Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 29
All is still in the homeowner’s kitchen. A view of the closed basement door is shown.
A wide view of the seemingly deserted kitchen is shown.
The kitchen is visible from the back side of the counter island, with the fridge, stove, and microwave in the background. An untouched salad bowl sits on top of the counter island.
The homeowner peeks out from behind the counter island, wide-eyed.
The basement door swings open, and Blaze appears in the doorway. His hair is tangled, his shirt is torn and hanging off his shoulders, and he’s only wearing one shoe. He’s carrying his shoe, coat, and scarf.
The view zooms in on Blaze. His head is hanging down, and he’s shaking.
Blaze looks up, revealing a haunted expression on his gaunt face. Dark circles appear under his pinned, unfocused eyes, and his cheek is scuffed. He’s still shaking.
The homeowner stares at Blaze with a stunned, fearful expression.
Blaze stumbles across the kitchen as the homeowner crawls behind the counter in the same direction.
Blaze braces himself in the front doorway, where the night sky is visible ahead. His shoulders are hunched, and the back of his shirt has large gashes torn across it.
Blaze glances over his shoulder at the homeowner. With the same haunted expression still on his face, he says, “Your house isn’t haunted. You just need an electrician.”
The homeowner kneels behind the kitchen counter, staring out the open door as Blaze disappears into the darkness.
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.
And thus ends my favorite scene. 🥲
Webcomics are so spaced out. If you want to get a better reading experience (or just refresh your memory), I recommend rereading this chunk of story all in one go – starting from chapter 2, episode 21.
And don’t forget – there’s an extended version of episode 28 available to the Bonus Tier on Patreon!
You can now download chapter 2, episodes 17-20 for free on itch.io! Full chapter downloads are paid, but these mini installments of 3-4 episodes are all free. And if you follow me/the project on Itch, you’ll get alerted to future installments.
Apparently I had a Cloudflare issue on my website since June (ugh, it’s always Cloudflare), which prevented scheduled posts and background tasks from happening and also caused a HUGE hit to my SEO. (Thanks for the heads-up on that, Adam!) The good news is it’s fixed now.
If you subscribe to my Patreon or newsletter, you got the Monthly Roundup last July as always. But if you were checking in on the website itself, the post didn’t go live until a couple days ago when I saw the scheduled post hadn’t gone out. But it’s up now, and you can read July’s Monthly Roundup here!
There was some fun stuff this past roundup that’s worth checking out – including a new minicomic that’s been making the rounds, and my 1000th original Patreon sketch!!
August’s roundup will go up tomorrow or the day after.
As for the SEO issue, that means that my main website is currently ranking a LOT lower in search results than it should, which makes it harder for readers to find. So, if any of you have a bit of spare energy this week to make a post on your social media/Discord/forum of choice that includes a rec and link to https://intothesmokecomic.com, it’d be greatly appreciated!! More external linking, and more traffic, should help us recover from the hit a little faster.
There’s a slight chance I’ll post the next episode on September 2, but in all likelihood it’ll be bumped to October 7 due to my graphic novel schedule and the fact that I’m out of ITS thumbnails/pencils and need to draw the next scenes, along with having to take some extra work to cover funds.
Big thanks to everyone who pledged to get the extended version of episode 28! It was a HUGE help for July, but unfortunately the increase didn’t carry into August, so right now the Patreon isn’t at a place where I can push through a heavy schedule. If you’re able to pledge and support the continuation of the comic, it really helps! You can pledge and support the comic here!
The best way to find out when the next episode will go live is to follow me somewhere. Check out the sidebar (desktop) or the bottom bar (mobile) for all my links! I’m most active on Tumblr, then Bluesky. Patreon also gets my important updates.
With the next episode, we’re also due for an update to the Patreon Credits Sheet (a.k.a. Petting Otto)! So if you’re a new patron and you haven’t already done it, add your name here by the end of August!
No time for a new incentive this month, but voting on Top Webcomics is still hugely appreciated, especially right now when I’m swamped with graphic novel work and don’t have as much time for self-promo. Voting helps new readers find the comic. You can vote for Into the Smoke here, up to once per day!
