“The others”
So now we have nemeses of different degrees of danger. Suzie, a constant annoyance and threat of exposure, Johnny, a wildcard threat, and “the others” which may represent a society or consortium of spirits.
This is shaping up to be a reasonably complex world. I do want to make an RPG (paper and dice) of this.
And though I usually think making a jRPG out of things sounds stupid, I think in this particular case it might just work.
(yes, I know he or she wrote “paper and dice”)
i think it could work. i mean, of course it wont be a jrpg because of j=japan but in the style of one. it would make for an interesting battle system! it would depend on how the story plays out though.
A consortium you say? So what, they’re going to try to attack Hispanic teenagers with superpowers, talking non-human primates, and mysterious guys with sunglasses? In this town, that would be…Isabel (she’s twelve, close enough) and Mr. Spender. Yeah. Good luck with that.
This made me think of maybe and (mmo)rpg.
You could create your own character and there would be different skills that level up with you, like WITS and Strength and yeah.
You choose a class that puts you to a certain type of (tool)weapon, and you naturally get a Tool that sticks with you throughout the game, and levels up with you, and also naturally, changes.
Classes could be like, Melee(max, ed, isaac), Ranged(Izabell), maybe things like Mediums(Isaac).
Oh man is this my first comment on here? Maybe. Well anyways been a long time fan, and of course fantastic update. My image is a commission Zack made, which is pretty damn cool.
Also – new Gravy tar. I was TEMPTED to take the Sphinx’s face in the top left panel, but I’m going to see if I can resist using anything but speech bubbles until Johnny’s face shows up again.
Well Zack, it’s been fun, but you’ll excuse me if I choose to run before I’m trampled to death by screaming fangirls creaming themselves over those bishie sparklies up top.
I choose to die as a man.
And high heels puncturing my jugular will not make me a man.
Well I wasn’t trying to be silly but my brain apparently wanted me to be very silly
wait… king… and a queen… le gasp I was married and ruling a country and didn’t know it?
I hope it’s the state if denial
Last page was funny. Max is all “I wanna do stuff like that! :C”
Also I been thinking, although Max might have a hard time directly attacking spirits using the bat he could do plenty of other things, including dealing with actual humans like Johnny. Which is not bad at all. B)
In panel 5, the sphinx looks kind of scared when Isaac mentions how his riddle game failed. Any idea why that is? And why was the sphinx’s aura blue THEN red?
The sphinx’s power makes it so that the conditions of a game inevitably come to pass. Up until Isaac pointed out that the sphinx hadn’t set the eating rule at the beginning of the game, the sphinx thought that no matter what Isaac and Max did, he would be able to eat them. In panel 4 he realizes that his power didn’t take, so Isaac is free to destroy him if he wants to. He felt invincible before then because he thought him eating Isaac and Max would inevitably come to pass. If you take the description of the sphinx’s power that the sphinx provides within the comic itself (agree to a game with him and the rules are enforced by inevitability or w/e, and participation is tacit agreement), and then look at the earlier exchange between him and da boyz, you can sort of see how it fits together. If I did my job right and things are clear, you can get a little glimpse at what might happen with the sphinx in the future. The aura stuff was just me mucking around with colors. :|
hmmm…. since everybody’s thinking Johnny will eventually become a spectral… and likely has red aura… and sphynx has red aura… and I can think of no better power for a semi-whimsical antagonist than making of games with unavoidable win and lose conditions….
I mean really, it’s like the old Discord/Mxyzptlk/Q style villain thing. How can this not be where it’s going? Story practically writes itself! But later, though… Much later.
Also, seriously hearing Sphynx’s voice be a slightly more articulate Lemongrab. Like replace a chunk (though not all) of “UNACCEPTABLE!!!” with a bit of like.. hm.. something between Randall Boggs and Aku.
There’s a specific voice I’m thinking of, but the closest that’s coming to mind is Mephisto from Alundra 2.
but yeah, straight up. Hearing it in his voice. Actually, for that matter, I’m hearing Isaac’s line in one too.
I’m chalking it up to good character design.
That’s Armada, right?
hmm…
Yeah..
That’s certainly getting there… still not 100 percent spot on, but like.. maybe 93… why can’t I figure out who it is? Gah, this is going to plague me all night.
Well I suppose max’s magnet powers could only be good if:
1. He could charge pieces of metal with spectral energy and that whould hit the spirit.
2. He could make metal (like a second power, medium with atool maybe?)
3. A part of or the whole spirit was made of metal.
Otherwise magnetism be completely useless. Except for picking up the Tv remote
I have a technical question about possession. Can a Spectral be possessed, or does it have to be a regular person? And is it the act of being possessed that makes a regular person who’s possessed a Spectral?
Dude, you need to reread this whole chapter
A possess spectral is called a medium. It’s what Issac is, it’s why he has no tool. Because he is a tool …lol
I just did, TYVM. Page 9 only states that a spirit can possess a “person”. Nothing on whether that person is a Spectral in the first place- and I just realized that the first question has a logical answer, as Ed seems very concerned at the possibility of Max’s dad being possessed- so regular people are probably possess-able.
Thanks for making waste 5 minutes backtracking. Not only noticed this little tid bit, but also the obligatory Mary Poppins moment with the bat and the light post.
The bat, book, and paintbrush are in the Paranatural logo. They’re all Tools.
The sunglasses are in the logo too.
Together with Chapter 1, Page 60, Panel 5, my theory is that the sunglasses are a Tool.
How many times has this been proven?
In Chapter 1 page 60, His glesses look to me like they’re about to produce some sort of effect. This and the fact that is in the logo with other known tools used by the characters makes me 90% sure that it is a tool.
I actually think that’s really likely.
Also, going off the idea of Spender being a medium: We’ve seen allusions to X-Men through the description page and Max’s and Isaac’s powers (related to Magneto and Storm, respectively), so is it possible Spender may be related to Cyclops, power-wise? (Both leaders, both have suspicious eyewear…)
That can only be proven if either the comic shows us the sunglasses do something spectral-related, Mr. Spender tells us it is, or Zack tells us it is. Until then, that’s just another WMG (with good reasoning, but WMG nonetheless).
in my humble opinion, Johnny’s picture and description need to be changed. his picture to one of his crazy faces (something like panel 2 of page 22 of chapter 3) and his description changed to “beware of johnny, he will steal your bat and jack your scooter” XD
“The others”
So now we have nemeses of different degrees of danger. Suzie, a constant annoyance and threat of exposure, Johnny, a wildcard threat, and “the others” which may represent a society or consortium of spirits.
This is shaping up to be a reasonably complex world. I do want to make an RPG (paper and dice) of this.
And though I usually think making a jRPG out of things sounds stupid, I think in this particular case it might just work.
(yes, I know he or she wrote “paper and dice”)
Too bad it can never be a jRPG, since it isn’t developed in Japan.
/wiseguy
i think it could work. i mean, of course it wont be a jrpg because of j=japan but in the style of one. it would make for an interesting battle system! it would depend on how the story plays out though.
A consortium you say? So what, they’re going to try to attack Hispanic teenagers with superpowers, talking non-human primates, and mysterious guys with sunglasses? In this town, that would be…Isabel (she’s twelve, close enough) and Mr. Spender. Yeah. Good luck with that.
I… I think I’m in love with you.
SOON
I… would like to see how this comes out.
That or a text-based Paranatural adventure game would be incredibly addicting and fun and fun and cool and stuff. :B
This made me think of maybe and (mmo)rpg.
You could create your own character and there would be different skills that level up with you, like WITS and Strength and yeah.
You choose a class that puts you to a certain type of (tool)weapon, and you naturally get a Tool that sticks with you throughout the game, and levels up with you, and also naturally, changes.
Classes could be like, Melee(max, ed, isaac), Ranged(Izabell), maybe things like Mediums(Isaac).
DOES ANYBODY ELSE KNOW WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS?
Sometimes… There is MELLOW-DRAMA
Dun dun duuuuun
That mouseover text made me laugh. :) One of the funniest yet.
SO KAWAII
Johnny requires medical attention.
Oh man is this my first comment on here? Maybe. Well anyways been a long time fan, and of course fantastic update. My image is a commission Zack made, which is pretty damn cool.
Is it of you dressed as Homestar Runner?
It is of me in a Homestar shirt, but that’s the extent of it. I used to wear it all the time, so I had him draw me in that.
Never stop making fun of tropes, please.
i guess i’ll use this
aw it didnt update yet
now it did
DD, your avatar makes this chain of self-commenting hilarious! XD
It’s like you’re staring at you’re message…
Er, YOUR message. Not you’re. I know how to grammar.
i know how hard apostrophe’s are to control
i…. i love you. bare my man babies!
I want Isaac’s shirt. I always wanted to be a ble to tell people that I’m wearing clothing and now I finally can.
Angsty Isaac gets all the girls. No wonder “Mr. Splendid” hates him so. He out-cools his “I wear sunglasses all the time” meme.
Aww, I like his Sunglasses.
They’re all Weskerly.
Yeah and the sunglasses being his tool significantly increases the cool factor.
But not enough to beat an Angsty twelve-year-old in coolness.
We need Insolent Children hoodies and Clothing… clothing. Stat.
MERCHANDISE PLEASE.
Concur’d
I third this notion.
I would be willing to shell out the monies for this.
words.
ALL THE MONIES. ALL OF IT.
I’m workin’ towards some merch. Soooon.
Woo!
Hm. Shoujo manga sparkle brush is lacking here.
That pink sparkly aura… Isaac exuded it too when he was explaining about his hair to Max! O_o I wonder if that’s also a power of his…
It sparkles in the sunlight? Oh noooooes…
Does this mean he’s (le gasp) a vampire with weather powers and this has been a Twilight fan-fic all along?!
NOOOO! He’s too anime for that! DX
…Or maybe his spirit is actually our mate Eddie…
Hahaha. :)
https://shop.blindferret.com/Hijinks/product/t-shirt-team-edward-james-olmos
Meanwhile, Johnny has just entered a coma.
I guess in his world anime sparkles count a weather.
Also max is jealous.
AM NOT.
Clearly, does it show on my face?
Max, your jealousy is obviosly too… hard to control…
sorry i just had to post it somewhere.
-_-
Man. Can’t post anything else constructive apart from: win
Basically how I feel every comic.
Pfft Isaac, man, keep your anime in check! You think that you can just sparkle all around without any consequences?
Poor Maxie boy, he jelly :D
Isaac, your anime is showing.
Oh my berry! ISAAC SPARKLES!!!
“The others?” DUN DUN DUNN!!!!
Also – new Gravy tar. I was TEMPTED to take the Sphinx’s face in the top left panel, but I’m going to see if I can resist using anything but speech bubbles until Johnny’s face shows up again.
Gravytar is one word, bro. I can understand though, sometimes spacebars are … hard to control …
y e a h
s o m e t i m e s
t h e y
a r e
i r r e s i s t i b l e
b r o.
Your… FACE is hard to control!!!
Also – Hi mx. Are you related to Max perchance?
Nope. Completely different person. -_-
Hey! Are you mocking me?
Oui.
Nice “French” a few comments ago, btw. -___-
D’OH!
*facepalm*
Just realized you were referencing the comic only a few inches above your comment. >_<
Starchman star for whoever can guess what comic my current gravatar is from.
Mad Schemes of Dr. Tectonic?
Nope but there are mad scientists
Radioactive Panda?
YES!
HOOORRRRAAAYYYY!!!!!
Can the “clothing” shirt please be a real thing? Pleeeeeeeease?
What’s the thing at the edge of the forest in panel 3?
Isaac’s angst….it makes it all more hilarious XD
NEW TREE ART.
Hourra pour une autre page incroyable! Zack, tu es un grand artiste …
… si, la prochaine fois que vous me dessiner, pourrais-je avoir un pack de six?
Haha maybe
the sphinx at the beginning is like “no! you MUST be eaten!” then he’s like “wait, seriously? this is all a lie?…I’ll be going then” XD
I believe the public has spoken. You could make seriously big bank with merchandising.
Also, spiky hair = anime. Forever true, it seems.
Your webcomic. It makes me laugh and laugh consistently. So, you know, thanks for that.
Thanks for reading.
Whatever I thought was cool about Issac is out the door because of that last panel
He is such a drama queen
Whoops! The email one is me *fail*
Well Zack, it’s been fun, but you’ll excuse me if I choose to run before I’m trampled to death by screaming fangirls creaming themselves over those bishie sparklies up top.
I choose to die as a man.
And high heels puncturing my jugular will not make me a man.
I mean me
Stop being silly, queensilian. King of Zeroes cut your chain of comments! :P
Hmm, a king interrupted a queen…
Well I wasn’t trying to be silly but my brain apparently wanted me to be very silly
wait… king… and a queen… le gasp I was married and ruling a country and didn’t know it?
I hope it’s the state if denial
What you did there, I see!
Slightly clever no? Ohhohoho \(ewe)/
Your Shoujo sparkleangst is showing.
^
Last page was funny. Max is all “I wanna do stuff like that! :C”
Also I been thinking, although Max might have a hard time directly attacking spirits using the bat he could do plenty of other things, including dealing with actual humans like Johnny. Which is not bad at all. B)
Isaac is going to be a bishie when he grows up, isn’t he?
Probably a combination of bishie and tsundere….
In panel 5, the sphinx looks kind of scared when Isaac mentions how his riddle game failed. Any idea why that is? And why was the sphinx’s aura blue THEN red?
The sphinx’s power makes it so that the conditions of a game inevitably come to pass. Up until Isaac pointed out that the sphinx hadn’t set the eating rule at the beginning of the game, the sphinx thought that no matter what Isaac and Max did, he would be able to eat them. In panel 4 he realizes that his power didn’t take, so Isaac is free to destroy him if he wants to. He felt invincible before then because he thought him eating Isaac and Max would inevitably come to pass. If you take the description of the sphinx’s power that the sphinx provides within the comic itself (agree to a game with him and the rules are enforced by inevitability or w/e, and participation is tacit agreement), and then look at the earlier exchange between him and da boyz, you can sort of see how it fits together. If I did my job right and things are clear, you can get a little glimpse at what might happen with the sphinx in the future. The aura stuff was just me mucking around with colors. :|
So much backstory info…
ME GUSTA! B|
hmmm…. since everybody’s thinking Johnny will eventually become a spectral… and likely has red aura… and sphynx has red aura… and I can think of no better power for a semi-whimsical antagonist than making of games with unavoidable win and lose conditions….
I mean really, it’s like the old Discord/Mxyzptlk/Q style villain thing. How can this not be where it’s going? Story practically writes itself! But later, though… Much later.
I dunno, I kinda like the color mucking :)
“Participation is tacit agreement!”
Mosquito-sphinx-lawyer. Oh Zack, what will you come up with next?
GOD ISSAC you are just so….. anime. stop this instant
“Sorry, but sometimes it’s just… hard to control…”
*sparkles*
EDWARD: I’m a monsterrrr! ;_;
hahaha awesome
“Hard to control” will from this day forward be referenced in comments forever and ever
Concur’d.
The “hard to control” panel completely got me.
Laughing so hard right now, can’t stop #animeangst
for some reason I heard him as trying to imitated Captain Kirk in the “Hard to Control” Panel it was great.
in panel 3 it looks like Isaac is misplaced but Isaac’s sparkle ora makes up for it.
Okay I was not expecting the last panel. Brilliant.
But of course Max’s “shut uuup” is the best part of this page. You, my friend, are a trope genius.
I apparently am behind on my tropes, as I kinda didn’t get the last panel much at all.
Actually, panel 3 is the best. It seems his newfound powers and weapon have made Max’s problem solving skills very… narrow, to say the least.
And I’m loving every minute of it. Here’s to more ‘hit it with a bat’ problem solving!
Have we all forgotten Mr, Garcia chilling out in the creek just up da hill?
I actually keep wondering: Is he gonna see them?!
I will want to stop drinking before reading this comic the next time. Why do I have to learn that the hard way?
The sphinx easily succumbs to reason. That took me by surprise.
He is, after all, all about the rules.
Logic! My. One. Weakness!
Quick question, Zack – Do you plan on having guest comics in here once in a while? Just curious. :)
Just awesome
Also, seriously hearing Sphynx’s voice be a slightly more articulate Lemongrab. Like replace a chunk (though not all) of “UNACCEPTABLE!!!” with a bit of like.. hm.. something between Randall Boggs and Aku.
There’s a specific voice I’m thinking of, but the closest that’s coming to mind is Mephisto from Alundra 2.
but yeah, straight up. Hearing it in his voice. Actually, for that matter, I’m hearing Isaac’s line in one too.
I’m chalking it up to good character design.
I always heard him as Tom Kenny’s Starscream, myself.
That’s Armada, right?
hmm…
Yeah..
That’s certainly getting there… still not 100 percent spot on, but like.. maybe 93… why can’t I figure out who it is? Gah, this is going to plague me all night.
No, Tom Kenny’s was Animated. Its the one with the Starscream Death Montage and YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEEEEEECH! That one.
I always heard the voice of “Nightmare Ms. Bitters” from the Invader Zim Halloween episode.
Is Isaac’s “Clothing” shirt a jab at companies that blatantly put their brand name onto all their clothing?
We have reached 100 comments in one day. Congratulations!
I love Max’s line of reasoning. “HIT IT.”
When all you have is a bat, everything starts to look like a baseball.
Yes quick giving the ghost tips
Spirit, actually. The Sphinx was never a living person.
Well I suppose max’s magnet powers could only be good if:
1. He could charge pieces of metal with spectral energy and that whould hit the spirit.
2. He could make metal (like a second power, medium with atool maybe?)
3. A part of or the whole spirit was made of metal.
Otherwise magnetism be completely useless. Except for picking up the Tv remote
if you’re in, say, a metal building, you can use magnetism to pull the bat to stuff and collide it with whatever you’re fighting.
Would*
Sphinx is adorable. Just let him love you with his teeth! <3
It’s funny because I give the sphinx meowth’s voice from pokemon…..
I have a technical question about possession. Can a Spectral be possessed, or does it have to be a regular person? And is it the act of being possessed that makes a regular person who’s possessed a Spectral?
Dude, you need to reread this whole chapter
A possess spectral is called a medium. It’s what Issac is, it’s why he has no tool. Because he is a tool …lol
I just did, TYVM. Page 9 only states that a spirit can possess a “person”. Nothing on whether that person is a Spectral in the first place- and I just realized that the first question has a logical answer, as Ed seems very concerned at the possibility of Max’s dad being possessed- so regular people are probably possess-able.
Yes, normal people can be possessed and turned spectral.
Thanks for making waste 5 minutes backtracking. Not only noticed this little tid bit, but also the obligatory Mary Poppins moment with the bat and the light post.
“The only manifestation of Isaac’s spirit is his hair?”
Yeah, and also the sparkles. I’m pretty sure Isaac’s spirit is very anime.
That last panel kills me. You the best dog.
Thaaanks :)
The bat, book, and paintbrush are in the Paranatural logo. They’re all Tools.
The sunglasses are in the logo too.
Together with Chapter 1, Page 60, Panel 5, my theory is that the sunglasses are a Tool.
How many times has this been proven?
We’ve not seen the sunglasses produce any kind of effect yet.
In Chapter 1 page 60, His glesses look to me like they’re about to produce some sort of effect. This and the fact that is in the logo with other known tools used by the characters makes me 90% sure that it is a tool.
“glasses”
I have no idea what glesses are. (whistles)
So. theory on the sunglasses. Mr. Spender is also a medium and his telltale trait, like Isaac’s hair, is his eyes
OoooooOOOOH!!! I like this idea. Never been discussed before.
I actually think that’s really likely.
Also, going off the idea of Spender being a medium: We’ve seen allusions to X-Men through the description page and Max’s and Isaac’s powers (related to Magneto and Storm, respectively), so is it possible Spender may be related to Cyclops, power-wise? (Both leaders, both have suspicious eyewear…)
That can only be proven if either the comic shows us the sunglasses do something spectral-related, Mr. Spender tells us it is, or Zack tells us it is. Until then, that’s just another WMG (with good reasoning, but WMG nonetheless).
WMG?
Wild Mass Guessing, aka (sometimes-insanse) fan theories. Guess you’re not a troper, huh? :P
*insane. My bad!
Are you going insane?!
I’m pretty sure I’m going insanse. When in Mayview, your sanity is just so… hard to control…
Hey lookie that. Isaac,z cast page has been updated to state that he has weather powers. He is even striking a cool pose with a puffy storm cloud
OoooooOoooOOOooOOoOOohh! You’re right. :D
in my humble opinion, Johnny’s picture and description need to be changed. his picture to one of his crazy faces (something like panel 2 of page 22 of chapter 3) and his description changed to “beware of johnny, he will steal your bat and jack your scooter” XD
I think changing it to a picture of his unconscious face might be more appropriate ;)
Touche’
It also mentions Max’s MAGNET POWERS WHAAAAAT!
Lool this is the ONLY comic I’ve seen so far where every week the commenters are as hilarious as the comic itself! XD
We do our best :)
I love Max’s reaction in the last panel.
Hard to get more bishounen than that last panel. Perhaps add yaoi hands?
forgive me, for i have sinned http://i.imgur.com/rUfjPYJ.png
when do you update ? its the 24 now :(
He updates weekly, haha. Do you really need to ask for an update when it’s only been six days since this page was posted?
Well he wouldn’t need to if Paranatural updated every day. (Or even if he updated every 5 days, come to think.)
TOO EAGER!!!! SO!!! EXCITED!!! CANNOT!!! WAIT!!! FOR!!! UPDAAATE!!!
…
Okay, maybe that was a BIT of an exaggeration, but STILL: I’m looking forward to WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
LAST!!!
no get bent, robin