It’s nearly Spring, friends.

Though, if you live in the UK it probably doesn’t feel like that. I could say that I finished a new comic to coincide with the cold and recently snowy conditions outside, but honestly, I’m not that organised.

This new short comic, Sermersuaq, is about the Greenland Ice Sheet – titled with its Greenlandic name.

I picked up a book at the beginning of January called The Ice at the End of the World by Jon Gertner, which seemed at the time like a good winter read. What I didn’t expect was to be totally absorbed by the mystery and isolation of Greenland, and the stories that came from Americans and Europeans ‘discovering’ and crossing the ice.

One thing that really stood out is those human stories, and in taking a break from whale research I thought I’d turn this into a short comic. Well, short in story length. Long in depth. You’ll see what I mean further down…

But similar to creating whale comics about scientific research, I was again condensing large amounts of information and research into a short, succinct, accessible format. All to tell a love story (aww).

I also chose to use the Greenlandic language terms for both the ice sheet (Sermersuaq) and Greenland itself (Kalaallit Nunaat). You can learn more about the Greenlandic language here.

I had the idea of how to present this comic fairly early on, and once I’d finished it digitally I decided to get it giclee printed as one long piece to read. Nearly 1.5 meters long, to be specific. And it turned out better than I’d hoped! There is a limited run of three copies available to buy online if you’re interested in owning an obscenely long comic folded down into an A4-sized concertina.

For a screen-friendly version, you can check it out below.

Read the hi-res comic in full here

Get a physical copy – limited run

I really enjoyed working on something like this with a totally different final format. And something so largely abstract with paint washes. It felt good!

It’s been an interesting foray into glaciology and history, but it’s time to go back to whales. Following the release of Karasu I’ve had some really interesting conversations with some really interesting people – and I’ll have more to share on that shortly.

Besides, I might also take some time off because I’m getting married soon! And co-founded a new baseball team, with our first season kicking off shortly.

Until next time!

x