Chapter 5, Page 37

Thighfriend: please don’t drag me into this

Anyways you know how it is… sometimes you feel as if you’ve backslid so far that there’s no coming back from it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Oh yah, have you heard? The Elements: Earth Kickstarter is finishing up soon!

The first groundbreaking book by creators of color (which I was lucky enough to have a story in~) won the Eisner and the Ignatz that year, and I’ve seen enough stories from the new volume to know that it’s shaping up to be even more powerful. BTW the Elements anthology series, my Ignatz nominated anthology Alloy, and both of my award-winning comics The Meek and Mare Internum are published under Ascend Comics, which is the small press publisher I co-founded with Elements editor and writer Taneka Stotts. You know we like making some ridiculously high-quality books for our ridiculously high-quality comics, just cuz we can, and Earth is gonna be a real good example of that.

Speaking of high quality books, I’m wrapping up production on the Mare book rn after getting quotes for some advanced book accoutrements I didn’t know about a year ago and my scalp is tingling just thinking about it, haha.

Want to read page 38? 39? 40, even?? Through the power of backlog, Ye Olde Patreon is updated 3 days ahead, and there’s a whole ‘nother new page going up here and on Patreon for Friday (bless the backlog).  see u then

19 Comments

  • Noah

    C’mon dude, you’re worth it. Just think about Thrip! He would want you to live all your days to the fullest. The world needs you man! Well… both worlds.

  • mike w.

    Welcome back Der-shing! Seriously missed you.

  • Jade

    Hoping things can turn around for our fungus hobo friend.

  • Magdalene

    Welcome back Der-shing! :’)

  • msouth

    I just want to say to everyone, that a technique I use on myself is to remember that what he’s saying makes sense to him, but objective observers can see that he has a tremendous amount to contribute, people who value him and want him healthy, etc, and that suicide *objectively* makes no sense. Except maybe for a few cornered dictators or whatnot, that is true of every suicide, including yours, if you’re contemplating it. You can see it with others very clearly, but you don’t see it with yourself. If you try to take yourself out of yourself for a bit, you may be able to convince yourself that you aren’t different from any of the other suicides you are aware of, that there are really reasons for you to live, people who care, and people who will be significantly better off if you are alive than if you are not.

    Peace.

    • shingworks

      That one demographic that everyone overlooks: cornered dictators, haha

      But good sentiments. I kinda don’t want to speak for some groups whose experience I don’t understand though, like people with terminal illnesses. I don’t think I can even begin to pretend to know what that feels like. Either way this comic is an allegory for a specific circumstance or mindset, and will not be applicable to every situation.

      • HKMaly

        Even the terminally ill would not be homogeneous group. There are illnesses which makes your life depressingly short but allow you to live it quite normally until near the end … and others where you spend years in pain.

        • shingworks

          Yep. I am intertwined with some people with chronic, unsolvable illnesses, and this comic is definitely not anywhere near that topic since it is a very complex thing on it’s own that I have no right to speak towards.

  • John E

    Damn, this page is too real. Mike’s a brilliant scientist, on Mars, discovering amazing alien life forms / machine artifacts. And he’s still able to believe his life is over.

    I feel like this page proves what a great job Shing has done characterizing Mike such that his lamentations come across as tragic and not ridiculous.

    Importantly this speaks to the extent to which depression can warp reality and cause people with not simply great lives, but great resources to change their lives to instead choose to kill themselves. Because it’s really really hard to fight the pain that comes from inside.

    This comic is amazing, and I’m so glad it exists.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, it’s so startling to hear about depression in people you’d consider infallible, or who has everything to live for.

  • Kuggur

    Hah, cool! I checked regularly back and well, it’s been a while so it took a few moments before I realized I looked at an actual update.
    Thanks and welcome back.

  • Loxmyth

    Just wanted to say I appreciate your coming back from whatever/wherever to continue the story. I’ve missed it, and I really want to know how the story evolves from here. Thanks again for sharing it with us.

  • evileeyore

    TFW you feel called out by your favorite comic…

    Everyone hits there bottom at some point, it’s whether or not you’ve got a reason to get back up and climb that decides what happens next.

  • Lord

    YYYYYEEEEESSSSSS !
    I kept checking the comic ~everyday except for the last two days and I legit *gasped* when I saw you were posting again.

    Welcome back, we missed you. :3

  • mdamienx

    There is probably a more appropriate place to comment like this, but I just wanted to say I did finish reading this comic as a kickstarter and wanted to say how much i loved it. Ive been following your works since 2009 so it was really exciting for me to read it as completed. Hope this isnt too much of a spoiler but i was crying at the end. You portrayed the experience of suffering mental health so beautifully. Im very excited to see what you’ll work on next. :)

    • shingworks

      Thank you so much for the kind comments and the feedback… it’s been very strange to release this book and not really hear what people’s thoughts were and it’s very gratifying to know that you found it acceptable (especially since it’s my first finished story). I hope you find some value in the comments section here, but if not here then I’ll see you either at The Meek or unannounced future projects :]

  • skella

    so I made it a whole, what… two, three days before I caved and read the kickstarter pdf?

    Not gonna spoil anything because that’s scummy, but I just wanna say how full my heart is, about this comic in general.

    I’ve been following you and your work since quite a bit before The Meek started and I’m just like… at the risk of getting cheesy and weird lol, very proud of you and your work and your dedication. You are an inspiration and wonderful storyteller. <3 Can't wait to hold the book in my hands. Bravo, Der-Shing

  • nrfherder

    “Because I wasn’t as strong as my fucked-up brain” is one of the most beautiful and true lines I have read in a long time. Thanks for picking this comic back up, have missed it.

    • Astronaut

      The eternal struggle, isn’t it?

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