THREE POINTS! That was insanely close! Thanks for battling me, Stormcrow, you're a phenomenal artist and Hunter is a fantastic character! and thanks for the crits, everyone! I guess this time around I need to work on my lines- i was trying a new Photoshop brush and it doesn't seem I quite mastered it. I'm still working on a fast and effective method for ink and paint. I'm glad you all liked the story! (and I'm secretly glad I made you all ship our characters! XD)

Oh gosh, critiquing this. Where do I even start? ANIMESHEN- Ooh, the buildings on the very first page worry me. I'm all for freelining your architecture and environments to givei t personality, but the buildings you rendered in here are extra wobbly. Like they're on the brink of melting wobbly. Tighten that up, girl! Speaking of tightening- your comic overall seems much loosier and goosier than usual. I'm uncertain if that was due to the deadline creeping up on you, or a new method you're trying to work on pages fast. I gotta say though, your flashback pages are the strongest thing in here. I love that blur on page 5 before you go into things. Also, excited to see some story development going on here! I gotta say, each time I see a battle of yours up, I KNOW its gonna be a good story and this did not disappoint. The more I learn about Gray, the more I wanna know. You give juuuust enough ot leave the reader amped for the next battle so we can continue scratching the surface. I think its rad you so seamlessly added Hunter into Gray's backstory. Being a new fighter, you'd think he's feel showhorned it, but it seems y'all were made for each other (aww!) STORMCROW- Talk about a stellar debut! I think its safe to say the community is pretty dazzled by your first battle! You used your months time to do some fabulous stuff in here. Your muted palate really gave you the chance to show case you opponent and make those glowing tattoos of Gray's uber neat. I especially like the impact on the splash page (pg4). Its obvious you really resonated with this story. My only complaint is that you could do with some line variation. Its all drawn well, but it feels really flat. Especially in the cool scenes where Gray is throwing some headstones around. The angle is dynamic but the element simply don't pop as they would if your lines were thicker. I'll also echo Bobo and agree that I wish there was something more significant going on in this pairs interaction as opposed to Gray getting a bonk on the head. Then again, you two seem to have hit it off so well, we may just see some more battles between the two of you in the future to explore that. Here's hoping anyway! Seriously though, these were some wicked awesome comics from the both of ya's. The best use of a 4 week deadline I've seen in a good while. Keep on being rad mo'fo's you two!

@shen: As always, you truly do tug at my heartstrings with Gray. And I can see why EVERYONE is shipping these two now. I enjoyed this little glimpse of Sad Gray instead of Demon Gray, and am intrigued to say where you go next with her. There was something about this comic—or maybe it's just the mood I'm in today—but I feel like there's too much of a bubble between how these characters act and how I expect real human beings to act. It's not huge; I don't feel like your characters are flat, or cliché, or anything like that. I just feel like something kept me from being in their shoes long enough to really get what they're feeling, if that makes sense. Almost a "too much talking, not enough showing" kinda thing. Just keep that in mind, and maybe you can even figure out what I'm trying to say because I feel like I'm being super vague and confusing. Sorry! :O @stormcrow: Awesome first match! I love the thin, crisp lines and beautiful use of color in your comic. Your human anatomy and detail on the characters is beautiful, and they felt consistent and natural. Unfortunately, because of that detail and solidity, it really threw me in those couple of panels on page 3 where you went with kind of an anime-style exaggerated/simplified expression (there's gotta be a word for this, but I don't know what it is). I would have liked to see your style remain more consistent there. I also felt like the writing was a bit forced, as if you knew one thing about Gray and that was all you were allowed to use for the entire comic. I would have liked to see some deeper interaction between the two, or even just a deeper look into Hunter as a character. And I'm disappointed at how nothing changed at the end; I feel like someone should have grown from this experience, but you just left Gray knocked out (for a second, anyway), and Hunter flew off and that was that. By BIGGEST beef with your comic, however, was your BACKGROUNDS. The trees were nice, and the landscape/tombstones was pretty good, but those cardboard cutouts pretending to be buildings really killed it for me. Even the buildings that were rendered a little more were sparse and uninteresting. I know from personal experience that buildings are a huge pain in the ass to draw—I hate drawing man-made structures! But if you really want to take your comics from good to great, you need that extra level of immersion for the reader. They need to feel like they're in a story, not watching a play. Okay guys, that's my feedback for today. Awesome job from both of you; I hope you both win!

yyyOOOO THESE ARE BOTH WAY TOO GREAT (seriously how the heck am I supposed to pick??? though Im too much of a newbie to give detailed crit just yet, please forgive me). To be honest this was a matchup + battle I've been super hyped about ever since shortly after I joined VOID so I'm really happy you both delivered because THESE ARE GREAT and everything is wonderful and Ive never shipped anything so fast

I love these both so much!!!

These are indeed fantastic So... so is Gray finally coming to terms with the fact she isn't really dead? (i'll leave full reviews later)

THE SHIP HAS SAILED

What a hard match-up to vote on ;______; Shen: Working Hunter into Gray's backstory? Awesome. Them feels? Felt em. Dat ship? So ready for it. Sidenote, best-looking comic to-date! Storm: Dem drawz? Perf. Working in that graveyard fellow? Clever as shit. More Hunter going forward? Yesplz. Sidenote: Shit, homes, way to burst on the scene guns-blazing.

OH MUH GOD OH MUH GOD OH MUH GOD THESE ARE SO GOOD MY HEART BROKE FOR BOTH YOU WHAT THE HELL

Whoa--QUALITY! Great job you two. I'll have more in-depth comments tomorrow.

man these are terrif. It's hard to judge against each other cause the basic premises are pretty similar (even the same page count!) Great minds think alike though! Shen: I think you gotta practice most on line with, I think some drawings here would have looked nicer with thinner lines, and, Gray and hunter's outfits get lost in the night sky alot. You actually don't need to make the city night so dark, cities tend to be so bright you don't even see stars when you're in them, so you could have used a bit more brightness here and there to silhouette the two dark-clothed characters Stormcrow: Your lines are terrif but I think your colors are a bit too much on the full side; not enough contrast of light and shadow, especially with the light of Gray's energy flying about, you should see it reflecting on her hair, in the background, on Hunter's face in page 13, So actually y'all should take a look at each other's stories and take some notes :D Great job, you guys made the most out of your time and it really shows. Keep on truckin'!

HOLY SHIT CROW OH MY GOD YOU DRAW SO PRETTY HOW DO YOU DRAW SO PRETTY AHHH

SHEN SHEN SHEN WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK I'M VOTING FOR YOU TO WIN BECAUSE HOLY SHIT

ok uploaded. I didn't have much to go on with Hunter so I just sort of took him into Gray's story, I hope I did him justice. I'm so excited to read your half, Stormcrow! Thanks for battling me!

SQEUAL

it's all a farce, we kill ourselves over comics too~

Well, with fingers crossed, it's all entered! Thanks so much to Shen for helping me with all my stupid newbie questions, and for letting me fight Gray as Hunter's first battle in VOID; I had a ton of fun drawing this in between cursing myself for thinking this was a good idea during midterm season. I'm so excited for tomorrow when I'll get to see the other half of this fight! And thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on my intro comic. I wish I had one more week to polish this more (would give my left kidney for three more days to do line weighting), but now that I know how much I can get done on this sort of a schedule I hope I can do more with the next one! Now time to crawl off under a rock and die. And SLEEP for the first time in a month, lol. Idk how you guys can do this so casually!

One Hobbit To Rule Them All: SHEN BE GOOD HE HAS NO IDEA OF THE SHIPPING POWERS MY POWERS CANNOT BE CONTAINED

Ngh, ship it, ship it good. In all seriousness though, it's gonna be fun!

Some things are just meant to be ~

SHEN BE GOOD HE HAS NO IDEA OF THE SHIPPING POWERS

Oooh popping that first battle cherry. I expect super angsty ship material, y'all BRING IT

I said I had first dibs, hehe