At least one character has an excuse for making decisions like an 8-year old
Well! There’s a new comics award in town, and if you’d like, feel free to nominate Mare Internum (or anything else). Easy and free and it really helps the comic get a bit more press, as that’s been my biggest challenge as an indie creator so far.
For interested Patrons, some notes on both the process of text-heavy pages like these, and on plot “composition,” if that’s what you want to call it. This chapter has a lot going on, and I get to fill in a lot of holes, so I consequently have a lot to say about the next few pages, haha :] We had a giveaway contest last month too, so I’ll be announcing the winner in a bit!
I did a little process gif over on Twitter to show how these pages are painted! In case you’re interested. I’ve also been streaming a lot more, and probably will continue, since it seems I am continuing to be pretty productive with an added audience lately. If I have time tomorrow I’ll stream again, and if not, then later in the week for sure.
Next page soon!
21 Comments
My favorite subtle detail is the little leash keeping Threvi close to Bex at all times :3
I bet LEVi doesn’t know that there was a “destroy” intention from Mike. Just sending him away.
Is Bex confusing things?
Mike used to be happy with LEVi, and it looked like he was recomforted when he found it, although he was the one who send it down there, right?
The last thing Bex heard on the matter was Mike’s ranting before the cave-in at the end of Chapter 1, where he accused his coworkers and LEVi of mind control and other things. The last thing LEVi knew about the situation was whatever instruction he was given before losing radio contact in the lava tube, and according to what Kalla recounted, that he must have failed Mike somehow. The last thing Mike expressed was some regret about what he did while talking to Kalla about it in her maroon room, but right now Bex is the only one who knows that Thrip is LEVi~
“My sons are big fans of yours, they watched all your shows,” Bex says to the giant talking shrimp as they scale the merciless catacombs of literal Mars.
Der-shing I love this chapter so much
ALSO, since it looks like I get to be the first to say it – absolutely STUNNING environment here.. the blue speckles across the panels are so mystical and surreal, and I love what you’ve done with the purely-vertical trickles. They form a sharp contrast with the escher-like, organic angles of the rest of the page. Despite the obvious struggle Bex is undergoing, I could believe this area is almost soothing.
Blue speckles? In a hard sci-fi story about the discovery of alien technology? No Bex! Get out of there before the Protomolecule gets you!
At least then Bex wouldn’t have to worry about how to breathe this dank air, and could even strut about on the surface without her suit!
Happy endings are tricky, but right now I think it would be cool if the comic ended with Bex messaging her kids about how she did the cave thing with Dr. Fisher.
“No, let us not digress onto the matter of my offspring. I’m, uh, really intrigued by the matter we were discussing.”
Yes, exactly!
Oh man Bex, danger comin’ in from every angle!
Well, that explains a lot!
Bex, you better not screw things up betweem Levi and Fish!
I think Bex is less responsible for that than Mike is XD
Did Levi even keep his computational power when he was transferred to crabware?
He’d probably like to think so
Gotta wonder why Fisher hated Levi’s AI being modeled on a child. I assume (with the usual caveats) that it has to do with the way he was abused as a child, that maybe he was afraid a child-like AI could be taken advantage of more easily, or wouldn’t have a proper sense of self-preservation.
Imagine having a child for a coworker. You’d probably want to strangle them after 30 minutes.
Holy crap…
I just want to point out how superhumanly ripped Bex must be to be climbing down a ‘ceiling’ slope with the weight of that suit (and her skills must be high since I doubt the suit is built for rock climbing).
I am in awe.
Omg, this page is so much (/even) more beautiful on my laptop screen! (I know this is a given, I just use my phone so much more often than my laptop that it’s always revelatory re-reading pages on the higher-def, wider spectrum screen.)
I love the atmospheric effects a lot! Uh oh… are those spores?? Will Bex soon also have a symbiotic “friend” of some kind?
> I’m far more capable than you Humans.
Time to make sure we keep these AI’s friendly.