Character: Sara

Abandon All Hope

I’m imagining that Hell has turned “abandon all hope, ye who enter here” into a “New York, New York” kind of jingle, which is why I knew immediately that I needed to draw Doug making “your name up in lights” arm gestures.

In Kickstarter news, things are going pretty well. As of writing this post, it’s just under 75% funded with more than two weeks remaining. If you’ve been meaning to get in on it and haven’t yet… what are you waiting for? All pledges will be charged when the campaign ends on September 18th, so there’s no reason to wait! Click the image below to head to the Kickstarter page!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

As I mentioned last week, the next few Employee of the Week sections will be dedicated to all of the readers pledging their support to the Hell, Inc. Kickstarter campaign. They have my eternal gratitude and also a place on this list (the list is the exciting part, I’m sure!). The week two backers are… (pretend I put a drumroll sound effect here)

Jenny Reynolds

Al Welch

Elias Rosner

Demelza Carlton

Jay Bardyla

Matt Lui

John MacLeod

Trevor Sieben

Sierra Jackson

Vincent Rhoyall

Want to be shouted out in next week’s newspost? Just click the image above and preorder your copies of the Hell, Inc. print books. It’s that easy!

Next Week: Exorcise exercise, take the Beelzebus.

Couch Spiders

I’m not entirely sure why Sara sleeping on floors and Doug tripping over her became a running joke, but it has, and I fully intend to continue calling back to it in the future. Fun fact: this will be the first strip in the 3rd Hell, Inc. print collection (as of now untitled). The first two are on Kickstarter right now – this is your opportunity to make up for missing out on the ground floor of Apple or Google or Amazon, and get in on the ground floor of Hell, Inc.*

*Not actually a real corporation with shares, because nobody would let an artist run that.

Click the image below to check out the Hell, Inc. Kickstarter campaign and help support the first two books!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

The Employee of the Week honours are going to be changed up a little bit for the next month as the Kickstarter runs. I’m going to be shouting out all of the Kickstarter backers from the previous week. I’m eternally grateful to everyone who is willing to spend their entertainment dollar on my work, and chooses to spend their time in the worlds I create. Is list form the best way to express that? Probably not, but it’s the form I’m going with. So without further adieu, the week one list.

Sean Tonelli

Sylvia Douglas

Gail de Vos

Caitlin Fortier

Joey Gruszecki

Robbie Dorman

Melissa Hooper

Matthew Smith

Cindy Gauthier

Mike Harrington

Gayle & Gary Martin

GMarkC

Paul D Jarman

Elaine Cassell

Daniel Schneider

Jaroslaw Ejsymont

Heather Rusk

Tayson Martindale

Chase Kantor

Brent Jans

Barrie Deatcher

DBDH

Mountain Barber

Brent Finnestad

Kelly Tindall

Serah Blunt

Chad Colpitts

Variant Edition Comics & Culture

Mark Allard-Will

Chris Anderson

Matt Kund

Tardulv

Ian Mondrick

Jay Lofstead

Nicole Daenzer

Dan Collins

Whew. That’s a hell of a list (pun very intended). A heartfelt thank you to every person on that list, and for everyone who will be in future iterations of the list. Do you want to be at the top of next week’s list? Pledge your support to the Hell, Inc. Kickstarter.

Next Week: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Hopefully not the bathroom.

Muster Point Massacre

I didn’t realize my office comedy was going to have vehicle stunts in it, but here we are.

You know what else is here? The Hell, Inc. Kickstarter! It’s going live at 3 PM today (Monday, August 19th). It’s your first chance to get your hands on the Hell, Inc. print books, and also to help them exist.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin is Employee of the Week, and you can check out his podcast, Cursed. It’s a Pathfinder actual-play podcast about pirates. You should listen to it. IT HAS BEEN DECREED. Also, support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, because being a freelancer blows, but drawing comics rules.

Like always, you can support Hell, Inc. for free by upvoting it on Top Webcomics. Click the banner below!

Next Week: Roommates! Read it early on Patreon!

Operation: Flee In Terror

I don’t know about you, but I find loudspeaker announcements of impending doom and possible trampling death VERY reassuring. Very reassuring.

In other news, here’s a big announcement:

The first two print collections of Hell, Inc. will be crowdfunding on Kickstarter starting next Monday, August 19th! Book 1, Welcome to Hell… Inc. is a 60 page collection containing strips 1-42 of the webcomic and a short story called “Sara’s Morning.” Book 2, Candied Sheep Day, is also 60 pages and collects strips 43-84 and “The Missing Ingredient,” another short that will be exclusive to the book. You can get them both for $20 CAD, or pick up a sketch of you as a Hell, Inc. demon or even original art for one of the strips!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman is Employee of the Week! Check out his novelatory debut, Conquest, available in ebook or paperback format from Amazon. He’s also got many podcasts, including the Simpsons Show and Serial Fanatacist, which you should go listen to. Being deeply influenced by the Simpsons as well, I support his taste in podcast topics. If you want me to tell readers to buy your book or listen to your podcast, support the Hell, Inc. Patreon and finance things like “paying my mortgage” and “eating.”

As always, supporting Hell, Inc. for free is also appreciated – go upvote Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics to bring in new readers.

Next Week: Traffic safety in Hell is… well, the term exists, so that’s a start. Read it early on Patreon!

Panic Rules

The panic rules are very clear. And they say that I love drawing Adventure Time/Kermit arms when someone is panicking. Or excited. Or I otherwise have an excuse to draw someone flailing. In other news, Hockeypocalypse Season 4: Cult of Hockey was nominated for the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. I think it’s the best book I’ve ever made, so I’m pretty excited about that.

I’m also back to work teaching another Drawn To Write Camp this week, so I, like you, will be working 8-4, and not PM to AM.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

We’ve got a new Employee of the Week! Cindy Gauthier is joining us, and there will be cake in the break room. It may or may not be made out of toenails. She also draws the arts, so you should check out her work, including her debut comic Posthumous. If you want to be Employee of the Week and get a shout-out in an upcoming comic post, Check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon. It helps keep me drawing Hell, Inc. strips instead of being buried in freelance work, which is a win-win for everybody.

As always, supporting Hell, Inc. for free is also appreciated – go upvote Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics to bring in new readers.

Next Week: For whom do the arms Kermit? The arms Kermit for thee. Patreon. Do that.

Doug Flutie

Go deep! Go sheep? Go upvote Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics?

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is back at the top of the list, and is the creator of the Guintern Newsletter, which documents the adventures of my guinea pig office interns. The Patreon has become a bit of a struggle, lately. Efforts to increase the number of patrons haven’t been met with nearly the success as growing readership has, and I’m a bit stumped as to what people want to see from the Patreon. It’s stuck in a cycle where it doesn’t do well enough to merit more investment of effort, which takes away from effort on the actual comic, but maybe more effort would make it do better if it was put in the right place. I don’t know. Thoughts?

As always, supporting Hell, Inc. for free is also appreciated – go upvote Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics to bring in new readers.

Next Week: PANIC!!! Panic early on Patreon.

No Plan

Happy Canada Day! Living in Canada is actually a pretty significant factor in me being able to make comics, so it’s nice to take a moment to reflect on that.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

CANADA! If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, and help me focus on Hell, Inc. instead of freelance work, you can support Hell, Inc. on Patreon! I really love drawing Hell, Inc., but will be spending most of the rest of the year putting most of my time into a pair of work-for-hire books. I’d like to flip that work schedule around, and Patreon is a reliable way for me to do that while also giving you some neat rewards.

If you want to support Hell, Inc. for free, vote for it on Top Webcomics. More readers = more potential patrons, which = more Hell, Inc.

Next Week: I love it when a plan comes together. Patreon. Do that.

Problem Solving

Well THIS page took a long time to draw. Specifically, the first three panels. I’m sure you’re shocked to learn that the ones packed with characters took a long time to draw. It even, somehow, took a long time to colour, despite just being shades of red. Making them all different enough that they didn’t just blend together into one big blob turned out to be a bit of an effort.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin is Employee of the Week, and you can check out his podcast, Cursed. It’s a Pathfinder actual-play podcast about pirates. You should listen to it. IT HAS BEEN DECREED. Also, support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, because being a freelancer blows, but drawing comics rules.

If you want to support Hell, Inc. for free, vote for it on Top Webcomics. The comic has only been on there for a month or so, but the daily average readership has increased by like 10x. It’s ridiculous. So let’s see how high we can get that number.

Next Week: Solutions? Maybe? Find out early on Patreon.

The Annual Candied Sheep Riot

This is the 75th Hell, Inc. strip, which I only know because of how I name the files. Strip 100 will be dropping in December, assuming the current weekly schedule remains and isn’t ramped up.

In other news, I’m trying to figure out ways to make the Hell, Inc. Patreon more attractive to new Patrons. What kind of stuff would you want to see out of the Patreon that would make you kick in a few bucks? Hit up the comments or one of the myriad ways to contact me (Twitter, FB page, my email, whatever).

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Robbie Dorman has published a novel, and is Employee of the Week! Check out his novelatory debut, Conquest, available in ebook or paperback format from Amazon. The employees at Hell, Inc. are a creative bunch, I tell ya. If you want me to tell readers to buy your book, support the Hell, Inc. Patreon and finance things like “paying my mortgage” and “eating.”

If you want to support Hell, Inc. for free, vote for it on Top Webcomics. The comic has only been on there for a month or so, but the daily average readership has increased by like 10x. It’s ridiculous. So let’s see how high we can get that number.

Next Week: RIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOT! Riot early on Patreon.

After-Afterlife

I’d like to pretend that I do a ton of preparatory design work for when I need to fill out crowd scenes, but all of the background characters are made up as I go along. The little gremlin sitting on the back of the camel-centaur lady, for example, is only there because her body shape left a dead space in the composition. It also wasn’t intended to be a gremlin from Gremlins; that just sort of happened.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Joe Amon is Employee of the Week! Do you like Hell, Inc.? Are you at a computer right now (of course you are, one lives in your pocket)? YOU can become a Patron and be next week’s Employee of the Week! It’s a way to shout out readers that help support the comic, and every bit of support means less having to interact with the absurdity that is the comic book publishing industry, which is ideal. It’s a nightmare of predatory business practices. Kinda like Hell, Inc., but not a fictional satire.

And of course, if you can’t chip in a few bucks, you CAN chip in a few votes on Top Webcomics, which helps bring in new readers. Just click the banner below. You can vote once per machine per 24 hours, so feel free to artificially juice those numbers. Performance-enhancing votes are legal in webcomics.

Next Week: The line becomes… unruly. Read it a week early on Patreon!