Spelling the Vacuum

"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, about 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 is now archived at www.spellingthevacuum.com as of May, 2009.

Tropes used in Spelling the Vacuum include:

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.
Did Not Do the Research: Played with, somehow, when the characters visit Guam, and immediately determine that the author knows nothing about the real Guam.
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.
Freud Was Right: The "resemblance," according to readers, of the antenna-thingy on the author-mouthpiece's head to a penis was used for a joke once.
- His name is Nub. It was a foregone conclusion.
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 All The Tropes Bitch: On being born, Spelling's first words were "'Sup, bitches?"
To Hell and Back
The Un-Reveal: Vacuum sex is always just offscreen; Word of God says it's not explicit, just "very hard to draw."