Syraxis and Swag: Through my initial reading I was a bit lost as to why the bit about the mayor was included, but upon review the "Void is weird/corrupt" dialogue really helped cement the tone and nature of the conflict. Everything in your comic pieced together rather well with Heratik corrupting living things in its vicinity, and I would love to see where that thread leads. Unfortunately, the actual scope of the comic felt too isolated to warrant the "nuke it from orbit" resolutions that kept getting brought up then disregarded. For the art, I loved the way the people looked and I'm always a sucker for some good ol' body horror, with the flatter colors and muted pallet giving a really good sense of tone. The backgrounds, when they appeared, did leave me a bit wanting, especially once they emerged from the closet and into the massacre. It felt almost a bit too clean. Overall, really enjoyed it, just could have used a bit more punch in the middle.
Mortooncian and Evi: Semi-vintage memes, hoo boy. I was scared initially that it was going to be every other line and undermine any sort of tension you tried to build, but the actual implementation of memes in the dialogue was spread out to just the right moments. The overall plot did feel kind of rushed, with quite a few of the panels feeling superflous when a chunk of the dialogue and arguments get pushed away with "I'm just gonna do X". But I also have a harder time with short-form comics so I'm not sure I have a leg to stand on with that, especially since you did manage to tell a cohesive story with four characters in eight pages. The art was very consistent, soft lines and colors coming together and never wavering, but I had a hard time with spatial placement in terms of where everything and everyone was inside the factory. Still though, really liked it, super quick in-and-out story that gets wrapped with a nice little bow.
Syraxis/ Swag -
MAN those monsters looked awesome, like truly freaky.
I enjoyed how ~dark~ this one is mood-wise and the action scenes were great!
Page 9/ 10 has an awesome color shift when the monsters are all breaking in, and page 15, I really like the layout for that laser beam blast. Action!!!
Great stuff you guys!
Thren/ Evi -
This comic is gorgeous, the colors are so, so pleasing. Your styles combined just looks great overall.
The colors and the jokes made this a really nice lighthearted and fun comic.
And speaking of jokes- Shift absolutely cracked me UP! Reading this a second time I still lost it at the dab.
It was a real pleasure to read both of these!
Syraxis and Swag: This was a very fun start to your story! A Void City overrun by Heratik zombies is a terrifying prospect. While the overall story was a nicely paced mini-zombie survival piece, I felt like the characters fell a little bit flat. Most of their actions were very reactionary – running away from the zombies, examining the first sick guy, Caps getting into a defensive stance when the zombie starts getting all weird. It would have established character better if we saw the characters taking initiative. Like, what if Shift had in fact gone ahead with his crazy robot schtick and thrown a grenade or two? What if Jiko had tried to protect another character by deliberately putting herself between that character and a zombie? We already know from previous comics that she's willing to hurt herself in order to help people. I think Jeanna especially felt out-of-character. In her previous comics she's seemed like a pretty tough, spunky little cowgirl, but here she get's thrown off her game at the sight of a little barf-blood.
This was very pretty to look at. The colors are especially nice. I like the mood-change that happened when they went from the cafe area into the desaturated, dreary color scheme of the closet. Also that sound effect in the animated panel is wonderful and I want to see more of that wispy effect it's so nice @_@
Thren and Evi: This was pretty as heck. I loved the colors especially, and I think that having the characters actually outlined with black, which is something that usually Thren does not include in her solo work, actually really enhanced the otherwise painterly style. I think that some of the gags did not pack a large enough punch because of the staging. Like, when Shift is doing his "this is Sparta" thing, change things up with a nice worm's eye view of Shift holding a terrified Heratik above his head to give that panel more impact. And when he dabs at the end, how about really pushing it over the top by putting Shift in the foreground doing an epic dab toward the camera while his friends all roll their eyes in the background, and Caps yells "God fucking dammit" in that same dab panel so that the drama all gets packed into one easily digestible and epic meme-panel.
I thought this comic was a really good time. Also I think it is really hilarious that Shift is the one who ends up cautioning against burning the building down XD
You know what, I'll just outright say it. This was a battle I felt was dead even. Not gonna lie. This literally felt like a tug a war when it came to the art and story on both sides. I can't really comment beyond this, so good luck for the both of you!
Again, another set of teams with kickass comics that made it VERY hard for me to choose between them. I really wish I had more to say other than good work all of you, because I enjoyed reading these two comics in particular.
For the record, mortooncian, I seriously LOVE how you painted your colours with Evi's lines.
Swagraxis: love the texture and muted colours. This comic left me with the tantalising taste of unanswered questions, and i can't wait to find out more. I think you've got away with it from sheer willpower and pagecount- but it would be great to see a tad more flavour to your backgrounds in future. :) All round a fantastic piece!
Mortevi: aaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHH Shiftttttt. He's too good for this world. This comic put a grin on my face from start to finish, and got me laughing aloud a bunch of times. You guys have made a really entertaining and engaging set of characters and made a thoroughly enjoyable story. Beautiful art backs up your strong writing- and this comic packs one hell of a punch.
Syraxswag: Dang, no time for character introductions or motivations. We're just going right into a horror movie setup... and you pulled that off quite well, even with the cuteness. Although, if I'm reading this right... our team isn't a team yet? That's interesting.
Moontevi: Love those sunset colors and lights. They really make Jeanna pop as a main character. Not sure if that was the intention, though. The only thing really throwing the visuals off is when, say, a building looks a little too boxy. Could be fixed with a little nudging and smudging probably. This one works well as a standalone.
good memes yall
syraxis and swag: pretty good! nice colors, things look smooth. I would also say to beef up the bgs. I also think that this comic could have been condensed a bit, probably by a few pages. it just feels like there's a lot of empty space and the story could have been sped up a bit. overall enjoyable though, fun little animation and a good hook to end with.
mort and evi: this was a super enjoyable 8 pages! super props on the colors, and also the animation. I guess my man nitpick would be some weird perspective in some of the bgs, and sometimes the thick outline on some bg elements can be distracting. I really don't have much to say other than that, I had a lot of fun reading this.
TEAM SKETTI LASERS- Animation! Effects! Visuals! Honestly, really dazzled with how sharp and aesthetically pleasing this comic was. I especially dig that mystical change up in your color scheme after the 'skreee' panel. Honestly, the colors all around during the height of the action was a favorite for me. I'll echo the sentiment that your pacing/dynamic angles during the restaurant battle were choice, but I definitely wish the backgrounds had more grit and detail to them. I think it would've really punched up the mess and mayhem these Hera-zombs were making. SPEAKING OF! You definitely left us with a hook- whats Heratik up to? What's he spreading? Monster fly? Color me intrigued!
TEAM ROBO DAB- Freakin' Shift. I can't with this robot, lol
This was another team up where I was like "hmm, these two artists styles are so distinct. I wonder how they'll mesh" but mesh you did. The sharp linework with Morts painterly colors was a pleasant surprise.
I dunno why I found Jiko's 'Its all good. voice of cheer!' role in the group just hilarious, but I did. Oh, i got a hole in my head. Like, hay, buck up team! Though to be fair, TTT wise, she definitely feels like a 'hey, I"m here!' rather than a participant on what seems to be the Cap and Shift team.
Also, you have this great opportunity to loom over the vats of pink stuff in the factory to really bring home the punchline of Shift tossing them in there, but we barely get a glance of it squeezed into smallish panels, that the Sparta gag, I feel, falls short. For a second, I had to go back and see where they were and what they were being thrown into.
TEAM ALIENLASER: Take this for the compliment that is intended: This is far and away hands down the biggest surprise success comic for me for this round. Where most everyone else either performed at or below expectations for me, here comes this great zombie story that is told effectively, well paced and well choreographed, and has exceeded all expectations for me based on what I've seen from y'all in the past. Its major weakness is the simplicity of its backgrounds, you really wanna fill those walls and floors with things. Regardless this is one of the stories I didn't realize I wanted so badly until I started reading it.
Additional: Syraxis I know that you've been trying to get this heratik-zombie plot off the ground for a while and I'm gonna say win or lose just keep working on it. Remember that canon is what *you* make of it, you can use whatever you want from your battles to continues your stories. Even if you lose this match, don't start from the ground up again, you don't have to. Keep building on the foundation this comic has established.
TEAM SITCOMBOTS: This is a solid comic all around, when it comes to visuals, narrative, pacing, there isn't really much to complain about, and even though all these internet references will inevitably date the comic, I found myself laughing so they succeeded for me. As a whole, I feel like this comic is "great" but not "fantastic", like it feels very safe, the characters all act very close to what you would expect without much surprise and the plot doesn't push them out of their boundaries, since you both are great at doing just that though I guess I might have been hoping for a little more. Jiko feels a little tacked on in this story like she literally did just jump into a Capslock and Shift comic as a tag along.
i can't believe i used to like shift. look at what he's goddamn become, i can't support this. no one can.
does capslock have some sort of charity fund i can donate to?
Syriax and Swag: I love it when these comics get set in the restaurant. It's always so quaint. The way you introduce Heratik is just fantastic. I'm not really sure what's going on with Heratik and all the baby Heratiks but it's great action. Hopefully we can see more of why this is happening in future Heratik comics?
Mortooncian and Evi: This was like reading an episode of Venture brothers. You established each of the characters really quickly and they all had a real purpose and direction. I feel like you could use some larger establishing shots. you have really great backgrounds but they never have a chance to breath or get complex.
Loved this comic regardless, I laughed at the punchline.
OMG EVI AND MORT YOUR COLORS MAKE ME SWOON LIKE A GOON. SAHDGHJSJGJDGHJ SO PRETTY. THE ANIMATION. THE INTENSITIY! BITCH DAPPIN IN THE END LIKE WHO ARE U WHO!!! FAM!! PLS!
SERIOUSLY THESE COLORS ARE JUST SO GORGEOUS AND YEA BOI YEA BOI BOID FBGOO BOI!
SY AND The Man who Planted Swag: yo boi. Boi. Boi.
Boi, i was dead some of capslock and shift's dialogue had ME ROLLING. you guys are a GOOD TEAM and wtf the rat at the end
edit: IM SORRY I JUST GOTTA SAY YOU KNOW HOW YOU STUB YOUR TOE AND YA GOTTA WALK THAT SHIT OUT RIGHT GUYS. THESE FUCKIN LINES GOT ME SLAIN I RAN 5 MILES TO WALK IT OFF
imsdfghj
okay guys im kind of awful but i kind of what to ship jikoxheratik now.
sorry.
i--
im soryr
OKAY HERE WE GO
SWAG AND SYRAXIS: How dare you make me look at that spaghetti. How dare you.
As for your comic, Good Show y'all. The general subdued tone of the environmental colors works really well with building into this like, zombie apocalypse onset vibe. I think my only recommendation would be not to have the orange as the establishing color for the environment while everything else feels very, like, cool colors? Maybe like, playing with warming up the environment as the scene gets more intense? And this is a crit I give often enough, but y'all might wanna include little like, extra details in your environment. There are small things in the world that we take for granted, but notice when they're gone. Things like, a flyer or soemthing on the walls of the building, stuff like that. Otherwise it feels kinda empty. I love the set up y'all have given here tho, cause all kinds of fun nastiness feels like it's just around the corner. The inks are nice, and the general colors work well, just the comic feels a little empty. Overall solid fucking work, and good job you two.
Mort and Eevi: I can't believe I'm laughing at memes. Y'all did such a great job making them actually feel natural.Like, that's a big risk relying on meme's for jokes, but the way y'all did it is stellar as hell, and honestly, I keep choking everytime I come back to Shift dabbing. In general, all the dialogue feels incredibly natural, and the colors and paneling is great! It's just a really nice cute comic, with a lot of fun treats to pick up on as you read. A+
The memes were cute and i understand the use of the humor. I even laughed at the dab, but i really enjoyed the fuzzy toothy monsters. It hit home for me. I would like to see syraxis monsters in the future. A lot more of them.
Swag/Syraxis: Congrats on getting everything done, I know you were pushing it right till the end. Unfortunately that does show a bit in your comic, where it's "finished looking" but doesn't really seem "finished". I had issues with the speech bubbles on page 1, where I wasn't 100% sure which order they should be read and on the final panel the overlapping tails draw my attention if only because it was a solid black section on top of a light section. I would say try to avoid overlapping tails if you can to promote readability! It also comes across that you were applying textures to try and make the flats look more finished, I'm not sure if that was necessary for you here.
I really enjoyed the story that you told and I think you really incorporated all of the characters well. The action was especially well done, I *love* that panel where caps is punching unnamed assailant into the doors, it's super dynamic, and the ending was a great precursor and tie in for things to come.
Evi/Mort: I'm not a meme appreciator, but I will say that the way they were used didn't detract from your comic in any way, even though they didn't really have the intended effect of making me laugh. The only real issue that I had was a small disconnect between pages 4 and 5, we go from this beautiful yellow backdrop to a sudden underground black/purple/hazy underground scene. It kind of felt like Jiko teleported really far away, and I just feel like one thing was missing to tie it in with the previous page, like a yellow backlight in the first few panels, or other characters continuing to bicker off-screen. The animation page is definitely your strongest page though, and I love it.
Mort especially, I know you were killing yourself over these pages, so a big congrats for staying consistent all the way through.
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