I don’t know what possessed me to make the chair that people sit in when they’re having a meeting with the boss a torture device, but I did, and that made it much harder to draw. I couldn’t figure out how to represent it without dedicating a whole panel to it, but I imagine the seat as being stuffed full of scorpions. Y’know, just to make SURE you have a bad time in the boss’ office.
Next Week: We explore a new department of Hell, Inc. Get a head start by subscribing on Patreon!
The “local cockatrices” bit instantly made B.L. Zebub my favourite character to write. He’s a conglomeration of terrible leadership traits, and thinking about how he responds to various situations is always entertaining.
As of posting time, I’m on my way back to Edmonton after Emerald City Comic Con. I’m writing this post in advance, so I don’t actually know how the con went, but I’m going to assume it was probably pretty good and I met a bunch of cool people, and some of them are reading this right now. Hello, cool people!
Next Week: It’s something of a pattern. Read it a week early by becoming a Patreon supporter!
Welcome to the first normal week of Hell, Inc.! By “normal” I mean “one update.” The standard format going forward will be one new strip per week, on Mondays. I could, of course, be persuaded to increase that with liberal support of the Patreon. Other kinds of super helpful support include using those share buttons right above and below this post! The best promotion a comic can get is from people who are reading and enjoying it.
I make a lot of jokes to friends that the things I Google in the course of making comics probably has me on some kind of government watch list, but at this point, EVERYONE’s search history probably has them on a watch list that’s so bloated it’s unusable.
For those of you who might be at the Emerald City Comic Con from March 1st-4th, drop by the artist alley and say hi! I’ll be at table B10 with my Ape Court collaborator, Daniel Schneider. There’s only a 75% we’ll be talking about wrestling.
Next Week: The boss’ office. Read it a week early at the $1 level on Patreon!
The last panel of this strip is essentially the entire premise of Hell, Inc. encapsulated into one image. Also, as someone who dislikes confrontation, yell-y bosses are nightmarish. As someone who mostly does freelance or wholly self-directed work, bosses in general have become a bizarre idea. As a freelancer, nobody is REALLY in charge, we’re just hoping something gets done so they don’t get yelled at by THEIR boss and I get paid. It’s kind of a cooperative thing, unless you’re freelancing for shitty clients who THINK they’re your boss.
Next Week: We settle into the regular schedule, and Doug settles into the Ouchy Chair. Only one half of that sentence makes sense at this point, but you can figure out the other half early by becoming a supporter on Patreon!
Believe it or not, the most difficult part of this entire strip was getting the tail on Steve’s balloon in the big middle panel to look like it was one continuous object.
This is a variation of a scene from the first issue of the black and white Hell, Inc. comic, which involved fork-stabbing and a lot of blood. If you want copies of the black and white Hell, Inc. books, I’m running a promotion on my Patreon. Once there are 20 backers, everyone gets books at no extra cost. You can give as little as a buck, or as much as… I dunno, more than that? Check it out.
Tomorrow: It’s Friday, and everyone wants one thing on Friday – their boss to be FURIOUS.
The schedule function works on this site, unlike the HEAT site, and oh man is that wonderful. I’m uploading tomorrow’s comic today! Or, from your perspective, today’s comic yesterday! We’re on some time travel shit right here.
In the original Hell, Inc. comic, we see the office building as a giant stalagmite, and I wanted to maintain that visual. This strip turned a two panel transition into an entire scene, which has been one of the fun parts of doing Hell, Inc. as a strip. Drawing a comic as pages in a book results in different decisions being made in regard to the flow of reading, whereas each strip is more of a distinct unit.
Also, the comic has only been up for a couple of days and we’ve already picked up some patrons. Thanks so much!
Tomorrow: The Office! No, not that The Office. I can’t afford that kind of licensing.
“Beelzebus” was a joke I didn’t think of until I was drawing the transit sign, then promptly botched by spelling it wrong. Whoops! This is the first strip where I really had to figure out the palette for the comic, since the first strip mostly took place in the dark. For those interested in such things, most of the colour choices are “if you’re not sure what colour to use, make it red.”
Tomorrow: Getting to the office is half the battle. The other half is red and blue lasers. Wait, no, that’s GI Joe…
It’s the first Hell, Inc. strip!
For the first week of this exciting new adventure in webcomickery, I’m going to be posting a new strip every day. Then, starting next week, we’ll move to the usual schedule of one new comic a week, on Mondays.
Doug’s alarm clock is based on mine, although I keep mine out of my reach so that I can’t keep hitting snooze. Because otherwise… that snooze button is being abused and I’m never getting anywhere on time EVER.
Tomorrow: Time to greet the day!