Evil Inc Shareholders’ Report: August Left a Mark (Patreon)

August didn’t so much end as collapse across the finish line, loosen its tie, and ask whether anybody had something stronger than coffee.

Looking back, I packed a lot of great stuff into the month: new Evil Inc After Dark scenes, a new Monster Girl Poll winner, commissions, a brand-new erotica story, and a trip to Boston for the National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards — where I was honored to be nominated for a Silver Reuben.

So, before September starts piling more wonderful nonsense onto my drawing board, here’s a look at what you may have missed.

Fair warning: The images get spicy from this point forward!

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Jack and the Beanstalk

Sometimes a commission arrives with a premise so magnificently silly that I know immediately I’m going to enjoy drawing it.

Miss Match meets Jack O’Lantern for a little horticultural experimentation involving a magical beanstalk and the inevitable discovery that certain things grow when properly encouraged.

What happens at Cape Camp…

Dragonelle and Jet Stream met while working as counselors at Cape Camp — Dragonelle teaching wilderness survival and Jet Stream handling defensive swimming.

Their mutual attraction developed considerably faster than either curriculum.

This month’s scene followed the two back to their shared cabin, where Jet Stream discovered a muscle cramp and Dragonelle proved herself extremely committed to hands-on first aid.

Unfortunately, there’s always somebody walking around camp with a clipboard.

And that Someone just opened the cabin door.

Curious about what you get when you join?

The Monster Girl Poll delivers again

The latest Monster Girl Poll began with a simple suggestion: Two college women summon a succubus.

Enter Vespera.

She’s prowling the campus of Fairmount University when she overhears two roommates playing “Never Have I Ever.” One confession catches her attention, and before long their quiet evening has acquired an unexpected third participant.

There's still time to jump in on the next Monster Girl poll — already in progress!

Finding Common Grind

August also brought a new 1,200-word Evil Inc Erotica story: Finding Common Grind, featuring Desi, Iron Dragon and Surgat.

What begins as Desi coming home at an inconveniently interesting moment becomes a story about three people discovering that sometimes the best solution to a romantic complication is… expanding the committee.

It’s a full prose story rather than a microfic, which gave me room to let the scene breathe, build the characters and — more importantly — make several extremely questionable decisions.

The National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards

August wasn’t entirely spent hunched over a drawing tablet.

I traveled to the National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards, where I was tremendously honored to be nominated for the Silver Reuben.

I posted a full report for patrons about the weekend — the cartoonists, the conversations, the awards and the particular brand of joyful chaos that happens when you put that many professional cartoonists in one building.

Being recognized by your peers never stops feeling special. Being able to spend a weekend surrounded by people who understand precisely why you’ve spent twenty minutes arguing with yourself over the placement of a word balloon is pretty terrific, too.

Meanwhile, in Evil Inc…

Back in Fairmount City, Countess Influencia continued discovering the most dangerous superpower of all: engagement metrics.

Captain Heroic has fallen under her spell, and every little act of devotion sends her follower count climbing. Unfortunately for the Countess, the algorithm may be considerably more interested in their relationship than either of them expected.

And lately, things between those two have been getting dangerously close to leaving the “content strategy” phase.

September should be interesting.

And now… September

There’s already more Evil Inc After Dark underway, more Evil Inc story pages coming, and another round of wonderfully dubious ideas accumulating on my desk.

Thanks, as always, for making all of this possible. Your support gives me the time to draw the comics, write the stories, chase weird ideas much farther than good judgment recommends — and occasionally draw something that makes me think, Well, Patreon is definitely the right place for THAT.

See you in September!

— Brad