Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 18
Judd continues his vesting prayers as he kisses a purple stole, then loops it through his cincture and pulls the cord tight. His Latin translated prayers are partially obscured behind the panels, showing the partial passage, “Lord, restore the stole of immortality, which I lost through…” Additional partial passages read, “And although I am unworthy to approach, “ and “May I gain eternal joy.”
The back of Judd’s final vestment is shown: a purple chasuble with an intricate gold pattern. He concludes his prayer with, “…so as to obtain your grace. Amen.”
A small inset panel shows a high ceiling of rafters and wood beams that are broken, allowing a beam of sunlight to enter a dark room. The view zooms out to show Judd, fully vested, walking through the nave of an abandoned cathedral, the beam of sunlight shining ahead. An overturned pew lies in the foreground atop displaced floorboards.
Judd continues walking through the nave, a wall of intricate windows behind him.
Judd’s solemn mouth is shown as he walks.
The bottom of Judd’s robes are shown as he steps into a barely visible red circle painted on the weathered floor.
Judd kneels at the center of the eroded red circle, his hands together. He prays in ecclesiastical Latin, “In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen. Introíbo ad altáre Dei.”
Judd’s face is shown as he continues praying in Latin.
As he continues praying, a shadowy demonic silhouette forms behind him. Judd appears oblivious, his eyes closed and his hands together, deep in his lengthy prayer. Portions of the faded Latin passages read, “quia peccávi nimis cogitatióne, verbo, et ópere,” and “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa.”
Judd’s face is shown in profile, continuing his prayer, as shadowy black fingers stretch out past his chin.
Judd’s eyes widen with shock as the clawed fingers wrap around his face, holding him by the chin and neck. Behind him, the demon bares sharp red teeth and snarls, “Such impure thoughts, Father.”
Judd squeezes his eyes shut as the demon scratches its claw across his temple. The demon continues, “I could feast on them for days.”
The demon’s long, blood-red tongue emerges from between its red teeth as Judd clasps his hands together in prayer. With a broad grin, the demon says, “What an inconvenient time to be without your holy water…”
Fade to black.
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.
Ahh, the perfect turn of events for this lovely Halloween season…
Last episode, I let y’all know the situation with my webcomics and why I need a bit more support to be able to continue working on them. You can read all the info here in this Patreon post or skip back to the previous episode, but the short version is that a contracted graphic novel is back on my plate after severe delays, meaning I’m working on it under different circumstances than originally planned, AND I won’t get my next chunk of the advance until 2028 when it’s done. And that means that whatever I do outside the graphic novel is the only income I’ll have. So if webcomics aren’t enough to carry through, I’ll need to do something else instead.
It might sound wild to think webcomics *could* be enough to get through, but we’re actually so close, which is why giving this up and trying to seek out other work is also a gamble.
Total Goal: Patreon earnings +$750 (NOT an all-or-nothing goal)
Current Status: +$360
That means we’re EXTREMELY CLOSE to the halfway point!*
I mentioned the halfway point as an amount where I don’t have to consider giving up my comics in full – where could probably get by temporarily, posting occasional episodes when I can while also taking on extra freelance. So this is a really big milestone, and we’re so so close to hitting it.
I want to give a big huge thanks to everyone who’s brought us to this point!! And I also want to thank everyone who dropped one-time tips in my Ko-fi. I appreciate you all so much!
If you’ve been on the fence about pledging, I hope you’ll consider. You can also get a rundown (with links) of some extras for the Lite Tier and Bonus tier in this post, and for the Secret Gallery Tier here. There’s really a lot of stuff, especially if you’re interested in my other projects too in addition to ITS.
+$15 to keep Into the Smoke running past 2025!
+$390 to keep the current schedule and Patreon extras!
