Outlines

Note-  The outlines may not be entirely accurate.  I take the outlines as a structural guide and although I follow the outlines for the basics I often change details.  However I did attempt to change events that happened in already written chapters to reflect how they were written.

Alan Smoke three issue outline

Issue 1- We are introduced to Alan Brook, a somewhat ordinary boy who has recently been introduced to a secret world of extraordinary circumstances. Through an encounter with the BLACK BOOK a tome of urban legend which grants wishes in tragic ways, Alan has acquired the power of a demon with great power. No longer requiring sleep Alan has begun to explore his new found power during the night time and has met up with a fellow demon Alice who introduces him to his powers. However Alice, through almost killing a druggie, brings up the point that as a demon normal moral values that he would be familiar with aren't as easily transferred.

Daytime comes. Alan, bored with the bus-ride, shifts his eyes to demonic form in order to witness the parade of extraordinary activity. However he encounters a warlock on the bus, a being that Alice has warned about by Alice that habitually hunt demons. He is able to “turn off” his power before he is noticed. Later another boy is introduced who has been in contact with a book. This is the WHITE BOOK a sister book to the BLACK BOOK and through which this boy, Art Howard, is starting to warp his world, the world of bullied and beaten down world, into a world where he can triumph. After much experimenting (And failure) Art is able to enchant a key-chain of his into a familiar, a friend with which he has longed for for some time. Suddenly bullies come and take away his familiar Eden. Feeling pressured Art activates a spell which invokes a demon that attacks the bullies. Alan arrives in time to stop the demon, but not before the demon laughs at Alan's action and asks him if he really knows what being a demon entails. Art and Alan enter homeroom in the same room and feel some dramatic tension between them, hinting at future conflict to come.

Issue two

Alan tosses and turns in his bed. The viewer is shown a visual of his dream, running across a road in the milky way and being chased at first but then running purposefully, proudly. One by one the stars blink out one after another and it gets darker and darker, the previous majesty of the scene being engulfed by encroaching darkness. However Alan sees a light in the distance and reaches for it even as dark shadows engulf his body. The light asks Alan “What is your name” and before Alan responds he is startled awake by Alice at the foot of his bed. She says “Prophetic dreams, how curious.” Alan, still in shock, tries to insult Alice due to her role in almost killing the druggy from Issue two. Alice only laughs saying “Newling, this world is so much more complex than the world you know.” Alan asks how the world could have “changed” and Alice only answers that “Alas, you are no longer human. Different responsibilities arise.” And before leaving Alan asks Alice what her name is. She responds with the name “Alice” in her words “Not because it's a name that suits me, but because it was a name given to me. Alice disappears before Alan can turn into Smoke and go after her.

Looking for Alice as Smoke he finds himself in the middle of a poorly lit suburban street with a big door in the middle. There is a man wearing 19^th century garb smoking a piper who asks Smoke “Hello boy, destination please?” Alan is about to ask the strange man a question when suddenly the sun begins to rise over the horizon and Alan realizes that he has to get home. Before he leaves the man cryptically explains “This is a door to your fears. This is a door to your dreams. Do you see the light calling your name?” Alan is distraught but knows that he has to go to school.

Meanwhile Art Howard has arrived at school early. It is the boy's soccer team's early morning practice. There is to be a game later that day and Art is sitting on a bench reading the White book looking for good spells to use against them. It is shown that the bullies who have gone after him in chapter 1 are apart of the practice and it is implied that many of the other kids have done wrong by him as well. Eden asks Art, a newling to the world and embedded with only a limited understanding of it, what it means to have revenge and what it means to hate. Art isn't able to adequately explain, only to say that the people he is targeting are bad men. Eden then becomes enthusiastic in the prospect of hurting them and suggests all sorts of gruesome punishments while Art calms her down claiming “I'll only hurt what they owe. Later that night Alan arrives with some friends to the game to the game and suddenly hears an explosion. He hears Alice whispering in his ear “Open your eyes” and he turns his demonic senses on sensing the pretense of demons. He separates his demon-self from his body leaving his human form in a trance and investigates where the explosion came from,the locker room. He sees Art Howard there, surrounding by a warlock aura which strikes feel into him just as the experience with the girl from chapter one did. Chains are seen in Art's hand as he had lined the room with magic in order to beat certain players senseless in retaliation though to a normal person it would appear to be a bomb. The two's eyes meet in rage. The scene changes to everyone having left the bleachers including human Alan. The girl from chapter 1 watches the scene, talking into her glowing hand recounting “A new mage has appeared, power levels are being analyzed as well as type warlock, witch, or arcane” The girl, named Lara, is approached by Alice. Lara is initially hostile but they exchange information, Lara that there is a new mage present and Alice that there is a new demon present, a powerful one. Lara threatens Alice, citing her “malevolence” while Alice simply laughs and flies off, quipping “And just how many have you killed?”

Issue 3

Alan goes off on a monologue recounting his past, his happiness as a human. He then says that his past is “meaningless” and faces the giant door. However when he passes through he is not killed. The door had revealed who he was but despite all the faults of his own the door showed him Alan survived due to his own willingness to live despite whatever happens and whoever he was or would be become. He attacks the doorkeeper in revenge for those who were killed. The doorkeeper is infinitely surprised, calling Alan dangerous.

Art himself is starting to prepare to hunt Smoke, unaware of his human identity. Lara appears to him which shocks him since his room is magically barricaded. She points out an error in his spell and pets the little angel key-chain girl/Eden. Through skill she helps Art with a couple things until Art asks her why she is helping him. Lana answers with some lore about Warlocks, Witches, and Arcanes and reveals that there are so few magic users that everyone of them deserves to survive to balance the world. When Art asks what they are balancing against Lana responds “Demons are more dangerous than even you understand.”

While this is happening Alan in Smoke form is preparing as well sparing with Alice. Alice reveals that a warlock is hunting him and that he has to push his skills to the limits. Striking each other at high speeds it is revealed that Smoke's real power comes from his emotions, with certain degrees of anguish, pain or even admiration or positive emotions strengthening the shadow creatures he uses to attack his opponents. However when it comes to fight Art Alan sees art from the first and refuses to fight someone who doesn't loo like an enemy. Later Art looks at the sun-rise and ponders the blood he has on his hands.

Outline chapters 4-6

Chapter 4

Art Howard walks though the school. Everyone around him is chattering in feel, whispering. Everyone wants to know who did it and everyone has images of a big, tough boy or man and all sorts of embellishments. So scared, even the soccer players personally attacked have different stories on who attacked them. A bully tries to push art aside only for his demonic servant to come out and stop him at Art's command. The boy runs in fear, not knowing what he had experienced but knowing that Art was the cause. Art, talking to Macabre, wonders if he does the right thing. Macabre however goes on a rant on how joyful a taste fear it is, the control of it. How it is like controlling the thoughts of others through violence and watching them cower. Art nods that this is what he had wanted but, seeing that everyone's unhappiness is making him unhappy himself he lets Macabre go free. He meets Lana in his homeroom which suddenly slows down until everyone has stopped except him and Lana/watchgirl discuss his future. Art agrees to be Lana's apprentice and Lana finishes her talk with him which had been left open ended in chapter 3 what with what class of magic user Art was. She dubs him an “Witch” stating that his abilities are focused not in the abilities of demons nor even raw spiritual energy, but in great sight in the world of magic and knowledge that make him favor more indirect and slow yet incredibly power methods of accomplishing his means. As they speak Art's White Book starts to vanish and Art grabs for it in vain. As Lana explains, the books are only a gateway into the mystical realm of mages and demons rather than a crutch, and that he will grow stronger than the book could ever make him alone. Time resumes and Lana suddenly vanishes with it. The teacher resumes talking and Art reassures his fairy that the “shadow creature” is gone. As the teacher drones Art wonders where life will take him next. He looks towards where Alan usually sits and finds that desk empty.

It is revealed that Alan went Smoke for the day and left his human behind, “sick” while he went to look around. He's troubled by what he saw in the door in chapter 3 and the doorman's taunt that the black book only gives what people wanted, and it appears that what the teenagers wanted was death. He starts to question the very source of his powers when suddenly he sees Macabre wandering around, despairing at his source of magical soul energy. In remorse he suddenly zaps a guy who has a heart attack while laughing. Alan approaches him “Why did you do that?” and Macabre, upset, simply says that he felt sad. Alan, enraged that “Sadness gives you any right to kill” attacks Macabre however he is quickly outmatched by macabre tricks and sly ways to trap and confuse Alan with strategy. Just as Macabre contemplates killing Alan too Savagery comes howling all the way pummeling his old foe. Alan looks at Macabre in admiration asking for his name, to which Savagery responds with “Savagery”. Smoke lying on the ground is helped up by Savagery who shares with him his love of combat. When Alan/Smoke asks why he helped him Savagery responds that Macabre has been causing “Undue trouble for the mistress”. (Macabre flees) Alan asks what exactly he means and suddenly Mage/Floral appears, explaining that she and Savagery had sensed an urge to commit violence, but were too late. Smoke is guided to Mage's/Floral's place where they chat. Smoke realizes that his anti warlock senses have been tingling this whole time. Floral reveals that yes she is a mage “The demons and other magic users call me Floral, but my real name is Jamie” [Author's note. I felt Mage is too generic so I renamed her Floral Aaron. If you don't like the name I can find a better one, but a Mage called Mage is kind of redundant). Floral reveals herself as a “Warlock” a mage specializing in direct combat. Her mission is to attack harmful Demons and to use the energy of these to sustain her body and to make items that she sells to make a living. Savagery is a demon born out of the dying sole of her dead cat of the same name, though Savagery admits to not remembering being a cat. Savagery feeds off her soul energy in exchange for his services, but is very much her friend and lover. Alan/Smoke is deeply interested and they talk through the night of demons and magic. When Alan wakes up, smoke having returned to his body, he finds himself in a hospital due to abandoning his body for two long. His parents are glad that he has awoken. After some time Alan is released from the hospital and the chapter ends with Alan wondering what is wrong with him.

Chapter 5

Alan, afraid to skip school again like last time, goes to school and is fundamentally bored. Things that have previously interested, smokes, friends, companionship, have all disappeared. When Alice appears Alan is gratefully for her company. The two talk about Alice's background (And her name is revealed to him). Alice came into being a long time ago during the days of the early settlers. Her and other “spirits” allied with the native Americans (the Lenape). When the natives were defeated and scattered to the wind people's attitude towards the “spirits” changed and they began to be known as “demons” which Alice asserts is still accurate given what Demons do in human mythology. She had a name before that she has since forgotten, but long ago there was a song on the radio she liked, “Go ask Alice”. She felt the name suited her nicely. Since then like most demons she's been living by the moment, sadly outliving all her demon friends and even her tenuous human allies. She warns Alan that the reason he was in the hospital and lost health in his human form is due to Demons needing human soul pieces to survive. Much soul energy is emanated from a human naturally, making Demons bottom feeders, but the notion of calling upon demons for tasks allows a demon permission to take a large amount of soul energy. Demons often fight each other among soul energy sources and humans that see demons often kill those who are malicious. In short, Alan's demon form is feeding upon his human form, but he could prevent that by cutting ties with his demonic form and staying human forever. However he could also transfer his consciousness to Smoke personally, remaining a demon for all time. Macabre enters the fray, anxious to get revenge on Art Howard by causing him “bad luck”. Eventually Alan notices him, but first many of his friends express their concerns for his health and wish him well. Alan reminisces on the good times and how much life has meant to him. Then he thinks of becoming Smoke and suddenly he remarks on how boring life has been in contrast with becoming a 'super hero”. Reminicing on the nights flying and the amazing world of which he has only touched the surface. He then notices Macabre and engages him in a fight behind the seemingly unknowing Art Howard who just as the two demons prove themselves evenly matched art suddenly says “Gotcha” and a cage closes around Macabre, revealing that Art had merely been biding his time while casting a spell. Eden also rejoices. Alan and Art talk for the first time, at first tentative, but then semi friendly as art talks about how he regrets attacking him. We hear a bit of what Art has been doing, training to be a witch but still feeling no regret about what he did. “From now on, I don't think I'll stay quiet anymore” We see a dark aura around Art as he leaves the scene, but it remains unexplained. Alan in the meantime realizes that he's been switching in and out of demonic vision uncontrollably, seeing the hearts of people and being hungry for them, satiating. Simply by standing next to someone however he is able to be satiated and his demon vision goes under control.

Chapter 6

Alan has turned into smoke at the bus stop, vanishing to all involved, and flies to the park for some fresh air. He encounters a girl who starts giving him cryptic advice involving his condition. Angry and asking how the girl knows the girl reveals that she has bright white eyes and is holding the Black Book. Alan's eyes open in shock as he realizes that he is now speaking with the living epitomoe of the BLACK BOOK speaking to him The two speak of the nature of the books in general and the afterlife, the Book itself revealing that it is not “evil” as in a being that grants desires which in themselves can be misguided. The girl herself had wished to be smart, and the black book had imparted knowledge into her, allowing her to be a medium for it and others. The BLACK BOOK imparts a hypothetical question, should the girl keep her knowledge and her power. Does she want it now that she has it, knowing that it will forever set her apart and ostracize her. The BLACK BOOK convinces Alan that to be different and special often means being alone, and can he handle that. Alan realizes that all this time that has been what he's truly wanted. Alan flies into the distance as Smoke, leaving his family behind.

There is an epilogue as several months later following Art Howard. Alan has disappeared and no one knows where he has gone, though Art thinks he knows, that Alan has been devoured by his demonic half. He continues using magic for his own devices, getting revenge on those who are spiteful towards others and inspiring much fear as a person not to messed with, though no one knows why. We cut to Savagery and Mage/Floral on a demon hunt only to find Alan fighting demons. He defeats them with ease and it shown that he is protecting a young girl who surprisingly can see all that's going on. The girl looks up to Smoke and Smoke gives a comforting pat. The little girl asks “I'm not going to disappear like he did right?” Pointing to Alan's image on a milk carton she had been drinking. Floral observing says “Indeed, he is back.”