The Bellybuttons

The Bellybuttons Les Nombrils
Issue 3802 (February 2011) of Spirou magazine, featuring (left to right) Jenny, Karine (in her new look) and Vicky.
Publication information
Publisher	Dupuis (French) Cinebook (English)
Format	Ongoing series, serialised in Safarir and Spirou magazines
Genre	Graphic chick lit for Young adults
Publication date	2004 – present
No. of issues	Number of albums: 3 (in English) 7 (in French)
Creative team
Created by	Delaf and Dubuc
Written by	Dubuc (Maryse Dubuc)
Artist(s)	Delaf (Marc Delafontaine)

The Bellybuttons (French: Les Nombrils) is a French Canadian comics series written by Maryse Dubuc (credited as "Dubuc") and illustrated by her husband, Marc "Delaf" Delafontaine. Dubuc and Delafontaine are based in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

As Les Nombrils, the series was introduced in 2004 in issue #188 of the Québécois humour magazine Safarir; it was later picked up in 2005 by the Franco-Belgian comics magazine, Spirou. Spirou's publisher, Dupuis, published its first BD album, Pour qui tu te prends ?, in 2006.

An English version of the series, with its title directly translated to The Bellybuttons, was introduced in 2009 by British publisher Cinebook.

By 2009, Les Nombrils has become one of the best-selling BD album titles on the market, with its third volume, Les liens de l'amitié, having sold over 220,000 copies.

The series was on from late 2009 until February 2011, when Les Nombrils returned to Spirou in issue 3802.

The series, characterised as "chick lit in graphic novel format" by Cinebook, focuses on three girls—two glamorous and vain, and one homely and down-to-earth—who test their friendships against popularity, boys and jealousy. To each other, they are considered frenemies—at times they help each other out, while at other times they compete for the same man.

In both languages, the name of the series is derived from the body piercing jewellery that the main characters Jenny and Vicky wear in their navels. The title also refers to Jenny and Vicky referring themselves as the "world's bellybutton".