The Internal Sea
Mare Internum
Published on 9. September 2025
320 pages
978-1-63849-298-6 (ISBN)
Description
Journey to the Center of the Earth meets Ghosts of Mars in the supernatural science fiction mystery on Mars, THE INTERNAL SEA: Mare Internum where the divide between the living and the dead is more transparent - and delicate - than humanity ever suspected.
Life on Mars…
No man is an island entire of itself, but Dr. Michael Fisher, a disgraced planetary geologist living on Mars, has never felt more isolated. The situation worsens when both he and Dr. Bex Egunsola, the station's newest biologist, accidentally break through the floor of an unstable lava tube into an ancient subterranean world... and they are not alone.
Is this purgatorial abyss a prison or a sanctuary? Genuine or constructed? How thin runs the line between life and death? And is there a chance for the fallen to return to the world of the living?
For fans of: Terra Formars (Yu Sasuga), The Weatherman (Jody LeHeup/Nathan Fox), The Space Between (Corinna Bechko/Danny Luckert), DUNE: House Astreides, The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury), Sentient, Mars, Inc. (Ben Bova), The Strange (Nathan Ballingrud), Doom 3: Worlds on Fire (Matthew Costello), The MARS Trilogy (Kim Stanley Robinson), The Expanse, The Martian, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Red Rising , 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ghosts of Mars, The Expanse, The Martian, Scavengers Reign, Red Planet, and The Haunting of Hill House.
Written, illustrated, colored, and lettered by Eisner-nominated and critically-acclaimed writer/artist/editor Der-shing Helmer, The Internal Sea: Mare Internum, was an acclaimed webcomic that ran 2015-2019.
Life on Mars…
No man is an island entire of itself, but Dr. Michael Fisher, a disgraced planetary geologist living on Mars, has never felt more isolated. The situation worsens when both he and Dr. Bex Egunsola, the station's newest biologist, accidentally break through the floor of an unstable lava tube into an ancient subterranean world... and they are not alone.
Is this purgatorial abyss a prison or a sanctuary? Genuine or constructed? How thin runs the line between life and death? And is there a chance for the fallen to return to the world of the living?
For fans of: Terra Formars (Yu Sasuga), The Weatherman (Jody LeHeup/Nathan Fox), The Space Between (Corinna Bechko/Danny Luckert), DUNE: House Astreides, The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury), Sentient, Mars, Inc. (Ben Bova), The Strange (Nathan Ballingrud), Doom 3: Worlds on Fire (Matthew Costello), The MARS Trilogy (Kim Stanley Robinson), The Expanse, The Martian, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Red Rising , 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ghosts of Mars, The Expanse, The Martian, Scavengers Reign, Red Planet, and The Haunting of Hill House.
Written, illustrated, colored, and lettered by Eisner-nominated and critically-acclaimed writer/artist/editor Der-shing Helmer, The Internal Sea: Mare Internum, was an acclaimed webcomic that ran 2015-2019.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2025
Vault Comics
€28.50
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Persons
Der-shing Helmer is the Eisner-nominated and Ignatz-award winning independent science-fantasy and educational comic artist from the CA Bay Area, now based in the San Diego Area. Der-shing is currently the Managing Editor at Vault Comics. She is a self-taught artist, and has a biology degree from UC Berkeley as well as a formal background in secondary science education.
