Location: Zebub's Lair

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!

Regrettable Pluck

The “I can do it” to “I’ve made a huge mistake” pipeline runs fast at Hell, Inc. And also in making Hell, Inc., where I insist on drawing a library stack of personnel documents that the reader will look at for somewhere between 3 and 10 seconds. This week’s Patreon preview involves thoughts about organizing my own reference material for Hell, Inc., which is not a library stack. It is a stack of folders, about six inches tall, and many many digital folders on a hard drive. This system does not make it nearly as easy to find reference material as I would like. But actually changing that is a lot of effort, so…

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

New hire Trash the Stampede brings a fantastic Patreon username to the company, and 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 vs. The Paperwork. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

Delusions of Upward Mobility

It’s busy around the Comics Bunker (aka the corner of the living room where my art desk is) these days. I’m bouncing between a freelance illustration job with Scholastic Canada (exciting!), doing some work on the Rent-A-Thug graphic novel (which has been a very slow process), and working on the story mode for Space Jerks. I just picked up another freelance gig that will start at an undetermined time in the future, and will at some point start drawing Hell, Inc. strips again when the buffer gets thin. I’m very tired. All the time.

This comic’s Patreon preview is largely about my lack of organizational skills in terms of making myself reference materials that would save me a lot of time.

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: Sara asks the hard-hitting questions that make everyone else uncomfortable. Read it early on Patreon!

Important Shame Plans

Important Shame Plans, as opposed to unimportant shame plans. Which is, presumably, whatever B.L. Zebub is doing the rest of the time. This week’s Patreon preview talked about lettering, and the main sources I used for learning that art form.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Hell, Inc. is reader-supported – no ads, no sponsorships, just Patreon and book sales keep this thing afloat. 2023 has not been the best year for comics income, but you can help turn things around in 2024 for as little as $1 a month, which also gets you early Hell, Inc. strips, previews of other stuff I’m working on, and even commissioned art!

You can also help by telling people about Hell, Inc. Word of mouth is by far the best way to get new eyeballs on the comic, and that all starts with you, the reader! Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, or vote on Top Webcomics by clicking the link below!

Next Week: Bridget seeks allies, and an interdimensional council is involved. Read it early on Patreon!

One of THOSE Jobs

You know THOSE jobs. The ones that people hear about and flee so fast that they leave nothing but a dust-ghost in their wake. The ones that are even shittier than the baseline of your normal tasks by incalculable orders of magnitude.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Jillian Dolan, artist of Kyle the Nihilist Dinosaur, Misha, and other delightful comics, is Employee of the Week! She has access to Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, my new graphic novel, which is being serialized on Patreon as I draw it! The first 5 pages are available on Patreon for free, and the rest are unlocked by donating at the $5 and up tiers. So go do that. Another freelance gig has concluded, which means Patreon money is the only predictable money contributing to this expensive-ass “being alive” thing.

You can vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which gets more eyeballs on it as it goes further up the ranking chart. Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Sara must approach The Other Guys. Read it early on Patreon!

The Perfect Unsaid Plan

It’s a nightmare to get Cerberus pee out of a suit. An absolute nightmare. Also this is later in the day than usual because I’m an idiot and forgot what day of the week it was.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week for upgrading his Patreon pledge to read the new Hockeypocalypse graphic novel, Slashers, as I draw it! And you can, too, by pledging at the $5/month or higher levels! There are over 50 pages posted, currently, and patrons will be receiving a print copy of the book when those are ready! Very exciting stuff, because it’s a fucking awesome book so far.

Vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below daily! It helps keep Hell, Inc. visible to readers looking for new comics to check out!

Next Week: Intern is just another word for dog-wrangler, right? Read it early on Patreon!

Jazz Hands!

Jazz hands are a very effective technique when trying to distract your boss from the fact that you don’t actually have all that much usable information to give them. It really JAZZES things up, y’know? I’ll show myself out.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cindy Gauthier is Employee of the Week, and you can read her comic on Webtoon! It’s called Posthumous, and is a comic about two friends exploring space and how the things that are in space are often terrifying. Season 2 has just begun! Want to read my brand new graphic novel Hockeypocalypse: Slashers as I draw it? Support me (and by extension, Hell, Inc.) on Patreon at the $5/month or higher tier! Want me to draw some stuff for you? Only 20 or 30 bucks. Get on board, where we’re going we need comics.

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics by clicking on the banner below daily! It helps boost Hell, Inc.’s visibility to fans of other webcomics.

Next Week: B.L. Zebub has big plans, and he doesn’t need to tell you peasants about them. Read it early on Patreon!

The Good Motor Oil

I don’t know about you, but if I spit out my drink and Beetlejuice is in it, I’m not going to be happy with whoever made it.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week. You can check out the two episodes of Syndicated that I guested on to hear my talk with my meat voice about workplace comedies. I’m on the episodes about extremely well-crafted but under-remembered ’90s sitcom NewsRadio and 2010s stoner thing that loosely adheres to its premise, Workaholics.

In other news (if it still counts as news when I’ve been doing it for months) I’m serializing my new graphic novel, Hockeypocalypse: Slashers on Patreon at the $5/month and up tier, which gets you 10-15 pages of the book as I draw them! It’s the best book I’ve made so far, so you should absolutely check it out, because patrons at the $5/month and up tiers will ALSO be getting a print copy of the book when that’s ready.

You can help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics! Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Sara might actually be a good spy? That doesn’t sound right. Read it early on Patreon!

Work Place Skeleton Face

Work Place Skeleton Face is my new band, and also my office aesthetic in case things go downhill and I need a real job. I shall have a visage that engenders in my co-workers uncertainty and a strong desire to stop interacting with me. That seems ideal.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week at Hell, Inc. and also at her soap business, Soaps & Sorcery. She’s running a clearance sale to allow new product to cycle in, so get on that and get cleanified. You, too, can support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, which includes access to Hockeypocalypse: Slashers at the $5 or great tiers, and original digital art commissions! So do that, because Patreon is the only even slightly predictable income I have!

Vote daily for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below! It’s the most consistent way to bring in new readers to the comic! The best way, it turns out, is to have a viral tweet, but I have no control over that.

Next Week: Longing for the future where you aren’t in the office for eleventy-two hours a day. Read it on Patreon!