Chapter 3, Page 58

Improprietous

Downer page, downer country, sorry about it all.

On a lighter note: the Crabtober and Thrip sticker winners of Patreon were announced here! Congrats to all you guys.

And the winners of the Thrip stickers for the site comments are:
Corndog – Dar – Arbatel – TorgueRND – Emperial – Luna – David(s1101) – Minutiae – J.A Kooistra – Khadyah – Mustachio – Fawkes Rinzler

I added 2 more sticker winners to the original 10 because this day needs an extra little boost imo… I’ve emailed all of the winners at the email address you provided in your comment! So if you’re listed, please look in your inbox.

I said it to them in the email I sent out, but thank you for reading, for commenting, and for being in my life in general. I’m really glad so many of you enjoy the comic, but I just want to let you know the comic would be nothing without you reading too, and you really bring a lot of joy to my day. We’ll get through the bad stuff together!

233 Comments

  • yocally

    oh
    dear
    god
    no

    • deeJake

      Um, this!

  • Daniel

    Wow not cool. But we will get another kalla??

    • Underdawg

      This Kallakore had Levi to teach them about humans including English.

      • wasn’t it the previous kallakore, the body above LeVi ?

  • Ren-der

    ( º _ º, )
    Der-Shing… why must you hurt us so?

    • shingworks

      v__v

  • Aurelia

    This made me sadder than the election, and that’s saying something. Michael was making such progress emotionally, and Kallakore had a glimmer of hope.

  • Sillydraco

    YOU CAN’T KILL THE MAIN CHARACTER >:U

    • AGV

      She’s not the main character, tough
      Only the protagonist’s best friend…

      • Ren-der

        Uhm.. sorry AGV, the position of “best friend” is already filled by a small golden crab.

        But I guess now we know who led Bex to Kalla… Conspiracy!

        • shingworks

          Twist: Thrip was the main character all along!!!

          • Nik

            That was a cruel, cruel double-joke.

          • Urist

            …in retrospect, this was a very teasing thing to say ಠ ∧ ಠ

      • J.A Kooistra

        Didn’t you say on a previous comment Gollum would be the next one to be introduced? :P

  • Pixie

    With how I feel after the election, I guess another punch to the gut isn’t such a shock. Fitting, even.

    • Luces

      Definitely. I couldn’t sleep anymore, for shock, seeing the numbers creeping in the wrong direction. Let’s hope the world will survive the next four years in one piece!

      • NDDN

        I hope I won’t get ostracized for that, especially with Americans being that sensitive this time of the year, but the world is not just your country. And only now I start to feel moderate hope, and also actual respect for your people. Because, despite all, Americans apparently voted for a joker instead of a certain war candidate. It takes quite an effort.

        Believe me, I’d rather go through any shit if the alternative is to die together with you guys in a nuclear fire. Now you’re getting a buffoon, but that buffoon isn’t going to shoot down our planes in Syria, so we won’t have to sink your ships, and nukes don’t have to fly. Everything else, we can deal with.

        • shingworks

          Unfortunately it seems very much that most people voted for Trump for reasons rooted in racism and misogyny and party lines, and not concern about warmongering. Only a handful of protest voters, comparatively. Also consider Trumps complete lack of political background to make any international decisions :/

          Hopefully the world arena remains unaffected by us but I’m more concerned about the most vulnerable Americans, who are now more threatened than ever.

          • Dudeman

            How is it obvious that people voted for him due to racism and misogyny?

          • shingworks

            I recommend Google for that!

          • Dudeman

            And on that note, since I can’t respond to your other comment, how is it that your disadvantaged neighbors will suffer?

          • shingworks

            Again, Google! I have a response of course, but I get the feeling that you’re actually asking me to convince you of my viewpoint, which is not a game I care to play. If you would like to be informed, you can definitely find that information from more reliable sources than myself.

          • Dudeman

            I wish you had something a little more helpful than “Google it”. So far that hasn’t given a lot of clear data on it. :(

          • shingworks

            Just as a small list: I am afraid about the future legality of gay marriage, the ability of Americans who exist outside of corporate structures (like me) to get health insurance, the safety of Muslim Americans, the future of health programs like Planned Parenthood which are most at threat from the future administration (and choice options for women in general), the future of immigrants in this country, the future of our response to climate change. All of this in addition to the underlying race-driven anger that Trump leveraged from the beginning in many public ways that I’m sure you’re aware of. This anger isn’t going anywhere and is an immediate threat to people who are not me, but I worry for them very much. You can easily look into the positions Trump and Pence hold on these positions via Google, and make your own assumptions on where this will go with a Republican-controlled House and Senate.

          • shingworks

            And a final note, I’m not super excited to get into a debate about any of this right now, so whatever you choose to do with this info, godspeed, but I’m steering this convo back to the comic.

          • Dudeman

            Thank you for your articulate response. I’m trying to make sense of the election too, and your post is informative. I didn’t mean to sound antagonistic. I wanted to get a sense of what people are feeling.

            I worry about those things too, but I have faith that america, across the political spectrum, have more power to prevent those things than we think!

          • shingworks

            Thanks, and sorry to be snippy, that dude up there got my hackles up. I don’t have a lot of faith in America right now, just looking at the voter demographics, but I am optimistic that this is an impetus for the progressive-minded to keep moving forward.

          • David

            Micheal Moore in July explains how Donald Trump will win, because he is anti free trade which is popular in auto rust belt.

            Racism can go both ways. Eg many voted for Obama entirely because of his skin color, we have Black Entertainment Television, Ebony mag, and lots of similar examples which would be called “racism” if was whites.

            We only a few years ago had occupy wall street movement which claimed the 1% using campaign funding were controlling US elections… and Hillary had 5x+ the funding edge and choose last days to hang out with stars who are part of 1%… perhaps not such a good sell to working class afraid to be unemployed voters.

            Before that we had protests all across US about wars in afghanistan, Iraq, Hillary seems more pro war.

            The former PM of Canada (Harper) found lots of criticism directly tied almost entirely to his supposed religion by left side as reason not to vote for him, could not find same of former PM of australia (Gillard) who was personally against gay marriage and an atheiest…. didn’t find people using “atheist” as reason to discredit in same way when I did google searches on both for a few hours.

            If “sexism” that could by same logic be applied to Sarah Palin.

            Clinton’s are worth 100 million+, daughter is worth 15 million, easy to google why and see how some could see that as bribed.

            I see both candidates as flawed and no matter what US probably will end up eventually bankrupt.

          • shingworks

            Yeah, I’m familiar with this stuff. Btw you might want to look at the definition of racism (and sexism) that has to do with power structures. Racial preferences are discriminatory yes, but racism is often a systemic issue. Anyways, trying to drive the convo on this page at least away from politics just cuz I’m getting sick of the saturation.

          • J

            Looking at the news the next morning was the worst birthday present I’ve ever received or probably will ever receive.

          • History Proved You Right

            I only learned about this comic recently (FANTASTIC btw), so it’s very strange to scroll down to the comments and see them all be like four years old. Like reading a time capsule to a very bleak moment.
            In any case, it looks like your prediction here about the warmongering was dead-on accurate. Big ‘yikes’ on that one. Four years later and we’re still illegally bombing seven countries and there are zero signs of stopping despite us now controlling the entire executive and legislative branches. I guess the most we can hope for on that front is that the victims of the ongoing genocide in Yemen are appreciative that their slaughter is being funded by a war criminal who is less caustic on twitter than the previous war criminal.

            Anyway, I hope you’re doing better than it seems like you were four years ago. Loving your work and stay safe.

        • shingworks

          And sorry to sound callous towards international affairs (they are of course very important). It’s just a sad day for many Americans who were hoping for better candidates and a better future.

          • charlesw81

            My figuring is that this will be better for you guys in the future. Apathy was already deeply rooted in U.S. politics at the political system being one big controlling class of people rotating in and out in an almost dynasty like fashion. I believe Trump will be a bad president for you but I think his bad presidency will be the shock to the system that a politically apathetic U.S. has been needing. The next 5 years will be rough, but I think the 20 years after will be glorious.

          • shingworks

            I can only agree with this in a clinical way. The reality is that my queer and black and Muslim and disabled and all other disadvantaged neighbors are going to suffer worse than before. Prosperity built on suffering is what cursed this country to begin with, it’s unconscionable.

          • shingworks

            Not to mention that people like me are likely losing our health insurance… if I eventually have to stop making comics, it will be because of today’s decision :/

          • NDDN

            Shing, I feel for you, but unfortunately you still don’t get it. You don’t feel it. It’s not a question whether vulnerable Americans will be threatened or not. It’s about them being alive or die along with all other sorts of Americans in a nuclear conflict with us. While Trump is an inexperienced jackass, he has one vital quality – he doesn’t have an agenda that leads to us clashing in Megiddo, Syria. It’s not his goal. It’s Clinton’s.

            Americans have been stripped down to their feelings, so I avoided that topic in any conversation because you guys resembled emotionally flayed people with the slightest touch possibly resulting in a painful reaction. You still must be that way, so I’ll try to be as gentle as I can.
            We lost 27 million people in last war. Today’s Australia is 24 million, so mentally wipe it out down to the last toddler, and then add your state of Nevada with all the visitors. Now, if anything goes down, we’ll shoot first and only then call Washington. A no-fly zone in Syria will instantly result in us sinking two full US carrier groups and damaging all the runways in Europe so that nothing comes up without us allowing that. Since NATO keeps ferrying tanks to our border in Baltic, probably a tac nuke or two would land there. And if you think that media was hysterical about anything, think what would it spin once you lose that much in one blow. You’d have to retaliate, and we’ll all die. Not because Trump is inexperienced, but rather because Clinton thinks she can make us behave under gunpoint.

            Zhirinovsky, being a buffoon himself, tried to pierce the media blockade and warn you, but obviously he was drowned in noise about who groped whose butt.

            A nuke coming down on you isn’t a point of rhetoric, it almost happened. Any other point of these elections is meaningless. We’re alive and keep being so, that’s awesome. Don’t feel down because of the results. You paint half of your country as sadists and morons who mean you harm when you say that they voted because of racism. I don’t think you really mean it, even if you feel like it right now. That’s not you, it’s the effect of the media storm and all the BS that had been said. Not to mention that we’re talking about millions of people here, there can’t be that many racists and misogynists in America. I prefer to think they realized at least some of the danger. Most of the things that you heard were simply populist noise to drown real points anyway.

            The only thing that really matters is that you and me won’t die in a fire. I like you and everything you do, I hate the idea of America clashing with us because its leader thinks that she’s protected by the Biblical prophecy and that Putin is a Prince of Rosh. So we’re not talking about good or bad, simply lesser of two evils, and hundreds of millions of lives at stake. I’m still not sure if their demise has been avoided.

            Now that I type it, I find it oddly appropriate for today’s grim comic.

            To change the mood, I’ve been following Meek so long ago, it’s been a downer once you disappeared, and you can’t imagine my relief when I found MI. I thought you got consumed by mundane life and now are bound to waste your talent in some office cubicle or something. I’m so glad that you’re alive and well, and that you keep drawing. I simply had no courage or reason to step in and say it to you two months ago when I found this place.

          • shingworks

            Not sure why you’re talking to me like I’m an idiot, but I put up with it enough outside of sites that I run, and am not interested in being condescended to here. If you want to present your personal opinion or predictions, fine, but don’t disrespect me in my house.

          • charlesw81

            You’re no idiot. Although I admit that Trump’s indicated intent to stand down a bit from the posturing against Russia is something I do agree with. I’m not so radical as to believe Hillary would have led to nuclear war, just more expenditure by you in holding or fighting for political influence and Cold War type tensions.

            You’re absolutely right on that suffering. My point was more that it will be short lived (as short as 5 years can be anyway, insert plenty of cynicism there) because people will be pulled out of their apathy and, dare I say it, some degree of complacency. The reality of Tea Party political movements will be seen and felt rather than just discussed and theorised. The progressive movement has been progressively slower, but not only will it snap back from this, it will accelerate. You’re taking one step back so you can get the run up for a leap forward.

            But yes, that step will be roughest on those neighbors you mentioned but also rough on others who are yet to realise it.

            On health care. It’s difficult for an Aussie to understand the U.S. disdain for it because we have health care and while our right-wing tries to hobble or reduce it, we generally take it for granted that it’ll still be there in a workable form. It’s just kind of considered to be an unwritten right that if you’re seriously ill you’ll have care to save your life, restore you to working health or to simple dignity regardless of your means. The U.S. seems to have an equally deeply rooted belief that it’s not a right but something earned and, generally, your financial means are an indication of it being earned or the degree of health care earned.

          • Eversist

            As someone watching this talk from the sidelines, terms are 4 years here.

          • charlesw81

            @Eversist: +10 internets. For some crazy reason I’d always thought they were one of the longer than average at 5 and had never bothered to verify over the years, figuring the shorter terms were just presidents calling early elections when they thought they had the best advantage.

            Some arguments, I’m sure though, over longer term effects from time the next president will take to wind back some things, to the appointment of Justices, etc.

        • Trump has said he wants to use the nukes. That he wants to tear down the international agreements. That he wants to gut all forms of regulation, including the regulations keeping businesses from poisoning our dogs just to make a little more profit on dog food.

          I really do hope that Trump is the ‘shake’ we need, and fast. But I’ve also lived through other ‘shake up the system’ elections, such as Jessy Ventura in Minnesota and Arnold Swartzenager in California. They didn’t go so well for the people.

        • DonFenix

          Wow, NDDN. that is actually pretty inspiring… Thank you for making this American’s morning a little brighter.

        • Pylgrim

          Replying to this as it’s not possible to do so to your longer message further in the thread.

          I don’t think you are getting what Shing tried to tell you the first time she answered to you. You seem to be highly educated and keeping an expert finger on the pulse of international tensions at the Middle East. You may be right about your pessimistic outlook of the conflict had Clinton won, or you may be not. We’ll never know now. But if you think that even 1% of the Trump voting base is as aware of that issue, or cares, or believes it, you are deeply, deeply mistaken (though kudos to you for believing the better of your fellow men .)

          No. While a good percentage of Trump voters are disenfranchised and establishment-disillusioned people casting reluctantly their votes into what they hope against hope will at least be a spanner into the wheel of a corrupted system, a very significant percentage of them are exactly what Shing said. A racist, jingoistic , ignorant rabble roused by fearmongering and hateful speech from Trump. People who had been increasingly shamed into muttering odiously to one another as a current of progressiveness was leaving them behind, now have received the message: “Hey, we were actually right all along! And now, we have a man on the highest chair representing our beliefs and ideals. Our hatred and bigotry are not only alright, they are also government-sponsored!”

          I understand that your pessimistic outlook on the greater picture allows you to say “hey, I’m sorry but as sad as it is, it’s better for some or even a lot of people in your country to suffer for 4 years that for the world to be caught in nuclear warfare”, but don’t try to say it was a factor in these elections. It is a, perhaps happy accident and a silver lining to consider, but to posit that he was not elected in greater measure /because/ his racist, sexist and bigoted platform is an insult on top of the injury the minorities of USA are going to suffer.

          It’s like telling a woman that is a bout to be raped “Hey, it’s ok, you know. If that guy wasn’t here raping you, he could be somewhere else killing someone, and that would be worse, no?”

          • NDDN

            Well, they’re hardly “my” fellow men any more than they’re yours. I am half the planet away and they have the same passports with you, so… Anyway, it’s hard for me to believe that in election of one of the Powers factors like racism or hatred matter more than possible nuclear holocaust for everyone. I’ll give you this “possible” even though last month we checked all the shelters in a nationwide exercise that included every 3rd citizen.
            What I do see though is that no matter the outcome (there’s still a chance for your reps to vote against their states, right?), America seems split into two groups of deeply antagonistic people who won’t stop fearing each other and exist in parallel media, social and even economic realities. It wouldn’t have changed had Clinton won. Simply a question of who’ll have the govt repressive capability against the opposing faction. And even that won’t work. With mistrust and polarization that bad, there’s an infinite amount of sabotage ahead.
            Even still, this shit is nothing when we consider actually bombing each other. At least you’ll have a chance to deal with it, with Clinton you’d have none. And I’m saying it not to offend you, but because I wouldn’t have any, either.

            Shing, God forbid me from ever disrespecting you, you’re my favorite artist out there. Both in art and personality. All this mourning over English speaking Internet simply starts to wear me. Guys, it’s definitely not the worst day of your lives, you simply got a shitty president instead of a disastrous one. Hardly something to cheer, but definitely not your darkest hour. My ancestors in Stalingrad had to crawl for water behind a barrier made of frozen bodies of their own beloved ones while Germans were taking shots at them for fun and calling dibs. Now that’s a shitty day. We humans can live through a lot. You’ll make it. Just stay alive.

          • Pylgrim

            NDDN, it’s really interesting to hear your perspective as it’s something we’re often not privileged to. However, I assure you that your own perspective, dreadful as it is, is coloring your understanding of the electoral climate in US. As far as I know not a single shelter has been examined, let alone a nationwide probe. The only times the words “nuclear holocaust” were heard were precisely in relation to Trump, not Clinton, fearing that in a powerful display of ignorance, arrogance and hatred for one of the many races and people he’s publicly maligned, he decides to press the fateful button.

            I know that Trump makes big statements of friendliness and admiration for Putin’s Russia, while Clinton is known for poking that wasps’ nest, which also may color your outlook on the matter. But the truth is that as semi-blatantly hostile Clinton has been towards Putin, she’s a veteran and experienced politician. She may press matters here and there like a seasoned boxer feints to try to expose a weakness in the opponent, but she’s not so stupid to go as far to cause enough conflict to initiate a nuclear war and I’m positive that Putin knows this. Trump, on the other hand is a failed businessman, a narcissist and a B-class celebrity with 0 political experience and demonstrated abject ignorance on international affairs. Someone who believes that overblown, proactive scalation is the way to come ahead, as exposed by his proposed measures against illegal immigrants, Muslims and the ISIS. You cannot imagine how much more terrifying that is both in fear of retaliation and the appalling disregard of human rights.

            Lastly, I’m sorry to say this, but the reports we get from time to time about living conditions and human rights on your side of the world are not great. It makes me wonder if you have become desensitized to the suffering and opprobrium of individuals and the violation of human rights, to the point that is easy to dismiss the reaction to a potential regression in that respect in the US as mere whining. You seem to think that it is ok if women and minorities are disparaged and discriminated against as long everybody gets to stay alive. While I agree that misery may be better than death, I also believe that we can aspire to do better than that. We can hope to thrive and progress. And that’s why you hear all these people mourning and wailing: The alternative, to be silent, conform and just let this happen is unacceptable. It’s exactly what those who hate the civil liberties of those who are different to their own would want us to do.

          • Lilian

            “While a good percentage of Trump voters are disenfranchised and establishment-disillusioned people casting reluctantly their votes into what they hope against hope will at least be a spanner into the wheel of a corrupted system, a very significant percentage of them are exactly what Shing said. A racist, jingoistic , ignorant rabble…”

            If I can randomly jump in here, I’m willing to concede the above statement.

            However, there were definitely some Americans genuinely concerned about the tension between Russia and the USA who voted with that in mind. I was one of them. Some of those people voted Trump. Some, like me, voted for someone else.

            Were those people the majority of Trump voters? Probably not.

          • NDDN

            Jeez, a “privilege”. I’m an anonymous nobody over Internet who’s trying people’s patience. And we really should wrap up this conversation or move it someplace else; even without turning my head I can feel Shing standing behind me weighing a banhammer in her hands and it’s probably my long lasting affection for her that keeps me able to post. Let’s try to keep it short.

            Yes, my country’s human rights status is beyond the point here, even though it’s a potentially interesting and entertaining conversation on its own. I can compare both worlds, I used to be a journalist for years, even had my own column, and I’m a language tutor working with your expats now. So I can imagine what you think. And it’s like 20-30% true. For one, we have about 200 ethnicities here, and I can’t think of a newspaper dividing people based on their skin color, like “blacks” or “Hispanic” or “white”. It sounds utterly rude and barbaric to me. But don’t answer to that pls.

            Clinton is indeed a professional, and she’s behind all that “regime change” scheme that finally grinded to a halt in Syria. Trump might start a conflict occasionally, because he’s a random poser. Clinton would set you on a collision course with a cold sure hand. It’s not going to be a mistake, it’s her final goal. Last chance to protect her clan’s decades of work. Otherwise we’d slowly destroy everything she achieved by brewing radical Islam together with Saudis and rebuild secular Middle East. We’d even turn the world away from monopolar structure with collective West as the only civilization on the planet towards several regional Powers who have to cooperate. With Clinton, forget about cooperation, simply to make her stop we’d have to start sinking your destroyers.

            She equals war. I don’t expect you to believe me, but simply consider that Russians are that sure about it. It might be a factor by itself. You don’t have mass shelter checks because she’s not yet in power and because she believes in your military supremacy. Also because her primary loyalty lies with elites, and there are only that many shelters. One of the most frightening things is how people around her base their decisions on their own propaganda that comes back through their own media. You won’t believe how many of my former journalist colleagues here had the same breakdown, because Holy America wronged and “grants for democracy” might cease. It’s all fun and games when Obama speaks about our economy in ruins, it’s scary when someone in Pentagon actually thinks that everything is like 20 years ago.

            I actually forbid myself to discuss these kinds of things before the election because you’d simply discard me as a Putin’s shill or something and think that I’m trying to influence your decisions. Now, I dropped my comment because (SOMEONE KILLED KALLA DAMMIT) I couldn’t bear all the tragedy coming from your sector of the Internet. We’re the token grim guys, you’re supposed to be jolly like maniacal Halflings, with your trademark smiles. Seeing all of you broken that much over that issue of all things was truly bizarre. Perhaps it’s about time we stop discussing it and get back to the comic.

            Still, I expect her to win the election through representatives going “rogue” and voting her in. That system exists to protect the establishment after all. A US president actually willing to turn all those carriers back home and make America mind its own business? Unthinkable. When it comes to Pax Americana and American military machine, one simply doesn’t turn that off. It would be too easy. With global domination, all the money from arms industry and much, much more at stake, nobody cares how you vote. She must be in power. My bet is 30% Clinton, 20% Trump and 50% civil war. That’s a horrible thing to say, please forgive me.

          • shingworks

            It’s fine, just keep it civil. But wrapping it up is probably a good idea, since next page is comin’ soon

        • Jay

          If you are worried about nuclear war, then I think you should probably know that in security briefings Trump repeatedly asked why we can’t just use nuclear weapons. Three times in one meeting.

    • Bug

      Pixie, you speak the truth. Verily, today is the darkest of days. :<

    • shingworks

      Yeah, same. I love Kalla but I much preferred drawing this page to refreshing the polls :[

      • Minutiae

        I had the horror of voting from abroad and sitting in a small room with other expats watching in growing dread.

        I hope you will be ok. I fear for so many friends and family.

      • Eversist

        I will take a small shred of comfort that you used present tense here (although I’m sure it means nothing either way). :>

  • Hethaa

    Whhhhhhhhhhhh!!?? Welp. Damn.

  • poo

    i think it was my own body at the bottom of that pool

    • HeyImSpineGuy

      Ohh true. I forgot about when Kalla said that. Let’s hope he can pull off reincarnation one more time!

      • Malla Finesilver

        I think it’s horrible that her mouth is just . . . *open*, like it is. Just a page or so before it was open wide with “laughter”, and it somehow twists the silliness of it into gut-wrenching horror.

        I’m desperately hoping for some sort of reincarnation too, but even so, this is some pretty awful shit to watch.

  • Samuel

    Fucking hell.
    That’s terrible.
    WTF.

  • Luces

    Oh, no! Please… Let there be hope. A little bit. Sometimes i really can understand vegetarians…

  • Hg

    Man, that’s all I needed today. What timing!

    ;_;

  • The Chap

    On a lighter note Bex seems to have grown a massive bush…

    • Ben

      FX RIMSHOT

  • Echo

    NOOOOOOOOOOO

  • Rhah

    Welp. I’ll be hanging out at Meek until Der-shing decides to kill say, Pinter, or someone equally pivotal there.

    • shingworks

      Well Suda’s talking about a new murder atm… No escape :[

    • Ashley

      Same T^T

  • hihi

    you uh… hungry bro?

    • AGV

      Goshdamnit, the timing

  • MaxArt

    Holy crap no! D:

    Please, Michael, be rational.

    • AGV

      Michael’s possible reactions:
      -Shock (and potential faint)
      -Berserk (plz no)
      -Madness

      • JJ

        -Eating

        • shingworks

          rude

      • Chrontius

        -Suicide
        -Homicide
        -Questing for the processor in the desperate hope that there’s a recent backup of Kallakore.

  • Emperial

    Whaaaaaaaaat! What! On the one hand, I’m like, “yay sticker!” On the other, I’m like, “WHAT! THE! BLEEP!”

    And honestly the panel is so beautiful I didn’t even notice what was happening at first. (What a perfect storytelling juxtaposition.)

    Bold move. Mad respect for your storytelling. Mind blown.

  • John

    NO

  • AGV

    I hope over all what’s precious that this is a frigging nightmare

    And if it isn’t, at least we know that the system will bring Kalla back… right…?

    BTW, I’m glad to be part of your community, Shing
    I’d be more enthusiastic but the page is giving me a really hard to fing a joyful frasing QAQ
    What did you say? I’m not trembling, you are trembling!

    • shingworks

      We’ve got two whole chapters to go! Lots of time for more weird stuff to happen~

      • AGV

        *deep breath*
        Let’s hope for the best

  • vin

    Oh fuck.

  • Renee Barthelemy

    ……….
    *sits down to contemplate all the feelings this day has brought me*

    • AGV

      Let’s contemplate together

  • ;-; my heart

  • charlesw81

    Of all the possible directions I could have picked for this story taking 2 pages ago… This was NOT it…

    • AGV

      Honestly, such happyness left me with a feeling of “and now something bad, for balance”, but I wasn’t expecting something THAT bad

      • Phi

        same here…

      • charlesw81

        I agree actually. This comic, and/or Mike’s life seems to be all about big ups and downs. As he himself noted he gets knocked down and has to pick up again in a never ending cycle… But by Cthulhu’s wings, this is a big knock, done in a mind breaking way, even if Kalla is presumably resurrected.

        I mean c’mon Bex! Weren’t you gonna live off bugs!?

        *sigh* wollaria burger anyone?

        • shingworks

          Kallas’mores?

          • charlesw81

            Powered Wollaria crest for increased… err… “prowess”

          • charlesw81

            “Powdered” curse it!

  • The Wing

    No. Nope.

  • virus3D

    Somebody is going to die, if not my fork and torch are ready to witchhunt someone :D

  • DukeBG

    No. No-no-no-no no. NO.

    • DukeBG

      This is Phe dying all over again.

  • Pelo

    What..? No :'(

  • Passing through, passing wind

    It’s one thing to accept this as the most-likely outcome, and another to actually see it happen. Poor Kalla :(

  • ObservantWolf

    Ignoring the initial ‘Holy shit!’ reaction I had, I wonder what brought Bex to such an aggressive action and also how/where she got her tools/disguise. Still, Damn. Poor Kalla. I almost hope Kalla is inedible, just to make Bex’s actions here worthless…

    • Asterai

      I think the “disguise” is quite attached to her, much like Thighfriend.

      And I need to point out that the system has tried to kill Mike, and it may have tried to kill Bex, which would explain her aggressive approach.

  • Ambroise

    And here’s the food Kallakore promised.

  • Shakespizza

    Soooooo….Kalla’s reactions somwhere on a human level and she was unable to defend herself or runaway?

    • Shakespizza

      Also – nice survival skills, Bex!

    • shingworks

      Ambushed, unfortunately :(

      • Minutiae

        I see what you did there.

        • Eversist

          Oh jeeze.

        • shingworks

          lol

  • Sharshak

    Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Just no other words.

  • JepMZ

    WELL!!!

    The parallels are…. Interesting

    Ahem

    *lays down*

  • Jazhara7

    Damn, I came here to cheer me up. And now this. :(

  • Cheesus Crust

    Nice catch, shing. You just drawed something, what everyone expected to see. It`s shocking even more, than just unexpected death.
    Bex also got good survival skills, btw

  • Joe ST

    u killed me hecking dang that hurts I am now gone

  • Terrina Spain

    The feels….too much…*passes out*

  • AnnieK

    This was more than I could handle this morning

  • CosmicStresshead

    Well that’s me emotionally overloaded. Back to bed for four years.

  • Roo

    God DAMN this adds insult to the injury that is today’s election result. I guess my love for Kalla will be lost in the dark tunnel along with my belief in my countrymen as I sink into a quiet state of despair.

    Wanna go ahead and just butcher Suda and Hyla while we’re on this roll too?

  • Tad

    AGHHHHH! NO!

    First Trump, now THIS?

    I can’t! I can’t even! :(

  • MadMadd

    NoooO!! ; A ;
    I’m legit crying, poor Kallakore!! Poor Michael!
    I feel like Bex’s gonna be dead soon, cuz’… heck… Michael probably gonna freak out and yell at her, and try to beat her up. I know I would, if my friend got hurt\killed.
    Sigh, and we thought Michael’s life just lightened up a little, no, no, there’s just more bad stuff coming his way. That’s like the rule of the universe – if something good happens, prepare for more sh*t after that.

  • MiniMoose

    YOU. YOOOUUUU. After all this nation wide awfulness you do this!! I can’t handle the conflict of emotions here: so happy to see Bex again finally but KALLA oh my god no!!!!

    Masterful page, it made all the mournful emotions in me intensify all the more. I’m so upset, everyone’s upset, this is the worst ;__;

  • Psychotic Muffin

    i don’t like her anymore ;-;

    • shingworks

      I mean, if you’ve been alone fighting for survival for X amount of time in the dark, and see a shark-headed monster arming its way towards you, you might have done the same.

  • Minutiae

    Omg yay! But

    OMG BEX NO

  • MistyTang

    I kinda had a feeling this was coming but maaaaan. This still hurts me, man. Nevertheless, this is a beautifully done page, with excellent pacing and lead up up to this moment.

  • Phi

    Humans… always fucking everything up with our pathetic ego.

  • What the hell I was actually right when I called Bex with Pickaxe.
    What I didn’t call was hacked to death Kalla.

    WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHEEEEELP

  • Lar

    I DIDN’T KNOW I’D HAVE SUCH MIXED EMOTIONS UPON BEX’S RETURN D:

  • Hima

    I understand why you did it Bex but I REALLY HATE YOU RIGHT NOW.

  • …well, that’s awkard.

  • :(

    This is going to be made much worse by nobody believing Mike when he says that Kalla could talk and all of the things she told him. Of course, maybe none of it was real anyway?

  • Jean-Philippe Ouellette

    This is how I feel now. Thank you… -_-
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H07zYvkNYL8
    (nice job, didn’t (want to?) see that coming!)

    • Haha I was going to post that. It’s the first thing that came to my mind.

      Crap.

      *joins in the collective sobbing*

  • Eversist

    Nice, Bex was that silhouette two pages ago, but it was vague enough that she could pass for a pillar of stone. Love it.

    Don’t love dis page doe. But good job, Der-Shing. :)

  • Adriano

    Huh, they’re gonna rebuild Kallakore, right? Right? *cries*

    • Dar

      The 6 million dollar wollaria.

  • Lights

    OH MY GOD THIS IS *KALLAKORE’S* TERRIFYING, CLAUSTROPHOBIC ALIENS-CREEPING-AROUND-WHILE-SANITY-DISINTEGRATES HORROR MOVIE

  • DeltaOskarMike

    OMG… I was hopeing that Kallakore didt die.. I remember though that Kallakore mentioned that she was awakened many a time.. (even after spossibly dieing).. so there’s hope yet for Kallakore..

    Immediate reaction.. take the stick off bex and beat her with it for killing Kallakore…

  • Ambs

    God I didn’t think I could experience more heartbreak today

    I’m so sick

  • asdf

    Thanks for giving us something to focus on that isn’t the election. It’s really appreciated. In other attempts to find something to focus on that isn’t the election, Imgur.com has been flooding itself with sea slugs all day, and I learned that Michael’s thighfriend looks a lot like a christmas tree worm!

    • shingworks

      Oh shit, callout XD Yeah, thighfriend is a mix of that worm and a chanterelle, since both are pretty neat.

  • Matías93

    But, but…

    But you can “restart” Kalla, no? It was her body on the sea, no? They just have to wait… All of this is so wrong… the timing, everything.

    Well, good stories need this kind of moments, is all for a better cause.

  • NO

  • zeb

    NOOOOOOO ;_;

    • zeb

      Just wanna point out that I’m sad about Kalla, but this was a nice change of pace and I’m soooo excited for the next couple of pages!

  • Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! :(

  • Ali

    Incredible storytelling, very moving page. Got me clutching my heart in pain. Thank you, Der-Shing, for making such engrossing stories.

  • Fraaaaank...?

    WHAT?

    WHAT?

  • Meoi Lass

    NNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Hmm. Bex seems to be doing better than Mike at this whole underground survival thing. No toasters growing out of her face for one thing…

    • shingworks

      She is doing her best! Even got some cloth on her face as a rough filter, which is much more than I can say for Mike Faceplant-Into-Everything-Immediately Fisher

    • charlesw81

      I wonder if she’s aware of infection and is trying to avoid it or if this is more about the Sulfur smell… Actually I can’t remember the last time Mike coughed…

  • Spav

    That looks… suspiciously like a large connecting bone from an upper limb.

    Did Kalla just get killed with a bone from one of her own skeletons?

    • charlesw81

      I was actually guessing the crest bone. Thought she had a hunk of wollaria meat in her hand initially, but it’s just a rock she’s using to hammer her scythe through.

    • shingworks

      Well that would be rude, wouldn’t it…

      • Spav

        And also- as the saying goes- really fucking metal

  • Bex, you silly, that’s not a giant cricket.

  • CrisprChild

    Honestly… I should feel sad, but i’m still numb from last night.

    • shingworks

      Same tbh. While working on the page I went from nervous excitement about it to anger at the polls to “I need to finish this so I can get drunk.”

      • Corbie

        This page managed to stab me even through that numbness. I’ve spent all night in front of the screen (on the other side of the pond) and by the time I went to bed, Clinton had no chance any more. That was nightmare fuel just like Bex chopping up Kalla. :o

  • RichWalk9891

    Aw, darn it Bex…

    You just killed the one thing that might have helped you and Michael escape from this place, and also killed his new friend.

    …But then again, chance are Bex might have had hostile encounters with alien lifeforms the entire time she was trapped in a foreign place with no supplies or any hope of escaping alive and uninfected, so she likely had no idea who or what was benign or out for her blood.

    I’m disappointed, but I can’t outright blame Bex for what’s happening here.

  • Igby

    Aw c’mon. As if yesterday wasn’t morale-crushing enough!

    When it rains, eh.

  • Danielle Coiro

    I have been legitimately traumatized.

  • squidlifecrisis

    you people are way too nice to bex she needs to fucking die for this

    • Corbie

      Nooo!
      (Also, I believe that when she learns that she just killed both Mike’s only friend and an intelligent extraterrestrial being, probably the last of its kind, it’ll be a Fate Worse Than Death for her.)

      • Chrontius

        yeah, that’s pretty spot-on probably.

    • shingworks

      yikes dude

  • Flavius

    WOWOWOWOOWOWOW NOOOOO HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN. PLEASE TELL ME ITS AN ANOTHER THING, I WANT HIM BACK!!

  • Zarke

    Kill her. Do it. You know you must. AVENGE THEM!

  • Jörg

    Oh no.
    Shocked, but still exciting turn oft the story.
    Btw, condolences for the US americans.

  • Petra

    I… hopefully Kalla will be back. Bex couldn’t have realized. But damn.

  • Little Brit

    Oh god this is awful. I honestly felt a little sick. Our only hope is Kalla’s theory about the body back in that lake are true and she will (albeit without memories by the looks of things) return!

  • Lo

    Please let this just all be a hallucination

  • Pylgrim

    W-what are you doing Kalla? Didn’t Mike tell you that you look goofy with your mouth open like that? Also do something about that gaping wound on your neck, jeez, isn’t that undignified too among your species? Yep, just… just get up and stop this silliness, would you? Mike is going to laugh at you you know! So get up right now… please?

    Please?

  • adrianama

    GOD DAMMIT MAN AND TO THINK I ACTUALLY RLY LIKED HER WTF MAN T~T

  • Hima

    And if we DO get another Kallakore, will she remember the time spent with her best bud Mikey, that she became an honorary human, that she saved his life, that she learnt how to laugh and that she decided to overcome her fears?
    WILL SHE????
    And will Michael be willing to teach her again?
    AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH
    WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

    • Underdawg

      Considering how old Kallakore was. It could take centuries or millennia to return them to that state.

  • Wren

    [The last time Bex and Michael were together]
    Michael: They are using Levi to control my thoughts!

    [Now]
    Michael: That wasn’t an animal, that was a person! They are a survivor of an ancient Martian civilization and have lived for billions of years! We became friends…
    Bex: …

  • Dar

    Well, hallo thar. Fancy meeting you in a place like this. :D
    Her hair, like Mike’s, has grown a bit since we last saw her:
    http://www.marecomic.com/comic/ch1-page-24/

    At least Mike isn’t Luca, who would have greeted her with his roasting hands of death. But who knows what Martian superpowers Mike has now.

  • TorgueRND

    Since last night I’ve become accustomed to sticking my fingers in my ears and going “la la la”, so this page isn’t real, Kallakore is off somewhere having dumplings with Thrip and Phe, thanks for the sticker <3 <3

  • mano

    hey der-shing helmer did you know you’re really excellent at comics

  • mae

    “Lady of the Rocks”

    ohhhh I get it now

    : (

    • Dar

      Oh shi-
      Damn, I thought Kalla was the Lady. Didn’t think of Bex. :(

  • Moofius

    Ah… I really loved the landshark. Oh, why would you do this to me~? ;D;

  • brokenidealist

    Oh god… oh god, no… no…

    I’ve never posted a comment here before, although I’ve been reading for quite a while. Now I have to, because this is just… devastating. I liked Bex. I adored Kalla. And this is like finding one of your friends having just murdered another of your friends.

    I can’t even scroll back up the page and look again. This is so sad.

  • Randilla

    Ah!! I missed Bex so much but! Why she gotta do that!

  • Angalee

    why do you hurt me like this?!?!?!?!?!?!

  • Retterhardt

    This just about sums up my mood–devastation mixed with a desperate hope that things with turn out okay somehow.

    But on another note, how much time, exactly, has passed since Mike and Bex fell? Bex’s hair has maybe grown four inches since we last saw her (accounting for the fact that her hair is curly), and considering that it takes about two months for hair to grow one inch, if that estimate of her hair length is anywhere close to accurate, that would mean she and Mike have been down here for eight months! That’s also assuming, of course, that she hasn’t cut her hair in all that time with that very large and clearly capable knife of hers. She also seems to have experience meeting antagonistic creatures down here, hence the brutal measures. That said, at least one of her lights still works–how long would that battery last?

  • lupusdraconis

    Nooooooooooooo!

  • HyruleSymbol

    NOOOOOOOOOOO not Kella!

    Besides the… well, shocking happening this is, it’s a real mind and mental breaker as well

    See, Mike knows Kella, for him, she’s bot only a friend, she’s more.. a person, and she was killed by Bex, a person, at this moment, Who’s the beast? Who’s the animal?, what does it make of Kella? She’s not a human, but she’s a person, and now seeing her dead like that, almost like prey, what should he feel? It’s different from the discust you’d feel from seeing a human dead, because we leard that humans are some sort of thing to protect, one that life matters, and Kella is strictly speaking, and for the brain, animal, but she’s more, she’s also just as much a person as Bex or Mike, cause there’s Three things going in Mikes head
    1: Bex is here, there’s a way out(possibly)
    2: Kella, his friend is dead and killed like an animal by Bex
    3: Bex is here, a human, that you’d expect some comfort with(because she’s the same species)

    But Kella, was a friend Mike bonded too and as much as i’d like Kella brought back, i’m REALLY curiouse on how Mike’s response will be

  • Thrawcheld

    This page just raises so many questions! (Which I hope you will answer in comic form, not here.)

    How long has Bex been down there?

    Are her backfriends (I assume that’s a colony rather than one thing) doing anything for her like Thighfriend is for Mike?

    What exactly is that weapon? The shoulder blade of an armshark perhaps? Has she been living off armshark meat?

    Does she have a pressure suit in good enough condition to survive on the surface (even assuming the backfriends can squeeze into it)?

    Is K going to get a new body? Soon, or in months? (I forget how long LEVi has been there.)

    But most importantly… Is Mike gonna flip? If he’s rational (yeah, right) he might hold out hope that his friend is not finally dead.

  • Glew

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
    No!
    No…

    I am actually sad and shocked. Why? Why did she have to so brutally murder Kallakore?

    And you, shingwors, were planning this all along! :(
    I would be praising your writing and artistic skills if I wasn’t utterly saddeneded by this :(

  • brazenhead

    Really, All I can say is that this is an unpleasant development. I am utterly heartbroken.

  • Matt

    But he can talk? How did she manage to kill him before he said even a single word? Lady needs to cool her jets.

  • J.A Kooistra

    Yay, sticker! Aaaah! George R.R moment!

  • Cheri

    I’ll forgive this is we get to see a baby Kalla after she regenerates.

  • Landerolin

    Me, on SMBC: Hmm, I need something new to read… this looks interesting!

    What the actual? NOOOOOOOOOO! And I’m all caught up, no more bingeing!?

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

  • Puff

    nonononoNONONONONOOoooo
    i am literally crying over here
    TT_TT

  • GalopaWXY

    This page is just plain horrible. I was having a good day until now. This is way too violent in the rythm of this story and graphic and sad. I was NOT ready.

    • Shakespizza

      Oh, c’mon dude, it’s just a comic. You people too oversensitive.

  • Grim

    WELL SHIT

  • Amelia Doyle

    Do we get to see baby Kalla now?

  • Lost Yooper

    Maybe Wollaria can sustain significant blood loss, large lacerations to their neck region and what I am going to assume is a fist sized stone being smashed against their cranium… Right?

  • Beautiful (if horrifying) artwork as always Shing. Thank you for your wonderful work.

  • martin

    And now… kiss!

  • Devin

    Oh no!

  • Jay

    I’m glad I didn’t check this until today. Emotions still so raw from the Clinton loss, yesterday it would have made me feel even worse. :-[

  • Emmy

    Honestly after having been following The Meek for years, I truly should have expected this stab to the heart! I’ve been sitting here making this face for ten minutes :C like grumpy cat

  • Some_Douchebag

    Hooray! Bex is back! And also she’s made the situation many times more complicated!

    Also, Kallakore’s death seems tragic right now, but recall that she knew that she’d be recreated when she’d die. To be honest, if I were Kalla’s situation, I would probably amuse myself with untrained blindfolded cliff-diving from the highest points in the Mare Internum I could find. I would carpet my environs in corpses, thousands of copies of my own bruised and mutilated face staring dumbly back at me wherever I go.

    I would finish this grisly work by making finely-polished and quality furniture entirely out of my own pelvic bones.

    • shingworks

      bruh

      • Some_Douchebag

        You say that now, but try giving me any of that “bruh” shit once I’ve cornered the market for “ivory” furniture.

        I’d be the prime buyer AND seller, so it’s doubly profitable!

      • Some_Douchebag

        I’d deal mostly in drawers, cabinets, and armoires. I’d make a sign that says “Pelvic Ivory – The Best Material to Hold Your Junk!”

  • Hermandw

    OH WOW!

    After reading this page, I was nonplussed for a while…
    Conflicting feelings…
    Poor Kala…
    Hey it’s Bex!
    Oh my! How is Michael going to handle this?
    Dershing, you are brilliant!

    Then I read through the comments…
    Including the Russian view, WTF?

    As a South African, my opinion on the Trump triumph…
    I didn’t think much of either of the main party candidates.
    I thought it would be close, but that Hillary would pull it off.
    I would have loved to see a woman as US president, but Hillary???
    I think the Democratic party only have themselves to blame.
    They undermined the only candidate who could have won against Trump, and supported Hillary. That decision was either pre-determined strategy, or being to set in their ways to see Bernie’s true possibilities, or worse – bought by the Clintons.
    She just couldn’t win over Bernie’s followers, and they could be the future of the Democrats.

    Anyhow, I love this comic Dershing, and I enjoy The Meek as well. Keep up the good work!

    • shingworks

      Yeah, a lot of people hold this view, and I was a very die-hard Bernie supporter (who voted Hillary out of self-preservation, for all the good it did me). I really did not like the way she ran her campaign, and while she would have been the better choice, I still think Bernie was the stronger and more respectable candidate. Some other neighbor universe has a Bernie president though, so I’m happy for them.

  • Hermandw

    Ugh! I really need a spellcheck.

    “to set in their ways” should have been “too set in their ways”.

  • Dirka

    Man. Shaggy dog story or what.

  • SotiCoto

    … I couldn’t help but laugh.

    If all that character build-up was just for this inglorious ending… that is too tragicomic for words.

    Poor Mike.

    But seriously, he needs to get that fungus off his face…

  • thesoundwaveg1

    KALLAKORE!!! nOOOOOOO!!!!

  • I didn’t like her, now I definitely hate her. I hope she’ll die soon, and badly.

  • I can’t believe she killed Kallakore!
    Goes to show you need to be a bit crazy to befriend an alien.

    • You’re a Dwight too?! What are the chances?!

  • Oh god no.

  • HTG

    This broke my heart in a way I haven’t felt recently…
    (I don’t know… I guess I should thank you?)

  • Rose

    KALLAKORE! Noooooo! This was not how you were meant to go!

  • This broke my heart. The pacing, lead up and execution (pun honestly not intended) is cruelly immaculate.

  • kironin

    Just coming to this page now. Makes me want to just drop this comic entirely. The idea that a scientist vetted for such a exploratory mission would be this immediately blood thirsty is just disgusting. Turns my stomach. So far you had seemed to avoid the over familiar tropes, but this really sad. What a waste. Travel to another planet and knee-jerk kill it’s native life in whatever form that in no way presented an immediate threat. Hollywood writters violence, sigh.

  • Ana

    I was so looking forward to see Bex… not anymore.

  • Deb

    I’m just going to go back a few pages so this never happened!! T_T!

  • I read this paragraph fully regarding the comparison of most recent
    and preceding technologies, it’s amazing article.

  • foducool

    BEX, THE HELL DID YOU DO?!

  • Disappointed

    I was finally starting to like this comic and now I absolutely HATE IT! You killed the only thing that made this comic interesting. What a buncha junk. You killed my favourite alien guy by that stupid stupid woman I hope she dies!

    • shingworks

      No characters have permanently died, but ok

  • Thisguy

    …They’re fucked.

  • ThisFieldSeemsStrangelyArbitrary

    Reading in 2019, two things strike me:
    1. Wow a lot of picky readers commenting. Like, seriously, just because something you don’t like happens in a story don’t leave a nasty comment and stop reading. Jeez.
    2. I can’t believe that this, probably the most heartbreaking scene of the comic, came the day after that fateful election. It seems somehow fitting, in retrospect. Watching something you love hacked to bits for fear and material value.

  • No One

    Wow, upsetting. Will Kallakore even want to befriend them again if she reincarnates after this?

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