Character: Sara

Speculate Wildly

You know what’s a great way to make a strip take a long time to draw? Make each panel have multiple characters, and only one of them is a main character that I’ve developed muscle memory for!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week, and I’ve made yet another guest appearance! This time, we talked about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury! We talk about the Prologue, which is an insane rarity – a first episode that is also the best episode of the series. You also get to hear me say some absurd Gundam character names, which I could have done for MUCH longer. You can also hear me talk about a bunch of other shows, like Better Call Saul, Newsradio, Workaholics, and Ugly Americans!

You can also head over to Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below, where voting can help draw new readers to Hell, Inc.! It’s early in the month, and votes count for more because the rankings reset.

Next Week: Back to the office, where things are very normal. Read it early on Patreon!

Reasonable Timeline

The Patreon preview for this strip was about how I treat coming up with background character designs like jazz. In other news, I have finished rebuilding the book design file for the Big Hell, Inc. Book that I’ve mentioned a bunch of times. It took several weeks, and involved recolouring/lettering about 30 strips as well as the front and back covers, and redoing all of the page layout. But now it’s done! It also has a real title, Hell, Inc. Afterlife-time Employment. I don’t know when it’s coming out yet, though. It might get a publisher? Who knows! But you’re reading this, so you’ll definitely hear about it when I have updates.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman is Employee of the Week! He is co-host of The Simpsons Show, the only podcast about The Simpsons, and also the only podcast about The Simpsons that I have done a guest spot on. You should also check out his website to learn about his new novel releases. He writes that good good scary shit. Indie artists need your support now more than ever, so check out his stuff!

You can also head over to Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below, where voting can help draw new readers to Hell, Inc.!

Next Week: We learn about death. Statistically. Read it early on Patreon!

Embarrassing

The Patreon preview for this strip is mostly about the original joke idea for this strip, which got cut. Patrons will be the first to know when I eventually recycle it later.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! I deeply appreciate your support on Patreon, which is a predictable source of income that, should it grow enough, can reduce or replace the need to freelance. That means more of the stuff you like, and less trying to figure out how to get work as every industry funnels all of its money into the C-suite. You also get benefits like early comics, pages from my graphic novels as I work on them, and other stuff like my video game, or Big Robots, Big Feelings, which is the tabletop game I just dropped!

You can help out Hell, Inc. for free by clicking the banner below to vote on Top Webcomics, which you can do daily! It helps make the comic more visible to webcomic readers.

Next Week: Orientation! Read it early on Patreon!

Brainstorming for Evil

Speaking of brainstorming, I always hated that thing in school where you would have to show a mind map or something as proof of your ideation process. My process doesn’t involve writing a bunch of ideas and then picking one, it’s much more straightforward. What do I want to do here? Okay, I have an idea, now let’s turn that into something that works. Sometimes that involves having a bunch of ideas and throwing them out, but it’s much more organic than the brainstorming processes we had to do in school. I understand why they do that, because it’s otherwise impossible for the teacher to tell if the kids can actually think through their process. It was just really annoying for me, who would do the project and then make the mind map or whatever afterward.

This strip’s patreon preview is kind of about that, in the sense that I talked through the process of coming up with the joke.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Caitlin is Employee of the Week! Patreon is a predictable form of income, which I appreciate, because freelancing and doing cons creates a wild income rollercoaster! If everyone who reads the comic chipped in a dollar a month, I’d be able to stop panicking about picking up freelance work and do more of my own stuff, which would be ideal.

You can help out Hell, Inc. for free by clicking the banner below to vote on Top Webcomics, which you can do daily! It helps make the comic more visible to webcomic readers.

Next Week: Sara continues to search for the conference room. Read it early on Patreon!

Helpful Directions

The Patreon preview for this strip is about the process of choosing the faces to draw in the Hellevator. It’s also briefly about how I spent a while agonizing about what to name the long-necked guy and then didn’t have anyone in the comic say it out loud, so you still don’t know what it is unless you read the Patreon post.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Trash the Stampede  can be found on the internet at The Word Eater. Patreon is also a predictable source of income, which helps calm the increasingly rough waters of freelancing, so I very much appreciate the people who support me on it!

In other news, social media’s slow collapse strengthens the case for Top Webcomics. The Old Internet becomes the New Internet! Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Wrong meeting. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

 

The Right Motivation

It’s always important to figure out how to motivate people around you. Sara probably should have figured out by now that “not working” is strongest motivation available in this office, but we’ve already seen that she’s not picking up this “Hell” thing as fast as she might hope. In the Patreon preview for this strip, I talk about how I spent a lot of time thinking about what to name the green long-necked guy, only to then not actually use his name in the dialogue. It now occurs to me that I STILL haven’t named the woman in red.

COMING SOON TO PATREON, a new one-page tabletop RPG that I’ve written and illustrated! It’s called BIG ROBOTS, BIG FEELINGS! It’s a rules-lite game about being a teen mecha pilot that must battle enemy mechs and your own emotions. I still need to make a logo, and character sheets, but the main rules are written. If people like it, I might expand it into a ‘zine like the Hell, Inc. RPG or BURGERPunk.

In other news, social media’s slow collapse strengthens the case for Top Webcomics. The Old Internet becomes the New Internet! Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Helen gets an unexpected phone call. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

 

I’m Very Good

The Patreon preview for this strip is mostly about the extremely annoying week I’ve had. It’s less insightful to the comics making process, but pretty insightful to being a person who would rather be drawing than dealing with Life Being Expensive.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Trash the Stampede  can be found on the internet at The Word Eater. Now all I can think about is that old computer game Number Munchers, but with words. Maybe I should make that? I have made a video game, Space Jerks, and Patreon patrons got to download it well before anyone else! Patreon is also a predictable source of income, which helps calm the increasingly rough waters of freelancing.

In other news, social media’s slow collapse strengthens the case for Top Webcomics. The Old Internet becomes the New Internet! Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Sara unlocks the secret code for helpfulness. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

Keeping Janitorial Busy

Early update! It’s because the site needs updating that I need somebody else to do, and have to get up much earlier than normal to teach a comic class on Monday morning. I figure earlier is preferable to posting it mid-afternoon when I get home.

Thank you to everyone who supported Rent-A-Thug – La Cosa Glasnostra on Kickstarter! Now I can stop yelling about it and instead start getting it ready to send out to folks!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Leonardo is Employee of the Week! They supported the creation of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, and helped make that book possible!  Supporters at the $5/up tiers get to read my graphic novels as I create them, and get a copy at the end! More backers = faster progress, because I currently spend a lot of time freelancing to make money, which is important for being alive. You can also help me out for as little as $1 a month, because that really adds up when enough people get involved.

You can help out Hell, Inc. for free by clicking the banner below to vote on Top Webcomics, which you can do daily! It helps make the comic more visible to webcomic readers.

Next Week: Doug is extremely helpful. Read it early on Patreon!

Hiring Judgement

The Patreon preview for this strip talks about the writing utility of B.L. Zebub making everything about himself.

In other news, the Kickstarter for Rent-A-Thug – La Cosa Nostra is almost over (it ends at 5 PM MT on Tuesday, June 9th)! I’m very tired. If you haven’t backed it yet, you should go do that, because I want people to read the things I make. Click on the cover below to go to the Kickstarter page!

Next Week: Cerberus Update, which sounds like a segment on Satanday Night Live. Read it early on Patreon!