Character: Doug

Here There Be Monsters

I’ve drawn weird monsters on bathroom signs in a couple of series now, and every time it’s because I’m imagining a fantasy map with “here there be dragons” written on it and applying that logic to toilet signs. I think I used it first in Hockeypocalypse, but regardless of which was first, it’s appeared in that and in Hell, Inc. In this week’s Patreon preview, I talked about how early the geography of the office was decided on, but how the reader gets that information much more slowly.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

“Game Time” Art Middleton is Employee of the Week! Follow him on Twitter, if that’s still a thing you do, or check out his Twitch streams, OR… do both of those things.  Also, head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where you can support the continued existence of your favourite office demons and read new strips early (see above!). It turns out that humans, like demons, need money to live! Me, specifically.

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: Hey, so if you didn’t know WHERE the bathroom was… Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

The Judgement is Mandatory

Sideswiping Doug’s self-esteem is time honoured mid-strip joke, if time honoured such things. This week’s Patreon preview doesn’t talk about that. It instead talks about how sometimes I put a ton of work into a thing that I know nobody will see, and then fall ass-backwards into that ending up being worthwhile.

In other news, I’ve been deep in the project mines while I await the finalized version of an upcoming contract. BURGERPunk stretch goals have been on the frontburner (oh god why are there so many of them). I’ve also gotten back on my Rent-A-Thug shit, and have upgraded and prepped La Cosa Glasnostra for eventual print (sometime in 2024). It turns out that I just needed to get to the right part of the Creativity Wave, which for me goes “I just finished this thing and it’s amazing -> I can only see the things I’d do differently now -> there are flaws, but this is pretty good!” I need to be in the first or third stage to be in the headspace to get something prepped for release, but because La Cosa Glasnostra was a Webtoon contest entry, I landed in the second stage before I got to getting the print release ready.

I’m also working on making a video game version of the Spreadsheet Tetris that gets mentioned in Hell, Inc., but programming is hard, so that’s probably going to take a while even though all the art is done.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Leonardo is Employee of the Week! They supported the creation of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, and helped make that book possible! You can do that with my next graphic novel, which I will be serializing on Patreon as well. Backers at the $5/month and up tiers will get a copy mailed to them when it’s finished! 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!

The Empty Cubicle

This week’s Patreon preview talks about the phenomenon where a piece of media advertises a mystery character death, and then it turns out to be a whole lotta nothing. Except in this case, I killed a “character” unadvertised to empty a desk. Real galaxy brain stuff.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Shane Lees is Employee of the Week! He has a webcomic, Tales of Abuse, which you can check out at his website. You should also check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, which is my predictable form of income. One of these days it will replace the need to freelance! Not a SOON day, but one day!

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: Have you heard that judgement is mandatory? Read it early on Patreon!

But First, Cerberus

Sometimes I forget that Doris is the receptionist for the office, and can be used in that capacity for joke delivery purposes! It’s also fun to bring the janitors back, because I like drawing those green weirdos. They’re a department, like I.T., that could probably carry their own comic. Not them, specifically, because they’re barely characters, but I think the ideas of “I.T. Crowd but in Hell” or “demon janitors” have something to them as workplace comedies.

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: And now, non-Cerberus business. Read it early on Patreon!

Huffing Misery

You probably shouldn’t huff misery – like any inhalant, it will kill a whole lot of brain cells. Like sadness whippets. This week’s Patreon preview is about the amount of time it takes to make a comic compared to the amount of time it takes to read it.

This strip is the “Halloween” one, which I put in quotes because all of them and none of them could be considered Halloween-y. It’s a story where everyone is monsters, which is a point in favour of Halloween, but it also doesn’t really have what I would consider Halloween energy. I haven’t really thought about how Halloween might be reflected in Hell, Inc. Maybe I should? If nothing else, drawing everyone in dumb costumes might be fun.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, and will get to read my next graphic novel as I draw it! It was intended to be Rent-A-Thug, but now it might end up being a different thing, depending on how some things pan out! Freelancing is chaos, as I often say, and part of that means pitching a lot of things, and almost all of them being rejected! In this specific case, it also means getting offered an illustration job completely unrelated to all of the work I’ve been doing on pitches. Patreon is my predictable source of income, and I would very much like it to grow to the point where I can get into a workflow of webcomic + graphic novel, without worrying about pitches and the publishing industry.

Remember Top Webcomics? That’s still a thing, so if you want to boost Hell, Inc. in the rankings and funnel some new readers in, click on the banner below. You can vote daily.

Next Week: Important Cerberus Update. Read it early on Patreon!

 

The Sixth Dimension

The Patreon preview for this post is about the way comics have magical realism built into them as a medium, and the ways that can be used to the cartoonist’s advantage. It also lets you draw things that don’t need explanation for how they’re happening, like Doug waving a flaming sword atop a space pegasus.

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! Go there. Do that. It is my most reliable source of income, and that is very helpful when living that freelance life. If everyone who read the comic last week chipped in $1/month, that would be enough to almost completely eliminate the need for freelancing. That would be rad!

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: We check in on the office’s Ambient Misery Index. Read it early on Patreon!

Ray’s Stay Awake Juice TM

If I knew how to make the TM symbol in the title field, I would definitely do that. But I don’t, so I didn’t. Speaking of things I know how to do, I have begun learning how to make video games in the Godot engine. So far I’ve done a beginner course and made a super simple “move your guy around and collect coins” game. Soon I shall have the power to conjure video games from the aether and make the dumb Hell, Inc. spreadsheet Tetris game I’ve mentioned off and on for like 4 years.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week, and I just made my fourth appearance on the show, this time 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!

Patreon! It’s a predictable source of income, so if you like things that I do, check it out.

Also check out the newsletter, which is how to hear about what I’m up to without needing to subject yourself to things like Twitter.

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: Some real wizard van vibes. Read it early

Dougfinity

You know a drink is a healthy way to start your day when it makes you sweat profusely and see through time! This week’s Patreon preview features talk about digital lettering, and also you can see Patreon’s new, stupid logo. Whoever made that absolutely got paid more for it than I will make this year.

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!

Also check out my Patreon, because if everyone who reads Hell, Inc. on a monthly basis kicked in $1, I’d be able to cut my freelancing schedule to nearly nil, and focus on the things you already like (Hell, Inc., and presumably other comics I make without bothering to consider whether they suit the publishing zeitgeist, such as the aforementioned project I want to pitch).

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: Going on a trip. Read it early on Patreon!

The Infinity of Helens

In this week’s Patreon preview, I wrote a whole big thing about how many drafts it took to get to Helen’s dialogue in the last panel, then it gets eaten by posting gremlins. So then I wrote another thing that’s mostly about coming up with props that add to the world of the comic, like the mugs with art on them.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read my next graphic novel as I draw it, or commission digital art! All of those things also help provide a level of predictability to my income that basically doesn’t exist otherwise, because freelancing is chaos.

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: The Infinity of Helens causes doubt about Ray’s patented Stay Awake Juice. Read it early on Patreon!

 

The Bee Tooth Rule

The bee tooth rule is a very good one, I think. If you’re doing anything and your teeth start to feel like they’re full of bees, you should probably stop doing that thing. That line is courtesy the time I forgot that I had already taken my ADHD medication, and the accidental doubling of the dosage made it feel like my teeth were vibrating. I don’t recommend it!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read my next graphic novel as I draw it, or commission digital art! All of those things also help provide a level of predictability to my income that basically doesn’t exist otherwise, because freelancing is chaos.

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: Ray’s Stay Awake Juice. Read it early on Patreon!