July 9, 2015
In before asks: yes, the Personal Life Support System (PLSS) made by Ascension Drive (AD) which was designed for used in surface EVAs is also fine to use in space EVAs as well, which means it’s been tested under pressures and in vacuums and while submerged… but probably was not optimized to be dropped from a great height, smashed repeatedly with rocks, and ~then~ submerged. They probably planned for some battering, what with this being used in caves, but this scenario falls outside the range of what the suit was designed for. oh well
Today’s bonus art: prelim sketches du jour
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*looks at the eyes*
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ><
The creepy beady blue pupils or the lovely shade of demon cornea I have had to learn to love since my retinal reattachment surgery.
Your bonus sketches are clearly three-dimensional. This is the way Sculptors draw. If anyone wants to know, you may be a better artist than you think you are.
So lack of oxygen, is it? That’s gotta hurt.
I think depressurization.
I don’t know anything about the pressure on mars, but even if it’s low enough to be a problem, wouldn’t he drown or suffocate first anyway?
Considering it takes about 4 minutes to drown or suffocate, and 3 minutes to die from absolute depressurization (which wouldn’t be since Mars has at least some atmosphere), I’d say it could be either one.
The human body’s pretty tough.
What about depressurization is supposed to kill you? Even in space you’d die from asphyxiation before anything else. It’s only one atmosphere difference maximum, it’s not like you’d explode.
I dunno which, but eyes are pretty sensitive. if it’s decompression it’ll be the firs tthing to splortch.
…but again, maybe they’re just bloodshot because of the falling shock. I’m not sure. Waiting for next page ? :)
Ouch! The underwater lighting is excellent. I also like your sound effects and how they translate onto the page. Very exciting start.
Bubbles coming outta the helmet. Nope, nothing to worry about. Carry on. Keep going.
Well if some idiot hadn’t been trying to take off his helmet a few pages ago that probably wouldn’t be happening T__T
Indeed!
(still too excited to comment properly!!!!)
(also, i recognize my eyes (not really, though))
Augh … that looks painful.
But the water is super clear … with the proper equipment I’d love to go for a dive there. That is, after rocks stopped to fall in.
Suddenly, this makes me wonder whether aquatic life forms lives down there. Whether it’s possible.
I mean, with no atmosphere to exchange oxygen with and all. Hmmm…
literally all anaerobic life on earth says hi
lol
…heh. I’ll go look all that up.
Is anaerobic respiration sustainable for multicellular life?
EVA like in EVA 01?
http://www.marecomic.com/glossary/
Extra vehicular activities. (I.e. Going out in space)
Lol there’s definitely no shame in aksing (it’s not a term you hear unless you’re a space nerd) —- that’s just really funny to imagine in context of Dershing’s post.
Mare Internum is actually an Evangelion fanfiction.
You’ve got some nerv
Oh you.
Oh great, now that song is in my head.
“It all returns to nothing, it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down….”
Seriously
I need to know how this is even escapable.
I NEED THE PAGES.
BRING ME THE PAGES.
Chapter 2 Page 2: it wasn’t escapable/ the end/ thank you for reading
SPOILER WARNING, GEEZ
I CANT BELIEVE YOU.
Underwater cave with trapped air bubble? LEVi (old one saw trouble and followed after or newer one found it’s way here after being burried)… dolphins? “So hello, and thanks for all the fish.”
Red or blue?
Crap now everyone knows I’m a MYST nerd.
NEVER be ashamed of being a MYST nerd, EVER!
That’s a hell of a cannonball, Mike
Everyone at the party will be super-impressed.
…by the impact.
…the 3rd impact ? (/joke above)
p.s as a dual major in art/bio I love how this comic lets you show off how much research you’ve done designing their equipment and writing the dialogue. I have no doubt TM is soundly backed, but there isn’t as much chance to indulge without any scientifically literate characters. (Well, there was deTiker, but.)
I strive to Notice and Appreciate such details c:
Beautiful!!
“How many atmospheres of pressure can the ship take?”
“Well, it’s a *space* ship, so anywhere between 0 and 1.”
Vaguely relevant Futurama quotes aside, that’s a nasty subconjunctival hemorrhage and you’re gonna be drawing it for *weeks*.
Or will I???
Also I’m tickled that you knew what it was, haha.
So much about this comic is like my worst nightmare. Space? Check. Being crushed by gigantic boulders? Check. My suit not functioning properly? Check. Being trapped under water ???!?!? super check!!!
also his eyes look kinda like arnolds at the end of total recall O *O
lol, the part where his face was about to explode? Man I love that movie.
Oh man, oh man! Don’t leave us hanging! Uh… I mean drowning…! (I’m holding my breath)
Super nice transition from the end of the Interlude to Chapter 2. Top notch!
The way you’ve drawn the water is incredibly beautiful. Just wanted to let you know :}
AGH. I’m going to punch someone in the face >.< WHY?!
hey buddy how ya feelin guy
I’m curious, what in your mind, when researching for the page, caused the eye hemmoraging? Depressurization? Impact? Leaking oxygen? (D) all of the above?
Whatever the explanation it makes ME feel like I can’t breathe, so…
I’m going with impact and pressure. In scuba diving this is often associated with improper mask adjustment (which doesn’t apply in this case since there isn’t a seal over his eyes) but for someone who just fell x number of meters, I think a hemorrhage here and there probably makes sense. More gory details on that coming up, of course. Or you can extrapolate a few from this page I guess.
Improper mask adjustment would need quite some time to cause hemmoraging like this (ouch!). There’s no seal over his eyes, but can his badly damaged equipment deal with the sudden change of pressure? Most of all under water, even if it is only some meters, and on Mars. Its also hard to tell how many meters, since the huge chunks of rock might have dragged him under quite far. So a nosebleed and bloody eyes are likely I’d say.
I’m so happy that you’ll update more frequently now, ’cause I’d gnaw my fingers off otherwise. :)
Average atmospheric pressure on Mars is at 0,6% of pressure at Earth’s sea level, well below Armstrong limit (which is 16 times lower than pressure at sea level). Unprotected humans would die under that conditions.
Some 20 meters under water, and IMO we are looking at something much more bearable. At least, there is sufficient pressure to rule out water in Mikes lungs, saliva and tears boiling away (which is what Armstrong limit is all about)… Which brings up the next question — how is that martian water in liquid state even there? How deep is it?
Good question!
Been trying to work that last one out myself. The only places on the Martian *surface* that liquid water can exist is at the deepest points of Valles Marineris and the Hellas basin, below Martian “sea level”. The Tharsis plateau (where Mike and company are) is huge and the terrain varies wildly, but near the shield volcanoes (and we know the base is within visible range of one) it’s 5-6 km above the 0 mark (much higher on the volcanoes themselves, of course). So for liquid water to exist in caves below the surface, assuming it isn’t hermetically sealed from the atmosphere, it would have to be at *least* 6km below Mike’s entry point, maybe more.
If it *was* sealed (it isn’t anymore, nice one Bex) then all bets are off, but I want to know how it got that way.
I’m not saying it was … aliens.
But it was aliens.
Recently it occured to me that it’s possible that liquid isn’t water (as we understand it anyway) at all, or there is something else altering its physical properties. Just because we on Earth assume seas are enormous water puddles doesn’t neccessarily mean the same applies to Mars.
Thanks for replying! Makes sense to me. I see he is also bleeding from the nose, so it seems like corneal bleeding are the least of his hemorrhage worries at the moment.
One last question, if I may: is this a short story, or is it a long epic in the same way that (I believe) The Meek is planned to be?
Haha, his nose started bleeding a few pages/ minutes ago, when Bex accidentally suplexed him.
And the comic is 5 chapters of varying lengths, and estimated around 150-200 pages, though tbh I have no idea about the specifics since I’m doing the details of the scripting on the fly :)
Whups, I missed that part. I see the nosebleed now, back in chapter 1. Thanks for your reply again!
Panel 2 and 3 is how I imagine I look when I have an early morning shift at work.
You know, when the alarm in my helmet goes off.
EWHAAAATTTTTT?!!!!
WATER ON MARS!!!!
I thought that the mare internum was just going to be a metaphor! :D
I guess we are going the literal translation as well! XD
Haha, no reason we can’t have our cake and eat it too.
Yes. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water_on_mars.jpg
I like the new favicon.
Thanks! It likes you too.
shing. SHING THIS PAGE THIS PAGE IS–jus
just hits my every
single
weak spot like, omfg…blue color schemes, underwater, dire situations, BLOOD, BODY HORROR, IMMINENT DEATH, SCARED BABIES YEYEYEYSYSYSYSYSAAAHHH
:D
CRAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIN!
Oo, I JUST caught the helmet’s warning displays in the reflections of his eyes. Love the detail in the artwork, there’s always something more to see.
Man this stuffs heavy.
I’M SO HYPE
I love how in the interlude all the comments were serious things being super serious.
And now that he’s about to die everyone’s just back to making fun of him.
We need a coping mechanism.
*looks at [his] left eye*
If you look closely it…it looks like a…SHRIMP!
Please tell me I am not the only one xD seeing shrimp-eyed-Mike.
Those eyes made me suck air through my teeth.
I had a really weird dream last night. It started out here, and kind of evolved into alien version life of pie, then some kind of interplanetary save the planet thing, with his guy in a massive ocean, floating on debris. it starts here, where he finds a bioluminescent moss or fungus in the water, and he gradually finds bigger and bigger animals until he pops up in a literal rain forest. He is found by rescue boats, and taken back to civilization. Zoom forward 4 years for some reason and life has sprung up outside of any biospheres or stations, and is growing free. Unfortionutly, they are using up lots of the nutriants in the soil(for some reason it was “Potasium”) and that is killing local wildlife. It was here I realized I was dreaming and woke up.
Ahh, there y’all are. Where did you go? You took the light with you.
It was very dark here. And it got wet. Wet and dark.
But the popcorn is still… ok. I have been experimenting with the flavours. Err do you want I guess it is that green stuff? Sort of like mushroom flavour. It wiggles a bit though.
Is this comic ever going to be printed and put up for sale? The art is BEAUTIFUL, and I would so love to add it to my comic collection.
no no noNONONO I was so hoping to archive binge for at least another hour! Quite frankly madam I am quite incensed by your lack of initiative in giving me exactly what I want for free regardless of your many other obligations and scheduling considerations. Does my heretofore unexpressed adoration for your characters and story mean nothing to you?!?! Normally I would write a strongly worded letter to your superior(s), but at this moment I can think of few whom you might condescend to consider your equals.
tl;dr: more pls! <3 <3 <3
Or okay maybe he will die? …