- "Why would you try to spell a vacuum?"
—What You're Probably Thinking Right Now
Vacuumland, 1996: An inexplicable accident of chance creates a sentient vacuum with an attitude. His name is Spelling.
The first five 'chapters' were plotted out as part of a larger arc centered on the prophecy of the Errant One and Bono the Cat's ambition to Take Over the World. The sixth introduced a new old nemesis of Stooge's with a grudge, and the seventh involved Time Travel before the author got sick of that dragging on and swerved abruptly in a different direction.
The site, www.room931.com, was taken down sometime in 2008, circa two years after the last strip was posted—which itself was only posted after a six month lapse, as lampshaded in said final strip. Once upon a time, it also shared a forum site with Zelda Comic at inksandwich.com.
Spelling the Vacuum
's archives can be found via the Wayback Machine.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Right in the middle of the action.
- Achilles' Heel: Villain Ray's weakness is the fact that his powers are powered by self-esteem.
- Action Girl: The Jew.
- Art Evolution: Lampshaded in a fight during the Time Travel arc... unrelatedly to the Time Travel, though. "Did the author just change the art style again?"
- Author Appeal: Lampshaded by Stooge during his short Out-of-Clothes Experience: "I dunno, probably just an excuse so the author can draw me naked."
- Back from the Dead: As well as To Hell and Back.
- Came Back Wrong: Bono's sexuality switched orientations.
- Camp Gay: Bono, to his own horror, after his return from the dead.
- The Chosen One: Spelling is The Errant One.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Jew doesn't seem to have another name; neither does The Convert (who, incidentally, converted to Judaism.)
- Evil Overlord: Bono.
- Grammar Nazi: The Fairy of Good Grammar.
- It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: Conversationally described by Stooge in an early strip.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: Spelling's birth, from the union of the super-intelligence of a Mr. Spell machine, and the body of a vacuum.
- Literal Genie: The frog statue, in "Look, It's Vaguely Like Ghostbusters." Genie-free, non-wish-granting magical loophole example: Fairy wands can only be wielded by fairies, but the definition of 'fairy' includes the homophobic slur.
- No Fourth Wall
- Out-of-Clothes Experience
- Religion is Magic: Specifically, Judaism = superpowers.
- Terminator Twosome: The Aborted Arc.
- Theme Naming: Three named vacuums are Spelling, Dictionary, and Homework. As in, things that suck. The author admits he came up with this Incredibly Lame Pun in Junior High.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: On being born, Spelling's first words were "'Sup, bitches?"
- To Hell and Back
- The Unreveal: Vacuum sex is always just offscreen;
Word of God says it's not explicit, just "very hard to draw."
