Chapter 3, Page 36

That mission apparently didn’t end well for the Levster
(that’s ok; thrip is a good new bff)

I’ve also got a guest cover today over at Alpha Flag, a new chapter is starting soon~ The story has been getting super tense lately so now’s a good time to get caught up before Chapter 8/ Hotel begins!

Other stuff:
-Patrons can still read full sketch pages up until the next page here
-Patron thank yous up in the next update
-The Elements KS is still going, definitely worth a look

See you in a day or two~

35 Comments

  • Adriano

    For a moment I thought the particles in the water moved, but it was just an illusion ahah
    So well drawn~

  • spottedspeck

    Thrip BFF is best BFF
    Absolutely LOVE the emotion in panel 2 and is it just me or does Kalla look really cute in the third panel?

    • Luc

      She does! I love her expressions so much <3

    • Android 21 3/7

      WHAAAAT?!?!?! TRAITORS! BLASPHEMERS!!! THIGHFRIEND IS THE ONLY TRUE BFF AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!

      • AGV

        Captain Mike: Mare War

  • Spav

    It seems that Mike is adjusting nicely to amphibian life.

  • CosmicStresshead

    AquaMike™ looks super, super sad :(

    But panels four thru ten made me smile again, they’re just delightful :D

  • JJ

    Oh hey, everything controlled by processors – Mike is gonna love this.

  • Lilian

    Aw, Mike… I know you didn’t mean for LEVi to be so hurt.

    Great page. Nice emotion in the first two panels, adorable Kallakore in the third, great color in the fourth row.

  • Askance

    Interesting that the martian technology does so much to support Mike’s physical wellbeing, but offers so little in the way of mental health.

    • Liam Prendergast

      Hell, we don’t even know how to deal with that. You think alien technology will have any more of a clue?

  • Sayner

    Long time listener, first time caller…

    I bet Thrip built this place. :o

    • MikeLinPA

      Interesting theory! I like it.

  • RemusJames

    Are they talking in a giant pool of… LCL?

    *Neon Genesis Evangelion Theme-song starts playing in the distance*

    • RemusJames

      *LEVi floating behind a desk with a pair of white gloves resting ontop of a NERV mug.*

      Mike, I just want you to be happy. Heres all this awesome stuff in space for you to check out and explore!

      *Mike starts crying and runs away* Fuck you Dad, I hate you!

      I’m not your- what?!

      *meanwhile, a giant Kallakore is arm-sharking his way through a city, trying to not step on the screaming people below*

      I don’t understand the parameters of this setting! I THOUGHT HUMANS WERE BIGGER THAN THIS!?!

      • shingworks

        *every thrip begins to applaud* Congratulations!

        • Happy

          I LAUGHED OUT LOUD; I HATE THIS

  • Antonia

    Whoah whoah whoah, the colours on this page are gorgeous. And your faces are always so wonderfully expressive. Ahhh. <3

  • Corbie

    I wish I could already affort to back you on Patreon on a decent level, but umhh food and tax (the joy of working freelance), so maybe the question has been answered already, but this page makes me wonder if Martian engineers became what they were like human engineers, or if they started on a biological basis first and then went into molding and mixing lifeless materials; and whether their word for engineer is etymologically related to biologist and gardener. :)

  • Victor

    It does beg the question, what was Thrip designed to be and/or do? Is it a recorder? Is it a messenger? Or is it a Tamagotchi?

    • Max

      Nope. He’s obviously the user interface… :)

    • AGV

      “A Tamagotchi”, I’m dying X’D
      If that was the case, sure Kalla have a huge collection (that or they started breeding uncontrollably)

  • Annie K

    I love thrip giving Mike the ol’ comforting hand on the back in the first panel. “It’ll be OK buddy”

  • Android 21 3/7

    Question: how are they able to talk underwater? I’m not talking about breathing, but sound. Would Mike be able to understand what Kallakore is saying? Trying to picture it in my head and the sound I hear is distorted. Would that just be the effect of bubbles? Also, what effect would fluid resistance offer to sound versus air resistance? I’m not a physicist, so why am I even asking these things?

    • Ellie

      It’s not just water. Maybe this neural sea conducts sound. Or brain waves, or something.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, I looked it up before writing it in, I guess sound travels better underwater than it does in air. You can bang rocks underwater, play music, talk to whale friends, etc, and hear it fairly clearly. If you had some other thighmeans of respiration and your lungs were emptied of air, you probably wouldn’t get a bubble sound either.

      • David

        Your vocal cords wouldn’t work too well, because of how dense the water is. When you inhale helium, your voice gets higher, because the helium is less dense. Since water is so much more dense, I think your voice would be very soft and VERY low-pitched.

        • Max

          Well, that would be relevant if he were actually breathing the water in and then exhaling the water to speak, but here I think he’s exhaling the air he breathed in previously.

  • Treeish

    The colors…aaahhhhh :D

    Sad sad Mike, and now wondering how KK has managed to stay sane all this time (or her various iterations – maybe they go bonkers after a while and the chamber gens up another one?). Aren’t these two just peas in a crooked pod?

    So glad the updates are back…guess I was more connected to this story than I thought. So awesome.

  • Annie K

    I needed to post this because it was so funny. I had my husband read this comic as well. Last night he had a going away party at work because he got a new job and he had *quite* a bit to drink. I was driving him home and completely out of nowhere he goes to me, “THAT’s what the comic is about, you know? Mare Imperium.” Me: “Mare Internum?” Him: “yessss, mareeee internuummm…its about…humorless women and toll booths…not martians…that’s what those crabs are trying to say, they are trying to go through the toll booth….that’s what it is all about…life…” I then told him I would let you know this, and he said good, because you needed to know what your comic was *really* about.

    • AGV

      Oh man, that was hilarious XD

    • Ceceoh

      So life is just a phantom toll booth?

  • Reo

    ALPHA FLAG IS UPDATING AGAIN????
    *passes out from sheer delight*

  • Confused

    Did this move somewhere else? There’s only been like 4 pages in the last two months.

    • shingworks

      Nope, just been having 3x the amount of work than usual, plus health stuff. Focusing updates on TM lately to lead up to a Kickstarter that’s happening next week. New MI page on the way though.

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