Who needs gallbladders anyway?
In this newsletter, you’ll find out about everything I released over the past 30-31 days.
Anything not labeled “Patreon” or “paid” is free and publicly available.
November 5 to December 5, 2024
A quiet month for releases, but a lot behind the scenes!
First, a personal update: You might have already heard, but I have to get my gallbladder removed. I’ve been sick on and off for the past 13 months due to undiagnosed gallstones, which were exacerbated by a food allergy and led to chronic gallbladder attacks. This is the main reason I fell behind on my ITS chapter 2 buffer while chapter 1 was posting. I can’t keep working sick. So, the gallbladder’s getting yeeted next week.
With the surgery on my schedule, I’ve had to cancel a lot of the ITS hiatus extras I had planned. It was either that or delay chapter 2 entirely, and I’m trying to avoid that.
I’m fortunate to not be in need of mutual aid for healthcare expenses at this point. But I do depend on my art to pay the bills, and things are tight. I owe a great many thanks to all the patrons who are supporting my comics through ITS’s hiatus—a time where I’m doing just as much work but am less able to share it. If you can pledge on Patreon to help keep my webcomics afloat, it’d make a huge difference!
If that’s not within your means, I’d love it if you can share my work with people who you think would enjoy it! If you’re on social media, here are some posts you can boost: [Tumblr][Bluesky 1][Bluesky 2]
And now, on to last month’s releases!
Into the Smoke
Into the Smoke is my new free vertical-scroll webcomic, launched in May 2024. It updates every other Wednesday. “When gay medium Blaze binds himself to an evil spirit, he hopes solving the ghost’s murder will help bring him peace. But Alastor the Angel Killer has other plans…”
New Episodes This Month:
Into the Smoke chapter 1 wrapped up in October on the main site, but it only wrapped up yesterday on the Webtoon and Tapas mirrors. Here’s where you can catch up:
- Read at intothesmokecomic.com
- Read the Hiatus Schedule to see what’s coming during break (subject to change due to the aforementioned surgery)
- MIRROR SITES: Subscribe and Read on Webtoon and Tapas (censored to PG-13)
Extras:
1. We had two new Into the Smoke: The Clybourn House early-access chapters for Secret Gallery patrons! Also, we’ll have weekly updates for the remainder of the 13 chapters, instead of our previous every-other-week schedule!
The Clybourn House is an 18+ prose short story that takes place one year before Into the Smoke. Secret Gallery patrons get early access to the serialized draft. The story will release to all patrons later in 2025 after the first few episodes of ITS chapter 2 have posted. Pledge on Patreon here!
“When the inhabitants of a notorious haunted house threaten vulnerable people in Chicago, Father Judd Abraham has no choice but to team up with spirit medium Evelyn Hong and her impulsive student Blaze Laurent to clear out the site’s dark entities. But after a tragic event jeopardizes their scheduled exorcism, Blaze turns to controversial methods to negotiate a truce with the Clybourn House’s eighteen angry ghosts.”
- The Clybourn House: Chapter 2 Early Access (NSFW Warning)(Patreon)
- The Clybourn House: Chapter 3 Early Access (Patreon)
2. I learned how to use Nomad Sculpt and made a 3D reference head of Blaze! (No hair yet; that’s next on my list of things to learn.) You can see a shot of the model here.
3. A new voting incentive is up for Into the Smoke on Top Webcomics! See pencils of the first two panels of ITS chapter 2!
Demon of the Underground
Demon of the Underground is my longest-running webcomic. It’s about Pogo, a half-demon with telekinetic powers who falls into a treacherous underground world beneath Chicago. The first 300+ pages can be read for free at demonoftheunderground.com. Current pages are being released on Patreon, with tentative plans for new free pages in the future.
DOTU: Chapter 5 Pages (Patreon)
Demon of the Underground continues with Merritt’s hacking scene, and Merritt’s got some tricks up his sleeve…
- Chapter 5, Page 44 (Patreon)
- Chapter 5, Page 45 (Patreon)
Extras:
- Here’s some rough sketches of Pogo using my new 3D reference head!
Patreon Extras:
- In November’s Character Interview video, we find out everyone’s fear response! (Patreon)
- For November’s Secret Gallery post, I learned how to use Nomad Sculpt and made a reference head of Pogo! This was the first thing I made in Nomad Sculpt (the Blaze head was my second model), and the Secret Gallery post includes process shots and links to the tutorials I used.
Sneak
In November, I finished my submission for the Cartoonist Coop’s Oops All Comics zine, which is coming out next year! I can’t show it yet, but here’s a sneak:
Odds and Ends
- I finally finished that thread about original characters on Bluesky! (may contain mild spoilers)
- 2024 Self-Portrait (Bsky)
- Flamingoose [Bsky][Tumblr]
And that’s everything from this past month! See ya next time!
