Chapter: 2020

Forgot How to Chair

Remembering how to chair is a very important part of everyday life. I’m chair-ing right now as I type this update. I was chairing earlier as I was painting plastic Space Marines, which I have been doing quite frequently lately. I’ve also gotten a handful of Hell, Inc. strips drawn that I wasn’t expecting to have time for. I think I’ve been able to apply some of the stuff I’ve learned from the book project I’m contracted on to Hell, Inc., which has been kinda cool.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sylvia Douglas is Employee of the Week. She has a whole bunch of projects on the go as a writer, film-maker, and waffle connoisseur, which you can check out from her website.  If you think what I do here with Hell, Inc. is worth a buck, head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon. New patrons receive the third Hell, Inc. book, “Team-building Exercise,” which isn’t available anywhere else (and won’t be until whenever the next print book Kickstarter happens at some point in the future). There are also over a thousand pages of other comics available to patrons, so check those out. Patreon. Go there.

You can also help out Hell, Inc. by clicking on the banner below to vote on Top Webcomics, which is the number one source of new readers for the comic.

Next Week: Can you scheme somewhere else? It’s distracting. Read it early on Patreon!

Sneakity Swappity

Titles consisting entirely of made up words are the best titles, and you cannot convince me otherwise. Unless you can, I dunno, maybe you’re good at that, whatever, you’re not my boss. If comics didn’t have a very strong correlation between space and time, I would write so many weird stream-of-consciousness conversations and just let them spiral and see what happens.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and one of our longest standing employees. He started all the way back when I was drawing a comic about space wrestlers, and one of the first patrons! If you want to become the newest patron, head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where readers like you help keep this operation financially viable. It’s currently only a few dollars shy of paying me the same per page as my first book contract!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is one of the largest sources of new readers for the comic. Votes early in the month are worth even more, so get your vote on daily by clicking the banner below.

Next Week: There are no offers of raises, you didn’t hear anything. Read it early on Patreon!

The Bad Chair Wars

Assume the lightning panel is accompanied by a super sick guitar riff that shreds your soul. I know that’s a thing you can actually embed into comics on, like, Webtoon and stuff, but I don’t want to learn how to do that. I also don’t know how to play sick-ass guitar riffs. Also I hate it when Webtoon comics play music, because I never realize that’s where it’s coming from until I’m halfway through the comic and have paused or muted whatever other media is playing at the time.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week! Thanks for supporting Hell, Inc. Joe! If YOU, dear reader, think Hell, Inc. is worth a buck and want to help support it, you can do that by heading over to the Patreon. New Patrons will be receiving a digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 3: “Team-building Exercise,” as well as over 1000 pages of other digital comics from my catalogue, as well as some from guest artist Lukasz Kowalczuk.

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics to help boost its rank and get more new readers.

Next Week: The ol’ sinister swappity swap. Read it early by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon!

Tetris Brain

And now the Tetris theme is stuck in your head, isn’t it? You’re welcome. Also someone who knows how to make video games should make Hell, Inc. Spreadsheet Tetris a thing. Email or DM me or something, let’s make this happen.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week both here and at her new soap company, Soaps & Sorcery. She is also the other person who is working from home in my art lair. Except not IN my art lair, she has her own work lair. It’s full of soap and also all of the books that I would normally be selling at conventions. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week and get a plug for your soap business or whatever, head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon and help keep the lights on over here.

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which brings in a bunch of new readers. Click on the link below to vote, which you can do daily!

Next Week: The BAD CHAIR WARS *thunder and lightning*. Read it early on Patreon!

R.I.P. Your Butt

You can always tell which one is the bad chair, because, y’know, the seat is barely on it. And the backrest is creakily swinging off to the side. And one or more wheels are broken/missing. And because it looks like there’s scorpions or some shit inside of it.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin is Employee of the Week. Ben is also in the business of keeping us all entertained during quarantine as a podcaster with the Infinity Break Network! If you think the entertainment you’ve been getting from Hell, Inc. is worth a dollar, check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon page and contribute to my only reliable source of quarantine income! Patrons have access to the third Hell, Inc. print book, including an exclusive short story, and over 1000 pages of other digital comics!

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

Next Week: The Tetris theme is the only song, now. Read it early by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon!

The Bad Chair

Early in working on Hell, Inc. I solicited weird office stories from my friends who work in offices, and the bad chair comes from one of those. Caitlin had her chair swapped at some point while she was out of the office, and realized pretty quickly that the new one was broken and hurting her back. After a week or so of scouting the office for unused chairs, she found one that was unattended and swapped it with the bad chair. And thus I had a very silly subplot that would prove to be totally obnoxious to draw.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Azhar is Employee of the Week, and has come to us via some crossover from the Lions Led by Donkeys podcast, which I’ve done some art for this year. Do you want a drawing of Napoleon as a donkey riding backwards on a confused horse? Well because of LLbD, you can do that. Do you want to help support Hell, Inc.? You can do that, too! If you think what I’m doing here is worth a dollar, you can support Hell, Inc. on Patreon to get early access to each strip and a digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 3: “Team-building Exercise!”

You can also help me out by voting for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is the largest source of new readers for the comic. It’s early in the month, so votes are worth more as the rankings reset and the playing field is leveled. Click the banner below to vote!

Next Week: The Saga of the Bad Chair continues. Read it early by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon!

A Very Normal Face

Sara’s dialogue in the first two panels is, in hindsight, a pretty concise encapsulation of my existence in the direct market comics industry. I have since fallen ass-backwards into the book market, which has been a far greater fit for both my skill set and career goals. In fact, I’m about to get the paperwork done for my first full gig in the book market (I did inking work on a book last year), which I’ll be spending most of the back half of 2020 drawing. Don’t worry, though, I’m like 30 weeks ahead on Hell, Inc., so interruptions to the regular update schedule should be minimal or not present at all.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and I forgot to ask him if he wants me to plug anything for him, so, uh… hit me up if you want me to plug anything for you? If you, dear reader, want to be Employee of the Week, or just think Hell, Inc. is worth a dollar and want to help support it, head on over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon. You’ll also receive Hell, Inc. book 3: “Team-building Exercise” and over 1000 pages of other comics!

You can also help support 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 worth more, so hit up the voting extra-frequently later this week. Click the banner below to vote!

Next Week: The Ballad of Ray Trying to Sit Down. Find out what the hell that even means by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon!

Failure to Toady

Don’t you just hate it when you’re trying to get some quality brown-nosing in and the boss slams the door right in your face? Just the worst.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Laurel is Employee of the Week, and one of the many new patrons to take advantage of the COVID-related benefits now being offered – new patrons will not only gain access to the digital edition of the third Hell, Inc. book, “Team-building Exercise,” months before it’s released to the general public, they will also have access to over a thousand pages of other digital comics! At the $5 and up tier, you’ll also get new digital comics as they’re released! If you want to get in on that, or just think that Hell, Inc. is worth a buck, head over to the Patreon page and help keep the lights on.

You can also help out Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is the largest source of new readers. More votes = more visibility = more new readers. You can vote by clicking the banner below!

Next Week: The least alarming face, definitely. Read it early on Patreon!

Too Much? Too Much

“We need a six out of ten, and you’re giving us a fifteen, so maybe let’s dial it back a little?” Also I am not at all going to miss drawing the practice calendar in the background, because it always ends up making things take longer.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Jillian Dolan is Employee of the Week! You should check out the comics she’s drawn, Kyle the Nihilist Dinosaur and Misha. We also just took the same digital colouring class last weekend, although you won’t see any of the things I learned from it in Hell, Inc. in the near future, because I’m like 30 strips ahead right now. If you want to help out your favourite independent artist/fake megacorporation, be like Jillian and support Hell, Inc. on Patreon. New patrons will be receiving a digital copy of Hell, Inc. book 3, “Team-building Exercise,” as well as over a thousand pages of other comics.

You can also support Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, because that’s the largest source of new readers for the comic. You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: Sara’s enthusiasm continues to be mismatched to the situation. Read it early on Patreon!

Don’t Book a Massage in Hell

And that is the very weird line on which we end Hell, Inc. book 3, “Team-building Exercise.” Patrons have been able to read it for a few months now, so you should think about getting in on that action for the future.

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. You can vote once per day, so click on the banner below to get voting!

Next Week: The beginning of the book 4! Get a head start on it on Patreon!