Location: Conference Room

Speculate Wildly

You know what’s a great way to make a strip take a long time to draw? Make each panel have multiple characters, and only one of them is a main character that I’ve developed muscle memory for!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week, and I’ve made yet another guest appearance! This time, we talked about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury! We talk about the Prologue, which is an insane rarity – a first episode that is also the best episode of the series. You also get to hear me say some absurd Gundam character names, which I could have done for MUCH longer. You can also hear me talk about a bunch of other shows, like Better Call Saul, Newsradio, Workaholics, and Ugly Americans!

You can also head over to Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below, where voting can help draw new readers to Hell, Inc.! It’s early in the month, and votes count for more because the rankings reset.

Next Week: Back to the office, where things are very normal. Read it early on Patreon!

Reasonable Timeline

The Patreon preview for this strip was about how I treat coming up with background character designs like jazz. In other news, I have finished rebuilding the book design file for the Big Hell, Inc. Book that I’ve mentioned a bunch of times. It took several weeks, and involved recolouring/lettering about 30 strips as well as the front and back covers, and redoing all of the page layout. But now it’s done! It also has a real title, Hell, Inc. Afterlife-time Employment. I don’t know when it’s coming out yet, though. It might get a publisher? Who knows! But you’re reading this, so you’ll definitely hear about it when I have updates.

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: We learn about death. Statistically. Read it early on Patreon!

Embarrassing

The Patreon preview for this strip is mostly about the original joke idea for this strip, which got cut. Patrons will be the first to know when I eventually recycle it later.

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, or Big Robots, Big Feelings, which is the tabletop game I just dropped!

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: Orientation! Read it early on Patreon!

Brainstorming for Evil

Speaking of brainstorming, I always hated that thing in school where you would have to show a mind map or something as proof of your ideation process. My process doesn’t involve writing a bunch of ideas and then picking one, it’s much more straightforward. What do I want to do here? Okay, I have an idea, now let’s turn that into something that works. Sometimes that involves having a bunch of ideas and throwing them out, but it’s much more organic than the brainstorming processes we had to do in school. I understand why they do that, because it’s otherwise impossible for the teacher to tell if the kids can actually think through their process. It was just really annoying for me, who would do the project and then make the mind map or whatever afterward.

This strip’s patreon preview is kind of about that, in the sense that I talked through the process of coming up with the joke.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Caitlin is Employee of the Week! 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 stop panicking about picking up 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: Sara continues to search for the conference room. Read it early on Patreon!

Helpful Directions

The Patreon preview for this strip is about the process of choosing the faces to draw in the Hellevator. It’s also briefly about how I spent a while agonizing about what to name the long-necked guy and then didn’t have anyone in the comic say it out loud, so you still don’t know what it is unless you read the Patreon post.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Trash the Stampede  can be found on the internet at The Word Eater. Patreon is also a predictable source of income, which helps calm the increasingly rough waters of freelancing, so I very much appreciate the people who support me on it!

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: Wrong meeting. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

 

Fired into the Sun

YEET: The Sun Edition. Which will hopefully be the result for all the billionaires trying to flee the planet, tbh.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Bartender of the Apocalypse is Employee of the Week. Presumably also the Employee of the Week at O’Hellihan’s Pub. They support Hell, Inc. on Patreon, and you should, too, because my latest freelance gig is over and Patreon is my only income source at the moment. Keep an eye on the Patreon, as there will be major changes coming in July, including a WHOLE NEW COMIC SERIES.

As always, you can help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which continues to be one of the largest sources of new readers. Vote daily by clicking the banner below!

Next Week: B.L. Zebub adjusts to party planning in completely normal and healthy ways. Read it early on Patreon!

Carry On

Just ignore the guy who slammed his head through the wall. Happens all the time.

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. In addition to all of that philosophy, he has access to Hell, Inc. Volume 5: Overtime, and you can, too, by supporting Hell, Inc. on Patreon! It’s my entire income at the moment, which is not ideal!

You can also help out Hell, Inc. by voting on Top Webcomics! More votes = more visibility, and it’s still early enough in the month that the rankings are very fluid. Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Party planning instructions are more thorough than anyone’s actual job training. Read it early on Patreon!

Less Immediate, Still Regret

This and the next strip were originally supposed to be one episode, which was, obviously a very poor bit of planning. Thankfully I’ve been doing this long enough to be able to spot those kinds of issues before they become a problem, or solve those problems in ways that don’t stick out as patch-jobs.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Christine Bennett, better known as Purple Pony Art, is Employee of the Week! She has early access to Hell, Inc. Volume 5: “Overtime” and you can, too! Head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon and for as little as $1 a month you’ll get access to that book and over 1000 pages of over digital comics! Patreon is my most predictable source of income, so even $1 a month makes a big difference!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is the primary source of new readers for the comic. It’s the beginning of the month, so votes are worth even more as the rankings reset. Vote daily by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: Back immediate regrets. Read it early on Patreon!

Immediate Regret

It’s Victoria Day in Canada, which means a long weekend which always screws up my routines for remembering to update. Could I load a bunch of posts in advance and not have to worry about that? Probably. Am I going to? Probably not. Much like how watching the NHL playoffs has made me furiously angry, but will I keep watching the Oilers next season? Yes. Will I do so while wallowing in self-loathing? Probably. If you want to check out the product of the last time I was in this headspace, go read the Hockeypocalypse books. People aware of the origins of the series will not be shocked to learn I’ve been writing a new volume.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and will be one of the first to have access to Hell, Inc. Volume 5: Overtime later this week, as I’m in the process of finishing that up. You can get that AND access to over a thousand pages of other comics, including the aforementioned Hockeypocalypse series, for as little as $1 a month on Patreon and ALSO help support me, the creator of said comics, because apparently humans need money to live.

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which brings in more new readers than any other avenue thus far. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Mistakes were made, and their consequences have become clear. Read it early on Patreon!

Worst Person in Hell

One thing I’ve learned while working on Hell, Inc. is that a handful of the characters are a huge pain in the ass to colour because they have way more colours than everyone else. Willis is one of those characters. I’m glad he’s not really a character who pops up in backgrounds.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Jillian Dolan, artist of Kyle the Nihilist Dinosaur, Misha, and other delightful comics, is Employee of the Week! She is one of the folks with exclusive early access to the digital edition of Hell, Inc. Volume 4: Mandatory and will be receiving a digital copy of Hell, Inc. Volume 5: Overtime when it’s done in two weeks or so. Support Hell, Inc. on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you, too, can have early access to every Hell, Inc. book and over a thousand pages of other comics!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which boosts the comic’s visibility and helps bring in new readers. You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below!

Next Week: The party planning binder is… maybe a bit excessive. Read it early on Patreon!