Kill Six Billion Demons

• Author — Tom Bloom • Website — https: killsixbilliondemons.com • First — April 29, 2013 • Genre — Fantasy, New Weird

The plot follows an initially insecure sorority girl named Allison Ruth, who finds herself thrown into a plot many thousands of worlds larger than her. After Allison is forcibly given a powerful fragment of this setting's gods, called a "key", instead of her unstable boyfriend, she discovers that she – alongside a demon named Cio and an angel named White Chain – must fight through a council of seven other keyholders – known as demiurges – who currently rule the multiverse, in order to save her boyfriend.

Kill Six Billion Demons is set throughout a collection of 777,777 separate universes called The Wheel, in which every being lives and travels between via spokes which branch off the city in the center of the wheel, known as Throne. This collection of universes is ruled evenly (111,111 worlds each) by powerful beings known as The Seven, the main antagonists of the plot, and is inhabited by numerous races and cultures. There is also Earth, where the lead characters of Zaid and Allison are from, which is much like the real world but without Australia.

Characters in Kill Six Billion Demons – namely many of the main antagonists – allude to several of Bloom's inspirations; particularly religious ones. • Allison Ruth, an unequipped sorority girl who is thrust into a world she doesn't understand, with a great power she can't control. • Ciocie Cioelle (pronounced how Coca-Cola is spelled), a snarky, demonic secretary and fanfiction writer who follows alongside Allison, seeking a heroic story to write about. • 82 White Chain Born in Emptiness Returns to Subdue Evil (or "White Chain", for short), a cold, unforgiving angel and ardent peacekeeper, who joins Allison to make sure she does not use her new power foolishly. • Mathangi "Maya" Mantra, a drunkard, recluse, and incredibly powerful warrior, who slowly follows Allison from a distance. • Gog-Agog, The Queen of Worms, a maddened multiverse-spanning hivemind, and one of the seven demiurges. • Incubus, The Sword King, an ambitious, bloodthirsty swordsman who makes deals with Allison, and one of the seven demiurges. • Jadis, the Lady of Infinite Repose, an omniscient sorceress who sealed herself in a glass block, and one of the seven demiurges. • Jagganoth, The God Eater, a cunning strategist and invincible warrior, and one of the seven demiurges. • Mammon, the Grand Dragon, a greedy, ancient reptilian creature hiding within a vault of his own creation, and one of the seven demiurges. • Nadia Om, the Blood Flower, a gluttonous queen who strips worlds of their resources to throw extravagant celebrations, and one of the seven demiurges. • Solomon David, the God Emperor of the Celestial Empire, obsessed with maintaining the perfection of his empire through the rule of law, and one of the seven demiurges.

According to Bloom, Kill Six Billion Demons was originally conceived around 2004. Early concepts involved a girl receiving a key from a fugitive, godlike warrior and were supposed to borrow elements from Shōnen manga. The comic began as a "Choose Your Own Adventure" thread on the MS Paint Adventures discussion forum in 2012. Bloom, then going by the pseudonym Orbitaldropkick, would allow readers to suggest what should happen next, while Bloom would set the tone, draw the pages, and choose how exactly the world reacted to the protagonist's reader-chosen antics. He converted it into a standalone webcomic in 2013, hosted on its own website. The first pages were released in monochrome format, however, by chapter 2, Bloom decided to gear his efforts toward fully coloured pages. Image Comics began publishing print compilations in 2016. Bloom has noted that the name Kill Six Billion Demons was initially conceived under the pretense of the original "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style comic the concept originated from, claiming that "Kill Seven Black Emperors" would be more fitting to the current comic. The art in Kill Six Billion Demons is influenced by the work of Wayne Douglas Barlowe and Jean Giraud. The author has also listed Geof Darrow, James Stokoe, Sheldon Vella, and Noriyoshi Ohrai as influences on his work. Additionally, the comic and its setting draw inspiration from Hindu mythology, Greek Gnosticism, the Berserk series, and The Elder Scrolls.