Chapter 4, Page 49

The last page of the chapter will go up tomorrow~

28 Comments

  • Margaret Hogg

    Bex: Okay bruh, you’re bringing me down. Why don’t you just go over there for a while?

    Also I’m a little worried right now to realise that the processor “corrects what isn’t working properly” and Mike’s got stuff growing out of his head. And seems pretty chill, if mean. :| I did not think of the toaster that way before.

    • Margaret Hogg

      Mike’s leg wasn’t working properly cause it was broken, so the processor grafted something onto it. Mike’s lungs weren’t working properly with the environment so they added a gill to the leg. He was trying to escape the system, so the processor sent needly fish things after him to bring him back in. :[ Bex, be careful.

  • Omer

    NOOOOOO!!!
    I am not ready for the last page or the fact that Bex is going to meet the processor in the last page. I don’t see any good coming out of that last page. I am going to be mad stressed till tomorrow now.

  • JJ

    Oh … ah. I only now realised it’s a cleft in a cliff, not a stair/ladder/sort of band impossibly suspended in the void.
    I guess it’s a fine line between visualising truly alien surroundings, and keeping them understandable.

    • Ben

      … some aspects of alien worlds are familiar. Mars is a planet, after all. They are in a cave system which appears to be formed in some sort of laminated strata, probably limestone and sandstone (since Mars is now generally believed to have had large volumes of liquid water in the past) and looks much like parts of the American South West in some respects.

      • JJ

        Well I was thinking more of the glowy water in geometrically laid-out channels and all that. (The ?North American South West would not be familiar to me anyway.)

  • Pylgrim

    Is she intently staying out of the water, even if it involves some gymnastics?

    • shingworks

      The floor is allowing yourself to be vulnerable to the people around you

      • Lilian

        Hah! I *knew* Bex reminded me of one of my siblings.

    • Sheridan

      It’s a game of The Floor Is Fluid Luminescent Data Transmission Medium.

      Huh. Not as catchy.

  • Apparently, Mike needed more ‘shrooms on his head.

  • Lilian

    She’s asking you to leave, you nitwit.

    I am amused by the fact that Mike’s posture and expression don’t appear to change from panel 1 to panel 4.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the processor offers Bex a way out of the system.

    • Solanuma

      I imagine him, perfectly still, gliding behind Bex like a fungal personification of her second thoughts.

  • korano

    hm… Mike got peace (so he claims)… LEVi got a REAL body… but what did the processor offered Kalla?

    *must have answers but can feel cliffhanger splash panel coming tomorrow noo*

  • BigDogLittleCat

    Michael’s glowing eye in lasr panel, it is disturbing.

  • David

    Why do I have a feeling the processor’s solution will be to weld them together at the hip. That, combined with the reincarnation, will guarantee that they are stuck with each other for all eternity.

    • Ben

      That would be cruel and unusual punishment, not a solution.

      It’s ironic that Mike has become far more integrated with an actual Martian ecosystem than Bex will ever be, despite her adopted purpose in life (assuming that the processor facilitates her departure while Mike stays, which appears to be the indicated direction of the narrative)

      I’d also put money, if not very much, on the upper levels undergoing further collapse after Bex’ exit, so she cannot return

      • Trianna UK

        From what I’ve read, (my opinion, I could totally be wrong here) I feel that Mike has constantly been running away from his past and feelings. While Bex is desperate to hold on to herself, which is why she feared motherhood. It would explain why Mike seems to accept assimilation into the environment.

        • Ben

          Well, it’s entirely understandable that Mike might be running away from his past. There are some very unpleasant issues there. He stated at one point that he “wasn’t straight” but what, exactly, did he mean by that? We don’t actually know; he might be gay, he might be celibate or asexual. We only know, or at least can only assume in the absence of other information, that he is unmarried, and has no children or close relationships. I think that anything relevant to the plot, would have been known by now.

          Bex, though; “holding onto herself, so… afraid of motherhood”? Really? Self-absorbed, much? Just as well for her, that HER mother wasn’t so preoccupied…

          • Artie O'Dactyl

            Apparently you missed the interludes that showed some of Mike’s backstory.

            http://www.marecomic.com/comic/int1-page-1/

            http://www.marecomic.com/comic/int2-page-1/

          • Aldhes

            @Artie: I just looked over the interludes again, and I couldn’t find anything that seemed to shed much light on Mike’s sexuality beyond his self-description as not straight. He was sexually abused by his uncle, but that obviously doesn’t mean that he’s attracted to men. In the second interlude, he asked out Toby, who seems to be a girl, but the motivations for that seem to have been complicated, so I don’t think it’s clear that he was sexually attracted to her.

  • Mustachio

    In that case…I wonder if the processor’s additions have cured Mike of his mental issues. Hope so, because that’d mean he’s currently thinking properly…for the first time in a long time.

    • Bethany

      Which would mean he’s being a healthy jerk, instead of a mentally unstable one.

  • Ben

    No, I didn’t miss the interludes. All those links show is that Mike was/is a damaged individual, with severe confidence and self-worth issues stemming from his parents’ acrimonious divorce, accompanied by being molested by someone in a position of trust. I don’t really feel that they answer the question, and I don’t really think it matters anyway.

    Is he a healthy individual now? I rather doubt it, but I’d accept that the Processor has provided him with a coping mechanism and a way of escaping pressures which had driven him to medication, self-destructive behaviour and attempted(?) suicide

  • Rev

    Honestly at this point, Michael is probably better off staying behind. The way he is now, it doesn’t seem like he would be able to acclimate to a normal life anyway.

  • David

    They were all gorgeous hell-raisers, but they took up a hell of a lot of Micheal’s time. Now that he was 1/3 martian would he choose the sweet martian girl or the sour earthling? Would there be martian babies, human babies or both?

  • Shunka_Warakin

    I kind of whimsically feel like the Processor should end up bellowing ‘Pay no attention to the Martian behind the curtain!’ after offering Bex a heart, Kalla courage, and Mike a brain.

    Except that it made LEVi into a real, live little boy so now we’ve got some Pinocchio in the mix.

    • Ben

      Just wait to see if Bex clicks her heels three times..

Leave a Reply to David Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *