Chapter 3, Page 30

someone’s gettin they ass beat

(Also I just couldn’t resist putting in the long thrip. This is probably way too comedic to make it past final editing, so enjoy it while it lasts XD)

Thanks to Patrons, we’re going to be having my best approximation of daily updates until the end of the week. Sorry was a bit late today, been dealing with a 2-day(+?) migraine that probably has nothing to do with a month of 14 hr workdays. Also for Patrons: the new tutorial is going up today/ tonight, so there’s that to look forward to! yay

Today’s bonus art: I have to keep doing value paintings to make sure the end product doesn’t come out too crazy (just normal crazy)… here’s the ones for this page.

86 Comments

  • David

    I asked at the pet store, but they don’t have any thrips to sell me :(

  • CosmicStresshead

    Thighfriend really takes some abuse, huh? Hang in there, buddy!

  • Klaus

    No, *you’re* the fucking toaster bro! Get back here!

  • Echo

    Someone’s gonna be toast

  • David

    Mike: “Kalla, you’re keeping me a prisoner!”

    (Kalla leaves the room)

    Mike: “Don’t leeeave meeee!”

    • Dudikoff

      “Mike, plz…”
      “I BET YOU’RE JUST A MACHINE, TOO, JUST… ”
      “plz…”
      “MEANT TO KEEP ME HERE AGAINST MY WILL, YOU CAN’T DO… ”
      “plz stahp”
      Theme for the next few pages: https://youtu.be/9hUy9ePyo6Q

      • Aristatide

        I was thinking more this for the theme:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg

        • Jenny

          I KNEW WHAT HIS WAS GONNA BE BEFORE I CLICKED IT BUT I CLICKED IT ANYWAY

          • Jenny

            *THIS

          • Drakeo

            oh my gosh I just died when I clicked on the link so funny

        • Tommy

          Hahaha – that totally justifies the long thrip in the first panel :D

        • …me too.

      • Drakeo

        that’s funny but not as funny as the other link

  • JJ

    Mike, please consider that Kalla might have suddenly felt a very urgent call of nature.

    • David

      That’s not water Mike is swimming through…

      • shingworks

        :[

      • Dudikov

        Tfw you’re so distraught, you just wanna hide away from everything in your toilet.

  • Deep into the water, no one will see you cry.

  • This is not how first contact is supposed to go.

  • DS

    No, keep the long “thrip.” The way Mike is pelting after Kalla is pretty amusing already. Go big or go home.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, I have a tendency to draw running poses really cartoony, I just love the exaggerated motion. After I finished inking I realized I went to far… probably will need to redraw him for print cuz it’s too jarring between the pages imo.

      That said, that’s the great thing about indie webcomics, I can put this up now and then change my mind and redraw the shit out of it later if I want, nobody can stop me >:]

      • Dudikov

        Brb, starting whitehouse.gov petition to stop this madness. Gonna get #DontChangeAThingShing trending on Twitter, we can make the #NoChange happen.

        • Lieutenant Dan

          #OccupyMareInternum

      • Mekronid

        Actually, in the first panel I’d have to agree. It was pretty jarring when I first saw it. The second panel is perfect though, it made me laugh and feel the sudden despair at the same time.

      • Pylgrim

        Haha yeah, I enjoy the goofiness but I guess that in a book it would be jarring flipping a dramatic and kind of heartbreaking page into goofy sprinting.

        Then again, Forrest Gump managed to pull that kind of whiplashing contrasts!

      • Victor

        Hey, it worked for George Lucas. He redrew shit in major motion pictures twenty years after the fact.

      • Tadrix

        Hey, have you considered the Mars gravity (of 1/3 Earth’s)? Probably running there like that (with large leaps between steps) is normal.

  • Dudikov

    I love how futile this looks for Mike in the last two panels. Great sense of emotion with these last few pages, I love where this is developing. Also, changing the name and email on my phone’s autofill to match my PC’s, because I just realized they were different.

    • Dudikov

      Forgot, Kalla’s preference for “flight” rather than conflict under emotional duress is an extremely elucidative character trait. I love seeing the way you handle personality and psychology here. THIS is the sort of character building that gets me suuuper excited when reading indie webcomics.

  • DukeBG

    If I remember correctly, running with the thighfriend out can overwork the heart

    • shingworks

      It’s not a great idea

  • Mad de R.

    “Thriiiiiiiiiip”

  • Asterai

    I JUST GOT DONE BARFING UP YOUR MARTIAN WATER NOW YOU’RE SUBMERGING AGAIN?

    So inconsiderate.

  • Of course, the moment that first line comes around, Terminator 3 flashback.

    https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/4c4437dd-064a-45e6-9e1b-48f2cd1155bb

  • Zinc

    Love Thighfriend in this update. In the first panel he almost looks like a kilt. And I only noticed him lapping up the water in the last panel on the second readthrough.

    • shingworks

      Haha… I feel sort of bad for him, I think he’s been sort of out of it since Kalla ripped off his top chunk. Definitely not as aggressively flappy as he was before.

  • rowan fremont

    No don’t get rid of it! I love the booty up-shot!

  • Ainsley S

    Look I know you’re not doing merch but GOSH I want to make a teespring shirt with ol’ Thripster just clinging to the scapula like that :3

    • Twyll

      I want this shirt too. I want it *desperately.*

  • Ceceoh

    Looks at second panel: “Whoops! Looks like he lost her.” Then realizes that the last peak at the top of the panel isn’t a rock.

  • Treeish

    Hang on to your Thrips, folks! Or hope they hang on to you.

    And ‘asshole’ is probably not going to entreat KK to come back, BTW. Thrip and Thighfriend have more social skills than you, Mikey.

  • AGV

    I’ll guess that armsharks go into crab mode instead of fetal pose when emotionally overwhelmed

  • Jones

    hmm…the puzzle pieces are floating around…but some seem to stick together in my mind.

    Okay, analogy aside I’m getting the feeling that Kallakore is a bit lonely and wants a buddy to stay…deems why some information is hidden or whatever.

    Hopefully not in the means of the story Misery. oh dear. <:D

    • shingworks

      But she’s his #1 fan

      • Dudikov

        She was LEVi’s #1 fan firs–oh no

  • Firelancer

    I like the running pose. I think it’s obvious from the last page to this one, that Kallakore leaped over Mike, then took off running, and he spun around to chase after her.

  • Meng Ling

    Nooooooooooo keep the thriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!!!!!!!

  • Dudikov

    I just have to say, as a bird person, Kall’s stubby, little tail is adorable, especially juxtaposed with her arms and tiny legs.

    Dat second panel is butts galore. Even Thrip’s in on it.

    • DukeBG

      I noticed that too!

  • kate

    lavaboy and sharkgirl :(

    • AGV

      NAILED!

  • StClair

    John Carter, he’s not.

    • AGV

      So Kalla is a princess from Mars?

  • Mallow

    so could you describe the action that mike is taking right now as…
    rage against the machine?
    B)
    (yeaaaaah)

    • Sheridan

      Mike is basically ‘F you I won’t do what you tell me!’

  • skollipsism

    Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease keep the thripping and the running they’re wonderful

    Reminds me of Alamand jumping a fence in a really cartoony way from forever ago in The Meek. I don’t know how I remember that! That sequence just really stood out :)
    http://www.meekcomic.com/comic/3-22/

  • Tadrix

    Heh, in the first panel Mike totally looks like he is wearing a skirt. =D

    And naaah, please, please, let the long thriiiiiiiiiiip stay, it belongs there :)

    • AGV

      Eeeeeeeek! That alien lady stole my bag with my makeupvand my wallet, someone stop her!

      • AGV

        Geez, now I imagine Mike with makeup X’D

  • VainVillain

    I hope you keep the long thrip, it’s amazing

  • FF

    Maybe KK is angrily leading him somewhere, not running away from him… Also, I hope it’s not just the suit, but Mike looks well-endowed in the second panel ô_ô

    • shingworks

      =__=; it’s the suit. It has a catheter/ waste bag in there, so not the sexiest thing ever.

      • FF

        Hahaha not at all. Your attention to detail will never cease to amaze me.

      • George the Archon

        Actually, that’s a point. At some time, Mike is going to have to introduce nutrient-rich (foreign) biological matter into what is apparently a closed system. This could have interesting results, in a closed system.

        (Although, the system so far seems to be very effectively adapting _ Mike_ to _itself_, so far, rather than Mike affecting _it_. Also-also Kallikore seemed to think their foodstuffs would be biologically compatible, or at least not poisonous.)

        Contemplating the consequences of mundane events in novel environments in ‘hard science’ SF does take one to some strange destinations occasionally. Um, sorry? :)

      • George the Archon

        Regarding ‘Thriiiiiiiiiiiip’ – it makes perfect sense that the Thrip would have an alarm sound for “Warning, you are about to dislodge and lose your assigned biological cleaning unit, please desist.”
        What? Yes, I know the only word if knows is ‘thrip’ – the nuance is all in the pronunciation. ;)

        • George the Archon

          Oh hell, that last, was supposed to be a separate comment, not a further reply. I dun goofed.

  • The only thing running through my mind is: “Welp. That happened”

  • Roo

    I want the thriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip to stay! D: Elements of humor in a dark and moody comic are like water in the desert! (not that I don’t love this dark and moody comic all the same)

  • Vert

    Der-Shing I have to ask, what sort of sound IS “thrip”? I’ve been imagining it as the little frog chirps here: https://youtu.be/HYtuw0c3dJ4?t=85 (TW: alien abduction)

    In my head the thriiiiiiiiip is an extra high-pitched and slowly descending chirp which makes it extra amusing.

    I realize this isn’t a democracy but I hope you keep it in, even if you alter the rest of the panel somehow :)

    • shingworks

      Haha, yeah it’s basically a chirp. I just didn’t want to write “chirp” as the onomatopoeic sfx, since it evokes bird imagery.

      • Sheridan

        I’m hearing it as a sort of cross between a Lorikeet’s mumbling and frogs in the local creek on a warm, rainy night.

  • Mike making friends. Yesss.

  • Nomi

    I get that Mike is chasing Kalla, but other than that I can’t tell what’s going on here. Is he climbing a cliff in panel 2? Is Kalla now underwater? The angles are confusing. Also, how can Mike run with Thighfriend flapping around at that size?

    • shingworks

      Yep he is. I think it’s one of those things that is hard to read as a webcomic for sure, but probably not as hard to read as a final product. If you were reading in real time you’d probably still have this page in your head, which shows the geography we’re currently in. But irl we haven’t seen it for over 2 months, and you don’t have the next page to read immediately so this probably seems like a context-less jumble at the moment.

      As for flappy it’s a mix of 1) low gravity 2) he’s feeling better 3) I drew this page too cartoonishly

  • LameFox

    If it stays will it be canon that thrips feel fear

  • Carolyn

    “Get back here! I’m not done berating you!”

  • Brad

    She just ran to her room and slammed the water.

  • Arianwen

    Shing, this page was just an excuse to draw Mike in a red skirt and golden pigtails, wasn’t it?

    • shingworks

      T___T I was actually commissioned to draw a pic of this with the anime toast mouth this month… sigh

  • zpsabre

    The way he’s holding looks like he’s trying to hold down a skirt in the wind. XD
    Not that there’s anything wrong with that realistically, how else is he supposed to run with it? Just looks hella funny from our perspective.

  • missy20201

    Thrip friend is the cutest ever I love him

    I think the running pose is fine. Shows his urgency, and I made the connection of her jumping over him to him turning to chase her. Also that thriiiiiiiiiiip is good and pure it should stay <3

  • fox-orian

    Hey Mike, nice kilt man. It’s literally attached to your leg. Hardcore.

  • cosi

    umm… why is no one commenting on DAT ASS ?¿??? im confused about your priorities everyone…??

  • SotiCoto

    If he is going to die in this wet hellhole, the least he can do is die clean.

    Set thighfungus free. Bloody destroy the head-toasters… and do his best to die clean.

  • Sheridan

    1st panel: lol’d at the ‘Thriiiiiiiiiip’. 1 more vote to keep it.
    Also ‘I’m not done yelling at you because of my issues you couldn’t possibly know about!’
    2nd panel: damn, that codpiece.
    4th panel: The subtle touches like Thighfriend taking a dip again.

  • I’m glad you left the long thrip as it was. (:

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