Oculama

A beautiful final comic entry - I don't think I'll ever get tired of your specific style, and the space setting has presented a lot of opportunities for your sensibilities to shine.

Some tremendous angles in the comic! I think it speaks to how much experience you have as an illustrator that you can add touches like the camera tilt at the bottom of page 5 that don't shout their presence, but add dynamism to the flow of the comic nonetheless.

(Other really nice angles include the overhead shot of Mo on page 2, and the angle on page 8 to emphasize the chaos of the whole space station situation).

I really enjoyed how clean "Mo"'s alien design turned out in your style. There were several individual panels that showed off a skill with the off-model anatomy, such as the crying panel at the top of page 3 (I like how the tears frame the eyes), and the softly variable volume of the tentacle throughout (page 4 especially).

On the topic of volume, I do feel like I've had the privilege to see your skill with shading move though meaningful improvement throughout this tournament, and showing up in this comic especially where your art makes up the entirety of the comic. From the get-go, with the opening cover of EFFI's torso and arms, and throughout the pages that follow, I enjoyed the dimension that the characters and environments had.

Finally, I adored how your framing compositions have continued into this finale. pages 6 and 7 are the apex of the entire story in my view; the way EFFI moves freely between panels in the background to free "Mo," who seems locked in the discreet panels in the meta "foreground" until the rescue halfway down panel 7. Some of the best page composition I've ever read in an OCT.

Very impressive work on the illustrations all throughout this comic. EFFI has been a real icon this tournament, and a lot of fun to enjoy these past few months.

There's a lot of great elements across the illustration and writing for this comic, that come together to make what feels like a perfect punctuation to both this tournament broadly, and the Mo/EFFI storyline specifically. that "Mo" even wants to be the person Mo was speaks to the depth of this character, post-mortem even at the beginning of the tournament.

You portion out not quite the actual character arc of "Mo," but rather the exposition and explanation of how she has developed as a person at a near-perfect pace, and successfully bounce it off both the memories of the orginal Mo (a character who we know, but who has effectively not been present of this tournament to this point), and more importantly, EFFI. I had a real "oh, wow" moment when "Mo," however briefly compares their respective relationships to feelings. It really nailed down the connection between these characters for me, and punctuated the tragedy of EFFI's demise.

I'm very impressed with how much development you're able to apply to "Mo" and her evolving understanding of and commitment to an existence

Very sparing use of color here, but you apply it where it counts. "Mo"'s blue is a wonderfully grounding visual touch, and its placement in her eyes throughout keeps the reader's focus on her emotions, so her state of mind in turn is emphasized as the pathos axis that the whole story turns around. And the red highlighting for EFFI as Mo carries her metaphorical heart on with her? UGH.

(affectionate).

I went back and forth on whether I thought the screen on the final page should have been red as well, to show that Mo still had a piece of EFFI with her, but I ultimately applaud the decision to leave it white, to show that, despite the gesture, EFFI is, in fact, gone, and that gives all the more gravity to her sacrifice.

Terrific stuff overall; this comic feels conservatively told, and conservatively laid out, but it's all in a service of a fantastic overall work, and one that I feel does real justice to Hypoxemia as a collaborative, if competitive, endeavor.

Aaah Doe,The ending you wrote really tugged my heart strings!

While despite not having polished up art work,it still had plenty of clarity and I think still looks really nice. Your panel layouts and the pacing of this comic really top notch. I really loved the first page layout. The placement of the tentacles at the top and the usage of dream balloons at the bottom all balanced out really nicely.
I think the story itself was good proposed ending to this tourney!

As always, a pleasure to read a comic from you!

Damn man, This was such a good ending for the tourney. Hit me right in my feels.
The pacing in this one is really good, and I really like what you did with the layouts. A scene like the ship breaking a part,especially with how you chose to lay it out, could easily become chaotic and hard to follow but you executed it with such clarity and it flowed so nicely.

I especially liked how you did Effi grabbing on to the panels in page six, that looks so cool.

And the way you ended it, just beautifully tragic/bittersweet feels like such a good way to wrap up this tourney.
Excellent work man, this was a treat.

Its interesting that the both of you, either intentional or no took the self sacrificial route. In the end the human (and even alien!) condition over a manufactured life took precedence despite how this different Mopaz was changing and regardless of their sins. I gotta tell you, despite this getting away from you and not having it as polished as you may of liked, I love the emotionality you were able to get across. That panel with Mopaz smiling face as their humanity is explored and appreciated warmed the cockles of my heart. Gosh, not just human life, but existence as a whole. I felt the narrators admiration over what they've been privileged to witness and it drove home this Mopaz aliens regret and Effie's ultimate choice in the end to save them regardless.
It's funny, I think plenty of us expected retribution- that is the name of the tournament game after all, and Effie was well within her rights to do so, especially after losing her dear friend. For the sake of the story, I'm rather glad you both went this route. It fulfills the goals of the tournament but still maintains the integrity of the characters and story you were wanting to tell- to say nothing of the fact it was wholly unexpected. Malicious compliance at its best is when it warms your heart.

Effie knew all along! She knew and despite it still cared. Still made an assessment that their friend/not friend was ultimately trying to do good. An assessment colored with new emotions and feelings a manufactured being is trying to parse in real time while rescuing a literal monster is quite the narrative rollercoaster! I love that it was paired with a daring rescue put to the page. You continue to push yourself with exploring interesting panel placements and interactions when it comes to the story. I especially love Effie pushing and weaving past a panel on page 6 like its debris- that's SO smart and out of the box.
I honestly think working with a partner throughout this journey has changed your work for the better. I certainly hope you feel that influence in what you put out. The finale saw you alone, but mutually I think I saw the spirit of the both of you in both of your entries. Not just from a technical aspect but in the warmth of the story. Kind of like two rescues went down for this finale!

Preliminary: These stories are so similar in themes and outcomes that it's hard to judge them separately compared to other battles! I'll say this much that the two sides share: A story of two inhuman entities finding humanity in themselves and each other, and in both EFFI retains the emotional MVP, a sad but heartful tale and an engrossing read, congrats to the two of you for making it this far!

Doe: I quite like your tentacled design take and your composition skill is still so powerful it helps carry us through the incomplete aspects of the artwork. I believe you've proven yourself in spades in past comics even solo and there isn't much more advice I can think to give at this point, you've shown your strengths in spades across tournament sites at this point and I personally think you're ready to start making independent stories to publish if you wanted. Looking forward to future pages from you down the line!

Preliminary: These stories are so similar in themes and outcomes that it's hard to judge them separately compared to other battles! I'll say this much that the two sides share: A story of two inhuman entities finding humanity in themselves and each other, and in both EFFI retains the emotional MVP, a sad but heartful tale and an engrossing read, congrats to the two of you for making it this far!

Ninja: Kudos on an unorthodox way to set up a death and I think some of Doe's compositional skill has rubbed off on you, these pages real quite well and I think your rendering has also improved from prior works! In future battles I would love to see you focus harder on developing your line and lining art to the next level, if there is anything that might be holding you back at this point in your skillset I would say that's where to look. A good challenge could be trying comics in exclusively black and white and working the best you can with just those two tones.

Unfortunately had to dock points because it was indeed incomplete when compared to your opponent's comic. NEVERTHELESS its still a compelling story and I can't get over Mopie's goober goopy crying eyes at the very end. I really like her true alien form and she deserves all the love too. You both killed it this whole tournament and pitting you against each other was EVIL, eric. EVIL. Despite being "unfinished" its still more than legible and entertaining. gg!

What can I say, this is one of your most gorgeous comics yet. The way you illustrate all those nebulae and the impact of each scene is on point. A truly heartbreaking finale to this tournament. To be trapped in a black hole and MAYBE get fished out at the end of the universe? Chilling... Effie is precious, and must be protec. She's just doing her best and I must root for her. UWAHHH... I cry.

You push your characterization across so incredibly well. The limited page count you have is used so incredibly well here and the inner monologue with Mo's old human form is really terrific. Same with the interaction with EFFI.
In terms of art, your inks are beautiful. While you're probably very aware of places to improve on, one of the simplest things you can do in the future is to try to do more solid blacks. When you use them, its more effective and saves you a lot more strain than if you do something that's going to require a lot of sketch-work for texture (despite it looking as good as it looks).
Legitimately, you're selling yourself short here. Even with this burn out, the art is carrying so much emotional weight to it. You should feel great about this comic. Fantastic work, fantastic run this entire tournament.

A very good comic. It's kind of nice seeing how both stories are united together - which makes sense given that you were both tied up in this from the get-go, but it's a great story as a result. You wrote it very well, the characters are quite solid. Most of the criticism towards this comic goes towards the art side of things.
With a massive space station like this being destroyed or in danger as it is, it feels like the lighting of this should have been more dramatic. Not just on an artistic level, but diegetically it feels like it should have been red emergency lights going on. The finale loses some of it's punch as a result.
In addition, some of the "glory" of seeing a giant Black Hole is ironically undercut due to the rest of space being visible in a big way? By not playing with the lighting going on around it and having innumerable stars and galaxies visible, it loses some of it's visual strength that it would have by being the main focus. You clearly like playing around with digital water colors - push to do some more experimental stuff in the future.
All that being said, this was a great comic. Great tournament - you did terrific. Great work!

Both of these were incredible, I know you felt bad about what you were able to commit to but I feel like it didn't detract from the amazing and heartwrenching story that built up until now! I really like the design of "Mopaz" you did and seeing the slow degration from the humanoid form to the amorphous squid thing she becomes over the pages of the comic. I also really enjoy the panel framing for both being very clean but not shy with breaking the boundry to create interesting motion. Thanks for a great read!

I hope it's fair to say again how both comics were amazing! big praise for both of you in the journey here, it's been a hell of a ride! For this comic the action and drama really stuck out to me, a nice top end for a tragedy that doesn't break from the overall tragic tone that the comic delivers. It seems like in the end maybe both characters will be lost? Or maybe we have to sit with the bittersweet feeling of hoping that they both can find something like peace or hope out in the vastness of space. A lovely poetic ending if read that way. Kudos to you!

I know I am gonna be sad either way but man, this really tugged at my heartstrings. It is pretty impressive how, despite the unfinished state of this comic, you still managed to deliver a tale that felt complete and immersive. The sketches were rough but were neat enough for me to understand what was going on. I especially liked how you did their facial expressions. That last panel is really a big punch in the gut. It still makes me wonder what the finished version of this could've looked like but overall, well done!

This comic is such a feast for my eyes. The colors are so vibrant and the paneling is simply phenomenal. One little nitpick, but I think the last panel on page 3 could use a SFX to emphasize the explosion even more. Effi holding on to those two bottom panels on page 6 is my favorite. That is so creative both visually and symbolically, considering the context of the scene. I love how the back-and-forth between Effi and Mopaz answers my own thoughts and questions as the story goes along, giving me clarity in every way.

The ending felt 'vague' and bittersweet for a death match. I don't know if this is intentional or not, but I have realized that Mopie would be dead anyway in that capsule. I am not sure whether Effi was even aware of the implications of its actions, and that is just as heartbreaking.

I'm a big fan of the limited use of color for this comic, the white and light blue highlights really pop in the otherwise dark and moody grey. It was cool getting to see "Mopie's" real self and internal struggle, and how much care they had for Effi.The ending makes sense as a good way to end a death torunament between two characters who love each other, and the last page breaks my heart (in a good way)

The pages where the white gutters are replaced with the vibrant glitter of space as the station breaks apart are my favorite, it's a real treat for the eyes. I also love seeing Effi's heart shaped antenna when rescuing Mopie and drifting out in space at the end. I think it's really clever to have Mopie pronounced dead on the official records and permenantly abandon their visual identity as a way of having the character "die" for the sake of a death tournament, but without needing to shed any more blood. Their seperation is still a tragic one, and it's good that even without Actually killing Mopie, you didn't go the easy way out and give them a happy ending.

I’m so sorry you were burnt out Doe, though what you managed to put out was still quite wonderful. I still got a good sense of the story even when it was just sketches, which I can appreciate. The story here was good too, and you managed it in such a short amount of pages. For what it’s worth, you did a fantastic job making it to the end of a tournament so give yourself a pat on the back.

I am just blown away by how emotional your comic was in just 9 pages! That was such a good read and a neat tie up of their story, I really enjoyed it. Throughout this tournament I fell in love with Effi and adore the care you put into her story here. Genuinely loved the coloring and panel layouts you used, especially in the later half of the comic where things were falling apart. Fantastic work!