pages, the background work never got in the way of the characters, and the flames were used really nicely to highlight the pages. I just wish there was a bit more progress on Lucy's quest in this comic, even if it were going from one place to another. But there's a cliffhanger here that leaves things open, and I'm curious to see where it goes!

I love how much you leaned into super school day drama and intrigue. The secret entryways under the bed and highschoolers taking footage of dastardly mad scientist deeds feels so weirdly Buffy 2000's. Its weird your character lives in the space where they aren't the focus, but without them the progression of the story wouldnt happen. It's a neat marriage of showcasing your opponent while also leaving us wanting more of Ember. Speaking of more of Ember, I like the nod as to her tenuous reputation with her fellow school body with the mention of those who stopped following her. But maaan sensationalist news sells. She's so totally back.

This was one gritty confrontation and duke out fight. You are going really extra with the rain, the atmosphere, the colors, the word SFX, etc which I worry is muddying the waters of what you're trying to achieve. Some of the compositions of your panels leave me without a focal point to zone in on. I also half expected the rain to factor in some way against Ember being a fire superhero, but it seemed barely an inconvenience, which in this scenario i expected the two of them to be at a stalemate and have to get innovative. You are dealing with fire on a dark and rainy night, which I wish was leaned into by playing with spotblacks and heavy shadows. Pushing for more stark may help with garnering focus. Still though, you've hooked us with this mysterious attack, which leaves me wondering whether this is your next opponent or something more dire.

Nice work (or should I say mice work) on this, Inky! Good solid job on the art throughout, really how you captured the expressions especially! If I had one minor quibble, it would maybe be the panel of Ember burning the lab as the hand blends into the scene so I was unsure initially why she was so freaked out at the end there.

In terms of story, really like how you brought in story elements of your opponent's character like her girlfriend and made it relevant to your plot (leave the mousies alone!). The social media angle is good, plays into the whole school aspect of the tournament well. Thank you for the cameo too!

Great job on this, Ninja! Very nice art throughout once again, the continued use of the rain really helps to set the overall mood of the comic and just done really well in general. Big shout out to the stylised sound effects in this, matches the superhero inspiration of this whole thing very nicely. If I need to give a criticism like your opponent, it would be a little bit of wonky perspective like the end panel of page 2, HMW is like half the size of the trees zamn.

In terms of story, really liked how this is a direct continuation of your last comic, helps show a real progress in the arc of your character. Very intrigued by the events of the last page and how it would lead on into the next round if you get through. Thank you for the cameo too!

The plot thickens! I like seeing the ramifications of Ember's actions continuing, it feels especially like in a school setting you have a great opportunity for moments to become drama that spreads and becomes the gossip of the week. Work remains great, I am still eating up these screentone pages to learn from myself. I feel like HMW's personality feels a little muted from what we know about them from round one. But outside that I am very intrigued by the conspiracy being laid out. Great work!

There's a whole lot of mystery being peppered with these final pages, from the hole to the ghosts to the monster in the woods, given what little we know from HMW's bio I have a suspicion of where it's going. I wanna commend you on the sound effects this time around, you really cranked them up a notch, a solid improvement from before! I feel like the personality of Ember in this comic is a lil off from what I anticipated, but it's a minor thing. Good stuff!

good to see ember having to deal with the fallout to her ego/popularity/humbling and it makes her an interesting case as going from top THAT B#&$H to disgrace and working up from there isnt often used and I love it. your art and greyscale are on point as usual so nothing new to say there. I like that you tied in whats going on in lucy's previous comic and gave it a nice spin twist for ember getting scratched earlier and having it slide in nicely for this round very neat idea. Im interested to see what happens next!

very cool round and playing the disadvantage of fighting against an actual flame manipulator and putting lucy on the backfoot. Im always one for all out brawls and beatdown so the fight was awesome. I think a few more elements/panels could have been spent more on eve and lucy as a preference but ember trying to get back to school ace in a fight was a cool thing to see and showing her being conceited was cool! Im interested to see whats up with the outside force attacking the school but I did wanna see how the fight between the two was gonna pan out