Chapter 5, Page 29

h-
hewwo

How are you~

Finishing this book offline was the worst idea I’ve had in a while, haha. So I’m updating here to see if that gives me the final mental boost I need to get over the finish line… also honestly I miss you guys.

The other big project I have been mentioning and working on since last year, Electrum, has taken up a lot of my time this year. A lot more than expected, but that’s because I’m an idiot who thought that working on two 300-ish paged books at the same time and doing two Kickstarters by myself, in one year, would be a fun challenge. On the plus side, I’m alive and everything actually seems to be wrapping up okay. This project is a polar opposite project than Mare but very important to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have made time for it. It also represents the work of a team of 30 artists who are not me, which is why I had to make it a priority… and as usual I have a sci-fi comic (time travel this time) in it… anyways, feel free to take a look below if you’re curious to see what we’ve been up to.

I’ll be updating semi-regularly until the PDF is done and then once that’s out I’m going for broke. Get you that email and RSS feed for automatic update notifications, or just wait to see them floating around the internet~

Either way I’m back and frankly should never have left, let’s finish this thing

64 Comments

  • B

    It’s been forever I’m glad you’re alive lmao

    • shingworks

      I only almost died like, 3x this year lol. STILL GOT IT

      • Edmund

        Please don’t go for any world records on that front, okay? Hahah; glad to hear from ya.

  • Khrystal Turpin

    First time comment and honestly seeing this has made my whole month better. You are so missed.

    • shingworks

      Thanks Khrystal! Really glad to be here

  • A

    You’re an inspiration. Glad you’re back!

    • shingworks

      I am a very slow and tired person but thank you I am very, very glad to post again.

      • Joel

        I also am a very slow and tired person. The fact that you release so much excellent work despite all that is an inspiration to us all.

  • Jon C

    Yay! Glad to see you again! :)

  • YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

  • Yelena

    Welcome back, glad you’re alright, looking forward to more Mare!!!

  • Jae

    Eeeee I’ve never commented before but I’m so happy to see more MI! Also, Electrum looks awesome <3

  • Ash

    Hell YES! So glad you gathered the energy to craft and post a page. Glad you’re back, but take your time :D Be kind to yourself, you deserve it and art takes so much time and energy.

    • shingworks

      This scene has been done for a while haha just one last set of pages to finalize v__v god I hate not updating I feel like the pages go stale after a while

      • DukeBG

        I mean, they do.

        As in, you look at them “what was I thinking, this should better be like that” and fixing everything.

        I mean, there were a lot of stale pages, that you’ve freshen up for the book, right?

  • awhorl

    Somehow today the characters’ relationships don’t seem so hopelessly awry. Or maybe it’s just that I am so glad you’re back . . .

  • Let’s DO THIS!!!
    *high five*

  • Dustystars

    glad to see one of my favorite comics and comic creators back :D

  • ProphetZarquon

    It lives! It lliiiivvessss!
    So glad this comic is back.
    I have no idea how many times I checked.

  • George the Archon

    (Waves) Hello! Always nice to see an update – and straight back into the drama, too! :)

  • Lew

    My RSS reader had a nice surprise for me today! Been missing this comic so much

  • Esn

    Good page! I’m glad to see the resumption of updates.

    At first I was a tiny bit miffed at Beth for blowing off Mike so brusquely in the first panel. Then I remembered that this would be a really stressful situation, and she quite justifiably would feel that she has more important things to think about.

    I also remembered that I had just today (coincidentally) finished drawing my own little comic laughing at/with “inefficient conversationalists” such as Mike and their opposites:
    http://www.thebrooksreflections.com/?p=338
    So Beth’s perspective here isn’t all that alien…

    (by the way, some of the colours on this page, especially in the last two panels, look really dark on both my phone and my computer monitor… will it look okay in print?)

    • JJ

      ;-)

      (I’m being pedantic about this because I don’t remember anyone getting Mike’s name wrong.)

      • Esn

        Aah! Sorry. Yes… it has obviously been a bit too long since I’ve been regularly reading this comic. :(

    • shingworks

      Yeah! The colors are a bit dark. The print version has a few differences in contrast and treatment that make it more readable than the web version (I had to roll back those changes so this page matches the web formatting), I’ll update with an adjusted page when I get a moment~

  • JJ

    aaaaah yay! I am excite

  • So very pleased to see you again! And again, no apologies needed for the absence – I don’t think any of us can imagine the amount of energy it takes to create the amazing, important and beautiful work you do. Take your time, let yourself focus on what’s important, and trust yourself. We’ll be here.

  • Spottedspeck

    Guys. Guys, c’mon, don’t fight in front of the kid.

    So happy you’re back!

    • DukeBG

      And Mike was launched off into a fight mode for such a weird reason… It’s not like Bex thinks he’s useless, she just genuinely translated Best Boy’s words.

  • DanialArin

    WELCOME BACK!
    We’ve missed you!

  • xSDGx

    I was literally like “Where is Mare?” like 2 days ago, my month is complete now!! :)

  • Pylgrim

    You are a sight for sore eyes/souls.

  • DukeBG

    Yay! Welcome back to the updateland!

  • Minutiae

    Hurray! I’m so excited.

  • LimaHotel

    HAHAHAHAHA you timing is beautiful! I didn’t see this yesterday, but 16/10/1995? HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!

  • a dude

    /highfive

    gettim killer!

  • workaway

    Der-shing you wonderful person! I love getting your updates, they absolutely make my day! I can’t believe how many simultaneous projects you accomplish, you are amazing! It’s no wonder you’re tired, hopefully you’re “tired but good”

  • Richard Walker

    Welcome back, Der-shing!

    I’m please to see that you’re still carrying on with your passion in storytelling, and I plan to stay around to see the end of Mare Internum.

    Can’t believe it has been 3 years since the first page, and look how far you’ve come.

  • JepMZ

    Yay!! It continues! I miss you (and blindsprings) so much!

  • Jon

    Great to see you “back” and it was a pleasure meeting you at SPX last month

  • Minetruly

    Yaaaay! Welcome back! You can make it! The finish line is right there! Push push push!

  • DaveBro

    See guys? I *tolja* Der was only “mostly dead!!”

  • Gojira

    Heddo! Glad to see this story updating again. Welcome back.

  • Windwalker

    >ch-CHACK<

    Let's finish this…

  • Sauro Pasquini

    I really wanted to buy a digital copy of Electrum, but I don’t have a credit card and Kickstarter does not accept PayPal. It’s a real sin.

    • shingworks

      Yeah it is super frustrating! We’ll be making the PDF available to purchase sometime in November if you can hang on another month~

      • Sauro Pasquini

        Don’t worry, I’m here to check each week. If you will announce it, I will be ready to buy it.

  • Scarlett

    Yes!! I actually screamed when I saw there was an update! So glad you’re back!!

  • Dew

    Ah, its so good to see MI return
    Hope youre feeling better.

  • Jac

    AAAAA I missed you SO MUCH <3333 You are doing excellent work and you're almost there! Can't wait to see the new book :D

  • CosmicStresshead

    Love the new page – is ThighFriend getting increasingly defensive the more irate Mike gets? And is this a reaction to Mike’s movement or is he maybe responding to adrenaline, etc in Mike’s bloodstream? Either way he a cute, cute critter.

    ~All the hugs for Shing~

    We missed you! Take good care of yourself :)

  • Lily

    on which days do you think you update? i’ve been checking out your work and it seems like it’s mondays or tuesdays, can you confirm?

    • shingworks

      No idea. I’m kind of playing it by ear based on my schedule at the moment but it will be at least once a week for now until I’m done with the other book campaign I’m running.

  • R-Sturm

    I don’t understand, so the end of the story will only be available in the book?

    • shingworks

      No, the entire thing will go up here, but the PDF will be released to backers well before the entire comic is finished posting. There’s also some additional content in the book and all the edits that will never appear on the site, but the basic story will be the same.

  • Magdalene

    Welcome back! :) hang in there haha

  • Kuggur

    I still think both protagonists act weirdly egocentrical, spending more energy fighting emotionally about their relation ( that was not very personal at the beginning, they don’t behave very professional), than dealing with the extraordinary stuation they are in.
    I would say being in this alien environment, having discovered an extraterrestrial intelligent species, and some kind of organic sentient supercomputer would be more than enough to forget about any petty disagreements. Apparently not.
    Anyway, I do enjoy your work tremendously, and am happy it started up again. Curious how it is going to play out. Really hoping the end part will shed light on the how and why of all those mysteries you conjured up!

    • shingworks

      Yeah, it is! It’s definitely a people-centric story vs a situation-centric story. It would have been a lot easier I think to just make this a pure adventure comic, but instead it wound up being about people/ crab things/ sharkfriends and feelings, oh boy. I like reading the “there’s a problem ok we fixed the problem” action stories myself but I’m not very interested in writing them.

  • Observantwolf

    Woo! Welcome back! Time to get down to brass tacks!

  • Sumgai

    Oh good, you’re alive. I had grown concerned.

    I know a lot of artists don’t hit the zenith of their fame until post-mortem, but no need to rush, right?

    Glad you’re still here!

  • Margaret Hogg

    Yay, Mare is back!

  • Rare

    The more I read, the stranger this story feels.

    The internal sea seems a phrase that encompasses more of the emotions and thought processes going on between the character than the actual internal sea location in which they are currently trapped.

    Values, Morality, societal norms and expectations – it’s a fascinating take on it.

    • shingworks

      Thanks, at the very least, I am glad you find the story compelling!

    • Rare, your comment made me think of the novel Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem. If I remember correctly, they never really figure out or understand the planet and its phenomena, but to the reader it becomes clear that the planet is some kind of alien intelligence that is interacting with the humans and their psyche. This is somewhat similar to the Mare Internum and the processor’s interactions with Mike and Bex.

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