Chapter 3, Page 3

First contact is such a perilous time.

Thanks to all my Patrons for your support in January! You continue to keep me alive and updating with comics and bonus material. Speaking of which; a bit of Patreon bonus about newFriend here, and an “original” MI wallpaper here.

Today’s bonus art: some uncorrected colors from the previous page, since I had the window open and I kinda liked it. You can see the parts that needed correcting pretty well there, haha.

 

 

68 Comments

  • Hansontoons

    Fascinating.

  • allegrofox

    What expressive body language NewFriend has!

    Also: thrip

  • Dreampiper

    So Im still a little confused, but from what I can gather… The Levi thing fell down, Martians found it and learned some stuff from it possibly and thighfriend is scared/possibly hurt??? O_____O
    *thighfriend’s safety is of utmost importance to me*

  • Localized

    So it’s an intelligent Martian life form that learned English through the LEVi? That thing must be smart as hell to learn that fast.

    Also “thrip” crab is cute.

    • shingworks

      Haha, you’ll like what that “however” is attached to.

      • Hansontoons

        Related to a “By the way…”?

      • msouth

        “It’s time for dinner”

      • Localized

        I look forward to it! :)

      • Psudopod

        “However… All I know how to say is what I have already said, and this sentence explaining why I will be unable to continue conversing with you, and I have not understood a word you have spoken so far. In fact, I don’t even have ears.”

        “What?! That makes no sense! What about-”

        “Moo.”

      • Metrophor

        “I really AM an hallucination and you’re actually talking to your feet.”

  • CanisMinor

    I’m envisioning newFriend motivational posters on the walls of clinics everywhere

  • Lar

    I LIKE IT

  • Varflock

    I almost missed that little thripping shrimp-thing on NewFriend’s shoulder.

  • Mal-L

    Aw, newFriend has T-rex arms… legs… limbs…

    I wonder how many of the chapter epigraphs are in LEvi.

    • Elyssia

      Those aren’t his arms, those are his legs. His arms are the massive trunks supporting him. If you look closely at panel 5 on the last page, you can see his teeny-tiny legs are behind his gorilla arms.

      • I suppose it all depends on if you qualify them by their use or their relative position.

  • Ceceoh

    Martians are kind to small animals. That’s got to be a good sign, right? Also, the more I see of him, the more awesome Martian looks.

    • Adam

      Gravity is what, a third of Earth? They have an easier time becoming big.

    • Vert

      Nah, they just keep thrippers on their fur for easy snacking later :D

  • I really like what I’m seeing from Mars Legman (leg-min). Design aside, the fact that it seems to be sporting a hair(?) decoration is encouraging. A shared sense for physical aesthetics is a great way to bridge a potential species gap, in my opinion. Also, it looks to be gently probing him for emotional feedback and showing concern for his well-being. Indicator of a highly social species?

    • Wood

      Everybody knows stressed meat tastes bad.

  • ruth

    so is the martian speaking english or is thighfriend doing more weird and wonderful thighfriend things

    (poor mike. like nothing actively horrible is happening to him and im still like :C)

    • SomeUnregPunk

      I think thighfriend was eaten by newfriend and that’s why depressed dude is bleeding.

  • Ar

    Oh, it has a nose like a goblin shark. ♥

    • shingworks

      Hey now, don’t call Mike an “it”

      • Ar

        Wait, that was Mike? *Tries to look around their noses*

      • Ash

        I love Mike’s nose tho. It’s beauty.

  • Lilian

    Hahaha Mike is not impressed by your motivational quote. Not impressed.

    I feel like your love for little reptiles and amphibians shines through in the facial structure and simultaneously intense/blank gaze of our new friend. I’m curious as to how the creature is speaking to Michael – it isn’t opening it’s mouth at all. And I’m curious about the status of Thighfriend.

    Thrip.

    • Vert

      Watch a parrot talk. Their mouths don’t move much at all.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, my preference is not to have the mouths open all the time in every panel, I think it’s pretty obvious when people are talking in general and also Mike is sort of a mumbler? Makes less sense to have him be like :[___] in every panel, unlike in animation where things need to be very literally acted out. But yeah, for newFriend I can see how that’d be confusing since it’s not a person and we don’t know how they work yet… there will be time to look inside its mouth in the future tho haha.

      • Lilian

        >_> Am I supposed to worry about the guarantee that we will see this alien’s mouth open?

        As for Vert’s comment, while from what I’ve gather the mouth of a talking bird does move noticeably, it is true that birds don’t talk with the same body parts humans do. And the nature of the beak means they won’t have the versatile movement you see in human lips.

        Our alien friend here seems to have a similar rigid facial structure, so perhaps he speaks with something more comparable to a parrot’s syrinx than a human larynx.

        :[___]

    • Redgirl

      Maybe it’s the little shoulder crab-shrimpy buddy that is actually speaking??? Or translating like a Babel Fish?

  • Rev

    Man, are we going to have a Wikus from District 9 situation here? Is Mike slowly turning into an alien?

    • Patrick

      Ohoho, that would be pretty awesome :3

  • DukeBG

    I just realized these two are also nose-friends!

    • Jac

      So much in common already

  • David

    I hope Mr. Motivational Poster is going to explain why Mike has that fungus crap growing on his face, or at remove it. It seems to be getting bigger…

  • Cthulhufish

    Thrip plushes when?

    I also look forward to a detailed explanation of Martian-Friend’s anatomy. It’s very… alien.

    • Jac

      Thrip-plushies when, indeed. I would throw my money away for a cute Martian crab to snuggle.

    • shingworks

      No love for thighplush, rude~

      • DFox

        I for one would LOVE a thighplush!

  • draug

    Dinobutt is going to eat cricket friend, I can feel it.

  • Miri

    Welp. I found this comic last night, and read the entirety of it this morning, expecting to be slightly less confused and have slightly more context when I once again reached this page.

    I can safely say that, no, I am absolutely just as, if not more, completely and utterly befuddled and lost about what is happening, both on this page and in this comic in general.

    Which I feel is the goal? Maybe? Also thighfriend has grown on me (heh) now that I’m slightly more prepared for the body horror (which is normally one of my least fave things in the world, along with spiders…I must be a masochist, because I’m really looking forward to continuing this comic live).

    Also the comments section of MI is amazing.

    • shingworks

      Haha XD Yeah, I’d like you to feel confused and impelled forwards, but it’ll all make sense by the end. TBH we haven’t reached the thesis/ point of the comic yet but it’ll be obvious once we get there. In any case, glad you’re enjoying it! And yeah, the comments are the best, I get a huge kick out of reading the confusion and puns every update.

  • camila

    My favourite page so far haha

  • bug

    i feel like the commenters shouldn’t be so quick to assume our smart shark friend is male

    • Lilian

      Eh, “he” is a default pronoun in Western culture. We tend to use “he” or “it” until it is made clear to be otherwise.

      BUT it is true that there are so many interesting methods of reproduction possible in biology.

    • Tommy

      Yeah, I’ve definitely had a female vibe coming off newFriend from the beginning.

      • Scorp

        I think it helps that the chapter is named ‘Lady of the Rocks’. >____>

        I am imagining a very cool and calculated woman’s voice as we hear on machines saying ‘Can I help you Micheal?’

        • Lilian

          Bex is supposed to be the Lady. :'(

  • FungusFriend

    I remember having an idea like this a while ago, an underground parasitic fungal paradise where the fungus that grew on a person served as weapons and such with razor disk capped fungus and there’s this one species IRL that builds up pressure behind its spore ball and launches it like a bullet. Pumped to see what else mars has.

  • steffyanie

    Oh gosh, I love this new friend!!

  • Brian

    Now we know what Levi’s been up to — making friends with the locals!

  • Anthony

    New friend is so cute!

  • poo

    levi is a consciousness connecting machine that mike controlled and lost by accident… alien parasite connected to levi consciousness and learned mike brain info while taking over levi body… ish?

  • addy

    i know the glint in newfriend’s eye in the 3rd panel is probably just a reflection, but i’m not sure if it should worry me or not. idk. i don’t know how i feel about newfriend yet. :| its design is super rad though

  • Miss Jaysika

    “When you saw one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you.”

    You have to quote things correctly, NewFriend, if you want Michael to like you. If he doesn’t find incongruity humorous, one can only imagine his thoughts vis-à-vis inaccuracy.

  • kate

    i love nosefriend

  • JakeyBakey

    That’s a damn cool alien right there

  • izzy

    “…I had to dismantle and absorb the data in his memory circuits to gather all of this information. I am an amalgamation of organisms and memories. I am the closest being to a ‘friend’ that you have ever had and will ever have. Because we will only become ‘closer’ in time…”

  • Bradford

    Hair AND a Bony Crest! You’ve gone off the deep end now Der. I really don’t think there is any saving you.

    • shingworks

      Go big or go home, buddy!

  • Ash

    Alien friend is very cute. :’O

  • Smeds

    I’m loving all the different design vibes I’m getting off of newFriend. The head alone reminds me of a dogfish skull crossed with an eagle (especially with the very avian body language with the neck), the ornamental crest of a dynastid beetle/leafhopper/brontothere, and maybe even a plethodontid salamander, going by the contour of the mouth.

    • shingworks

      Haha, you’re definitely right on the last bit :3 Its head/ jaw is heavily inspired by my bud Aneides

      • Smeds

        I knew it!

  • SotiCoto

    I can’t say as I really follow what is going on here, but then I suspect I’m not supposed to… or that things are getting exceedingly metaphorical / hallucinatory.

  • Patmoose

    I love this creature already.

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