Location: Real Break Room

Visual Learner

The Patreon preview for this strip is about not remembering which jokes were in short stories that most of the audience didn’t read! It’s fine, it makes sense without that knowledge.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

In a break from tradition, the Employee of the Week isn’t a bit, I actually hired somebody to do website work. Christian DeWolf of Shellscript.ca came on board and did a great job of fixing a bunch of site issues that had accumulated, and also made it so more people will actually see these newsposts, which is very helpful. If you need web development services, I highly recommend reaching out to Christian!

Relatedly, such services cost money, so if you want to kick in a buck or two to the Patreon, that would be very helpful! Patron support pays for things like “the website existing” and once that’s covered, “thing I need to live.”

You can help Hell, Inc. for free by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which has been a great way to draw in new readers. It’s a new month, which means the rankings have reset and votes are worth more (relatively speaking). Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Did Helen take any actual notes? We find out! Read it early on Patreon!

ACTIIING!

I say “AAAACTIIIING” while raising a hand dramatically on a surprisingly regular basis. Just, like, around the house, finding reasons to do that. I don’t know why my brain is like this, either. This week’s Patreon preview is about some of the art challenges that can come up with digital lettering.

This post is coming to you via time travel, as I’m writing this before I leave for Calgary, but you’re reading it after I’ve already gotten back. Presumably I saw some of you at Calgary Expo, and some of you are new readers! Hello! Welcome! I’m very tired now.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Trash the Stampede  can be found on the internet at The Word Eater. Now all I can think about is that old computer game Number Munchers, but with words. Maybe I should make that? I have made a video game, Space Jerks, and Patreon patrons got to download it well before anyone else! Patreon is also a predictable source of income, which helps calm the increasingly rough waters of freelancing.

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: We learn about B.L. Zebub’s Important Shame Plans. Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

Failure Chickens Feel No Shame

This week’s Patreon preview was about the strange process of drawing a webcomic, and how that influences the art. It’s one of the most interesting elements of webcomics as a medium, to me.

In other news, Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo is this weekend (April 25-28, 2024), and I will once again be a guest. This year I’m at table P20 in the Big 4 Building, along with piles of my books and prints.

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: Doris brings up some limits to the power of a failure chicken. Read it early on Patreon!

Guess Who

I spent the weekend tabling at the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Comic & Zine Fair, so welcome to those of you that I met there who’ve made your way here! I was pleasantly surprised by the event, and particularly the response to Hell, Inc. from the AGA crowd. I look forward to returning next year!

This week’s Patreon preview revisited a topic from a few weeks ago, which was how to use perspective to add energy to a panel.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! It’s how I have predictable money, which is both Cool and Good because we live in capitalist hell-world. If everyone who read the comic in a month chipped in $1, I’d be able to turn down most freelance work and focus on doing Hell, Inc. stuff and my own graphic novels! That would be preeeeetty cool. Especially now, because I am brooooke.

You can help Hell, Inc. for free by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which has been a great way to draw in new readers. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Bridget tells the tale of Helen in Arrivals. Read it early on Patreon!

The Zen of Failure

The Zen of Failure sounds like the state that occurs when I’m pitching projects. There’s a certain flow state that comes from copying and pasting pitch documents into various forms and formats to send to people who may or may not respond, and might not even look at them. It creates a certain feeling of acceptance that this action probably will not matter, but it must be taken or it definitely won’t matter. It’s related to the way rejection loses its sting when it happens frequently. Just pitching to literary agents, I’ve been rejected or ignored over 100 times now. Rejection isn’t even really a feeling anymore, it’s just a thing that happens which indicates I have to keep pitching things.

Naturally, the Patreon preview for this strip was mostly about… lettering? Yes, of course.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, and has been able to download my video game, Space Jerks as a result! You can, too! Patreon is my predictable source of income, and I would very much like it to grow to the point where I can do things like make a video game and not be haunted by the thought that I’m wasting my time because nobody will support it!

Remember Top Webcomics? That’s still a thing, so if you want to boost Hell, Inc. in the rankings and funnel some new readers in, click on the banner below. You can vote daily.

Next Week: Ray, office scientist. Read it early on Patreon!

Hold Madness

Hold madness is real and very powerful. Maybe not “Hulk Smash a desk” powerful, but there’s a certain amount of antipathy toward human existence that builds up when you’re hearing the same musical loop for 35 minutes. Which is maybe a thing that happened to me last week. Hockey game goes into intermission, and I think “ah, I’ll bang out this phone call I need to make.” By the time I was done, it was almost the next intermission. Oof.

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 (who are cool, weird cyborg-things) exploring space and how the things that are in space are often terrifying. Season 2 is underway!

Patreon! Go there. Do that. It is my most reliable source of income, and that is very helpful when living that freelance life. If everyone who read the comic last week chipped in $1/month, that would be enough to almost completely eliminate the need for freelancing. That would be rad! You’d also all be able to play my video game, Space Jerks!

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: The zen of incompetence. Read it early on Patreon!

Making a Lot of Sense

Hell, Inc. has a pretty defined colour palette by this point, so it’s always fun to do panels that let me shake that up.

Also I made a video game, have you heard?

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week, and I just made my fourth appearance on the show, this time discussing crime drama Better Call Saul! If you want to hear me talk about how artfully executed BCS is, then good news, you’ll have a great time listening to that podcast!

Patreon! It’s a predictable source of income, and ALSO Patrons can play Space Jerks, the video game I made!

Also check out the newsletter, which is how to hear about what I’m up to without needing to subject yourself to things like Twitter.

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: Doug’s tale of woe and being bad at Arrivals. Read it early

Failure Chicken

Failure chicken, for when everyone wants to be a loser! It’s also a very funny first idea expressed in the comic for 2024. It’s like the opposite of a resolution – “just be slightly worse than your competition!” But also the first thing I did was forget to finish writing the post before it went up, so not a great start!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

I made a video game! If somehow you haven’t heard me yelling at the internet about it yet, now you know! Patrons at any of the paid tiers can download for free, right now, and play it on your computers! It’s called Space Jerks, and I wrote about its origin in a free Patreon post here. You should read the post, then chip in a dollar and download the game, in which you will blow up aliens with a laser.

You can also help get Hell, Inc. in front of new readers by voting for it on Top Webcomics! You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below.

Next Week: Totally normal reactions to failure chicken. Read it early on Patreon!

Brain Wizard

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/It is Monday, as appropriate! Now that it’s Christmas, we are about six months past the Christmas story arc. Naturally. If, somehow, Hell, Inc. ever becomes an animated show, I’ll have to make sure the Christmas party stuff doesn’t air anywhere near Christmas, just to keep up that tradition.

A Christmas Present for Patrons!

In lieu of an Employee of the Week, I’ve got a gift for my Patreon patrons (which can also include you, if you want!). I’ve been working on a video game side project for a bit, and patrons can now play my first finished game, Space Jerks! It’s an arcade shoot-em-up based on Space Invaders, but with hand-drawn art and sound effects that I foley’d myself! I’m excited to be able to share this with folks, so if you’re a patron, check it out, and if you’re not… well, you could be. Patrons at all levels will be able to download the game on an ongoing basis. Click on the image below to check it out!

As always, Top Webcomics is a helpful way to tell people about Hell, Inc.! You can vote daily by clicking on the banner below.

Next Week: Doug tries to be his own brain wizard. Read it early on Patreon!

 

The Sixth Dimension

The Patreon preview for this post is about the way comics have magical realism built into them as a medium, and the ways that can be used to the cartoonist’s advantage. It also lets you draw things that don’t need explanation for how they’re happening, like Doug waving a flaming sword atop a space pegasus.

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 (who are cool, weird cyborg-things) exploring space and how the things that are in space are often terrifying. Season 2 is underway!

Patreon! Go there. Do that. It is my most reliable source of income, and that is very helpful when living that freelance life. If everyone who read the comic last week chipped in $1/month, that would be enough to almost completely eliminate the need for freelancing. That would be rad!

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: We check in on the office’s Ambient Misery Index. Read it early on Patreon!