At first I thought we were in for another fight. This one’s got some class. He doesn’t fly off the handle at spectrals. He gives them a chance with riddles first.
there’s more to a contest than a race. a marathon could be a race, yes, but there are endurance tests as well where people don’t run for distance, but time primary.
I didn’t really pay attention to what that spirit was, but with the first riddle having the answer it did, I thought the spirit was quite the troll. And then it struck me that it was lying in wait under a bridge. So perhaps it’s a trollsphinx?
So Isaac can launch people with gusts of wind, and he looked like he was about to throw a lightning bolt back in chapter one. He’s possessed by some kind of storm spirit then? That awesome.
Oh God, please tell me we’re getting to get a flashback sometime showing when he was first possessed, that would be amazing. And when we finally get to see what he spirit looks like, suddenly his hair will make perfect sense.
The potential I’m seeing in this comic has gotten me to pick up a pencil and start teaching myself to draw, and I have the art skills of a five-year-old.
Naah, looks pretty wind-related to me. Maybe his hair isnt actually spiky, its just windswept… from behind? Maybe he’s just always playing the song of storms on an invisible, floating ocarina without realizing it? :I
Everyone’s got to start somewhere. Besides, if you have a good story or are funny then the art will develop by itself. Plenty of comics don’t have great art (Dilbert for example) but that doesn’t mean they’re not good. So follow your dreams!
The Order of the Stick comes to mind. Solid story construction that also shows the progress of an AD&D campaign. It has been shown that one of the artists can really draw when he wants to, but the art is irrelevant.
Things really are more difficult for internet comics though. Print comics have a writer, artist, a guy that does color, and a guy for doing the word bubbles. Fairly distinct skills.
Laying out panels to reflect the story while still leaving space for the dialogue without obliterating the panel can’t be easy.
Isaac is my favourite. I want a boyfriend like him xD Lol.
Anyway, great page. I love the facial expressions, that we get to see that more of Isaacs power (and I agree with Standard Mike, I want a flashback too) and that we get to see Max flying. It’s awesome!
Isaac confirmed for worst character. The Anti-Johnny. His ridiculous hair even spikes in the opposite direction. SEPERATED AT BIRTH!? Future plot twists will reveal that they are in fact father and son as per time-travel nonsense.
But I’m totally over here shippin’ Hissin’ Pete and Johnny. We are at odds, which means we must slap fight over the internets. En garde! Uh, uh, uh! :<
And thus I have opened the Pandoras box that is “shipping”. Now, like the man who invented Spam E-Mails, I shall disappear off the face of the Earth before anyone can find me and beat me to death. It only gets worse from here.
Since I read Homestuck, I have a tendancy to automtically ship people.
But I must wait till the kids are, like, 13. QUICK MAKE THEIR BIRTHDAY’S ALL IN THE SAME MONTH AND MAKE THAT MONTH SOON!
Everyone knows that the Mascot is the teams most powerful player. Watch the Toronto Raptors play basketball? BORING. They just fall over every couple of minutes and clutch at their shin.
Then they bring out their mascot. He’s a raptor. He has a trampoline. Mad B-Balls are subsequently DUNKED.
Isaac didn’t touch Max here, so his powers go beyond just physical.
In this continuum, poltergeisting is when a spirit (not spectral) affects the physical world, I think.
Oh cool, they both emitted spectral energy when the Sphinx startled them. I don’t know if we’ve seen Max do that before, as far as I remember spectral energy has only ever come off of his bat. I’m interested in seeing Max develop into a fully powered Spectral.
Actually Max has fountained black fog himself already- look at the page just after he gets gut-smacked by Lefty (“You’re dead! …I mean again. Double-dead.”) and a couple of times again during the RWF fight.
Sphinx is also wrong. Clearly the answer to all three is a baby: Crawls around on 4, cut off its legs and it wiggles around on two, give it a crutch and it can hobble around.
Dem wind and possibly lightning powers. Did you know that those two are probably my favorite powers? I really wanted to hear the other two riddles… Or, at least, see Isaac being even more of a badass.
Just started reading this comic lately, and I have to say: despite the story having the over-used “normal teenaged kid gets powers to defeat themed monsters with other teenaged kids with powers” formula … this comic really holds itself up enough for me to put aside my hatred for said-formula-based-plots.
Just watch, when Max gets back at the end of the day, that spirit’ll only have three legs. Calling it now.
Seriously, this page made me laugh harder than ever with that riddle. Hope that means a transition from silly to serious – humor’s awesome, but I’ve been itching from some “spiritual pacification”! XD
When you get around to releasing the first volume in print I am gonna buy 2 copies, and hopefully I can get a clothing brand shirt… or an insolent children hoody.
Hello there. Ive been lurking around for some time but this is my first comment on this comic. Anyways, did anyone else notice how Issac made a little whirly motion with his finger and how the launch has a whirl around it? That is just so funny!
I always thought this comic was laid out in such a way that you can really feel the timing of it, like it could be the storyboard for a cartoon show. It would work pretty well.
Zack, you should totally pitch this idea to Disney and get an inexplicable Gravity Falls crossover and a Kingdom Hearts world. Possibly at the same time. I terrify myself.
sphinxes used to be one of my favorite “mythological” creatures. That was until I watched “MirrorMask”. Now I find sphinxes creepy, cryptic and downright scary. Favorite “mythological” creature now? Sphinxes of course…..lo, (I also, kinda have a thing for cats in general too.)
Issac is kind of a badass, why does everyone treat him like a glorified filing clerk? He’s like fargo. Only more witty. Is Max just inherently an asshat?
I think we learned that Isaac felt persecuted when he mentioned the murderabilty of his associates.
Kids, especially in the teen range, aren’t really expected to be well controlled and appropriate. That would ruin childhood.
Oh. That surprises me, I’ve sort of slowly been realizing it but he does seem to have…either a negative mood or anger issues, hehe. But then Max isn’t helping, haha
Hey, the sphinx was lurking in the last page. How do you tell which of the weirdnesses at the corners of the panels will turn out to be important in the next page? When they take up half the panel?
At first I thought we were in for another fight. This one’s got some class. He doesn’t fly off the handle at spectrals. He gives them a chance with riddles first.
Amazing page as usual.
Oh. And first.
see, I was right. A sphinx.
They’re annoying as a nail in the foot at a runners contest.
Now I wanna see what ghost he’s a medium too.
>a runners contest
So, what, like a race?
there’s more to a contest than a race. a marathon could be a race, yes, but there are endurance tests as well where people don’t run for distance, but time primary.
Plus there’s the annual runner’s club baking contest.
I didn’t really pay attention to what that spirit was, but with the first riddle having the answer it did, I thought the spirit was quite the troll. And then it struck me that it was lying in wait under a bridge. So perhaps it’s a trollsphinx?
idk it kind of looks like a giant mosquito too, maybe he was a mosquito who dreamed of being a sphinx. or something, idk much about bugs.
Nah, I’m thinking a cat that got pecked to death by birds. It’d explain the wings AND the jerk persona.
So Isaac can launch people with gusts of wind, and he looked like he was about to throw a lightning bolt back in chapter one. He’s possessed by some kind of storm spirit then? That awesome.
Oh God, please tell me we’re getting to get a flashback sometime showing when he was first possessed, that would be amazing. And when we finally get to see what he spirit looks like, suddenly his hair will make perfect sense.
The potential I’m seeing in this comic has gotten me to pick up a pencil and start teaching myself to draw, and I have the art skills of a five-year-old.
Or it could just be a spirit that launches things in the air.
Aerial Faith Plate spirit?
Issac is possessed by ALL of the failed Aperture test subjects who died in Faith-Plate related tests
Naah, looks pretty wind-related to me. Maybe his hair isnt actually spiky, its just windswept… from behind? Maybe he’s just always playing the song of storms on an invisible, floating ocarina without realizing it? :I
Everyone’s got to start somewhere. Besides, if you have a good story or are funny then the art will develop by itself. Plenty of comics don’t have great art (Dilbert for example) but that doesn’t mean they’re not good. So follow your dreams!
The Order of the Stick comes to mind. Solid story construction that also shows the progress of an AD&D campaign. It has been shown that one of the artists can really draw when he wants to, but the art is irrelevant.
Things really are more difficult for internet comics though. Print comics have a writer, artist, a guy that does color, and a guy for doing the word bubbles. Fairly distinct skills.
Laying out panels to reflect the story while still leaving space for the dialogue without obliterating the panel can’t be easy.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
YESYESYES
His spiky hairdo seem like Damon Gant’s.
My guess is that he’s possessed by some Zeus spirit.
Oh God, Isaac has all dem epic faces in this page~~ >w<
Isitbattletimepleasetellmeit'sbattletime =D
Isaac is my favourite. I want a boyfriend like him xD Lol.
Anyway, great page. I love the facial expressions, that we get to see that more of Isaacs power (and I agree with Standard Mike, I want a flashback too) and that we get to see Max flying. It’s awesome!
…I wanted to hear the second riddle too.
Isaac confirmed for worst character. The Anti-Johnny. His ridiculous hair even spikes in the opposite direction. SEPERATED AT BIRTH!? Future plot twists will reveal that they are in fact father and son as per time-travel nonsense.
So now I must ship them.
I also ship Plungerfrog and Hissin’ Pete.
The term is ‘racist whale frog’, to be precise.
*adjusts nerd glasses*
“So now I must ship them.”
Wow… that’s the best thing I’ve heard since “I’m gonna hit someone with a baseball bat and go ‘YOLO!’”
I love you! *_*
But I’m totally over here shippin’ Hissin’ Pete and Johnny. We are at odds, which means we must slap fight over the internets. En garde! Uh, uh, uh! :<
Congrats, Zack – you’ve got shippers.
Welcome to popularity. XJ
Popularity shall remain a distant dream until there is shipping fan art.
I have a feeling that somewhere out there, it’s happening
be careful what you wish for, dude.
I read this and…I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, but there it is:
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/7457/fanarto.png
(It’s totally SFW, just some kissin’. Might scar your mind though.)
This… this is the best possible first shipping fan art. You are a hero and a patriot.
Dammit, I lost the race! http://unsoundedshipping.deviantart.com/art/PARANATURAL-Shipping-Johnny-x-Isaac-326449205
Isaac gently reminds Johnny where the sky is. True art.
And thus I have opened the Pandoras box that is “shipping”. Now, like the man who invented Spam E-Mails, I shall disappear off the face of the Earth before anyone can find me and beat me to death. It only gets worse from here.
“Isaac gently reminds Johnny where the sky is” just gave me an image of Isaac launching Johnny into the air. C:
That…. is such a beautiful image. I would illustrate it, had i the artistic ability.
Since I read Homestuck, I have a tendancy to automtically ship people.
But I must wait till the kids are, like, 13. QUICK MAKE THEIR BIRTHDAY’S ALL IN THE SAME MONTH AND MAKE THAT MONTH SOON!
Ergh, as a Homestuck, that has also happened to me!
I can’t partake in anything without SHIPPING
SHIPSHIPSHIPSHIP
Isaac/Max
killl meeee
nuh-uh. Max and Johnny all the way
one two three four I declare a ship war
five six seven eight
well crap why the heck am i so late
max and isaac ftw heck yea
I wanna hear that guy’s other riddle, too! Or at least see the spirit that’s the answer to it.
Daaaaaamn, Isaac is gonna totally destroy that guy…
…
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn…. :I
I absolutely love all of the spirits you come up with, Zack. They’re so unique and absurdly awesome. :D
Dis’ gonna be good.
Isaac, stop being more my favourite character. You were my favourite character at first ANYWAY, but stop getting better dignabbit
Hold the phone, didn’t Isaac just bounce Max back in Johnny’s direction? Heh.
Oh my gosh! I think he did!
Does this mean we’re gonna be seeing two separate fights at once? One which showcases Max’s powers and the other that showcase’s Issac’s?
*SQUEEE!!!!* That’s gonna be so cool, if it’s true!
Ooh… Looks like there’ll be no more talk. Isaac sure looks powerful enough for someone appointed as the activity club’s mascot.
Everyone knows that the Mascot is the teams most powerful player. Watch the Toronto Raptors play basketball? BORING. They just fall over every couple of minutes and clutch at their shin.
Then they bring out their mascot. He’s a raptor. He has a trampoline. Mad B-Balls are subsequently DUNKED.
YOUR COMMENT AMUSES ME. TODAY YOU LIVE.
‘*’
Oh my god, it’s wings are so fluffy can I just hug it
You know, if it didn’t look like it wanted to murder me in my sleep.
So he can Poltergeist, so either he also has enhanced physical abilities or he just chucked himself over the fence with his poltergeist.
or is it just going to be telekinesis?
Actually I do believe Isaac chucked him over the fence.
Isaac didn’t touch Max here, so his powers go beyond just physical.
In this continuum, poltergeisting is when a spirit (not spectral) affects the physical world, I think.
hmmm… I thought Poltergeist was when as ghost would chuck stuff at you, so Telekinesis then.
i miss Megas XLR
This comic continues to be one of the best series I’ve ever read, both artistically and comedically. Keep up the good work.
Oh cool, they both emitted spectral energy when the Sphinx startled them. I don’t know if we’ve seen Max do that before, as far as I remember spectral energy has only ever come off of his bat. I’m interested in seeing Max develop into a fully powered Spectral.
That’s a good point. The upside of finally getting his powers, perhaps?
Actually Max has fountained black fog himself already- look at the page just after he gets gut-smacked by Lefty (“You’re dead! …I mean again. Double-dead.”) and a couple of times again during the RWF fight.
Whenever weird stuff abounds in the world, the answer to that riddle is never man.
Feed me and I live, yet give me a drink and I die. What am I?
SAND.
BUGS.
WHALES.
DESIGNATED DRIVER.
LAPTOP.
WAIT.
FIRE.
YES.
^ New best comment ever. ^
^ New best icon ever. ^
A Thermotian Sandworm, according to Doctor Who. Well, his companion Romana, but anyway.
A malnourished person that has also ingested a near-fatal dose of water.
THAT OTHER GUY.
Shai-Hulud?
Sphinx is also wrong. Clearly the answer to all three is a baby: Crawls around on 4, cut off its legs and it wiggles around on two, give it a crutch and it can hobble around.
Ha ha ha ha, comedy.
hope he not launch Max back at Johny X)))
…hell gonna break loose
I would laugh.
Have I mentioned that Isaac is my favorite? Isaac is my favorite. Isaac is so my favorite, holy hell.
KICK HIS FURRY ASS YOU ORANGE FREAK.
Dem wind and possibly lightning powers. Did you know that those two are probably my favorite powers? I really wanted to hear the other two riddles… Or, at least, see Isaac being even more of a badass.
Isaac is new best comic-related character.
Isaac is possessed by a kangaroo spirit, isn’t he? xD
BEST PLOT TWIST EVER!!
I always figured some kind of poison dart frog, actually. But I would accept kangaroo. If it BOXES.
Just started reading this comic lately, and I have to say: despite the story having the over-used “normal teenaged kid gets powers to defeat themed monsters with other teenaged kids with powers” formula … this comic really holds itself up enough for me to put aside my hatred for said-formula-based-plots.
Looking forward to more Paranatural. :)
Actually, that theme doesn’t fit. They’re pre-teens.
I simply ADORE watching your art style evolve from the first book. Combined with the actual comic, It’s really awesome.
it’s true.. metaphors really don’t belong in riddles..
Is it just me or is this a very subtly done Monty Python reference? I love it!
This is actually directly taken from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.
Hell yes there is
Such a grumpy spectral. He’s probably like that because his bridge is so small…
*spirit
dammit I was so careful about typing in spirit, how’d I miss that?
Do you read Gastrophobia, by any chance?
Oh yeah, I archive dived that last summer. I haven’t kept up with it though. They got some good sphinxes.
Still laugh out loud funny. :D
Just watch, when Max gets back at the end of the day, that spirit’ll only have three legs. Calling it now.
Seriously, this page made me laugh harder than ever with that riddle. Hope that means a transition from silly to serious – humor’s awesome, but I’ve been itching from some “spiritual pacification”! XD
As long as they don’t wind up nearly killing every spirit they fight, how many of those things have been trapped inside tools by these freaks?
I now have to watch Monty Python because of this
Wow two comments in like 5 minutes, Zack you’re getting more popular.
PS can you guys see my whole gravatar or is it a weird cut off thing?
I can see it just fine. Also, Zack was already the coolest kid in the school/neighborhood/cardboard box.
Isaac is going to LITERALLY BOUNCE that guy. Like he did to Max. That kangaroo spirit theory might hold some credence.
I do like Isaac going to the Alexander the Great approach to problem solving.
So Issac has the Force, but where’s his lightsaber?
Just found out and caught up with the comic. I really hope I’d had discovered this when it was 100+ pages long, really good stuff.
The sphinx’s expressions seem to follow the same pattern as Johnny’s.
The sphinx in panel 4 reminds me of Grandpa Munster and PJ has looked like Gomez Addams of the Addams family.
I’ve been wondering if Zack was a fan.
Also Max in panel 1 is reacting the same way he did when he met Suzie.
BUT WHAT WAS THE SECOND RIDDLE???????
In a few pages it might be “how can I get this foot out of my ass?”
When you get around to releasing the first volume in print I am gonna buy 2 copies, and hopefully I can get a clothing brand shirt… or an insolent children hoody.
I would like to make all those things.
You made me fall out of my chair laughing……are you liable?
Yaaaaay, a sphinx!
Hello there. Ive been lurking around for some time but this is my first comment on this comic. Anyways, did anyone else notice how Issac made a little whirly motion with his finger and how the launch has a whirl around it? That is just so funny!
I always thought this comic was laid out in such a way that you can really feel the timing of it, like it could be the storyboard for a cartoon show. It would work pretty well.
Now that you mention it this would make an awesome cartoon.
Zack, you should totally pitch this idea to Disney and get an inexplicable Gravity Falls crossover and a Kingdom Hearts world. Possibly at the same time. I terrify myself.
My theory is that Isaac doesn’t want Max to see his power.
Wow it’s popular enough to have a long enough comments section to keep people occupied until the next update. I’m impressed. XD
I really think Isaac’s power has something to do with weather, we’ve seen him almost use lightning, and air/wind has been used repeatedly recently.
Or I’m dead wrong, and it’s actually a much more clever connection than weather, but oh well. :T
sphinxes used to be one of my favorite “mythological” creatures. That was until I watched “MirrorMask”. Now I find sphinxes creepy, cryptic and downright scary. Favorite “mythological” creature now? Sphinxes of course…..lo, (I also, kinda have a thing for cats in general too.)
I like how he thinks he’s all badass, hiding under a plank in an alleyway.
Well all the good stone bridges were taken by trolls. Oh wait Max was just flung over the fence. Never mind, you were right. This guy is a total loser
That sphinx’s nose seems like it could be hard for the guy to eat cereal
Panel 7 says otherwise…
But I still laughed out loud.
Issac is kind of a badass, why does everyone treat him like a glorified filing clerk? He’s like fargo. Only more witty. Is Max just inherently an asshat?
Max has a problem with controlling his snark, but Isaac has a bit of a persecution complex, as we will learn.
I think we learned that Isaac felt persecuted when he mentioned the murderabilty of his associates.
Kids, especially in the teen range, aren’t really expected to be well controlled and appropriate. That would ruin childhood.
LOL’d
Oh. That surprises me, I’ve sort of slowly been realizing it but he does seem to have…either a negative mood or anger issues, hehe. But then Max isn’t helping, haha
I love how Zack just sends Max flying away with a move of his hand! I’m liking Zack more and more each minute. :D
Oh shit! (sorry) ^ I was talking about Isaac in the previous post. But you’re really cool too, Zack. n_nUUU
Zack…. I-saac (iZack)? Just a coincidence?
Although i know some people who say it as “I-Zik”….
Panel 4.
Nyerm Nyam Nyam.
That is now my new evil laugh of satisfaction. Yes.
oh i’m glad you’ve started homestuck!
i do hope you enjoy it.
Hey, the sphinx was lurking in the last page. How do you tell which of the weirdnesses at the corners of the panels will turn out to be important in the next page? When they take up half the panel?
This sphinx reminds me of Lemongrab.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that! I read his dialogue in Lemongrab’s voice.
Oh man if you imagine it that way it brings this to a whole new level of funny.
I really enjoy the lettering on the third-to-last panel. I always liked how you did the lettering and speech bubbles on your comic.
The lines aren’t very smooth in the last pages, are you resizing them?
I loved the spirit, btw. Don’t kill him, Isaac… ),:
9th panel
This be
me and my friend’s
OTP
So we got Batman, Robin, and now the Riddler?
*Max, PJ, the Sphinx
I am cracking up hard here at that riddle. Also whoa didn’t expect to see Drillgorg up there.