Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 3
Blaze and Judd stand at a desk in the police station. Blaze’s coat and gloves are in a clear plastic bag on the desk. Beside it is his torn, stained grocery bag with wilted lettuce hanging out from the top but no baguette. An employee behind the desk slouches apathetically and says, “Here are your belongings.”
Blaze looks down at his grocery bag with dismay and says, “They took my baguette…?”
A view shows distant Chicago high rises at night. From off panel, Judd says, “I assumed you were at the church to seek out “spirits.”
Judd and Blaze walk side by side along a city street cast in bright orange from numerous streetlights. Judd wears a black jacket and Blaze is dressed in his long black coat and teal scarf, looking a little upset. A fat black cat with orange eyes and small ears is slightly visible behind a row of shrubs. Judd says, “So when Sister Constance told me the police took you in, I knew it had to be a misunderstanding.”
Blaze’s eyes shift downward, and he frowns as he thinks, “It was no misunderstanding. They knew I wasn’t guilty. They were on a power trip.”
Judd looks up ahead as he says, “Chief Franklin was my parishioner before I transferred to the Order of the Holy Mark. I had a feeling he’d understand once I explained.”
He glances toward Blaze and says, “Perhaps it was improper for me to pull strings… but it also seems improper that they’d detain you at all.”
Blaze bites his lip. He hesitates, then says, “Thank you for that.”
With raised eyebrows, Judd replies, “You’re welcome. But maybe next time, don’t touch the murder weapon.”
Blaze glances at Judd with a sheepish frown, and they continue walking.
Their silhouettes are shown side by side as they exit the brightly lit streets and walk down a dim alley with weathered brick siding, fire escapes, and garbage bins.
Their legs are shown as they continue walking, Judd wearing neat black slacks and dress shoes and Blaze in slim-fitting pants and sneakers, the tattered edges of his long coat visible.
Judd says, “Blaze…” His face serious, he asks, “Why did you rush into that basement alone? What if you’d run into the murderer?”
Blaze replies, “I had my lighter on me. I would have called backup.”
A wide shot shows them approaching the opposite end of the alley, with a brightly lit street up ahead and the nearly inscrutable silhouette of a fat black cat behind them. Judd says, “You could have been ambushed.” Blaze looks over his shoulder with irritation and replies, “But I wasn’t! I’m fine!”
Judd pauses. With a disapproving frown, he says, “What you did was reckless.”
As they walk side by side, Judd says, “I don’t understand why you’re always so eager to risk your neck.”
With an impish smile, Blaze replies, “So I like near-death experiences. Don’t kinkshame me.” Judd frowns tightly in response but says nothing.
His eyes downcast, Judd looks away and says, “… I just wish you’d be more careful.”
Judd says, “You’re not invincible.” The view pans to Blaze, who glances at Judd behind him with furrowed eyebrows.
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.
Did I not promise all of you like 6 months ago that we would find out the fate of Blaze’s groceries?
A moment of silence for baguette. 🙏
Again, I’ve been looking forward to this episode forever. I got to draw Blaze and Judd WALKING TOGETHER! I’m so excited. And not only are they walking, they’re walking in CHICAGO. (I’m easily pleased, okay?) On that note, we had some snow this past week, but it was supposed to be a big huge snowstorm and turned out pretty wimpy. Give me real snow! And less tornadoes. You can take all the tornadoes back.
In more exciting news…
We just passed a big milestone! 500+ paid/free patrons on Patreon!! I really didn’t expect the free memberships to climb so fast. Thank you so much to everyone who joined free to keep updated or pledged with $$ to keep the comic running!
And if we can get half or more of those 500 to a paid pledge, it’d go such a long way to helping me through chapter 2! The past three months have been brutal in terms of health and life expenses, and I appreciate every single person who pledges any amount. Really, the only thing I want in life is to be able to keep doing the work I’m doing, but it’s gotten so much harder to fight for with rising costs and a comic like ITS that’s labor intensive and has to be told fast or else I’ll die before I finish it. 😆
But this milestone means a ton to me and gives me a lot of hope!! Y’all are awesome.
And don’t forget, if you join with a paid pledge, you get to pet Otto! I already have like 8 more names to add to the credits sheet. The image will be updated after 2 more episodes.
In more exciting news, Into the Smoke: The Clybourn House finished posting to Secret Gallery patrons! If you were waiting for it to be complete before reading, now’s your time. The story will also launch to all patrons in the very near future! Details coming soon…
We continue to have an oddly good month on Top Webcomics. Big thanks to everyone who’s voted! You can vote here once per day per device/internet connection, and the current reward for voting is a teen Blaze sketch! Votes help new people find the comic. (Listen, I’m a whore for anything and everything that helps new people find the comic! All efforts welcome – and that includes any word of mouth from y’all!)
I wanted to rec this one a long time ago, but alas, my hiatus. -_- Anyway, at long last, I’m recommending Pathways: Chronicles of Tuvana by Elaine Tipping!
An ancient empire awakens, bent on reclaiming the world they once dominated. A small group of people, drawn together by a common cause, are determined to stop them. However, they face more than threats from the outside…. A queer, high fantasy adventure (with a dash of sci fi), friendship, and romance.
There’s something so soothing about Elaine’s comics. I grew up loving high fantasy and kind of drifted away when a lot of mainstream high fantasy turned super grimdark, but Pathways and Elaine’s work in general are basically the opposite of that. There’s still a big plot and high stakes and deep character relationships, but it’s all just the best stuff I love about the genre. I automatically loved and rooted for the characters (and the dragons!!), and I’ll admit I’m only a few hundred pages in (there’s over 700!), but it’s a really fun read and I can’t wait for that dreaded day when I get to say “Aw, I caught up!” So anyway, this rec should keep you occupied for a good long time. 🙂 AND volume 1 was recently published by Dark Horse, so you can buy it in print!
New Episodes Every Other Wednesday
