I don't anything to add critically except to say that I love this guy sooo muuuch. So deliciously creepy. Love how the comic ends.

Ah, yeah, I also just remembered I left the video camera display icons out of panel 4 because they cluttered the panel, and realized it's the only panel where Koosh is talking off-screen and there's a balloon tail, so it may not read as a POV shot like the others.  Well, as the corn said when his clothes fell off, shucks.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this, ROFLQU!  As an enormous fan of what you've done with Dr. Fabulous and Morty in the SRT, I hold your opinions on visual storytelling in high regard.  

Your interpretation of page 1, panel 4 is really interesting, because you're actually reading it reverse of how I intended, but I totally see how you're seeing it, and I might not have done a good job of indicating the direction of the motion he's making.  The angle is from the video camera, so it's fixed throughout the scene.  In the previous panel, The Smile pounces on the guard from the left, stabbing him in the sternum.  Then in panel 4, he's supposed to be swiping the knife across his body, slitting the guard's throat.  So the gurgle is coming from where the guard's head/neck/chest area is established to be in the panel prior.  

But you're reading it as a reverse angle with The Smile looking back over his shoulder in the direction of Koosh's commentary, as he stabs the guy downward, or pulls the knife straight up from his chest.  I never saw it that way, and I probably needed the victim visible to convey the action I was going for.  Since we can't see him, I think your suggested placement of the "grgl" balloon would be an improvement.  

Thanks for the fresh set of eyes, as well as the kind words!

I had wanted to comment on this, but had not due to my computer fire issues when it was going on. Now that the tournament is over and this is all set, let's chat about it.


I agree with your assessment about tone/halftones. Not that I think you couldn't use both or one or the other effectively, but I think your tone choice was a little too thick and diminishes the impact of your art. In all honesty, it would have looked better with a solid grey and your terrific line art.

That first page, at the panel near the bottom ("oo! damn! they really don't pay these guys enough!"), I think Smile should have been more over to the right more and put grgl! to the left of Smile, would would look more natural. Because the grgl! speech bubble looks like it's coming out of his latest victim's groin. Which, hey, maybe the dude's shitting his pants and that's what the sound is, but I'm assuming it's blood bubbling up, so it should be up higher where they got stabbed I think. Or, remove the grgl! period, so that it's just Smile responding to Koosh's exclamation.

It's hard to find fault in the style, you've done such a fantastic job with your anatomy, your faces, your expressions, it's all really exciting and you tell a good story with such a simple idea. I really enjoy The Smile, it's nice that he is versatile enough to do comedy without diluting his character. You did a great job here, I really liked this comic.

Now that's its complete and fulla handy word bubbles and inks I am holding my sides over the cool balance of humor and horror behind this battle! Seriously, really great job! Koosh's dialogue had me in stitches and I love all the camcorder/static effects in this. Not to mention the amusing nod to the Blair witch project in Koosh staring into the viewfinder. You obviously made your opponents character your own and made your mostly mute monster pretty interesting with the wacky antics he had to put up with. You're definitely a voider to watch (and add to my hitlist. huehuehue). Keep up the fantastic work!

I'm not looking to kill him off just yet, but you know eventually Joe Vile's gonna have to start goin' after people, and some of those people are drawn by better comickers than myself!

In fact, while I'm accepting any challenge that comes my way, I've been purposely putting off challenging a lot of people on my hitlist because I want to get some comics under my belt first, and give them as much material to work from as I can.  I've got a seedling of an idea for a new Beyond Battle, and I hope to get under that yellow mask a little bit more there and in my next battles.

I know and you made my day so thank you <333

Don't you try to get him all dead and stuff before we can battle because I have ideas that need to turn into comics with this dude.

Hey guys, thanks for all the love and comments, I really appreciate you taking time to check this out!  It was really frustrating to not get this one in under the battle deadline, but it feels good to have it done anyway.

G.Lo: I've already gushed over your art, so your praise means a lot.  You'll sure be seeing more of The Smile until he's brutally dispatched in some inevitable future deathmatch! (steeples fingers calculatingly)

elge: Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the ending!  I really wanted to give The Smile a little moment of vanity there, and show he appreciates Koosh in his own way.

Pyras: Glad you liked it, and you know I'm still looking forward to seeing a Smile comic in your style one of these days!

Jiisuri: Thanks, and I hear ya on the screentones, I probably should've just gone solid gray with those guys, since I used it in other places anyway.

Shen: Thanks!  I did most of this comic in the iPad app Procreate, and it was my first time playing with screentones.  I will never do dot tones like that again, I tell ya.  

You'll notice the screentones look markedly different in the bottom three panels of page 1, and that's because I did those panels in Manga Studio, and used a default screentone there.  Still not perfect, but definitely better.  I've since been messing with screentones in Manga Studio more, and hope to utilize them to better effect in my next comic.

As for a potential battle, Shen, let me just say Gray's battle with Beo gave me some ideas!

Thanks again for your votes and feedback, everybody!

oh man, this is 100% awesome! Its too bad you couldn't turn this in for your battle, but I'm glad you followed through and posted it as a BB. I really like how you were able to blend Koosh into your style, I thought such a cartoonish character in such a gritty art style would be jarring but you did it very well. I'm not such a big fan of the large dotted screentones used throughout but I'm in love with your inking. if I can figure out how I would love to battle this guy XD

This is some good shit. Love how your inks are scribbly and still clear. Am personally a sucker for that style.

Only note I'll make is you might have wanted to try a different screentone for the VCPD cops. They went a little too dark there and begun blending into the background.

I need to lie down

this is too good

I think it is great to see the completed battle now. The inks are so pretty and I found the whole buildup fantastic. The ending made me laugh quite a ton. ^^

It was a surprise to see that The Smile can have a sense of humor too. I LIKE YOUR CHARACTER A LOT OKAY. Okay Ill stop now.

UUUUghhgUuGghGgh dem inks <333333333

Loved the story and I need to see more of this dude for the rest of forever. Kthx

Awww yeah! Sucks that you couldn't get the full thing in on time, but it's good to see someone pushing themselves even after the deadline!

I don't actually need an extra week on this, just touching up some backgrounds and redoing the lettering in Manga Studio, but I need some kind of deadline to remind and push myself, so 1 week'll have to do.  Anyway, this will be the finished comic I failed to upload for the Koosh v Smile battle (which just posted two days ago...), with a little extra polish.

Cheers!