Blood & Smoke is an ongoing black and white webcomic created by Paul Mitzkowski. It is heavily inspired by noir and uses a number of the tropes associated with the genre.
The story takes place in the fictional Newshade City, which is a corrupt town full of dirty cops and even dirtier politicians. It is about dedicated police detective John Carson, along with his partner Tom Hardigan, and his quest to, both, catch a brutal Serial Killer called The Heart Ripper and save Newshade from itself. Meanwhile, Carson's son John Carson Jr. (simply called Junior by his father) uses his skills as a hacker and amateur detective to start his own war against crime.
The comic can be read here
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Has been on hiatus since June 2017, though an announcement that the first volume was for sale was posted in January 2020.
Blood & Smoke provides examples of:
- Amateur Sleuth: Junior
- Badass Longcoat: Carson sports an overcoat which emphasizes his nature as a formidable detective.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: A murder suspect is intentionally unhelpful in this scene.
- Beggar with a Signboard: On the first page of the comic there's a person sitting on a street with a signboard.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: It is heavily implied that Junior is this. He is highly intelligent, so much so that he can build a functioning robot in the middle of class from scratch. Yet, he makes extremely poor grades in school.
- By-the-Book Cop: Carson is exceptional at following police procedure compared to most of his fellow officers.
- Calling Card: The Heart Ripper rips out hearts.
- Coat Cape: Junior regularly wears a coat in this manner.
- Dirty Cop: According to this page the police commissioner is corrupt. The commissioner proves his corruption by covering up murders.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire first two chapters cover less than a single day.
- Good Parents: Despite being extremely busy with his work, Carson tries to make as much time for his son as possible.
- Littering Is No Big Deal: Carson has no issue with discarding cigarettes wherever he pleases, whether it be in a [1] or outside somebody's home.
- Meaningful Background Event: A suspect is shown wearing and casually taking off a pair of gloves only for Carson to spot them in a trashcan a few pages later. These gloves end up proving that the suspect in question was the killer.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Junior receives one here.
- No Warrant? No Problem!: Averted. Carson is shown strictly following police procedure.
- Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Carson's partner evokes this trope during a conversation. Turns out the trope is averted as the suspect discussed isn't guilty.
- "Open!" Says Me: Hardigan kicks down a door in this scene with apparent ease.
- Teen Genius: Junior is this.
- Useless Security Camera: Averted. During the first chapter, Carson asks Hardigan to check footage from working security cameras.
