Character: Doug

Helen the Cat

“Helen the Cat” sounds like it could be a newspaper comic from the 20th century that nobody remembers because it was proto-Garfield or Heathcliff or one of the other cat comics. Or maybe it’s like Cathy, but a cat?

This week’s Patreon preview was about the decision-making process involved in choosing what angle to view the action from in any given panel (specifically the ones that resulted in “Helen the Cat” being the title).

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: Helen the Catbus? Read it early on Patreon!

Bat-Steve

Da-nanna-nannaaaa *spinning Steve face transition*

This week’s Patreon preview was about the two important questions that need to be answered by the scripting process, which stemmed from a conversation I had with some other cartoonists.

In other news, I was sick with a cold last week, which is the first time that’s happened to me since 2018. I don’t recommend it!

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: Return of the Mack? No, I don’t think they make buses. Read it early on Patreon!

 

Universal Job Badness

The Patreon preview for this strip includes talk about an unfortunately common phenomenon, which is forgetting what’s coming up in the script and accidentally causing myself a visual problem because I did something for visual interest that gets in the way of a later part of the script.

I’ve also had a week full of live events, having attended All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite/Rampage shows in Edmonton as well as an Edmonton Stingers basketball game (did you know Canada has a basketball league? It does). Is this motivating me to work on a project I’m pitching that involves sports? Yes.

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 follow him on Twitter 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: What even is time, maaaaaan? Read it early on Patreon!

Next Bus?

This strip’s Patreon preview included some discussion about my approach to learning via making comics, and how that can also happen even if you’re kind of actively resisting it. Just because you think you’re the smartest one in the room doesn’t mean you can’t learn something!

In “Twitter continues to spiral down the toilet” news, I have gotten on Bluesky, which is basically Twitter from 10 years ago. If you’re on there already, or are able to get on there, give a follow to jeffmartinart.

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: Helen’s demands of Santa interrupt the party. Read it early on Patreon!

Running for the Beelzebus

This week’s Patreon preview was mostly about how Adobe Illustrator is the most ironically named art program I’ve ever used, and as a result I had some adventures while trying to do Helen’s dialogue balloon in the fourth panel.

I’m writing this before it’s happened, but presumably running Fail Marines for Free RPG Day at Red Claw Gaming was a ton of fun and involved some sort of catastrophic space failures.

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 bus driver is a huge fan of Helen puking ghosts, I’m sure. Read it early on Patreon!

 

Spiralling Wildly

I’m trying to keep up the habit of writing about process in the Patreon early looks, and this time it’s about what goes into deciding where to place the “camera” for panels and an unusual factor that can influence that.

I’m typing this in the wee hours of the morning, having returned home from Calgary Horror Con. I’m always a bit nervous about first time shows, but thankfully it was a rousing success!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week AGAIN, because she helped sell a bunch of books at Calgary Horror Con. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, you don’t have to sell any books at Horror Con, you can just toss a dollar into the tip jar that is the Hell, Inc. Patreon! It is a much more predictable way to support my art, because conventions are like a very tiring form of gambling.

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

Next Week: The spiral, it keeps spiralling. Because it’s a spiral, and that’s really the only thing they do. Read it early on Patreon.

Time Keeps on Ticking

I wrote another Patreon piece about the process of making the strip, in this case focusing on different ways that the same scene can be broken into panels and why those different choices might be made. It’s been fun to get back into the headspace of creation and think about what other versions of the strip might have looked like.

This weekend, I’ll be at the Calgary Horror Con with Hell, Inc. (in RPG and comic form), Hockeypocalypse, GWAR, and probably some other stuff that has interest overlap.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week, and will ALSO be at Calgary Horror Con. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, and also help me keep making art you like instead of continuing to flail about in the chaos that is freelancing. Patreon is the most convenient way to do that, and you also get to see a bunch of cool art way before other people!

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

Next Week: Doug is in control of his life, right? Right? Read it early on Patreon.

Ladies Man Doug

After my impromptu dissertation on translating a script into panels in last week’s Patron preview, this one didn’t have any formal element of comics that I got hung up on talking about. Incidentally, the Hell, Inc. Patreon is going through a lovely* period of losing patrons instead of holding steady or (rarely) gaining, so maybe head over there and kick in a buck to support your favourite eternal wage slaves.

*It is not lovely, it is bad.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Leonardo is Employee of the Week! They supported the creation of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, and helped make that book ! You can do that with my next graphic novel, Rent-A-Thug, 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: Harry and the Arbitrary Nature of Time. Read it early on Patreon!

The Bill

I’m currently in the midst of a particularly notable streak of having no idea what day it is, so I’m glad some neurons fired to remind me that it was Monday and I needed to post the new comic.

Over on Patreon, my usual early reader post ended up being a much more detailed than usual look into the process of breaking a script into panels for the strip. If you’re interested in the process of the comic, chip in a buck and check that out.

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: We’re kicked out of the bar, now what? Read it early on Patreon!