Belzebubs (webcomic)

"For the band itself, see Belzebubs."Belzebubs is an ongoing webcomic by JP Ahonen. It's described as a "trve kvlt docvmentary in comic strip form," following the day-to-day lives of Belzebubs, a blackened death metal band hailing from "the mystic North." The comic updates sporadically, formerly every Friday, and can be read from the beginning on the official Belzebubs Tumblr page, the first page of which was posted on August 16th, 2016; however, the first strip involving Belzebubsian characters was posted on JP Ahonen's Instagram on October5th, 2015.

Plot
From the Belzebubs website:"'The story of Belzebubs has been meticulously recorded by a documentary crew ever since the band's humble beginnings. The team continues to provide an indepth look backstage, both as an extraordinary production diary and a casual documentary of the lives of Belzebubs.'"

Characters
"For more information, see Characters."The webcomic focuses on members of the fictional black metal band "Belzebubs" in a biographical documentary fashion. As such, anyone who's involved in their lives appears in the webcomic as well, such as family members and friends.

Story and Visual Elements
Belzebubs borrows many of its topical, comedic, and aesthetic elements from the black metal and metal subcultures. Many characters are seen wearing corpse paint and dark, sometimes spiked, clothing, often with Satanic motifs. The occult is also a typical part of Belzebubsian life; for example, sacrificing goats and summoning demons are somewhat of a pastime.

Characters that are associated with dark themes are also specifically distinguished from those who aren't: characters who are kvlt are seen wearing corpse paint at all times.

Additionally, Belzebubsian characters typically speak through black speech bubbles with white text, while those who aren't speak through white speech bubbles with black text. This can be observed in one comic strip where Sløth gets mistaken for Gene Simmons of Kiss by a random passerby. In another strip, Samaël is seen switching between the two, which could imply that Belzebubsian characters also speak in a different intonation.

Origins
JP ahonen began drawing Belzebubs characters in 2015 as doodles for Inktober, referring to them as "these black metal fellas" and posting the doodles onto Instagram with the hashtag "belzebubs". At this time, the main characters of the modern Belzebubs weren't formally established yet, though some characters (and scenarios) from these doodles would be adapted for and reused in the newer version (for republishing).