Chapter 1, Page 37

Even on a less dramatic level, shifting rocks are pretty thrilling!

Oh yeah, and there was an extra update on Sunday, without which this page will be kind of nonsensical, so hit your back arrow in case you missed it.

Today’s bonus art: A sketch from last Sept, when I was still deciding how this scene would go

Last page of the chapter goes up on Thurs~ See you then.

34 Comments

  • Jojo

    Excited. This is excellent.

  • Can’t or won’t…

    Someone on the previous page was guessing breathable atmosphere down below, but going by the link banners I’d say liquid water?

    • Lennier

      A new cavern. Aw yeah, picked it. :)

  • oh wow, a 3rd page !

    • “Y’know, I’d rather stay there than get back to the base and having to face Goto”

  • MiniMoose

    Aaaa what is Bex going to do?! The slow pace that comes with webcomics makes this tense scene both painful but amazing to read. I want the next page right now but having to wait makes me appreciate current pages all the more. Mostly I’ve been admiring your beautiful coloring skills. Everything about Mare has been top quality and I’ve been completely sucked in.

    You’ve set up a diabolical (but excellent!) future comic update schedule by planning to swap between Mare and The Meek. It’s going to be an emotional bittersweetness to have to wait with one to catch up with the other. I look forward to it all.

    • shingworks

      ACTUALLY I will explain this in the next update but I’m going to be updating both at once, making you wait for the next chapter is a bit cruel at this point I think. So there will be another update on Tuesday and henceforth :]

      • That’s what Ashley Cope of Unsounded does when there’s an action sequence or anything she doesn’t want to split up, she posts a bunch of pages in one go. She then goes on hiatus for the next few days to compensate.

        You should check out her comic, she reminds me of you, great art and characterization, and likes to make her characters suffer :)

        http://casualvillain.com/Unsounded

        • shingworks

          Yeah, I know of Unsounded. My situation is a bit different than hers though, as I have more than one comic to juggle, a freelance book I’m working on, and I prefer to post pages as I finish them. Mostly splitting the work because I have too much IRL work to finish up next month and this is just the easier way for me to balance everything without getting sad or going nuts.

          • Oh I didn’t mean to imply you should do it like Ashley, you just reminded me of her practice of dropping several pages together when dramatically appropriate but honestly that kind of thing is overkill*, the story needs to be considered as a finished thing, and not be dictated by the tyranny of an incidental release schedule.

            * I mean, it’s much appreciated but it spoils us, the current readers

          • shingworks

            Oh yeah I know XD I mean, I just can’t sit on pages. I’ve tried doing a queue/ backlog thing before, it drives me crazy. No matter what you do, the comic is going to read funny if you’re reading it live online, just a “feature” of the medium, haha…

        • SotiCoto

          I know some sites have mechanisms in place for publishing new pages at specific points in time, irrespective of when the pages themselves were submitted.

          But that might only be on dedicated webcomic-hosting sites… which can be a tad limiting. I mean in theory there is no reason someone privately hosted couldn’t do the same… though they’d need a bit of help if they didn’t personally have the sgiliau gwich for the task.

      • MiniMoose

        Yeeeesssssss

  • Lew

    I’m really excited, now. Like bodily excited. My heart just leapt. D:

  • Kit

    There’s no way Bex’s suplex of saving is going to be of help here. Save him anyway though! THEN kick his ass later!

  • charles81

    MOST
    AWESOME
    SURFBOARD
    EVAR!

  • Ahhhhhhh!

    I’ve just realized that things would fall slower on Mars than on Earth, which would only make this whole episode all the more tense and dramatic. Like, you have those few extra seconds to think that maybe there’s a way out of this, even if there isn’t.

  • shade

    Ahh, the change in angle between characters between panel two and four. The ground tilting inwards, downwards. Level to steep. Impressively done, intuitively grasping for the next page.

  • Glenn-o-matic

    Re: shifting rocks are pretty thrilling ( ! ! ! )
    They should just take the camera away from that guy. Maybe give it to somebody who hasn’t had an extra Cafe Americano.
    Still, wild and untamed footage.
    Now they know why we call it “Land-Surfing” here in California.

  • fox-orian

    I just want to see an animation of Mike slowly sliding into the distance, fading into the darkness. Kind of anti-climactic. The end.

    ALSO HOLY SHIT NEW MEEK WEBSITE.
    Dat green.

    • Ben

      Reprise of the astronaut surfing into the atmosphere in Dark Star

      What IS the term for a Mars explorer, anyway?

      • fox-orian

        Marstronaut.

      • shingworks

        Marstronaut.

        • ProphetZarquon

          No way, “astro” & “naut”, “argo” & “naut”, “cosmo” & “naut”, the “o” comes from the prefix. The suffix is to sail, or navigate. A Mars explorer could be a “Marenaut”, but there’s absolutely no linguistic precedent for sticking “stro” in there.

          • shingworks

            whoosh

    • shingworks

      Go big or go on hiatus for another 3 years, haha

  • This is great! Can’t wait for more!

  • I am SO GLAD to see your comics again and to have the honor of reading them. Thank you SO MUCH FOR CREATING THESE!

    I’ve been away at college for the past 3 years, and it’s been rough, and it’s taken it’s toll on me. I decided back in high school pursue a career in making stories in the format of webcomics years ago when you were hosting the Meek and Tessa Stone was doing HiNaBN. I’ve gotten all weepy-emotional that I’m seeing these great creators are coming back with new series, and in your case, breathing life back into the old one.

    For a while, I was actually considering stopping my passion for comics all together, but being able to read Mare Internum and Not Drunk Enough and all of the other amazing HiveWorks creations has made me a sentimental, nostalgic weepy closer-to-old lady. It’s like having my aspirations rekindled all over again. ;u;

  • Just learned of this masterpiece via io9.

    I’ve just spent the past hour devouring the tale. (The restroom calls in a shrill, unpleasant voice.)

    I’m not a comics guy but this is utterly amazing. The art, the characters, the concepts, the plot. I LOVE the facial expressions. I’m moved my the characters’ feelings and words. I’m awed by your forthrightness and courage in exploring difficult human problems.

    This is superb entertainment. Thank you so much. Count me in!

  • Lew

    btw, did anyone compliment your genius design on the red and blue circle icon? (Red for Mars’ oxidised surface, blue for the mare, I guess) It’s superb!

    • shingworks

      Haha, thank you! That’s exactly what it is.

  • JT

    I love the way you have the sound-effects literally between the rocks on this page, and the effects you did with them on the last page. Awesome work!

  • OE

    So, I’d like to see the other “bonus art”s, but old links always bump me to the more recent. Any way we can get those reposted somewhere?

    • shingworks

      Yep, they are all posted to the Facebook page. I bulk upload the previous month’s incentive on the first of the following month.

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