The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Voluptua, Molly, Jean, & Bob

A serialized, science fiction/humor Web Comic by Jim Cleaveland. It began life as a print comic appearing the newsletter and magazine of PSSFS, the Penn State Science Fiction Society, from 1993-1997, and was revived as a webcomic in May, 2006. It updates Tuesday and Saturday afternoons (California time).

You can read it here.

Bob Smithson was the world's most average man, leading a quietly dull life in the suburb of Generictown and reasonably content that way until the day he inexplicably became a Weirdness Magnet. Strange, paranormal things now happen to him almost daily. Unicorns appear in his yard. Dragons perch near his house. Alien spaceships crash into his roof. Actually, anything and everything likes to crash into his roof.

Bob sees it all through with surprising grace because, despite his seemingly infinite normalcy, he does have a few outstanding qualities. He is very kind and doesn't judge by appearances (such that he will give even a three-legged space jellyfish a chance to be friends with him if it is so willing). He has an uncommon amount of Simpleminded Wisdom. And yet he is generally too thick-skulled to fully grasp the frighteningly awesome implications of most of the stuff he encounters.

For a humor comic, the characters show a considerable amount of depth. As absurd as the situations they encounter are, most of the humor derives from how the different characters react to them, and how they interact with each other.

  • Bob Smithson, the title character, is the world's most average man. He runs a news stand in Generictown.
  • Dr. Jean Poule is Bob's girlfriend, a biologist at the local college.
  • Molly the Peanut Butter Monster is a pink furry monster born when Jean and Bob collided on the sidewalk, accidentally mixing an experiment of Jean's with Bob's jar of peanut butter. Sweet, brilliant, naive.
  • Princess Voluptua is heir to the throne of the Nemesites, the local space empire. She appears to be a beautiful woman, but her real form is a giant butterfly creature.
  • Snookums is a giant alien monster that got shrunk to the size of a basketball but still weighs many tons. Molly keeps him as a pet. Bob calls Snookums a "tentacle bunny."
  • Agent Ben & Agent Jerry are two FBI agents who frequently get stuck with the unenviable task of investigating Bob.
  • Fructose Riboflavin is the greatest criminal in the Nemesite Empire.
  • Galatea (Golly) is another peanut butter creature grown by a rival scientist. Far more angst-ridden and megalomaniacal than Molly.
  • Roofus is a robot Molly built to repair Bob's frequent roof damage, but who unexpectedly turned out sentient.
  • Hibachi is a fire-breathing dragon. His race evolved in the Age of Dinosaurs, and currently lives on the planet Butane in the Kuiper Belt. He frequently acts as Voluptua's flying steed.

Has a character sheet.


Tropes used in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob include:

Fructose Riboflavin: Bloodless victory'? Where's the fun in that?!