Character: Helen

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!

Object Permanence

I’m bouncing between projects like I’m a superball right now. I’m currently alternating between working on Hell, Inc., Hockeypocalypse: Slashers, Reforged, and writing the graphic novel that I’ll be working on after Slashers. Oh, and some stuff to send to literary agents. If effort and income were directly correlated, I would be much less horrified at how much my new glasses prescription costs.

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.

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! It’s a new month (tomorrow), so be sure to get your votes in as the rankings reset. Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: B.L. Zebub is extremely good at his job and keeping track of his underlings. Stop laughing. Read it early on Patreon!

Work Place Skeleton Face

Work Place Skeleton Face is my new band, and also my office aesthetic in case things go downhill and I need a real job. I shall have a visage that engenders in my co-workers uncertainty and a strong desire to stop interacting with me. That seems ideal.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week at Hell, Inc. and also at her soap business, Soaps & Sorcery. She’s running a clearance sale to allow new product to cycle in, so get on that and get cleanified. You, too, can support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, which includes access to Hockeypocalypse: Slashers at the $5 or great tiers, and original digital art commissions! So do that, because Patreon is the only even slightly predictable income I have!

Vote daily for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below! It’s the most consistent way to bring in new readers to the comic! The best way, it turns out, is to have a viral tweet, but I have no control over that.

Next Week: Longing for the future where you aren’t in the office for eleventy-two hours a day. Read it on Patreon!

Soul Searching

Why yes, I did realize when I sat down to draw this strip that I was going to have to invent a search engine for Hell. For something made up on the spot, I’m pretty happy with it. B.L. Zebub isn’t, so much, but I am.

In other news, it’s my birthday today! If you want to help me celebrate (and also boost my Etsy rating), buy a book or two from my Etsy store between now and February 7th, 2022! You get great books at a discount, I get money to pay for things like new glasses! Everyone wins.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

It’s me, for surviving another year. Next week it could be you, if you support Hell, Inc. on Patreon! At the $5/month or higher tier, you get to read Hockeypocalypse: Slashers as a premium webcomic before it goes to print (at which point you will get a copy in the mail!).

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics! Unless you’re reading this on update day, it’s a new month, which means votes are worth more as the rankings reset! Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Checking in with the intern spy, who is focusing on the wrong thing. Read it early on Patreon!

Extreme Christmas Measures

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate, and happy holidays to everyone! It’s a busy season, which resulted in me forgetting what day it was, so this is later in the day than normal. What even is time?

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the holiday Week! Like him, you can also read Hockeypocalypse: Slashers as I draw it AND access to over a thousand pages of other comics, including the previous Hockeypocalypse books, for $5 a month on Patreon. It’s like a giving me a Christmas present and then I give you multiple new pages ever week!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics! It’s a regular source of new readers, and more votes = higher placement and better visibility. Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Untangling Christmas lights, a task so annoying that I bought a Christmas tree with the lights built into it. 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!

Lava Bees

I’m also annoyed when people shoot down my brilliant ideas because they’re “impractical” and “dangerous” and “will absolutely cause more harm than good.” Solidarity, Steve.

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, which is currently host to my new graphic novel, Hockeypocalypse: Slashers. I’m posting 3-4 pages per 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: There are dumb dummies all over this office, apparently. Read it early on Patreon!

Solid Sara

The third panel was really easy to write and quite a challenge to draw, which is generally the case whenever something is hard to draw.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and is reading Hockeypocalypse: Slashers as I write it! Will it be the best book I’ve ever produced? Probably! And by supporting me on Patreon at the $5/month and up levels you’ll get a print copy when it’s done. Supporting my art on Patreon means I can keep doing stuff like that instead of hunting for freelance jobs and trying to develop graphic novel pitches that agents/publishers will like (I have no idea what either of those groups like). Capitalism, it is a huge pain in the ass for someone like me who likes to make stuff but whose creative niche does not result in making hits.

You can help more people find Hell, Inc. by voting for on Top Webcomics! Click the banner below to vote daily, and also just tell some people you think would like it. Know people who read comics? Tell them about Hell, Inc. and send a link. Word of mouth is the only universally effective way to spread the word.

Next Week: There are no bad ideas, except that’s not true at all, there are absolutely bad ideas. Read it early on Patreon!

That Good Misery

I lovelovelove doing layouts that push what a comic strip can look like, and since this is strip number 200, I wanted to make it stand out. Also, this is strip number 200, which is kinda wild to me. That’s a lot of comic strips, and I want to thank all of you for being why so many strips exist. Whether you’ve been reading since the start or just discovering the comic now, Hell, Inc. doesn’t get to 200 strips if people aren’t reading it. Of course, MORE people reading it is always great, so please share the comic with your friends.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week, and is reading Hockeypocalypse: Slashers as I draw it! And you can, too, by supporting me on Patreon at the $5/month or higher tier, which will help me gain financial independence from freelancing, which is a real grind. So, y’know, you should do that if you can.

You should also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, because more votes = a higher ranking = more visibility to webcomic readers! Click the banner below to vote!

Next Week: The closest I will come to making a Metal Gear Solid comic, perhaps? Read it early on Patreon!