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Armageddon 2022
by
PyrasTerran
Story: Don & Py
Writer: Py
Lettering: Py
Sound FX: Py & Don
Lead Artist - I. Old Testament: Don
Lead Renders - I. Old Testament: Py
Art & Renders - II. Mysterious Ways: Don & Py
Art & Renders - III. Revelation: Don & Py
Lead Artist - IV. New Testament, Final Armageddon: Py
Lead Renders - IV. New Testament, Final Armageddon: Don
No critique preference
This comic has been rated suitable for teens and up by its creator(s)
Comments (28)
THREAT
I absolutely love this take on a threat comic. It's really unconventional, with the threat being "defeated" within the first third and even redeemed by the end. There's so many really good ideas in here that keep me super invested while reading; I had vague predictions of what would happen, but even in the few cases where I was right, the anticipation and build up was super well done. The absolute BETRAYAL from Naialah is my favorite part personally, it's very satisfying! I also like how far you pushed Ancelin's overly-monetized approach, the cameras, it's all great. You two did an awesome job making an engaging and visually spectacular comic!DEFENDERS
There were some really cool visuals in here! I love the warped temple Vidia summons, and the almost non-euclidean buildings. It conveys a sense of danger really well, especially near the end, despite it seeming like the citizens were physically unharmed (so far). And on the note of the citizens I really like that too! The cult aspect is really cool, it's like the city is being held hostage. Special shout-out to Nagore's dad checking up at her in the beginning, I thought that was super sweet and funny. I have a light crit: I'm not a huge fan of the reliance on Fate. Sometimes it feels like it takes agency away from the characters, where they make choices due to fate/destiny/prophecy, rather than having their own reasons. It doesn't quite feel here like they are using prior knowledge of a prediction to make choices, and more like they choose just because they were told to (I think this is most apparent when Dairyu stops waiting for Rickter). If you're interested in avoiding that, I think this could have been remedied with some small dialogue changes.Threat
God, visually this was a treat and the writing was tight af. Ancelin making Arma into a literal spectacle and hamming it up with cameras, only for Vidia to use that to her advantage? Armageddon being completely turned around, with Vidia not really being a Threat, not even knowing what was going on and the Defenders jumping to conclusions? The fucking ending? Where it looped back to Naialah’s introduction and it’s revealed the desolate wasteland was void? Holy crap. Pages 50-52, 70 and 84 were probably my favourites! I love central compositions and the use of negative space on page 51 was so tasty. The last page was super cute too. There were a bunch of small details that were great too, like Vidia’s dress and hair flowing in a way that mimicked wings, even in her “human” form. Or that little panel with her on point, a ballerina soaked in blood. Wow. Honestly overall I don’t really have crits, this was a bangin comic. But I do have some thoughts that could be considered for the future! 1) Vidia is in this weird zone right now where she clearly has heavy Christian vibes, with a form resembling a biblical angel, but there is no commitment to her actually being an honest to god (pun intended) biblical angel. I noticed this in her intro, where it’s clearly like.. a Christian style heaven, but with gods pulled from other religions. Meanwhile, Rae uses the term “Christ-like” to get Vidia on their side, and Saal refers to “the big man himself”. The implication being that the other gods exist, but God with a capital G is the most important. Which I’m guessing wasn’t intentional but definitely has weird vibes? Idk I have a lot of thoughts about this but it’s really hard to explain rip, you can DM me if you want a rambling discussion I guess. 2) I feel like Aleyjah has been somewhat robbed of her voice. Goldie conveys what she says with her “internal” speech bubbles, and I can understand if you wanted to do something different, but the options are not just internal monologue and silence. Sign languages exist? I obviously don’t expect you to learn one for a comic, let alone a comic on a tight deadline, but adding some gestures and then a speech bubble from that could have been really interesting! And have you seen Deaf people get into a shouting match? It’s incredible, imagine the scene where she fights with Dairyu with her hands flying at the speed of light. On the other hand, she has magic, maybe she could’ve written words in the air with fire, with the flames getting more intense with her emotions. But yeah like I said these are just Extra Thoughts and not really crits! This was an excellent comic, you guys are an extremely powerful team!Defenders
Okay so first of all, you did an amazing job producing a fully coloured, complete comic! I know there were issues behind the scenes so you should be proud of this. The comic was also very clear visually, which is honestly not something I encounter often. I didn’t have a single moment of confusion around what was happening or which panel/speech bubble my eye should go to next, which speaks to your compositional skills. I thought the chapter covers were lovely, and Vidia’s introduction was great. She had a very graceful and ethereal air, while also feeling dangerous. That first panel on page 9 is so pleasing to look at and I want it as a poster tbh. Her energy in general is also very good, I love her smug smiles. The drippy, almost candle wax feel of her domain slowly swallowing the city was very cool too. Really enjoyed page 50, with the orange clouds, and page 61, which felt very emotionally raw. I was a little let down on the writing side though. The story was basically “a group of people is prophesied to defeat a threat, then they defeat it.” There’s nothing wrong with a straightforward story, but to still be compelling, the other elements must be really tight. More than half of the comic was planning and waiting for people to show up. Every time I thought the action was going to start, somebody would go “stop, we gotta wait for X first”. When the action does start, most of it is viewed from the sidelines, compressed into small panels without the chance to fully appreciate them. Which could have been an interesting direction! Say some of the defenders are unable to fight for some reason, and are forced to watch in horror as their friends risk their lives. I really wish somebody jumped in regardless, or at least tried to enter the fray and needed to be held back, because the characters were oddly willing to just sit back. I loved Dairyu snapping when she thought Nagore died, and I wish we could’ve seen more of that. A lot of these characters also already have connections, so having Ancelin recruit them all rather than them coming together on their own was surprising. Nagore, Dairyu, and Rae are all friends. Saal knows Rae. Most of the cast have links to the divine. I think these connections could’ve been played up more. I do want to make it clear that these critiques are not directed at any individual writer. Collaborations are hard at the best of times, let alone when there’s six of you and you didn’t even choose each other. There were also individual moments I thought were great! Like on page 17, when Sukri says one needs to submit to chaos and we see Saal’s castle in the background? Excellent. Foreshadowing AND reference to Saal’s abilities and personality. Also, “biblically accurate Regina George” got an irl chuckle out of me, which the Threat’s side never managed to do.