Kill Six Billion Demons
February 26, 2023 7:21 PM Subscribe
The king of creation fell out of Heaven, usurped by a seven headed beast. But the old king shall choose a new, and he will ignite the Third Conquest. He will be flanked by a white and a black flame, his coming will be followed by 108 burning stars. He will bear the terrible heat of the voice in his brow, the mark of his lordliness. He will face the beast and he will annihilate it. He will wield the terrible blade of Want, and the pillars of Heaven will quake with his coming. And his name... His name will be... Kill Six Billion Demons.
Kill Six Billion Demons is a webcomic (with some volumes published by Image) by Tom Parkinson-Morgan. It's been running for ten years, and a new volume just started. If you're a returning fan, you could get caught back up with the wiki or jump into the new story.
Kill Six Billion Demons is a webcomic (with some volumes published by Image) by Tom Parkinson-Morgan. It's been running for ten years, and a new volume just started. If you're a returning fan, you could get caught back up with the wiki or jump into the new story.
Mod note: I have killed ~4 billion demons and corrected the link.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:29 PM on February 26, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:29 PM on February 26, 2023 [12 favorites]
I read this a long time ago, and just recently came back to it, and did a full re-read. It's a stunning work, filled with details, many of which I missed on my first read. Past that, the care and level of work put into each issue, both words and art, are astounding.
Even more impressive? It's still going, and he is going to finish it. Thinking back to all the webcomics that came out around the same time that just... died, where the creator just never finished it, and characters were just left hanging (pretty much everything on the old Transmission X website) with not only no resolution, but no continuance.
I miss the Abominable Charles Christopher, is what I'm saying, and all of the feelings I've got about all of those comics, that makes my appreciation for the work that went into Kill Six Billion Demons, and the commitment to completing it.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:41 PM on February 26, 2023 [10 favorites]
Even more impressive? It's still going, and he is going to finish it. Thinking back to all the webcomics that came out around the same time that just... died, where the creator just never finished it, and characters were just left hanging (pretty much everything on the old Transmission X website) with not only no resolution, but no continuance.
I miss the Abominable Charles Christopher, is what I'm saying, and all of the feelings I've got about all of those comics, that makes my appreciation for the work that went into Kill Six Billion Demons, and the commitment to completing it.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:41 PM on February 26, 2023 [10 favorites]
This is the first graphic novel I've purchased and shared with my kids. I don't exactly understand what it is I love about it beyond its ambition.
posted by abulafa at 7:58 PM on February 26, 2023
posted by abulafa at 7:58 PM on February 26, 2023
and shared with my kids
Just how old are these “kids” exactly? 😳
One thing I’ll add on top of “this comic is superb and its creator has inhuman stamina” is that he’s also a very evocative prose writer. In web form at least, each page has a variable-length bit of text appearing after it (just before the comments) and it’s nearly all in-universe historical/religious treatises/sayings/parables/etc. It’s great stuff.
posted by cyrusdogstar at 8:12 PM on February 26, 2023
Just how old are these “kids” exactly? 😳
One thing I’ll add on top of “this comic is superb and its creator has inhuman stamina” is that he’s also a very evocative prose writer. In web form at least, each page has a variable-length bit of text appearing after it (just before the comments) and it’s nearly all in-universe historical/religious treatises/sayings/parables/etc. It’s great stuff.
posted by cyrusdogstar at 8:12 PM on February 26, 2023
I read a bit of KSBD years ago and I loved it. The art is so fucking imaginative and colorful (if a little rough sometimes). I read it until I got caught up. I can't read it in drips! Some day I will gorge again.
posted by fleacircus at 8:31 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by fleacircus at 8:31 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I kept seeing this work named in all sorts of entries on TVTropes and I guess I just assumed (based only on the name and the trope pages it was cited on) it was one of those "hot" mangas, where a work is translated an intense knot of fans get super intensely engaged for a year.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:26 PM on February 26, 2023
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:26 PM on February 26, 2023
How cool, a long-running webcomic that may actually reach its conclusion? Shades of Rice Boy. Can't wait to get into this!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:12 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:12 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
A lot of the demons in this remind me very much of the art from Barlowe's Inferno.
This is really intriguing, thanks for the post.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:14 AM on February 27, 2023
This is really intriguing, thanks for the post.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:14 AM on February 27, 2023
I devoured this series during my divorce/pandemic. Its themes of transformation are explored deeply and carefully and the artwork is stunning and detailed. I spent ages just ogling some of the bigger pieces, admiring all the nooks and crannies of drawings that must take ages to create. I am thrilled to learn that there is a new volume! Thank you, harbinger!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 5:25 AM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 5:25 AM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've been reading it in collected paperback and I'm absolutely thrilled that it might actually finish. It scratches my most specific itch - hyper-detailed worldbuilding through art - and the story is increasingly compelling and cool and the characters are just the best and...
Yeah. I love this series.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:12 AM on February 27, 2023
Yeah. I love this series.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:12 AM on February 27, 2023
This looks extremely promising! I was just wishing for a graphic novel/long web comic/etc (and may write an ask about this anyway) but the first few pages of this look great.
~~~
If you're looking for relatively long webcomics that finish, may I recommend Stand Still Stay Silent? (There's one very long arc and then a shorter but substantial sequel.) It's kind of sad, but it's a terrific comic and the art is amazing.
The creator also did A Redtail's Dream, another long webcomic that finishes. I shelled out the most I have ever paid for a book except maybe a couple of textbooks to get a paper copy, I liked it that much.
Stand Still Stay Silent has a lot of death and some body horror even though it's not a horror comic, so not something I'd recommend for kids. A Redtail's Dream has some bodily injury and there's a sequence that's about Death As A Thing That The Gods Have Created That Happens To People, and also there is an Extremely Creepy Fish Monster That Scares Me, An Adult, Just A Little Bit, but it's much more geared to kids.
posted by Frowner at 7:39 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
~~~
If you're looking for relatively long webcomics that finish, may I recommend Stand Still Stay Silent? (There's one very long arc and then a shorter but substantial sequel.) It's kind of sad, but it's a terrific comic and the art is amazing.
The creator also did A Redtail's Dream, another long webcomic that finishes. I shelled out the most I have ever paid for a book except maybe a couple of textbooks to get a paper copy, I liked it that much.
Stand Still Stay Silent has a lot of death and some body horror even though it's not a horror comic, so not something I'd recommend for kids. A Redtail's Dream has some bodily injury and there's a sequence that's about Death As A Thing That The Gods Have Created That Happens To People, and also there is an Extremely Creepy Fish Monster That Scares Me, An Adult, Just A Little Bit, but it's much more geared to kids.
posted by Frowner at 7:39 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I always get this confused with Lynda Barry's One! Hundred! Demons!
posted by infinitewindow at 7:49 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 7:49 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
For new readers, please check out the alt-text. Like with XKCD, there's an entire layer of information hidden in there. World building, koans, jokes, links to music, deeper exploration of themes, etc. I didn't realize until I was well in and it was a pain to go back and read it all again. Worthwhile, but an irritation I would save you from.
posted by foxtongue at 9:04 AM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by foxtongue at 9:04 AM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, the world-building is immense - I think there’s a wiki which goes deep into it. I don’t feel like you have to read the background story to enjoy it though. It seems kind of like Shirow’s Orion, in that there is magic and action, but K6BD is a deeper, more interesting read.
posted by The River Ivel at 9:47 AM on February 27, 2023
posted by The River Ivel at 9:47 AM on February 27, 2023
I have little to add other than to agree that K6BD is an extraordinary body of work. Worth the investment.
posted by kjs3 at 10:19 AM on February 27, 2023
posted by kjs3 at 10:19 AM on February 27, 2023
I've had great love for John Arcudi's work in "Rumble" and if you put Mike Mignola's name on something I'm interested.
This web comic is hitting all my buttons in the best possible way. Visually good, story interesting, inventive character design. The writing and movement/flow is a bit hard to follow, I don't mind dense narrative I'm just not sure the narrative flow is worked out fully in the opening pages? Definitely a new fan here, this is such a good thing to find on Monday. Thank you, curious nu!
posted by elkevelvet at 11:19 AM on February 27, 2023
This web comic is hitting all my buttons in the best possible way. Visually good, story interesting, inventive character design. The writing and movement/flow is a bit hard to follow, I don't mind dense narrative I'm just not sure the narrative flow is worked out fully in the opening pages? Definitely a new fan here, this is such a good thing to find on Monday. Thank you, curious nu!
posted by elkevelvet at 11:19 AM on February 27, 2023
It's a grand series so far. The art is outrageously ambitious, at times like Richard Scarry explaining the cosmology of a lost civilization, and at others pure mad fighting adventure.
posted by doctornemo at 11:52 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 11:52 AM on February 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have been checking for new pages daily since this was first posted to Metafilter in January 2017. It is easily my favorite illustrated work - and I’m including manga in general and Fujimoto in specific when I say that. Like, Fujimoto might be a modern-day Mozart of manga, but there isn’t a particular work of his that hits me quite as strong as KSBD does in its totality. It has such wonderful Planescape vibes but puts real meat on the bones of that conceptual space while just effortlessly jumping between religions, cultures, and histories. No real distinctiveness is lost, somehow, it’s just hundreds of sudden moments that make you say “oh hey I recognize that hat/weapon/religious symbol from [literally any inhabited continent in the world]!”
Also the comment section is, like, a top five on the Internet the vast majority of the time - a couple transphobic bigots showed up a couple years back but they were booted in relatively short order, and otherwise it’s been one of the most creative and pleasant little communities ever.
I was horrified to learn recently that the author was 23 when he started and is now 33. It’s the first time I can recall having a true moment of age-based imposter syndrome.
posted by Ryvar at 1:10 PM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also the comment section is, like, a top five on the Internet the vast majority of the time - a couple transphobic bigots showed up a couple years back but they were booted in relatively short order, and otherwise it’s been one of the most creative and pleasant little communities ever.
I was horrified to learn recently that the author was 23 when he started and is now 33. It’s the first time I can recall having a true moment of age-based imposter syndrome.
posted by Ryvar at 1:10 PM on February 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
(Noting for Ghidorah that Abominable Charles Christopher recently resumed posting.)
posted by humbug at 2:55 PM on February 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by humbug at 2:55 PM on February 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I can't add much, but I wanted to say that this is confusing, exciting and utterly fascinating. Thank you very much, curious nu!
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 1:51 AM on February 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 1:51 AM on February 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is hands down my favorite still-running webcomic.
posted by AdamCSnider at 7:51 AM on February 28, 2023
posted by AdamCSnider at 7:51 AM on February 28, 2023
What the fuck did I just read
posted by saturday_morning at 6:19 AM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by saturday_morning at 6:19 AM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is superb and thank you for posting it.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:02 PM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:02 PM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
« Older "This is Baseball in 2023" | You Sang Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by curious nu at 7:24 PM on February 26, 2023 [3 favorites]