Was rereading comics for Best of Void, can't believe I missed commenting on this one! Amazing follow up to the first battle. In hindsight, it's also really cool how Underwood won the first round and Heathen won the second. Really shows how evenly matched you two are!
Underwood - Page 1, I'm already snorting at jellyfish Gray, and I think the meta jokes were really well done. "Dear Papa Jesus" also got a chuckle out of me. The ending threw me though, since it featured dead characters like Kamen Champion, I wondered if that meant Kuyi was dead? Also I think doing two comics in a row that were mostly random humour without much story behind was to your detriment here.
Heathen - Didn't expect such a serious storyline, and I really enjoyed it! It's kinda wild how you managed to blend humour with horror and even somewhat heartwarming, and not have it feel clashing. Also loved details like the rhino with its horn removed as a break between pages, and the cockroach design on Kuyi's shower curtain!
Gonna leave a brief crit on these as I try to get caught up!
Underwood: Your art is fantastic as usual; I love the compositing, the use of panel breaks, and how you use varying art styles to communicate concepts. Writing-wise, both this and the last comic have a style of humor that comes across as a bit too lolrandom for me. I get what you're doing, and it's fun, but it just rings shallow to me, personally. That said, I did think all the cameos were fun, and a Japanese sentai character praying to Jesus cracked me up. Regardless of how I received the humor in this comic, I do still want to see what's next for both Kuro and Blackadder, along with really just everyone involved. These characters are fun on their own, and I appreciate that!
Heathen: Something I love about your art in this comic especially is that you don't waste brush strokes. I look at some of the looser inks, like on the cover page, and even when you're not going super hard into fine detail, you paint a clear picture. Same thing with the top of page 6; the background on that first panel is really just a few lines, but it very clearly establishes the scene; you see the moon peeking through a skylight with the hole Hoppa kicked through in the last comic. It tells us everything we need to know. You've also got a masterful sense of using values in your grayscale art to create contrast in a way that always draws the eye to the most important parts of each panel. And your hatching is beautiful, especially on page 9. I keep looking at how you've drawn the musculature on Smile's arm there and it's just beautiful. Writing-wise, this was a fun comic. The lighthearted and absurdist humor made a great contrast to the absolute horror of Smile scalping Kuro and wearing his bloody hair. Somewhat like I said on Underwood's comic, the random nature of some of this humor didn't really land with me, but the fact that you contrasted it so well with Smile's violence made it work imo.
Awesome work from both of you guys; your skill levels are terrifying and I hope you're at least considering professional work because people would definitely buy it if you sold your comics!
I'm really liking this continuing battle narrative you guys are doing.
Underwood- As always your artwork is top notch here. Liked the switching styles with the cover. The zany expressiveness or your art keeps up with the equally zany writing. You're stuff is a blast to read Honestly, no real gripes here this is just a great and fun read.
Heathen- You really nailed the old school manga look ever more the second time around. I think it's the grain and the shading that's really selling it for me .As for story I'm digging how you're setting up Masukuda as being this generational hero, hope to see more of these stories. One critique I could say is that this could have used maybe an extra page or two somewhere to help with the scene transitions. As of now the present day encounter with Smile feels somewhat short, might have could used a bit more banter.
Did like the use of big yellow pages to mask some of the more gruesome details of the encounter though.
OMG..you two are ..I don't even have words. Both comics are super good and entertaining in different ways. My votes are practically even. Thank you for blessing us with these madness! Please give us more.
You two are probably my new favorite comic artists on this site. Also you two are the most terrifying comic artists.
I have to give equal scores to both comics because they both are borderline look like actual published graphic novel stuff. Though I give one more point for entertainment on Heathen's side because its fucking boogie nights.
GOOD JOB YOU TWO WILL THERE BE A PART 3 FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DRAGON VOID Z
Woah. These are both top notch, in both styles. Kinda too bad I don't have the time to find all the references happening in Field's comic. Heathen, your comic is self explanatory and a good gruesome one off. Kudos to you both.
Oh god where do I start with this
Underwood - Your comics are enjoyed like vintage wine in a cool sunny afternoon. I noted the references and got about a good chunk of them [esp. that nod to Omega] however there were some hype trains that I missed the train on and that bit of high wall impeded me from enoying it fully. But I did however like what I did get which is a distinct voice in your works and good comedic timing. This also feels like a good companion piece to your opponnents'
Heathen - Comics that stage direct conflict is difficult due to the limited severity one can inflict but you smartly got around this and tackled something unique to Underwood's approach to your style. Setting up The Smile to be THAT GUY is also a bold move. All that said, the comic is well executed and while minimal, didn't feel diminished at all. The characters and visuals did more than make up for this indirect interaction between characters seperated by both time and distance.
Thanks for the wonderful comcis you two, this was impressive for a single week :3
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