Book cover for The Internal Sea: Mare Internum by Der-shing Helmer

The Internal Sea

Mare Internum

2025 Released
320 Pages
5-7 Hours
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Vault ComicsISBN 9781638492986

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.

Der-shing Helmer

Der-shing Helmer is an Eisner and Ignatz winning indie comic creator and publisher who mostly creates science-fantasy and educational comics. They are the creator/ artist of the acclaimed webcomics The Meek and Mare Internum, creator/ editor of the Alloy Anthology, and co-owner of Ascend Comics. Their favorite way of participating in everyday science is learning how to grow rare plants from seed, and sharing plants and knowledge with others.

More by Der-shing Helmer

Why Readwise Books?

Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →