Character: Harry

The Boot-lickening

One of my favourite ways for people to signal that I should not respect them is when they are shitty to anyone “below” them in whatever hierarchy they are part of, but a sniveling toad to anyone “above” them. I have seen this at comics industry parties and the secondhand embarrassment is STRONG.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

“Game Time” Art Middleton is Employee of the Week! Follow him on Twitter 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. It turns out that humans, like demons, need money to live! Me, specifically.

You can also sign up for my newsletter, where I just announced that Hell, Inc. The RPG will be part of Kickstarter ZineQuest, launching on August 23rd!

Next Week: Stan and B.L. Zebub have a stirring intellectual debate about the finer points of motor oil. Read it early on Patreon!

Exhausted

I, too, am exhausted, although it’s the Sara kind and not the B.L. Zebub kind. Running a crowdfunding campaign is a strange thing, as it feels simultaneously like there’s no time and it will never end. It also feels kind of like a sports season, where the long view of the entire thing is what’s important, but it’s impossible to see that and avoid getting caught up in moment. Sometimes you feel unbeatable, and sometimes it feels like you shouldn’t even be in the league.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Azhar Baig is Employee of the Week, and has a podcast called The Wisdom of Love that you should check out. It’s a comedic recounting of the Great Western Philosophers.

Hockeypocalypse: Slashers ends on Thursday AND it has passed its funding goal. so head over to Zoop and preorder a copy. It is my favourite comic I’ve ever written/drawn, and I think you’ll agree. Preorder your copy to help fund the book’s existence! Get it for yourself, get it for a friend or family member, or do all of the above! Not interested in Hockeypocalypse (you should be, are you okay?)? Donate your copy to your local library when you get it!

Not A Good Time

I look forward to having a Hell, Inc. buffer again, which is creeping toward being a reality. Granted, I still have to write and draw said buffer, but I have less urgent demands from elsewhere to get in the way of that.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, and he’s already got a copy of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers coming to him from supporting the creation of the book on Patreon! If you don’t, you need to head over to Zoop and preorder a copy, which will ALSO help fund the creation of the book. It is my favourite comic I’ve ever written/drawn, and I think you’ll agree. Preorder your copy to help fund the book’s existence! Get it for yourself, get it for a friend or family member, or do all of the above! Not interested in Hockeypocalypse (you should be, are you okay?)? Donate your copy to your local library when you get it!

The Secret Technique

Last week was obnoxiously busy, with Hockeypocalypse: Slashers launching on Zoop (go preorder a copy, by the way, and greatly reduce my stress levels), two podcast recordings, launching the quickplay rules for the RPG Cait and I have been making, Fail Marines. I’m very tired.

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 exploring space and how the things that are in space are often terrifying. Season 2 is underway!

I like a good Patreon plug as much as anyone, but the real business here is Hockeypocalypse: Slashers on Zoop. It is my favourite comic I’ve ever written/drawn, and I think you’ll agree. Preorder your copy to help fund the book’s existence! Get it for yourself, get it for a friend or family member, or do all of the above! Not interested in Hockeypocalypse (you should be, are you okay?)? Donate your copy to your local library when you get it!

All Jobs Involve Cerberus Pee

Does YOUR job involve Cerberus pee? I hope not, for your sake, but it would really help prove the bold theory proposed by this strip title.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read Hockeypocalypse: Slashers 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.

In other news… letter. I have a newsletter now. I haven’t started sending them out yet, but once the mailing list has some signups I’ll be sending out newsletters highlighting the stuff I’m working on, things I think are cool, and pet pictures. I don’t know how often those will be going out, but I’m thinking monthly unless I’m running a crowdfunding situation for a new book. You can sign up by entering your email address in the space below (it will not given to anyone else, and only used for newsletter purposes).

 

My Hero’s Broken Body

Cerberus is very fun to draw but I had to completely relearn how to do it, because his previous appearance (prior to a few strips ago) was drawn nearly 3 years ago. It turns out that the muscle memory for a character that was in four or five panels doesn’t last for several years! Who could have guessed?

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read Hockeypocalypse: Slashers 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.

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which helps push it up the rankings and make it more visible to new readers! Votes are worth more early in the month as the rankings reset. Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Leash laws apply in the Hell, Inc. lobby. Read it early on Patreon!

Back Soup

Did the first panel of this strip take longer to draw than the entire rest of the strip? Yes. Yes it did. It wasn’t even close, either.

Completely unrelated, the Edmonton Oilers won a playoff series, and therefore I am high on SPORTS in the fourth or fifth-hand way that the success of others can result in. I assume it’s similar to when any other fandom gets a thing they want in a very satisfying way.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

“Game Time” Art Middleton is Employee of the Week! Follow him on Twitter 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 also the creation of my new graphic novel, Hockeypocalypse: Slashers. I can say, without hesitation, it is the best book I have ever drawn. And you can see every new page as I draw them!

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

Next Week: Mo’ manual labour, mo’ problems. Read it early on Patreon!

Probably Not the Worst Job

I think it’s pretty reasonable to consider manual labour less bad than wrangling a giant demon dog who will almost certainly pee on you. Those of you who have read book version of Hell, Inc. Volume 1: Welcome to Hell… Inc. have seen Cerberus before, but the rest of you will be introduced to him soon enough.

Unrelated, but I’m always somewhat amused when a Hell, Inc. update coincides with a major Christian holiday. Even though Hell, Inc.’s version of Hell is far more influenced by depictions of Hell in popular culture than it is the Biblical conception of it, I’m tickled by the idea that someone could be going to an Easter service and reading about demons decorating for Hell’s Christmas party in the same day.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Azhar Baig is Employee of the Week, and has a podcast called The Wisdom of Love that you should check out. It’s a comedic recounting of the Great Western Philosophers. You, too, can support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, and also read my new graphic novel, Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, as I draw it!

As always, you can vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics to help it get in front of new readers! Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: The Arrivals department, where every soul passes through and nobody wants to return. Read it early on Patreon!

The Shape of a Name

The writing process for Hell, Inc. is a lot looser than it is when I’m working on a graphic novel, largely due to the delivery method. When the reader is only getting one page at a time, it’s more important that each individual strip be able to function semi-independently than a page of a book needs to. In practical terms, it gives me more license to do weird little asides like this one that came from realizing that B.L. Zebub had never actually said Ray’s name out loud before.

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. You should also follow him on Twitter to learn about his new novel releases. He writes that good good scary shit. You should ALSO check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, which is currently host to my new graphic novel, Hockeypocalypse: Slashers. I’m posting new pages every week for patrons at the $5/month and up levels. You get to help me have an income while I draw the book AND you’ll get a printed copy in the mail when they’re ready! So go support your favourite cartoonist for the cost of a coffee (which is a terrible point to convince someone of anything, since caffeine is addictive and, unfortunately, my comics are not).

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

Next Week: Detective B.L. Zebub is on the case. Read it early on Patreon!

Drinkable Plans

So last week I had a tweet become extremely popular, which was not an experience I had previously had. As a result, Hell, Inc. had some truly absurd (by my standards) readership stats, and some of you reading this right now have found your way here from that. Welcome! This is Hell, Inc., it is very good, you should keep reading it.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Jillian Dolan, artist of Kyle the Nihilist Dinosaur, Misha, and other delightful comics, is Employee of the Week! She has access to Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, my new graphic novel, which is being serialized on Patreon as I draw it! We’re in the second half of the book as of this post, and they’re some of the best pages I’ve ever drawn. The first 5 pages are available on Patreon for free, and the rest are unlocked by donating at the $5 and up tiers. So go do that.

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which is not nearly as effective as having a popular tweet, but has been a more easily enacted strategy for gaining new readers. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: B.L. Zebub must enact extreme measures, which might be some sort of nuclear overtime? Hard to say, but you can find out by reading it early on Patreon!