Fragments of Mark: Fragment 3

Helium discovery day is a very special and important event for the people of planet Doge. A significant amount of the inhabitants are gas people and helium is their life essence, their energy, their food, so they celebrate helium’s discovery very vibrantly!

Mark absolutely couldn’t miss the fun so he visited the seafront fair that was prepared to welcome all sorts of beings who wanted to embody and celebrate the spirit of helium gas.

Somewhere away from the noise happens to be Professor Emilio. He is a rare, mutated human who needs to breathe helium instead of oxygen. He feels burdened by his own existence. Mark meets up with him and lifts his spirit, showing him the lighter side of things, making sure Helium Discovery Day is unforgettable for them both.

---

Lore

Mark uses his wealth to sponsor events on Doge (his planet). One of the events he sponsored was the Helium Discovery Day Festival 2025. One of the massive events that happen yearly in the Dogean Republic to celebrate helium gas, as a giver of life and source of entertainment and scientific achievement.

This happens because 10% of the population on Doge is gas people, whose bodies are 70% helium and they need it to live. Mark is one of them (even if he is lab made), so he feels celebrated during this event, which is why he felt like funding it.

During the night of the festival, the whole square between the skyscrapers of Dogean Capital is lit up with wonderful neon lights and balloons and happy crowds filling the roads.

In a time of celebration, a scientist with a hologram oculus that reveals his thoughts and feelings and a helium tank connected to his neck is isolated and sad inside the quietest area of the party.

That was Professor Emilio. He used to live on Earth and had a tragic accident that mutated him into needing to breathe helium to live. The accident also gave him gas manipulation abilities which we don’t see in this comic.

His need to breathe helium makes Emilio feel deeply ashamed of himself because he used to be mocked and rejected for his voice, which comes out naturally squeaky like a chipmunk. The same voice is the byproduct that he is still alive and able to do amazing things, but he feels embarrassed of it.

Mark, who was flying around to see if people are enjoying the event that he sponsored, floats down to the area where Emilio is, finds him, and hypes him up.

Specifically, he reminds Emilio that the thing he is the most afraid of is actually the most unique and fascinating on him.

Then, they have a very awesome night together. What we see on screen is them riding a rollercoaster and enjoying it immensely. Emilio specifically is weeping, possibly because no other person treated him with as much kindness as Mark did. It touched him.

August 18, 2025 – A Helium Discovery Day they will never forget.

---

Personal meaning

Fragment 3 is perhaps one of the most personally meaningful comics I ever made.

It is a middle finger to my shame from the entirety of my life that existed prior to 2025, the shame that made me feel scared of sharing my special interest for helium and helium voices that I had since 2016.

Before 2025 I had made other attempts to share the interest, but the difference was that I was trying to EDUCATE and half-assed sharing my fascination BECAUSE I put it in educational boxes.

I was HIDING the autism, I was HIDING the real me.

In 2025, while I was on vacation at a seafront villa, I was determined to put an end to half-assing sharing my enjoyment and made a comic that was genuinely, honestly ME.

It was my most vulnerable idea back then. It was monumental to me. Instead of masking the feeling of “oh shit I am going to be so cringe for it”, I turned it into the actual heart of the comic.

This was unlike any comic I had made before, as I was HONEST.

I was ACTUALLY HONEST that I was scared of having an unusual special interest instead of trying to hide it under fancy and funny animations or something like in my previous work.

Emilio represented me directly, and Mark was ALSO representing me directly, which resulted in me writing a love letter to my scared inner child that was judged for this interest.

A love letter that inspired me to keep going, to own what makes my heart happy, no matter how weird it is, as this weird thing may actually be my fucking SIGNATURE.

This could be something people could REMEMBER me for, if it isn’t already.

After posting this comic, I was SCARED SHITLESS.

I was genuinely worried that people would legit approach me to tell me that I am cringe for making a comic dedicated to helium and helium voices, and after pouring my soul in there, I didn’t want to experience it.

The response I got was actually much calmer and more supportive than I could ever anticipate back then: people commented positive things about it.

It’s not like I got a fanfare or having crowds of people actually understanding the purpose of the comic in depth or becoming famous or getting lots of likes, but I got my followers saying VERY SWEET things under my post on Instagram that really made me happy.

Examples of comments that I want remembered:

I have to mention though, that even after getting all of this support I was STILL a bit unhappy with the post.

It was my least liked comic of this length.

Liked as in number of likes on social media, not personal liking. Because I LIKED IT A LOT.

In fact, I liked it SO MUCH that I felt like the algorithm didn’t do it any justice for what it is and how much emotional weight it carried, especially after working on it for 4 days in a row with allnighters on vacation to finish it.

I was so emotionally invested on this project that it was VERY HARD to look at it rationally.

I couldn’t just go “ohhh the algorithm just doesn’t know what to do with you and people want content that they can understand easily and skim through and your comic isn’t that”. I couldn’t accept it.

I stayed angry for a little bit, before realising that, in the end, this comic was made for ME and what matters is that I LIKED IT.

---

Facts about this piece

• The rollercoaster design is inspired by one of the 2016-2018 Roblox Theme Park Tycoon 2 rollercoaster designs, and especially one that I had in my park that I colored neon by shining bright colored lights on top of white tracks at night. It gave the illusion of glow.
• The Warden from the Simpsons makes a cameo on the first page. I wanted to add him because of his appearance on this video, where he is sucking helium recreationally as if it’s drugs. I thought it was awesome.
• Rodney’s character Rod also made an appearance on the first page. It’s a Skibidi Toilet toilet mutant OC.
• If you zoom in closely on the gift shop kiosk you’ll notice some books with the same cover. This is an existing book, it’s called Helium: Its Creation, Discovery, History, Production, Properties and Uses, written by John A Taylor, who is an aerospace engineer who worked with airships. I own a real physical copy of this book. It is a 400-page long helium bible.
• The color schemes of the festival are directly inspired by the colors of the spectral lines of helium gas. I also liked the glow of helium (yes, it can glow like neon does when enough electricity goes through it and it emits a glow).
• The airship on the cover that has a shark mouth (top right) is Emilio’s airship that he brought from Earth.
• The main idea behind helium having its own festival on Doge was “fuck it I am going to make the most heliummaxxed drawing I can think of” because I was tired of hiding it.