Into the Smoke, Sketch Month, and Tons of Extras!
In this newsletter, you’ll find out about everything I released over the past 30-31 days.
Anything not labeled “Patreon” or “paid” is free and publicly available.
June 5 to July 5, 2024
This was my first month simultaneously updating two webcomics! Behind the scenes, I worked on ITS chapter 2 thumbnails by day and the Merritt’s Story book 3 draft by night. I also managed to fit in lots of random extras.
Into the Smoke
Into the Smoke is my new free vertical-scroll webcomic, launched in May 2024. It updates every other Wednesday. “When gay medium Blaze binds himself to an evil spirit, he hopes solving the ghost’s murder will help bring him peace. But Alastor the Angel Killer has other plans…”
Announcements
Into the Smoke was featured in “Up and Coming” on the PG-13 Webtoon mirror and hit 1000+ subscribers!
If you already use Webtoon, be sure to subscribe to Into the Smoke and do all the usual Good Stuff that helps indie comics: like, share, comment, 10-star rating, etc. Big thanks to everyone for reading and for helping ITS find a bigger audience, which also helps me be able to make more of it!
New Episodes This Month:
This month, I posted the equivalent of 10 comic pages!
- Read Episode 3 at intothesmokecomic.com
- Read Episode 4 at intothesmokecomic.com
- Read an extended version of episode 3 with additional background info on Patreon (Patreon)
- MIRROR SITES: Subscribe and Read on Webtoon and Tapas (censored to PG-13)
- NEW MIRROR SITE: Download episodes 1-3 as a vertical-scroll PDF on itch.io! New download every 3 episodes!
Free Extras:
We had a cute illustration of Blaze and Otto! Blaze can’t sit like a normal person.
Patreon Extras:
Blaze’s extended character profile went up on Patreon! (Patreon)
Also, June was a Sketch month on Patreon! Every quarter, I do original sketches to mail to a few of my Patreon tiers, but all my patrons get to see the sketches. Several of the sketches were of Into the Smoke characters this month. The ITS sketches are in the following sets:
- Sketches 7-12 | Sketches 13-16 (Patreon)
- See a free preview on Tumblr
- See the full Quarterly Sketches Collection, which includes additional ITS sketches (Patreon)
For June’s Patreon Secret Gallery post, I shared a blog post about the history of Into the Smoke (and Demon of the Underground) and Blaze’s origin story, which dates back to an experimental comic for my college thesis. Here’s your chance to see my cringe old art!
- Secret Gallery Post: June 2024 – ITS – Blaze History (Patreon)
Patron Credits:
I’ll be updating the Credits sheet at the end of each ITS episode next month, so be sure to pledge this month if you want to be included in the credits of episodes 7-12!
Big thanks to everyone who pledges! This is how I’m able to make more free pages for everyone!
Demon of the Underground
Demon of the Underground is my longest-running webcomic. It’s about Pogo, a half-demon with telekinetic powers who falls into a treacherous underground world beneath Chicago. The first 300+ pages can be read for free at demonoftheunderground.com. Current pages are being released on Patreon, with tentative plans for new free pages in the future.
DOTU: Chapter 5 Pages (Patreon)
We had two new DOTU pages this month for patrons!
- Chapter 5, Page 35 (Patreon)
- Chapter 5, Page 36 (Patreon)
Patreon Extras:
The aforementioned June Secret Gallery post also includes DOTU-related info and art! You can see some early concepts for Pogo, Samsid, and Annie (though, to be fair, Annie hasn’t changed much!)
Also, in June’s Character Interview video, everyone talked about their favorite bad song. This was especially timely, considering the importance of music in Merritt’s Story book 3!
Devoted: Merritt’s Story
Devoted: Merritt’s Story is a prose novel series that takes place a few years before Demon of the Underground. It tells the story of Merritt’s life as a soldier in the North Sphere before being captured and made an East Sphere citizen. Of all my projects, Merritt’s Story is the farthest along, with the most content available to readers. Book 1 is complete with 162K words, and Book 2 is complete with 179K words. All 341K words can be read with a single $2 Patreon pledge. Book 3 is in progress.
Progress Update:
I hit page 100 of the book 3 draft! And now I’m at page 127. Only 300-400 more to go, lol.
How ’bout an exclusive mini excerpt just for my Monthly Roundup readers? (disclaimer: this is a first draft, before revisions/edits/finessing)
There was an old underground cliché about an East Sphere citizen’s idea of a perfect date: watching a sport fight go three rounds in the ring, heading out to a bar for three rounds of beer, and then going home for three rounds in bed. That useless bit of trivia floated back to Merritt’s mind as he and Troy shared their third beer at Vernon’s while chatting about Ballcrusher’s third-round knockout uppercut. It was an amusing coincidence.
If you know anything about Merritt as a narrator…
Patreon Extras:
As I mentioned, June was a Sketch month on Patreon! Since I’m working on Merritt’s Story book 3 and it’s taken over my brain, the majority of June’s sketches were Merritt’s Story book 3 scenes. You can see them in the following sets:
- Sketches 1-6 | Sketches 7-12 (Patreon)
- See a preview on Tumblr
- See the full Quarterly Sketches Collection, which includes additional Merritt’s Story sketches (Patreon)
Minicomics
It was another big month for minicomics! These two both made the rounds in June:
- Rock Climbing
- Boobs Most Definitely Work This Way: SEQUEL – An important update to a comic I made in 2015 (link includes both parts)
Info Posts
I don’t normally link social media posts that don’t include original art, but this one includes a ton of info about webcomic websites, third-party webcomic-hosting sites, webcomics history, and why I think it’s important for webcomic creators to have their own websites. It’s long, but if the subject interests you, give it a read!
Odds and Ends
Tumblr antics:
And… a Bluesky antic?
