Chapter: 2020

Anthropomorphized Shapesball

It’s Shapesball Night in Hellmerica! Insert the theme of your favourite sports program here. And then duck if you see shapes flying at your head, because it’s probably the ball.

In other news, the book market graphic novel I’ve been working on continues to grind along toward completion, after which I’ll be wrapping up Hell, Inc. Volume 4.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week, and has access to over a thousand pages of digital comics for supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon, including book 3, “Team-building Exercise!” You can, too, by supporting Hell, Inc. for as little as $1 a month! Patreon is my only really predictable income source, so even a dollar is incredibly helpful!

It’s also incredibly helpful to vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, because that brings in a lot of new readers! Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week:A well designed practice schedule for a well-oiled baseball machine! Read it early on Patreon!

Anthropomorphized Shapes

And now you’ve got the Tetris theme stuck in your head again. You’re welcome. I continue to grind away on the graphic novel I’ve been hired to draw for one of the book market publishers, so I continue to lack things to say in these news posts.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week! You can buy her fantasy-themed soaps on her Etsy store, Soaps & Sorcery. We’re also working on a roleplaying game together about failson Space Marines causing massive amounts of carnage through their incompetence. If you want to support Hell, Inc. (of course you do, it’s great), hit up the Hell, Inc. Patreon where you can also get exclusive access to the third Hell, Inc. book, “Team-building Exercise” by donating at any level!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics! It has been the largest source of new readers for Hell, Inc. Click the banner below to vote!

Next Week: Anthropomorphized Shapesball! Read it early by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon!

The Opportunity Cost of Chairs

The opportunity cost of chairs can be very high… or rather, the opportunity cost of doing things that aren’t playing Tetris. I’m not playing Tetris right now, and what am I missing out on? My high score? I’m going to stop before this turns into a weird spiral.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Bartender of the Apocalypse is Employee of the Week! You too can be Employee of the Week by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon, because capitalism. Isn’t it wonderful to need to have art projects financed so that things like eating can happen? Sure is. Anyway, new patrons get access to the PDF version of Hell, Inc. Volume 3: “Team-building Exercise,” which is currently exclusive to Patreon! There are also over a thousand pages of other digital comics on there!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is the largest source of new readers for the comic! Votes early in the month are extra helpful the rankings reset on the 1st of the month, so get in there and click that banner (you can vote daily!).

NEXT WEEK: Anthropomorphized shapes! Read it early on Patreon!

The Great Escape

Where we’re going, we don’t need physics. And where we’re going is into the ceiling, because nobody thinks to look up when they’re in an office.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Azhar Baig is Employee of the Week, and comes to us through my previous collaboration with the Lions Led By Donkeys podcast on some merchandising for the show. Keep an eye on this space for some more coming soon! You can also keep an eye on this space for all of your Hell, Inc. Patreon plugs. If you think Hell, Inc. is worth a dollar, head over to the Patreon and get yourself a digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 3: Team-building Exercise as well as over 1000 pages of other comics!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, where a higher ranking results in increased visibility to webcomic readers around the world. You can vote daily by clicking the banner below!

Next Week: Steve brings the realness. Read it early on Patreon!

Something a Coat Rack Would Say

Seriously though, it IS something a coat rack would say. I asked my coat rack.

Also, last week’s question that I posed about future print editions still stands. Continue with the plan of doing six separate 60 page books, or wait until all of the strips are ready and release one big print book with everything? Leave a comment, send me an email, tweet me – whatever, but let me know what you’d prefer!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Christine Bennett, better known as Purple Pony Art, is Employee of the Week! She has early access to Hell, Inc. Volume 3: “Team-building Exercise” and you can, too, by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon! There are also a little over a thousand pages of other comics available to Patrons, which is a lot. BOOM math’d.

It’s also very helpful to vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, because that’s where the majority of new readers discover the comic. More votes = more visibility from being higher on the list. Click the banner below to vote (you can do it daily!)

Next Week: It’s only awkward if you know what’s going on. Read it early on Patreon!

Ping Pong Plan

Alternate title: The Preposterous Push-off Ping Pong Pinball Plan. Could I have worked in more “P” words? MAYBE!

In other news, COVID has got me thinking about how I want to approach future print releases for Hell, Inc. The vast majority of my book sales, outside of Kickstarters for product launches, come from doing conventions and book fairs. I have been able to sell Hell, Inc. books at exactly one (1) event since the launch last year, and it’s not looking like 2020/21 will have a busy convention season. Is it a good idea to carry on with my plan to Kickstart books 3-4 and 5-6? Or maybe I should just wait and do a collected edition with all six books once they’re done. Thoughts, dear reader? As the target audience for those books, I value your input on the topic.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! If you think what I do here with Hell, Inc. is worth a dollar, head over to the Patreon and be rewarded with early access to the digital version of Hell, Inc. Vol. 3: “Team-building Exercise” as well as over 1000 pages of digital comics!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is the comic’s largest source for new readers. A lot of you have been voting, and it’s been very helpful – Hell, Inc. has consistently been hanging around some much more established and popular comics in the rankings, which is pretty cool. Click on the banner to vote!

Next Week: We meet Diane, who does not have a great sense of who the people in the office are. Read it early on Patreon!

Office Ninja

The chair stealing subplot involved a lot of things that were really easy to write, but much more difficult to draw. There’s a lot of messing around with camera angles and the flow of panels to make it as interesting as possible within the strip format.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Jillian Dolan is Employee of the Week! She is also a comic-smith, and you should check out her works, including Misha and Kyle the Nihilist Dinosaur. They’re delightful. If you think Hell, Inc. is delightful and want to support it with your hard-earned money, head over to the Hell, Inc. patreon. As a reward, new sign-ups gain access to a folder of over 1000 pages of comic, including the otherwise unreleased Hell, Inc. Vol. 3: “Team-building Exercise!”

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is the number one source of new readers for the comic. Votes early in the month (for example, this week) are super valuable as the rankings reset at the beginning of the month. You can vote once per day, so click on the banner below to get voting!

Next Week: The Mission Impossible theme would be playing but I don’t have the rights to it so just hum it yourself. Read it early on Patreon!

The Mediocre-est Laid Plans

This strip is one I look forward to converting to Webtoon format in *checks calendar* at minimum 6 months from now. There are some jokes that are perfect for the infinite scroll format of Webtoon, and ones that involve waiting a long time for something are at the top of that list.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cindy Gauthier is Employee of the Week, and can help fulfill all of your COVID-related mask needs. If you want to get your comics needs handled, support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, where you’ll get a digital copy of the aforementioned “Team-building Exercise” book (which includes a book-exclusive short story) as well as over 1000 pages of other comics!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is the number one source of new readers for the comic. Votes early in the month (for example, this week) are super valuable as the rankings reset at the beginning of the month. You can vote once per day, so click on the banner below to get voting!

Next Week: The great bad chair reverse-heist finally begins and sure is something. Read it early on Patreon!

Chair Crimes

I don’t know why, but I really like the device of having things written on sticky notes that function as their own panel. I also like using very dramatic shadows for something very stupid, like chair crimes. CHAIR CRIMES.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman, host of The Simpsons Show podcast, is Employee of the Week. If you like Hell, Inc. you probably also like The Simpsons, because that’s pretty foundational to my sense of humour and how I write jokes, so you should listen to The Simpsons Show. If you like Hell, Inc. you probably also want to be Employee of the Week and help Hell, Inc. continue existing by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon. All new patrons are receiving a digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 3: Team-building Exercise, as well as access to a Dropbox folder with over 1000 pages of digital comics!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a great way to help boost the comic’s visibility and bring in new readers. Click on the banner below to vote!

Next Week: I love it when a plan comes together. This isn’t one of those times, though. Read it early on Patreon!

You’re Scheming Too Loud

This scene exists because I initially had B.L. Zebub connecting the chair thing to Sara immediately and praising her for it, but as soon as I wrote it I realized that didn’t make any sense. So instead, Sara expects that because SHE knows what happened, it will be obvious to the person she’s trying to impress with it. But it isn’t, because why would it be? And then I got to draw Ray doing a weird looming stretch thing. That was pretty fun.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Welcome new hire Bartender of the Apocalypse, who presumably works at O’Hellihan’s. They’ve joined the ranks of Hell, Inc.’s Patreon supporters, who help keep this train on the tracks (or perhaps an office-related metaphor that means the same thing). You can do the same by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon for as little as $1, which gets you digital copies of just about everything I’ve done, as well as Hell, Inc. Volume 3: Team-building Exercise, which is only available on Patreon for the foreseeable future.

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is the primary source of new readers for the comic. You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: CHAIR CRIMES. Support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, do Chair Crimes.