Chapter: 2024

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!

 

Nope, Don’t Care

This is the last comic in my buffer, so I guess “drawing more Hell, Inc.” comics is what I’ll be doing for part of this week! The Patreon preview for this strip talks a bit about that, but mostly about how I use old strips as reference instead of a much more practical set of master designs.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Leonardo is Employee of the Week! They supported the creation of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, and helped make that book possible! Which is good, because Hockeypocalypse continues to be my best seller at conventions. 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’s journey to the conference floor. Read it early on Patreon!

Get Into It

The Patreon preview for this strip is about the keys to writing Ray, and also how I keep wanting to make all the dumb computer games that pop up in Hell, Inc.

Welcome to those of you making your way here after Edmonton Expo! It was a very successful show for me, but now I am very tired and will go to sleep for roughly a week.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! It’s how I have predictable money, which is both Cool and Good because we live in capitalist hell-world. If everyone who read the comic in a month chipped in $1, I’d be able to turn down most freelance work and focus on doing Hell, Inc. stuff and my own graphic novels! That would be preeeeetty cool. Especially now, because I am brooooke.

You can help Hell, Inc. for free by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which has been a great way to draw in new readers. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: What’s going on in the break room? Is it stupid? Read it early on Patreon!

Slacking Champs

The next Hell, Inc. strip is number 350! Three. Hundred. and. Fifty. THAT’S SO MANY. How have I drawn that many of these? It doesn’t seem like I’ve been doing it for that long, but it’s been six years. In the Patreon preview for this strip, I kind of talk about that, in an indirect way, but discussing how Steve’s role has changed.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, which means they are one of the folks helping support Hell, Inc. and my other non-freelance art endeavours! For example, I want to draw another wrestling comic.  Patreon can make that possible! Even $1 goes a long way, and adds up pretty fast when enough readers show their support.

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: Ray told you so. Read it early on Patreon!

Games… on the Computer!

Like Steve, I, too, am always more interested in what’s going on with my computer if it’s not a spreadsheet. The Patreon preview for this strip is about how the kid in high school who could put games on your graphic calculator probably makes way more money than you, now.

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 (who are cool, weird cyborg-things) exploring space and how the things that are in space are often terrifying. Season 2 is underway!

Patreon! It’s a predictable income that I would like to be bigger so I can do less freelance and more stuff that I want to do! You get early access to Hell, Inc. strips, new comics, my new ttrpg Big Robots, Big Feelings, and more!

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: Doug and Steve discuss whether there have, in fact, already been games on the computer. Read it early on Patreon!

Theatre Kid Help

Happy Labour Day! I hope your job is better than working at Hell, Inc. And if it isn’t, I hope your CEO is thrown into the sun. The Patreon preview for this strip involves me describing what I think theatre kid energy is, and why it makes me tired.

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 several appearances on the show, most recently discussing crime drama Better Call Saul! If you want to hear me talk about how artfully executed BCS is, then good news, you’ll have a great time listening to that podcast! You can also hear me talk about a bunch of other shows, like 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.!

Next Week: Steve has made an game-changing discovery. Read it early on Patreon!