Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 21
Blaze stands in the entryway to his warmly lit apartment, smiling and waving in his trench coat and gloves. “Okay, Alastor, I have to go,” he says. “I have a house call tonight. But go ahead and make yourself at home.”
Alastor stands in the living room beside Evie, a faint circular sigil visible on the floor beneath his feet. Blaze continues, “I put down a sigil so you can stay here while I’m away.”
A view of the inside of Blaze’s refrigerator shows a top row stocked with tofu containers, a soup in a reusable container, an almond milk carton featuring an almond with cow spots and udders, and other containers. The second row shows various food items glowing translucent blue. Blaze says, “Help yourself to the food in the fridge. The bottom shelf’s all spirit ready. The rest is for the living.”
An old-fashioned CRT TV with antennas is shown. Blaze says, “Feel free to use the TV. But watch the volume.”
As Blaze checks off items on his fingers, Alastor listens with a skeptical expression. Blaze says, “No stomping or throwing things or making prank calls. Don’t play with the light switches. And don’t answer the door for anyone!”
An exterior view shows Blaze’s historic mid-rise apartment building at sunset. He says, “I’ll be back by sunrise!”
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.
Alas, our Judd scene has ended. But if you want more, I did a slightly spicy Judd minicomic for the Secret Gallery tier on Patreon! (And Blaze is there too!) Pledge and see his very difficult exorcism here.
We had a tiny update to the credits sheet! If you’re a new patron (and there were many since the last credits update), don’t forget to add your name and pet Otto!
As mentioned at the last update, the next episode will go up in January! I’m in graphic novel deadline hell for the next several weeks, so you might not hear or see much from me till December 20 or so. (Or conversely, you might see me panic-posting about geese at an unusually high rate, depending on how my stress manifests.) But December IS a Sketch month on Patreon, so if you’re a patron, you’ll see my usual flurry of posts toward the end of the month!
My graphic novel deadlines don’t end in December, but I’ll at least have a little break while my thumbnails are with the editor. And since I did the dumb thing so many of us do and was way too much of a perfectionist for the first 95 pages of thumbnails (they’re basically tiny pencils), my next deadline should be leisurely by comparison. 1/3 of the pencils are already done! 😀 (well, pending edits)
The next ITS episode will probably post on 1/14, but you can always subscribe to email updates so you’ll find out no matter what day the episode goes live. If I don’t talk to y’all again till then, I’m wishing you happy holidays and a good start to 2026! (ouch that number)
If you’re looking for something else to read while waiting for the next ITS episode, check out my other webcomic, Demon of the Underground! You can catch up on 300+ pages right now! And new, previously patrons-only pages are scheduled to start releasing in January! It’s been a really long time since I’ve posted new public DOTU pages, but the full remainder of chapter 4 (minus the nsfw bits) will go public starting next year! If things go well, we might also continue with public chapter 5 pages. (I also hope to get out the next patrons-only scene while waiting for editor comments on my GN!)
Be warned, it’s a very old webcomic, which means you’ll see my very old art. But I’ve been told it’s a fun read, lol. (And there’s a ferret!)
Still Judd. Did I mention I’m in GN deadline hell? Please, Judd, exorcise these deadlines from my schedule. (Vote!)
