Sometimes you just gotta roll with the thrips
And, wanted to dedicate this page to John and Michelle :] Two readers who live nearby to me and w/whom I got to catch up this morning over coffee. John’s been supporting MI since before I had any public way to do that, which is nuts. It reminded me that last year (and every year before) at this time I was making approximately $0.00 from my own work, and look at me now! living in bay area poverty lol. But no really, just a few months ago I was questioning if there was even an audience for this comic? It’s so dark and weird. But all of you are here reading, and it’s let me make new friends and has really grown with your support, so thank you very much.
And speaking of dat support/ Patreon news, I have a giant new tutorial up, describing the process I use to color all my comics. There’s also a brand new learning resource available, chock full of challenges to make you a smarter artist (ie a smartist). As you might have noticed, I’m able (under ideal circumstances) to update very frequently… In order to achieve this for a 12-14 hours of work per page, I’ve optimized my process quite a bit to become as fast and flexible as I can. Ironically I’m posting this page late because I was working on that tutorial, haha… Anyways, that’s up now. And, there will be a new monthly tutorial every month of support at around the current level.
But yeah I always say thanks but I also always mean it. Thanks for reading, another page will be up tomorrow, followed by some fun news~
Today’s bonus art: My bf made up a walrus character, and also hates thrip, so naturally I required revenge
49 Comments
Thripfriend is here to help!
Also Mike’s face in the fourth panel is killing me XD
Good ol’ Thripfriend; he’ll help ya thrip through life’s problems!
Thripfriends have an interesting anatomy, they appear to thrip with their eyes. Otherwise that thrip in the third panel should have been pretty muffled.
Omg you’re right… That’s even funnier, thanks for pointing it out.
Nice save with the ‘thrib’ lol
XD
This chain killed me. XDD Wish I had seen the original ‘thrip’.
Someone fi’na get dey ass BEAT
If the mystery person coughing is Bex, Mike is going to have to get her a thigh-friend of her own.
Last night I had a dream that Bex came out of that pool. It’s prophesy!
I laughed for so long at the “thrib” sound!! All the little touches are so wonderful in this comic. I will forever cherish that panel of Thrip attempting to feed the tiny fungus to Mike, the way his eyes just look so nervous.
Also, Thrip is my favorite! Who doesn’t like Thrip??
What exactly is thripfriend’s purpose? A harmless critter or a guiding program thing?
I think that it was stated that it was essentially a roomba
Yes, a common thrip is basically a roomba; they pick up and eat detritus and do tiny maintenance tasks related to that (like pruning back dying shoreline “plant” material and eating it).
They’re also useful as an emergency power generator.
lol, I love the title of that video/ the implication that there are a bunch of copycat shrimps on treadmills to watch out for
Hmmm, is the implication of “common thrip” that our Thripfriend might be an *un*common thrip? It does seem to be a different color than the others, as of last page (it thrips in yellow, while the other Thrips thrip in blue), though I guess that might be a lighting thing…
Of course, even if our Thripfriend is not officially a “special” thrip, it’s still special to ME!
Ok it’s officially time to start rolling out the thripfriend merchandise <3
“Geez, Michael, at least knock the entrance before getting in.”
Well, that’s a way of praying too I guess. :D :P
“Christ. Hello? It’s me…”
Funny, how Mike was talking with Kallakore, and now he wants her back :D
I love how the little thrip makes a *thrib* underwater hahaha
Ooooh, the last two panels took me a while to understand what was happening, but I get it now. Am I correct in interpreting that Kallakore’s head is partially submerged in some water? For the longest time I thought it was just a weird picture of a sky light.
Haha, yeah you’re right. In a book it would be 2 seconds to flip the page and see the camera pull out but here you have to stare at an incomprehensible jumble of lines for 20 hours until I get my shit together
Ahh, such is the cutting edge of chasing updates. F5 only makes us worse at being patient. XD
“thrib”
…*heart melts into squee*
No, thank YOU for making all the great stuff! I am just going to have to sign up so I can see the coloring process…I love the way you have done the phosphorescent glow of the place, and how it lights everything. And yeah, I would totally have a Thrip shirt…would love to see the Vitruvian Man version of KK’s species…
LOL, or Vitruvian Thrip
OK, it took the longest time, but I’m looking at KK’s lower jaw, and just beyond that I am seeing Mike’s silhouette through the water, right? It was like staring at one of those 3D images, until everything snaps into focus.
Huh? I’m seeing KK’s forehead sticking out of the fluid, and her nose and left eye (same horizontal as “Hello”) submerged.
Yeah, Leon’s got it XD That reflection is just the reflection from a low-hanging stalactite
Oh… OK! (Flip)
Oh, shit, I think I figured something out! They were going to send Mike home because he is mentally ill. Perhaps the Martians left Kallakore behind because *she* is mentally ill. Perhaps they can help each other.
Great thought. Earlier in the comic Mike reveals paranoid reasoning about people using LEVi to control his thoughts.
Now, Kallakore runs away from Mike right after he wonders if she’s just another tool in a bigger system. Perhaps the accusation echoed her own thoughts too much for her to handle.
Mike’s expression in the fourth panel is wonderfully done.
Walruses are awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAVL61yeCYs
And thrips too! (Don’t kill me, thrip…)
I’ve seen a walrus whistle, my life is complete now
Really, though, they’re pretty versatile
how can you hate thrip, thrip is adorable. Mike’s new friends should be serious body horror but somehow seeing thighfriend flapping supportively and thrip trying to help Mike out with suggestions here is all kinds of endearing. cutest body horrors I’ve ever seen!
Maybe my bf is secretly a Martian; Kalla seems pretty squicked by the horror
Martian?? Suddenly his liking of walruses makes a lot more sense…
That face says he was done five pages ago
I’m reading! Actually this story gives me a lot of hope that I can eventually tell my own super strange stories and be listened to. :3
Hm, the description said there’d be another page on the 28th and I can’t find anything about a delay on shing’s twitter.
Yeah, it’s being finished rn. Real Life, and all of that.
A hotdog pose?
Thrip: “I’m getting off this crazy train, yo.”
‘Oh, that’s right, I can breathe underwater now.’
I wonder if all the yellow ‘foam’ on top of the water (which we haven’t seen anywhere else) is analagous to the placenta, and this is leftover bits from when this version of Kallakore was ‘birthed’.
There is an audience! I think the writing is clever and the illustration beautiful!