Last year or so I read all of Misery’s comics, loved them, and promptly forgot to comment. Then having participated in this year’s Lovechild tourney, I was interested to read through the previous winner Azure & Co’s archive! And lo! Here we are.

Really enjoyed both of these runs, you both did amazingly and I LOVE the concept of this tourney. So so glad it made a comeback this year, hehe.

Shen/Crow - I absolutely love the idea of an edgy teenager being the legit OP murderer that half of edgy teens like to imagine themselves as. His monster form slaps and the “dark with a tinge of comedy” tone isn’t something I’ve actually seen in many other Void comics! The song at the end here, and during the “romantic” montage in round 2 sent me.

Zee/Rhim - These were amazingly polished, plus Azure & Co were so cute and likeable! Great to see Grey and Shizana being involved too, their dynamic as parents was very fun. I liked the conflict of this finale and the stylisation of Hunter, however I think your first round was my favourite! You nailed the bittersweet vibe very well.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted and commented! This was a heck of a ride! Crow and i were trying something different with the writing for this character and we got some good crits on it. I'm so happy you guys seem to love/hate/love-to-hate Misery! Rhimwell and Zee, I love how you drew him, and you gave him a magnificent death! Thank you for facing us!

I feel most everything has been said at this point, but I'm gonna toss in my two cents cuz:

- You two did a radical job during the length and breadth of this tournament
- Thoroughly enjoyed the ride these characters led us on
- This battle deserves more comments

RHIMZEE- I think the unique characterization of Misery's bird form had to be my fav. I love that throughout this tournament you've put something of an alien spin on all your opponents to make them yours and fit the universe you were creating here.
Narratively, I feel your last round was a bit disjointed. You started this cool alien mystery in round one, gave us a peek of more round two, I think you were trying to build all the events up to a final something that, upon re-reading each round I'm still not clear on how they match up. I'll be the first to say I was excited to see something of a possible eldritch/underworldy angle to be used since you teased at Capgras and round 2 and THEN got matched up with Misery, but it didn't happen. Just feels like a missed opportunity. Also, while your colors did a good job at telling us when the stakes were supposed to be high, your story didn't. I agree with the comments below me this didn't really feel like a crucial climax. Granted, I know better than most the press of tight deadlines when it comes to these tournaments, but this would've been so much more epic if you dedicated a page to Azure really realizing this is it. They're gonna die with their brothers as Misery encounters his mother in the rift. As it stands, it was sadly meh.
Quality wise, you really gave this last round a final oomph of effort. Your colors are vibrant where they need to be, subtle when we reach tonal shifts in the story. It is such a visual treat to see you two working together because it really feels like one artist is working on this. You've finally reached full fusion!


SHENCROW- Of all your rounds, I think you guys really nailed down your tone where it counts in the finale. You break out into immediate action from the get and get us nice and dirty with some blood and guts.
Really, my only crit in this is the details. You have a spelling error here and there that I can only attribute to haste. You start out with such a shocking end to the first brother that's immediate and we move onto the next scene because our POV blacks out- great. But I feel there really isnt a beat to breathe when the second brother goes. Your pacing I feel would've really benefitted from Azure taking a beat to realize what they've done, maybe the gun clattering to the ground before they hastily pick it up again in their anger to pursue. The beats in this sequence just fly by I feel Sigma's demise doesn't carry the weight it deserves.
Your whole comic feels too tight. We have such close up shots on each page. Inside the ship, during the pursuit, when the characters are injured. It's all viewed at such a closed and contained angle I feel there isnt much breathing room to be had. Even in the final page where Misery relents in pure edgelord fashion (which I love), it begged for a wide shot as the camera panned away to give the viewer the full scope of the carnage.
Still, all in all impressive run from the both of you. Your rapport and chemistry really shine through your pages and y'all made one radical team.

Team Azure: Great job. Once again this is something I cant pick at in terms of art without sounding like a nitpicky asshole. However, there is a feeling I have regarding this one compared to previous entries that I cant quite put a finger on. For some reason I cant quite feel for this as much as the previous ones and it feels like I've seen this kind of plot and beat done elsewhere. That is not to say that its a bad thing to not be completely original, thats impossible, but rather that the said pacing and execution felt very safe in this case. This feeling I have is in regard to the ending and how I felt nothing even though I feel like I should. Perhaps it was the choice of shot and how everything is done in a relatively pulled back and safe angle? Perhaps the ending feels felt a little rushed?

Either way, its still a good comic. Good job.

Team Misery: Alright so, good stuff first. I actually both cringed and lost my shit at the ending. Misery has always been a hated character for me, but whatever happens is still something I cant stop looking at either. This is a unique feeling that comes in full force in this comic that I actually enjoy as I see Misery's teenage mommy issues escalate.

The art and execution could use work though.

For starters, there are parts where the characters are lost in the background because all the lines are even and the action is cut a bit too close. Furthermore, from page 4-5 it took me a while to figure out it was a time lapse and not a flashback because the visual cue of white to big black guttered transitions is used more for flashbacks. And the pacing, at least to me, feels like a comedy with the percieved timing of each spider death and name shout being like a repeated punchline. This is actually a cool thing to do if this is meant to be a sick comedy, but I actually dont know if I am supposed to take it as that because this feels like an odd mix of drama and comedy.

I still enjoyed it though.

With all that said, this has been quite a tourney, and I wish you all best of luck. Even if your character is gone, I hope to see more collabs between these teams.

this tournament was really cool from beginning to end.
Rhimzee was the duo with the most interesting character, Shencrow the best character development, and in the end i really had a hard time choosing.

I liked the way Misery ended in Rhimzee, I liked the misery philosophed about his death impulses...

Then I asked myself "which one do I want to see more of?"

Misery... i've seen what he can gives us... But Azure and her bros? I wanna get more of that .

RhimZee: I’m stunned by how good your art has been throughout the tournament, the colors are just incredible and I love the amount of detail put in, and the designs of all the background alien characters are great! You guys did incredible, it was a great read!

ShenCrow: I can’t stress enough how entertaining this character is haha, I loved it all and the ending was great! The art looks amazing as well, you guys work super well together and made some really good comics!

RhimZee: This is professional level art as you have been doing this entire tourney, however the story was the weakest by far which was disappointing. I feel like the two biggest reasons for this was the weak emotional emphasis and a couple too many elements you introduced and didn’t give enough time to explore.
The minor thing is how many elements are thrown in and not given enough time to develop. Like on page 3 we are introduced to the virus that keeps changing faster than they can keep up, Azure and Misery have met in the past, the virus may be related to the rift, said rift is also messing with Misery's. All these things require an explanation and are not given enough time (Like how Azure has been able to interact with Misery at least once previously despite the fact Misery tends to kill everyone he interacts with, this is something that needs way more explanation). This is prolly the biggest example of this but those 4 elements alone would have been enough to fill this comic with interesting ideas that could be explored.
However more than that there was a lack of focus on the emotional tension in this comic. It seemed like you were trying to convey that this was a suicide mission and Azure was doing this knowing she would die. But this was never really emphasized like it could have and like you did in the other two comics. In the Terrance comic you had the current action weaving with the past and panels to take in that Terrance was dying without anything else going on. In the LaLaLa comic you had the close up of her crying as she was singing and right about to have the head virus explode. Both of these were amazing examples of having the emotional tension shown in the conflict and this comic didn’t really have that. A couple panels of Azure breaking her professional demeanor unable to truly accept her death or showing regret would have gone miles to sell the fact she expected to die in this situation were readers could kind of know she would survive because we have seen this trope played out many times before.
This Comic threw out so many ideas and elements that on an emotional level it didn’t resonate with me because you threw out so many ideas and didn’t give any enough time, which is such a shame because of how tightly focused the other comics were and some of those elements introduced in this comic were really interesting.

ShenCrow: This was a great finale for Misery and I really enjoyed the story and fight. Reading through it again I just noticed the silhouetted backstory thing and that is really awesome, pretty brutal and explains his mother complex.  In general the way you wrote Azure was really good and her reaction to finding out how Misery misuses his powers was really fitting of being rightfully disgusted by Misery.
What I liked most about the fight it was Azure taking a chance with the blood and it backfiring. Most of the time in literature in general things are called risky yet for the most part end up with a generally positive result or have some vague long term damaging effect, which isn’t quite how bad results from risks normally work. Fiction rarely shows people taking risks and getting absolutely demolished instantly for it for it like Azure was in this so super props for doing that.

These were both awesome, guys. Congrats to both teams for making it this far.

Azure and Co. are such great characters, and I love how you guys incorporated the parents throughout the tourney to really establish those bonds, and make us feel that love at the end.

I was so disappointed when I saw the thumbnails for Shen and Stormcrow’s side, I’m glad you didn’t go down like that! I loved the ending so much. I’m a sucker for comics with soundtracks, as well as dark endings. Your 3rd page was kind of confusing to me, when she gets stabbed in the arm, her one brother starts doing something to the wound, and the other grabs her gun and proceeds to stand next to Misery to be murdered? Like, what did he think was going to happen? I couldn’t figure out what was happening there, but in the end, I scored your comic higher for presenting a more direct, brutal conflict between the characters, and a perfectly cinematic ending. Cut to black right as the song starts rocking, right into the credits. That’s my jam.

RhimZee; You guys have been on fucking point the entire tournament. I felt this one was a little less awesome then the ones prior, but that might just be me getting so used to your exellence.

ShenCrow: You guys did seem to struggle with the tone nad the writing a bit troughout the tournament. But man, this fight was your best in that regard. Personally, I think you finally found that balance and your writing was engaging and entertaining as well as consistent. Your art is to die for, although that bottom panel with Azure chasing Misery felt a bit off/rushed somehow.

This tournament have delivered in every instance and I commend and congratulate all participants nad the finalists in particular. This kind of excellence is why I love this site.  

Team RhimZee: There's nothing else I can say that I haven't already. Both of you have pretty much reached pro-level and can do whatever you want going forward. Thank you for the terrific ride

Team ShenCrow: Given the trials you guys had, what you were able to pull out is incredible. Azure and Co. I feel are character designs outside your usual comfort zones and you pulled them off very effectively. Altogether this story feels like an origin prequel for future adventures as much as it can be a final send off for your lovechild. You guys are nearing the mountaintop and you've earned your place in the finals.

Keep on rocking all four of y'all

I'm conflicted. I never wanted any of these Love Children to die. I hate Death Tourneys so much.

RhimZee: So clean and colorful. The gradients for the backgrouns in each page are easy to the eye and neat to look at. The change of atmosphere with each panel. This is a fantastic story. You guys could have completely removed all dialogue, and the comic would have still made sense. The finale did feel a bit underwhelming, considering the risk Azure was taking when flying nearby the Rift along with Misery.
None the less, I am sucker for happy endings, and I love that last pannel.

ShenCrow: I felt extremely anxious when I saw the thumbnails. I feared you guys had ran out of time, and only managed to do inks!
Glad I was soon proved wrong.
I know it is Misery's theme to have him go around and killing everyone with no real reason other than to appease his mother, but gosh... Even a hospital? He's one sadistic mofo.
I'm always amazed by your unexpected endings, you've done this in pretty much all of his comics. I thought Misery was going to be the one to end up perishing. (?)
Whoever wins, I guess in the end, it doesn't really matter...

Fantastic work you four, thank you all for showing off this way. What a fantastic Torney.

God, shoot me right in the face, it's done with 30 minutes to spare.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone-- to Shen, to everyone who fought us, and to everyone who read, commented, and voted. This has been my first tournament, my first time doing collab comics, and a POOR DECISION ON A MONUMENTAL SCALE to do this during my last semester of college, and I can't begin to say how much I appreciate everyone bearing with me on that.

Thank you 1000% to Shen for constantly putting up with me having to juggle our schedule to balance schoolwork, and typically having to do these battles in one week rather than two. I've had so much fun working together (which you know, but it bears repeating), and I've had a blast. I hope I didn't stress you out too much!

To Rhim and Zee, you guys are a super intimidating team to go up against, but we did our best. Hopefully we did okay by you!

GOOD LUCK Y'ALL

This'll be amazing, don't overwork yourself guys, I hope you make an amazing finale!!!

My heart.

Do good you four. Best of luck.

*vibrating*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*breathes*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Oh man oh man, whats gonna happen!?!