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.
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.