Character: Doug

Clear Eyes, Full of Bees, Can’t Lose

I blame the title of this strip being a Friday Night Lights joke on the Dilettante Ball podcast. It’s delightful, and the kind of podcast that will spend a year clicking “random article” on the Friday Night Lights TV show wiki as a bizarre joke that they definitely regret pretty quickly. Go listen to it.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman is Employee of the Week, and is co-host of The Simpsons Show, the only podcast about The Simpsons. You should also follow him on Twitter to learn about his new novel releases. You should ALSO check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where Hell, Inc. Volume 4: Mandatory is now available to patrons at any level! Patreon helps me to things like “eat food” and “pay my mortgage.”

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

Next Week: Things get weird in the Hellevator. Read it early on Patreon!

Stingerless Bees My Butt

Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that Steve is frequently seen eating bees out of a ziplock bag. This is a very dumb joke that I have been setting up since episode FIFTEEN. For those keeping count, this is episode 171. Speaking of episode numbers, I just finished drawing strip 199 about half an hour ago, as if this writing. 200 will be tomorrow!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and has access to the Patreon-exclusive digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 4: “Mandatory.” You can, too, by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon! For as little as $1, you can keep the company profitable and also get access to over a thousand pages of digital comics, which are sent to all new patrons.

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is where the largest number of new readers are from. You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: Stingerless bees are a win/win situation. Find out how on Patreon.

Gloating Doesn’t Have to Make Sense

You know, sometimes B.L. Zebub is right. Gloating doesn’t have to make sense, you just need enough smarm and smugness that everyone around you is deeply irritated in their soul by it. It’s a very B.L. Zebub to be right about, really.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week, and has access to the digital version of Hell, Inc. Volume 4: “Mandatory.” You can, too, by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Not only is it a relatively stable source of income, which, as an artist, is a nightmare to obtain, it also does wonders for my self esteem! So much of making a webcomic feels a bit like posting into the void, so one of the most validating feelings is seeing en email introducing a new patron who enjoys what I’m doing enough to give me a dollar for it.

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

Next Week: Snacks that bite back. Read it early on Patreon!

Subtlety

It’s important not to be too subtle about your expectations. Also, at some point I got much better at spacing out dialogue so that I can fit all of the balloons in comfortably and easily. BTW, this is page 169. Nice.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week, and has just relaunched her Etsy shop, Soaps & Sorcery! Go buy soap from it, and also keep an eye out for a Hell, Inc. themed soap collab at some point later this year. She is surprisingly game for my very silly theme ideas. You should also keep an eye out on the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where new patrons receive access to over a thousand pages of digital comics, including the as-yet-unreleased Hell, Inc. Volumes 3 and 4! Also you will know that you made me super-psyched, because the feeling of getting those “you have a new patron” emails is incredibly motivating and validating.

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which helps bring in new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are even more valuable as the rankings reset. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Gloating doesn’t have to make sense! Read it early on Patreon!

 

Re-promoted

And that’s a wrap on volume 4! In fact, I’m already halfway done drawing volume 5, which is zipping along pretty quickly. As of typing this post, I’ve just finished strip 189, and have scripts up to 205. I’m hoping to have the whole volume scripted by the end of the week, then I’ll start figuring out the back-up story for the print book while I draw the rest of the volume.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Bartender of the Apocalypse is Employee of the Week, and presumably works at O’Hellihan’s pub. They support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, and you can, too! New patrons receive access to Hell, Inc. Volume 4: “Mandatory,” which includes a book-exclusive short story about The Bad Chair, and over a thousand pages of other digital comics!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is where the largest number of new readers come from. Votes early in the month are especially valuable as the rankings reset, and your efforts have been keeping Hell, Inc. in the top 300 for the last several months. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Volume 5 begins in the Real Break Room! Read it early on Patreon!

Busted

Patreon patrons will be aware that I’ve retitled this strip. The reasons for that are two-fold: 1) the original title on the Patreon preview was long and terrible and 2) I forgot that I had already titled every strip that’s already drawn for alternate reasons I think I’m now supposed to mention yet. In news I can tell you about, I’m almost 20 strips ahead! This one is 167, and I finished 186 on the weekend. Now I need to get back to the script mines to wrap the rest of book 5 (which will end on 210).

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Azhar Baig is Employee of the Week and would like you to consider supporting (NAME OF CHARITY HERE). You might also consider supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon, where readers have access to new digital works as soon as they release and new patrons get access to over a thousand pages of digital comics!

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

Next Week: When the boss is happy, nobody else is. Read it early on Patreon!

Terrible Step-stool

It turns out that humans are not actually good step-stools, especially when they are much smaller than you are.

You’ve probably seen it on the site or on social media by now, but Hell, Inc. has been nominated for an award! It’s up for Best Webcomic in the Sequential Magazine Awards (which are for Canadian independent comics), which is very cool. The winner is voted for by you, the people, and you can vote by clicking the image below! I would really appreciate it if you did that, because winning things rules and I want an award to put in my office (the last one I won saw the company shut down before they sent me my plaque).

If you want to check out the nominees in the other categories, many of whom are friends and acquaintances of mine, check out the full nominee list by clicking here.

Employee of the Week returns next week when I have my shit together and remember to prep the update ahead of time like normal.

Next Week: Even the good news is bad news. Read it early on Patreon!

The Most Terrible Punishment

The most terrible punishment… is forced festivity!? It is in Hell! And also malls in December.

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 Hell, Inc. Volume 4: “Mandatory” (which includes a book-exclusive short story) as well as over 1000 pages of other comics!

You can also support Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is the largest source of new readers. It’s highly ranked this month, so thanks for voting and keep it up by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: Is Sara as sturdy as soap box? Find out on Patreon!

Champions of Unpaid Overtime

It was my birthday yesterday, which feels like more of an achievement in pandemic world than it has in the past. It was a pretty good birthday, all things considered – the Oilers and Raptors both won, I got an awesome piece of art as a gift (which you can see on my Twitter). While being a truly bizarre year of existence, 2020 was actually pretty good for my cartooning career, and you’ll be seeing some of the results of that later this year.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin is Employee of the Week. You can find Ben’s podcasts/streams on the Infinity Break Network! He also has access to Hell, Inc. Volume 4: Mandatory, and you can too if you head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon page and chip in as little as $1/month! Patrons have access to both the third and fourth Hell, Inc. print books in their digital form, including exclusive short stories in each, and over 1000 pages of other digital comics!

It’s the beginning of the month, which means votes on Top Webcomics are worth a lot more as the rankings reset monthly. It’s the primary source of new readers for Hell, Inc., so vote early and often! You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below.

Next Week: The most diabolical punishment revealed. Read it early on Patreon!

Somebody Else to Blame

Why be introspective and learn about yourself when you can blame your failures on others? It’s so much easier!

In other news, I just signed some paperwork that will lead to exciting Hell, Inc. developments in THE FUTURE. Dunno how far into the future, that part isn’t really up to me.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman is Employee of the Week, and is co-host of a new podcast called Cartoon Graveyard! I was the first guest in the podcast’s history, on the episode about The Mighty Ducks cartoon (it’s really weird!). You should check it out, and also check out his main podcast, The Simpsons Show. You should ALSO check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where Hell, Inc. Volume 4: Mandatory is now available to patrons at any level!

You can also help out by voting for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which continues to bring in new readers. You can vote daily by clicking the banner below!

Next Week: Blame Game World Champions! Read it early on Patreon!