Character: Goran

The Right Motivation

It’s always important to figure out how to motivate people around you. Sara probably should have figured out by now that “not working” is strongest motivation available in this office, but we’ve already seen that she’s not picking up this “Hell” thing as fast as she might hope. In the Patreon preview for this strip, I talk about how I spent a lot of time thinking about what to name the green long-necked guy, only to then not actually use his name in the dialogue. It now occurs to me that I STILL haven’t named the woman in red.

COMING SOON TO PATREON, a new one-page tabletop RPG that I’ve written and illustrated! It’s called BIG ROBOTS, BIG FEELINGS! It’s a rules-lite game about being a teen mecha pilot that must battle enemy mechs and your own emotions. I still need to make a logo, and character sheets, but the main rules are written. If people like it, I might expand it into a ‘zine like the Hell, Inc. RPG or BURGERPunk.

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: Helen gets an unexpected phone call. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

 

Very Successful

The Patreon preview for this strip is about the differences in approach between digital and hand lettering, because I guess I’m thinking about lettering a lot lately. The fact that I have any room for thoughts that aren’t about the Stanley Cup Playoffs is probably a good sign? Then again, if the Oilers win the Stanley Cup, I might end up only ever drawing Hockeypocalypse comics for the rest of time, so who knows!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

New hire Raymond is Employee of the Week! And you can, too! Supporting me on Patreon makes you both a Cool and Good Person, and also means I can dedicate time to the art I want to make instead of spending time in the panic-inducing world of freelancing!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a very useful way to reach new readers. Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Bridget asks what she missed, and gets more information than she would like. Read it early on Patreon!

Chant Harder!

The Patreon preview for this strip is about the problems I gave myself trying to fit B.L. Zebub’s speech into one panel so I could keep the last three panels separate for comic timing. Do people know that I write something about the process of making each strip on Patreon? Well, if you didn’t, now you do.

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: All right, good shame, everybody. Read it early on Patreon!

Psychic Memo

Psychic memos are how I wish I could make story notes. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a perfect joke or line of dialogue, then by the time I tried to write it down I had forgotten some or all of it. It’s very annoying.

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!

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: The Great Shamening begins! Read it early on Patreon!

Maximum Shame

A crowd scene with a painting and decorations in the background was very smart. Good job, me. Really making things easy on myself, there. I just drew a more complicated strip that will be published in a few months, so I’m sensitive to my own decisions about staging that makes drawing harder. What makes things easier is getting to write B.L. Zebub, which is what the Patreon preview for this strip is about.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Caitlin is Employee of the Week, and has been hard at work in the BURGERPunk mines. I haven’t figured out how I want to incorporate the RPG stuff into the Patreon, but I should, because people seem to really like that stuff. 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 drop some 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: What ARE the shame plans? Find out! Read it early on Patreon!

Delusions of Upward Mobility

It’s busy around the Comics Bunker (aka the corner of the living room where my art desk is) these days. I’m bouncing between a freelance illustration job with Scholastic Canada (exciting!), doing some work on the Rent-A-Thug graphic novel (which has been a very slow process), and working on the story mode for Space Jerks. I just picked up another freelance gig that will start at an undetermined time in the future, and will at some point start drawing Hell, Inc. strips again when the buffer gets thin. I’m very tired. All the time.

This comic’s Patreon preview is largely about my lack of organizational skills in terms of making myself reference materials that would save me a lot of time.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Leonardo is Employee of the Week! They supported the creation of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, and helped make that book possible!  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 asks the hard-hitting questions that make everyone else uncomfortable. Read it early on Patreon!

Workronomicon

The Workronomicon is a terrible tome bound in human ennui and with the power to inflict terrible “line go up” brain on mortals. This week’s Patreon preview wasn’t about the Workronomicon, but about how writing characters becomes easier if you put in the effort to figure them out.

And if you somehow haven’t heard yet, I made a video game, and you can play it for free! Check out Space Jerks on itch.io.

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: Sara misreads B.L. Zebub as attempting to be motivational. Read it early 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!

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!