Speed Death Tournament 2020, Final Round

snager: I think it's interesting how Lu was the date in Fred and Kubo's comics, but Fred's Lu said she didn't find pepper hot! XD that was obviously a lie!

man, I wish I could have been around to follow this tournament fresh. Anteres comics seem to always make me cry a little. I think it's interesting how Lu was the date in Fred and Kubo's comics, but Fred's Lu said she didn't find pepper hot! XD

Man there really was a stunning roster for this final round. Apologies for not commenting sooner (Life! Fun!) but you all did an incredible job here. I stayed up till like 1am because I read them all and couldn’t rest till I’d commented, haha. [Spoiler=Kubo]Man I didn’t expect Lucy to be the date! I like how you tied that in and it was so sweet seeing Pepper bond with her over the weeks. Overall I enjoyed this story, I was really interested in what Antares was planning to do with Lucy, and Pepper’s whole “straight man caught up in things” shtick fed nicely into her being a pure soul who couldn’t take the violence. I also liked the throwback to all the killed contestants in Antares’ world. Starting with the minor crit first - the text was pretty small and blurry, plus I spotted quite a few typos. And while the shoutout to other characters was nice... you didn’t include everybody, but the ones you did pick seemed random. If you only wanted to include a few characters, why not go with the ones your opponents actually defeated? You show characters such as Mayes which makes sense, as Lucy defeated him, and I could even understand including Soggy as Mayes defeated HIM. But Dearheart and Wes for instance? Or my Wyrm, as much as I enjoyed seeing them? This whole journey is about Pepper being overcome with trauma and now guilt at her crime, but the most recent person she killed, Matches, is nowhere to be seen. Neither is Sunny, or Bubbha Grimmaw, who the other two killed. You could have really packed a punch here and confronted not just Pepper but Lucy and maybe even Antares with those they’d killed themselves, and it feels like a missed opportunity imo. (PS Thank you for the cameo! I did like seeing my wyrm swooping in for the kill. Only mentioned them spmewhat negatively earlier to be fair and not give “push these characters out but keep mine” vibes haha)[/spoiler] [Spoiler=Fred]You did a date too! How cute. And Antares calling Lucy a good one too, dang did you guys coordinate on this? Kudos as usual for doing animation and 17 pages in just a week, like damn. I enjoyed the visuals, particularly the first and seventh pages. Pepper’s death on page 12 too, really liked that, with those empty eyes and bright red mouth. Also wow the ending... that was Something. The story felt pretty straightforward and weak to me though tbh. Not that a simple story is a bad thing, but for a 17 page end to a death tourney, I expected more; it didn’t feel like a grand finale, just another comic. How did Lucy’s kid find her? Why did Antares appear in a full restaurant and target these Lucy and Pepper specifically? Things seemed to happen because they needed to happen, not because the story flowed naturally.[/spoiler] [Spoiler=Chimaera]Ugh, I LOVED your backgrounds. That establishing shot on page 2 was incredible, I loved the contour-esque lines on the mountains, and Antares’ house was so cute and quaint. The last two pages were great, way to go out with a literal bang. As usual I also just love your style and find it very appealing to look at, even in fairly passive and simple scenes like Antares accepting the delivery on page 4. Speaking of, before I knew it was the turnip, I found it pretty amusing that this fey-type being would be ordering food to her little forest hideaway. I have to echo Arts here though on Pepper’s history not being fully utilised, and the conversations just being very one-sided. It just kind of felt like I was being taught philosophy twice in a row with different characters, rather than reading a conversation between a fairly regular person and a verbose one. Antares and the Universe’s words seemed like meandering monologues as opposed to responses to the other characters’ questions. Like on page 7, if you ignore Pepper’s dialogue, Antares’ dialogue feels like a single speech, without break. She basically answers none of Pepper’s questions and just continues talking. Pepper’s outburst on the following page felt unprompted too. Generally, once it got to the Universe bit, characters talked AT one another rather than TO or WITH each other.[/spoiler]

Heheheh they all died :y

Great stuff this is a fantastic finale and all of you did great comics. Kubo: First off thank you for the Mayes cameo. The fact you did all these amazing inks in 4 days is crazy and I love how you were able to produce so much. This comic has my favorite balance of story and character depth. I don't really have any crits as I really liked this and you made the black and white work well for this. Fred: I think you managed to get a great balance of animated frames and stills in this comic. Lucy and her family have great moments in this comic. The other characters don't get to much time to be explored but this is still a good story. It will be cool to see more comics in this style as you're getting better and better with it. Chimera: Your art is amazing and I love the way you draw the characters. My favorite part of your art is how you do faces, Also your color choices for this are amazing as well. The philosophy discussed here is interesting but I would have liked the philosophy to help explore the characters more. The main issue is pepper who is a main part of this discussion feels more like a generalization of a millennial than her own individual character. That interpretation would be fine in the first round of this tourney, but in this final round of the tourney you have more to go off of for her to help the character lead the philosophical discussion. She has had to kill someone to save others. This is would be a huge thing to bring up in this conversation and is relevant to realizing it's the end of everything. It provides a way for Antares be a bigger part of the conversation exploring her own philosophy when it comes to killing people. The conversation also didn't have a balance between the two sides. One side is an highly distraught and emotional 20 something and the other is the literal universe who would presumed to be omniscient. There isn't much debate between the two sides and without that it doesn't help explore the characters and the readers has less incentive to think about the two sides and explore the philosophy deeper, Which is the part i personally find the most compelling about philosophy discussions. All that being said this is still a great conversation and comic.

Y'all are all under arrest for makin me cry. That is all.

I didn't ask for this existential dread.

What a rollercoaster watching these votes!!!

These are all incredible, I had a notepad open with names written in ready to jot down thoughts as I read through each comic, ready to capture my critiques as I read through as I spotted them, ready to give you all some thoughtful incredible feedback about how well you did but how I thought you could improve. Then I read the comics and I just couldn't find anything to nitpick, sure if look deeply enough there are issues but I took in the full picture, the full story, the full image and I don't honestly feel qualified enough to pick you guys apart. Here's a few thoughts I have on each artists pieces, it won't, unfortunately, be as in depth as I was planning because I just cannot find enough to pick you guys apart on. Kubo - Lot's of feelings, lot's of emotion, lot's of good stuff going on. Some great use of negative space, I can only imagine the even more amazing things you could have put out if you had had the full amount of time to work on everything. Fred - ANIMATION and pretty things. Excellent work, excellent story, great stuff. The animation never felt like it was a gimmick or taking anything away, it felt like it fit in perfectly and wasn't overused. (That long horizontal panel did go off the edge of my screen though, meaning i nearly missed the guys running out of the door.) Chim - My god. I got real Akira X Dark Souls vibes off of the story, the setting, everything. Some real deep shit, thoughtful, emotional and amazingly pretty. Can I have some of your art skills please? Overall I gave everyone very high scores but Chimaeric took the win in my opinion. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of more traditional comics but between the way it is written and the way it is drawn I couldn't take my eyes away from it.

great job you three!!! interestingly all you three concluded this on a bittersweet note... good stuff :D kubo the setup was interesting. but the conclusion was a bit unclear to me. lucy didnt survive the ritual clearly. but what about antares? the same? is she reunited with her tribes souls and thus dead as well? it was a great read nontheless especially with the implementation of killed SDT characters. i feel sorry for pepper though... the poor girl really has hard times. fred... i do appreciate the animations. they are super cool to read for a change. I´m super impressed about the visually creative work you laid down here. story wise there wasnt too much going on but in the end... here as well poor lucy. eric this was right down my alley. a little cryptic about all the end off the universe and such. and i really like well paced implementation of trivia. but all in all i simply love your artstyle and the depth of interaction. story wise i love the end of the universe scenario and combined with the cameo it was nicely rounded.

kuboI love how you cashed in on this hanging plot thread of Pepper having a date of mysterious identity! I probably should have seen it coming that you'd have the date be someone in the final round, but I was surprised and thought it was a fun way to tie things together. I also don't know if this comic was partially meant to represent the experience of having depression, sort of like how the last one represented a panic attack so well, but I feel like the scenes of an exciting new relationship interspersed with Pepper sitting in the shower echo the experiences I've had with depression. Either way, I think you did a great job of showing her mental state in contrast with what was happening in her life. Obviously you didn't have time for more, but I wish we'd had more time to explore the spell being cast and build up to Lucy's sacrifice at the end. Some foreshadowing could have tied that together a bit more nicely. All in all though, you told a complete story that was interesting and made me feel things, so I can't complain! I really can't say there's anything wrong with this comic that isn't just a matter of what you could have done if you'd had more time. On its own, it's a strong comic. And I love how you integrated some major VOID history :) fredI love how you caught onto Pepper's hanging plot thread and how you and Kubo both went with Lucy being Pepper's date. Her brief interaction with Léandre was sweet, and in a family as weird as Lucy's, I really appreciate the effort you put into showing their relationships and how much Lucy cares about her kids. The meta reference to Lucy not being able to read minds anymore is great haha. These long looping animations showing a series of events in such a smooth transition are amazing and I can't get over how much I love them! They repeat just often enough that I can always see the full sequence of events while still being able to read them at my own pace. It's really something beautiful that I hope to see more of! You put so much danger and emotion into this comic, it's really beautiful. And I love this sense of everything in Lucy's life catching up to her to the point where she's ready to let it all go if it will help others. Then you tie the comic up with another interaction with one of her children, which is really beautiful to me. At the end of the day, Lucy is a family woman, and I love her whole rag-tag family! I hope Lucy continues to live for a long time and can see her kids make really bad decisions so she can be there to support them as they learn and grow. <3 ericYou've been really good throughout this tournament at setting the mood in each comic. Round 1 was dark and stormy, both literally and emotionally. Round 2 felt like an emissary to a fantasy kingdom from someone who doesn't fully belong. And this round feels like the last outpost in a world full of little else but twilight. I also love how Antares has progressed from conflicted killer, to woman with a purpose, to immortal god with the power to end all life as we know it and who doesn't really care anymore/is just resigned to the way things must be. The way you integrated Lucy's story by taking advantage of the fact that her son is also the son of the Universe was really cool, too! The way that Lucy accepts death while Pepper fights back against it is also a really nice contrast. I don't really understand how or why Lucy and Pepper are alive; it sounds like Antares has been reborn multiple times, or at least adopted new personas? But as far as I can tell, Pepper and Lucy just never died? I don't really mind not understanding, but it would have been nice to have a clearer picture of everything. What I really loved was the universe's soliloquy about the purposes of life and the possibilities we do or do not have. It put things in a really neat perspective that set it up perfectly for the ending. I want to know what happens next! Great job from all three of you! I know you all had various things vying for your time/getting in your way, but you gave us really great comics to read anyways, and I appreciate all your hard work. I stand ever in anticipation of what each of you will make next, whether it involves these characters or others!

I just want to say before these comics go up that I'm super glad and grateful to go up against such awesome artists. Unfortunately, this week I was out of town for 4 of the days and was unable to give 100% to this battle. I really wanted to give you guys a powerful challenge, but I hope you like my comic nonetheless.

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GODS

RIP