Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 12
Blaze stands at the kitchen counter, facing away from the ghost as he dries a plate with a greenish towel. He says, “You haven’t told me your name.” The ghost replies, “You don’t need it.” Blaze asks, “No? You came all this way. You didn’t want to introduce yourself?”
The ghost deadpans, “I came to kill you.” With a light smile, Blaze replies, “Right.”
Turning around, Blaze holds a wooden spoon to his cheek thoughtfully. He asks, “Why, though? I had nothing to do with your death.”
The ghost scowls, looking a little sheepish. He says nothing.
Blaze’s eyes light up, and he smiles with recognition. Eagerly pointing the wooden spoon at the ghost, he exclaims, “You don’t know why!” From off panel, the ghost responds with silence.
Blaze approaches the sullen ghost excitedly, holding up his hands as he says, “Listen. After you were killed, you should have crossed the veil. But you didn’t. And that tells me you have unfinished business here. I can help you with that. But I need your name.”
The ghost turns his face away, his arms crossed over his ink-stained chest. He says, “Hmm. I guess it’s Arin.” From outside the frame, Blaze asks, “You guess?” The ghost says, “That’s what’s on my license. But I don’t remember people calling me that.”
“What did they call you?” Blaze asks from off-panel. The ghost hesitates, then replies, “Alastor.” Blaze cries, “Alastor it is!”
As Blaze begins to head out of the kitchen, Alastor holds out a fisted hand. His teeth bared and his white irises glowing intensely, he asks, “So you can help me? You can help me find the guy who killed me?” Blaze pauses, grimacing as he replies, “Uh… That’s not exactly what I said. Listen, I need to get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
Throwing up his hands in frustration, Alastor asks, “What am I supposed to do till then?”
Blaze holds a wooden rolling pin out to Alastor’s chest and says, “Practice your gripping skills. Might come in handy later.”
A logo appears: Into the Smoke. Intothesmokecomic.com
An image shows nine ghost hands converging to pet Otto, a content fat black cat. Each hand has several names written on it. Text reads: Special Thanks to my Patrons. Pledge on Patreon at patreon.com/bob_artist. The words “Pledge on Patreon” are crossed out and replaced with the words, “Pet Otto.” An additional URL reads intothesmokecomic.com.
I’ve just finished inking the final scene of my current batch of episodes!! That’s the midpoint of chapter 2. (I do LONG chapters.) It’s very exciting but also horrifying, because that means that soon I’m gonna need to do the next giant batch of pencils.
Actually, that brings me to another subject…
I totally could. I have the buffer episodes available. It’s by far the easiest thing I can offer, because I don’t have to make anything extra and it’d bring in more money.
I started offering early access for my first webcomic when I desperately needed the funds, and it worked out great for my bank account (thank you!!), but I didn’t like the way it fractured the community. Patrons and non-patrons were no longer experiencing the story together. That meant they no longer reacted or talked together in the same way, and a lot of the commenting ended up moving to private spaces.
Funds are tight again, but I really want to keep the updates as they are now, with everyone experiencing the story at the same time, on a website that displays vertical scroll pages at their best. I *love* giving extras and bonus content and uncensored versions and teasers to patrons, but I want the actual story to be as equally accessible to everyone as possible.
So the question is, would you pledge on Patreon to help me keep releasing episodes to paid and free readers at the same time? Could we have the best of both worlds – a healthy Patreon where I can afford to keep making the comic, AND a solid community where everyone can read the story together?
If the answer is yes, you can pledge here! I appreciate you!! And I’m sure the free readers do too.
It’s possible I’m the only person who cares about that. But I won’t know unless I test the hypothesis!
I did an extra update to the credits sheet to make sure more people got to pet Otto sooner! The next update will be episode 16, the final episode before our next hiatus, and that episode will be up for the length of the hiatus. So if you’re a patron (or plan to become one!) and you aren’t already up there petting Otto, add your name here!
If you’re a patron, you have until the end of the month to use your 70% off or 100% off coupon! That’s less than a week away….
It’s a quarterly sketch month on Patreon, and I can always use more sketch ideas! Drop them in the comments! If I use any of the suggestions, I’ll share at least some of them publicly, and with the person who suggested it if they’re not a patron!
Don’t forget to vote! It helps new readers discover the comic!
