Juggling work and family can be... hell. Calvin and Hobbes meets The Call of Cthulhu (or This is Spın̈al Tap meets The Addams Family) as the sensationally popular heavy metal webcomic Belzebubs comes to print in a grim, goofy, and gorgeous hardcover.
Belzebubs is a "trve kvlt mockumentary" focusing on the everyday challenges of family life: raising kids, running a small business, and making time for worship. Except the kids are named Lilith and Leviathan, the business is a Black Metal band, and the worship... isn't exactly aimed upstairs.
In a few short years, what started out as improvised social-media doodles has now become a successful webcomic with many fans, drawn by JP Ahonen (Sing No Evil). It combines relatable slice-of-life humor with occult antics and references from metal music to Lovecraftian horror.
The comic can be found on the Tumblr account here
. They have produced two animated music videos with original songs: Blackened Call and Cathedrals of Mourning
This webcomic provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: The reason why the band's former drummer left was because he found Jesus... who is actually a hot Mexican guy named Jesús.
- Lilith gives her parents the finger when they leave her and her brother at their grandmother's house while they leave for vacationing. Sløth and Lucyfer couldn't be more proud.
- When Lilith (who was a toddler at the time) tells on her baby brother for drawing on the walls with crayon, Lucyfer is absolutely floored... and proceeds to show him how to properly draw a pentagram.
- Lilith gets a compliment from a cute boy and hearts start floating around her... only for her to see a cherub dropping the hearts around her. She crucifies him upside down as a warning to all the "feathered freaks."
- When Lucyfer finds a lighter in Lilith's backpack, she interrogates her, asking her if she has been smoking or burning churches. When Lilith denies both, her mother asks "why the Hell not?"
- Leviathan moves into his parent's bed, having nightmares of him hiding from Jesus, who always finds him. Turns out he was playing hide and seek, Jesus peeking through the holes in his hands.
- Baphomet: Various demons that show up are depicted as resembling Baphomet, including Satan Claus and this guy. Leviathan also has a plush Baphomet that he sleeps with.
- Bob Ross Rib: One of the shows Leviathan watches is The Joy of Pain & Things by Belzebob Ross. It's basically a Bob Ross Expy wearing corpse paint depicting damned souls being tormented by demons on canvas.Belzebob Ross: [Wacks his brush against the easel.] There we go, just shake off the excess and beat the Jesus out of it.
- Casual Kink: Sløth and Lucyfer's sex life is still very much active, their foreplay involving dirty talk (usually involves threats of disembowlment) and roleplaying (Sløth dressing up as a priest and trying to exorcize a demon from his wife).
- Circles of Hell: Hell is portrayed similar to Dante's Inferno, Sløth and Lucyfer staying at a hotel in the City of Dis and taking a segue tour through the Malebolge.
- Creepy Family: The dad is the vocal and bassist for a Black Metal band, they all wear corpse paint and worship Satan, they have easy access to The Dark Arts... but otherwise the Belzebubs just your average modern family.
- Enfant Terrible: When Lilith was born, the first thing she did was furiously bite off her own umbilical cord before her father could cut it. When getting her to bed, she has a tendency "get up all the time".note
- Everyone Hates Mimes: One of the odd-jobs Sløth takes while the band is on hiatus is that of a mime in the park. He doesn't like to talk about it.
- Fan Disservice: When Blasphe My develops a crush on Eve.Blasphe My: And look at that behind... I would suck a fart out of that ass.
- The Ghost: Carcassandra, a former bandmember and Hubbath's ex, has yet to appear.
- Happily Married: Despite having met at the same orgy they conceived their first child in, Sløth and Lucyfer belong together.
- Hollywood Satanism: Both the family and members of the band are all unambiguous devout followers of Satan. Sløth and Lucyfer met at a satanic orgy, they married in a (black) black mass, Hell is considered the ideal vacation spot for them, they celebrate Antichristmas, etc.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Lilith does not have mood swings.Lucyfer: Your body is changing, darkling. It's all part of puberty. The zits, hair, hormones, mood swings—
Lilith: WHAT MOOD SWINGS?! - Incompatible Orientation: While Lilith and Blasphe My are exchanging notes, Blasphe My draws herself beating the sense into the doubtful Lilith. Then she depicts herself "kissing it all better and licking [her] wounds."Lilith: No.Blasphe My: Can't blame a girl for trying.
- Kick the Dog: Lilith and Leviathan are seen playing frisbee at the beach... with an angel's halo, the angel desperately trying to get it back.
- Mr. Fanservice: Hubbath is the most attractive member of the band, and they all know it.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: A Running Gag has Grandma digging up her husband's corpse and having him around the house like he was still alive.Lucyfer: Mom, this needs to stop.Grandma: "Till death to us part" is for quitters.
- Santabomination: Satan Claus/Father Antichristmas is a strange, demonic creature that visits the Belzebub's household every year. Leviathan thinks that he is just their dad in a costume since his dad is always conveniently out... only when he removes the goat-skull mask just as their dad walks in, he goes into a homicidal rage, forcing them to behead Satan Claus with an axe.Satan Claus: .oH oH oH
- Shout-Out:
- Obesyx calls Jim, Hubbath's proposed new drummer, "Destro".
- Blasphe My wears her hair in a style that looks just like another, smaller My.
- Stalker with a Crush: Lilith to Sam, at first.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Every bed in the house has monsters under it. Considering the family that lives there, they are more then welcome.
- Visual Pun: Hubbath says that his new candidate for their new drummer is a "big metal-head". Turns out he has a really big head made of metal.
- Wowing Cthulhu: Lilith summons the demon Delethir so that he could destroy Eve... only for the demon to comment non-stop on how hot she is when Lilith provides a picture.
