Hindsight

In the Patreon preview for this strip, I talk about the concept of joke density and my approach to incorporating it into Hell, Inc.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Shane Lees is Employee of the Week! He has a webcomic, Tales of Abuse, which you can check out at his website. You should also check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, which is my predictable form of income. One of these days it will replace the need to freelance! Not a SOON day, but one day!

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: The strip that ends this arc! To be followed by… another arc! Read it early on Patreon!

The Bus Waits for No Demon

This week’s comic made me hyper-aware that my buffer is down to two weeks, which means I need to get drawing again. My efforts lately have been focused on a new pitch packet (one of those will land, one of these days) and BURGERPunk stuff. There was a loooooot of BURGERPunk stuff to draw.

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.

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: Getting Helen OFF the bus isn’t easy, either. Read it early on Patreon!

You Forgot Something

This week’s Patreon preview was mostly about anxieties involved in not having written a romantic story before, and also talking about fun ways to use thought bubbles. Hopefully the folks on Webtoon who leave comments about the romantic plot are hyped about this one! Far less people read Hell, Inc. on Webtoon, but more of them comment. It’s an interesting phenomenon, the way different platforms encourage different audience behaviours.

In other news, I was just on the Podside Picnic podcast again, this time talking about the Warhammer 40,000 shooter BOLTGUN. Hear me learn in real-time that I can accidentally do a pretty solid impression of Boltgun’s lead character, and also tell a lot of weird anecdotes about 40k that relate to the game. I had a blast recording it, so check it out!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, and will get to read my next graphic novel as I draw it! It was intended to be Rent-A-Thug, but now it might end up being a different thing, depending on how some things pan out! Freelancing is chaos, as I often say, and part of that means pitching a lot of things, and almost all of them being rejected! Patreon is my predictable source of income, and I would very much like it to grow to the point where I can get into a workflow of webcomic + graphic novel, without worrying about pitches and the publishing industry.

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: From romcom to action movie!? Read it early on Patreon!

Helen the Cat

“Helen the Cat” sounds like it could be a newspaper comic from the 20th century that nobody remembers because it was proto-Garfield or Heathcliff or one of the other cat comics. Or maybe it’s like Cathy, but a cat?

This week’s Patreon preview was about the decision-making process involved in choosing what angle to view the action from in any given panel (specifically the ones that resulted in “Helen the Cat” being the title).

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: Helen the Catbus? Read it early on Patreon!

Bat-Steve

Da-nanna-nannaaaa *spinning Steve face transition*

This week’s Patreon preview was about the two important questions that need to be answered by the scripting process, which stemmed from a conversation I had with some other cartoonists.

In other news, I was sick with a cold last week, which is the first time that’s happened to me since 2018. I don’t recommend it!

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, so if you like things that I do, check it out.

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: Return of the Mack? No, I don’t think they make buses. Read it early on Patreon!

 

Universal Job Badness

The Patreon preview for this strip includes talk about an unfortunately common phenomenon, which is forgetting what’s coming up in the script and accidentally causing myself a visual problem because I did something for visual interest that gets in the way of a later part of the script.

I’ve also had a week full of live events, having attended All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite/Rampage shows in Edmonton as well as an Edmonton Stingers basketball game (did you know Canada has a basketball league? It does). Is this motivating me to work on a project I’m pitching that involves sports? Yes.

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 follow him on Twitter 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!

Also check out my Patreon, because if everyone who reads Hell, Inc. on a monthly basis kicked in $1, I’d be able to cut my freelancing schedule to nearly nil, and focus on the things you already like (Hell, Inc., and presumably other comics I make without bothering to consider whether they suit the publishing zeitgeist, such as the aforementioned project I want to pitch).

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: What even is time, maaaaaan? Read it early on Patreon!

Next Bus?

This strip’s Patreon preview included some discussion about my approach to learning via making comics, and how that can also happen even if you’re kind of actively resisting it. Just because you think you’re the smartest one in the room doesn’t mean you can’t learn something!

In “Twitter continues to spiral down the toilet” news, I have gotten on Bluesky, which is basically Twitter from 10 years ago. If you’re on there already, or are able to get on there, give a follow to jeffmartinart.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read my next graphic novel 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.

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: Helen’s demands of Santa interrupt the party. Read it early on Patreon!

Running for the Beelzebus

This week’s Patreon preview was mostly about how Adobe Illustrator is the most ironically named art program I’ve ever used, and as a result I had some adventures while trying to do Helen’s dialogue balloon in the fourth panel.

I’m writing this before it’s happened, but presumably running Fail Marines for Free RPG Day at Red Claw Gaming was a ton of fun and involved some sort of catastrophic space failures.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read my next graphic novel 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.

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: The bus driver is a huge fan of Helen puking ghosts, I’m sure. Read it early on Patreon!

 

Spiralling Wildly

I’m trying to keep up the habit of writing about process in the Patreon early looks, and this time it’s about what goes into deciding where to place the “camera” for panels and an unusual factor that can influence that.

I’m typing this in the wee hours of the morning, having returned home from Calgary Horror Con. I’m always a bit nervous about first time shows, but thankfully it was a rousing success!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week AGAIN, because she helped sell a bunch of books at Calgary Horror Con. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, you don’t have to sell any books at Horror Con, you can just toss a dollar into the tip jar that is the Hell, Inc. Patreon! It is a much more predictable way to support my art, because conventions are like a very tiring form of gambling.

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

Next Week: The spiral, it keeps spiralling. Because it’s a spiral, and that’s really the only thing they do. Read it early on Patreon.