The Call of Whatever is an ended webcomic that has fun with the Cthulhu mythos. Its archives can be found here.
This comic has examples of the following tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Francis's summary of the results of a finding spell:So what you're saying is that it's a Cthuloid Canadian criminal's cloth.
- Alien Geometries: The office space in R'lyeh that Nyarlathotep offers for Occultech's use appears to have been designed by M.C. Escher, what with staircases indicating three different directions of "down", doors leading to impossible destinations, and the like.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Francis's request of Nyarlathotep could result in something bad "...more along the lines of Cthulhu waking up, Yog-Sothoth swallowing the planet, the collapse of the Dreamlands, the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup..."
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering? : parodied: when asked "are you pondering what I'm pondering", Joe's response is "But how are we going to avoid being sued into oblivion by Warner Bros?"
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: A guest storyline features a literal break in the fourth wall and assorted self-referential humor.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Walter the cthuloid wears a trenchcoat with the collar turned up and a broad-brimmed hat pulled down to hide his appearance. It is noted that this is somewhat less effective than his brother Freddie's jeans, t-shirt, and backwards baseball cap.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: A throwaway gag involving one Russ McDonald, who was working for six cults, two anti-cult organizations, The Men in Black, and at least two unidentified groups. He was assassinated 11 different ways at once.
- Fictional Document: The occasional pamphlets by Occultech on how to handle various things, from summoning Eldritch Abominations to how not to look like a penguin.
- Forced Transformation: Nyarlathotep, in response to being summoned for no better purpose than to be forced to dance the Macarena, transforms his summoner into Misty from Pokemon.
- Get a Room!: Walter's interactions with a cardboard cutout of Llaragh Kropht has Francis asking if the two of them need a room.
- Irony: Francis quits his job as computer tech support after repeated calls from a clueless occultist asking for help dealing with an eldritch abomination. His first call running an occult support line is from a clueless computer user.
- Knee-capping: No actual kneecaps get broken, but the pastor of the Arkham United Church and his enforcers strongly recommend paying overdue rents.
- Look Behind You: Walter suggests that Francis should look at the distraction behind him. It doesn't work.
- Lovecraft Lite: The main characters run Occultech, a support line for people dealing with the hazards of meddling in Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, such as shoggoths in the plumbingnote .
- Mundane Utility: Black Magic is apparently good for making chili.
- Noodle Incident:
- The Chibi Cthulhu cultists' drunken attempt to summon Nyarlethotep. The invoice for the subsequent cleanup includes things like "extraction of rubber chickens from cooling ducts".
- Apparently, there was an incident involving summoning an Elder Thing that proceeded to sing the theme from 'Muppets' while attempting to dance a highland fling.
- Whatever it was with the shoggoth in the pipes that left Greg scared to even go out in the rain.
- Joe's small mishap back in college. The police officers involved threatened to quit unless they got double danger pay for any future trips to Miskatonic University.
- Running Gag: Suggestions that Greg's cultist robes are actually a dress.
- Shout-Out: In addition to the expected Lovecraftian references,
- The author is a clear College Roomies from Hell!!! fan, with references ranging from characters wearing CRFH and Maritza Campos t-shirts, to a mention of the Devil's Avocado (a MacGuffin from CRFH).
- Earth resides in the ZZ4 Plural Z Alpha Sector.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: When Occultech expands they get a long procession of lunatics, and at least one man-eating monster.
- Totem Pole Trench: Bob and Joe do an utterly unconvincing Totem Pole Cthulhu to try to get Greg to cover his share of the cult's expenses.
- The Unpronounceable: Joe's attempt at summoning an Elder Thing doesn't go quite right because he gets the name wrong. Apparently, it can't be pronounced with three-dimensional vocal cords.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Freddie. Jeans, t-shirt, backwards baseball cap, facial tentacles. Apparently, this is sufficient for humans to mentally dismiss him as "just another teenager".
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Immediately prior to the arrival of a Hound of TindalosLet me get this straight. You're going to use a strange drug, whose inventor died a horrible death after using once, to journey into the past, where you are likely to encounter creatures that will hunt you back across time and kill you messily? And you don't think this is the least bit suicidal?Nah. What could possibly go wrong?
- What Would X Do?: One of the posters at a meeting of the Cult of the Chibi Cthulhu asks "What would Cthulhu do?" For added [in]appropriateness, this meeting is taking place in the Sunday School classroom of the local church.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The comic ends with a series of views of what various characters are doing five years later.