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Webcomic / Paranatural

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The (Paranatural) Activity Club: Isabel, Isaac, Max, and Ed.

"I'm starting to think crazy is the norm in Mayview."
— Max

Paranatural is a supernatural humor Webcomic made by Zack Morrison, a.k.a. MidnightTelevision.

It stars a cynical young lad named Maxwell Puckett who just moved into a town called Mayview with his eccentric father and little sister Zoey. It soon turns out that the town is haunted by ghosts and other supernatural creatures, which only a handful of people, Max included, can see. The comic derives a lot of humor from ludicrous wordplay, self-deprecation, and its parodying of common Anime tropes.

After a hectic first day of school, Max finds himself joining the (Paranatural) Activity Club, whose purpose is to keep paranormal activity around the school in check, and to help young spectrals like Max understand and control their powers. Mostly they just mess around though.

The comic updates once a week on Fridays as of March 4, 2019, due to the author's chronic wrist injury. As of September 24, 2021, updates are in prose with small illustrations instead of a full comic. A physical release is also in the works.

A fan-made, fan-operated forum for the comic can be found here. The comic was first hosted on ComicFury, and later on Hiveworks. Voxus has a let's read of the first chapter here.

This comic provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    #-A 
  • 555: The phone number on the lost dog poster for the long dog is 555-1234. This becomes a plot point for the chapter when Stephen realizes that every poster has that exact same number.
  • 90% of Your Brain: When Max protests that Hijack has "too many abilities", Hijack claims that it comes from being all brain.
    Hijack: Well, the brain is like a muscle and you only use 10% of your brain, but I'm 100% brain, so–
  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The student council, along with the vice-principal, makes and enforces the school rules, while manipulating the timid principal. Nobody knows who the student council president is because it was a secret ballot ("I'm pretty sure that's not what that means"), and his Twelve Black Saint Councilor-Generals are too powerful for anyone to challenge. The only one with any ability to fight this oppressive regime is Lisa, who runs the student store, but she only cares about profit. Note that none of this has anything to do with the main plot.
  • Academy of Adventure: Mysterious clubs: check. Weird teachers: check. Paranormal activity that'd detonate a PKE meter: check.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal:
  • Affectionate Parody: Of a lot of kid's adventure and anime tropes. At times the comic toes the line between "affectionate parody of shonen adventure anime" and "sincere shonen-style adventure". Case in point: Forge dramatically explaining his ultimate plans in the middle of a fight, played straight.
  • Alliterative Title: Partial examples with chapter 2 ("Max and the Midnight Visitor") and chapter 5 ("The Activity Club and the Insidious Infiltrator").
  • Alt Text: Shows up on most pages, save for parts of chapter 1.
  • American Eagle: This page has a gag featuring a bald eagle spirit with an Uncle Sam top hat and beard. The top hat also has a U.S. flag pattern.
  • And This Is for...: Isabel on this page as she fights the pixel spirits.
    Isabel: This one's for [throws the spirit] EIGHTFOLD!! And this one's for [kicks it] MAX!
  • Animal Battle Aura:
  • Animesque: The first chapter draws inspiration from FLCL.
    • Lampshade Hanging: With Isaac and his Shonen tendencies.
    • Chapter 5 takes this up to eleven with the hitball game, which is crammed to the brim with shonen sports tropes.
  • Anti-Humor: Ed sets up a joke after killing the monster in Chapter 2 and then drops the ball.
  • Art Evolution:
    • The comic starts off with rough colorless pencil art and occasional gradients, switched to being fully colored and shaded on the ninth page, then finally the author switched to using a brush pen for lineart on the 58th page (the lines are heavy and rough here because "this was the first page I drew with a brush pen and I could not control that beast").
    • Many characters had some noticeable redesign as the comic went on.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Spirits seem oddly prone to ending up in tools related to their powers. Eightfold can manipulate paper and lives in a book, Muse has ink powers and lives in a paintbrush, a spirit with the ability to erase people's faces ends up in a pencil eraser, etc. Downplayed in the case of Gorf, the whale-frog spirit of chapter 2. His power seems to be to be to pull his and others' reflections out of their respective surfaces as corporealized minions, but Gorf winds up in a plunger. It might make sense if you imagine the person with the tool suctioning the plunger onto the reflective surface and then pulling the reflection out of the mirror as though they'd suctioned the plunger onto their head, but we haven't seen anyone actually use this tool yet.
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: In chapter 5, Isaac spots Isabel and Ed sprinting through the hall and starts to reprimand them, but Isabel grabs him as they pass, prompting an interesting combination of words as he exclaims in surprise:
    Isaac: Uhh, you guys know running in the halls is frowned upon by— JESUS
  • Awesome Mc Cool Name: Mr. Starchman seems to think so of Max's name. Of course, he's completely and utterly insane, so it's not really worth much...
  • Audience? What Audience?: This page involves Isabel (who up to this point did not previously show Medium Awareness) pointing to her own speech bubbles. Max is understandably confused about what she's pointing at.

    B-C 
  • Badass Boast: Isabel and Isaac both deliver one-liners to the Sphinx of Truth.
    Isabel: [wielding a spectral energy sword] If you're looking to even a score like your friend here, we can start with your nine lives. One slash'll make both them AND you divisible by two.
    Max: Holy cow Isabel
    […]
    Sphinx of Truth: G-Games spoke the twuth, boy. You ARE subject to his wules. One day... he will eat you.
    Isaac: [growing spectral energy spikes] Let him. It won't kill me. He's the one who's gonna find THAT truth hard to swallow.
    Max: Haha This is weird.
  • Badass Bystander: Penny, a waitress at an outdoor mall, falls into a fencing stance and attacks with her pen with perfect accuracy, almost skewering a fly in the eye. Justified, in that Penny is later revealed to be a spectral with combat training.
  • "Back to Camera" Pose: In this page Forge stands facing away from Nin and the reader while a Dramatic Wind blows, and gives an enigmatic statement about having a debt that must be paid.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Paranatural loves using this trope, a few examples include:
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment:
    Max: Thank you, Serge. You're not half bad.
    Max: You're, like, 98 percent bad.
  • Battle Aura: Violet and Cody when tensions rise between them, with Violet having an orange aura and Cody having a blue one.
  • Beam of Enlightenment: Max, upon seeing his first spirit, with a side of Color Failure.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ms. Baxter seems relatively normal compared to the other teachers. Until the class gets out of hand...
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Johnny's gang tries to defend their behavior in Starchman's class with an "arts and crafts" explanation. Mr. Starchman responds by threatening him with a pool noodle.
  • Be Yourself: After some thought Ed gives this advice to Johnny after Johnny feels out of sorts after Ed defeats him. It backfires, as Johnny loves being a bully.
  • Big Good: What the leader of the Doorman and Nin is alleged to be.
    Forge: My contact here has told me of his master: an angel of life and beauty, pure and whole. I can no longer follow my heart...but I can follow hers.
  • Bizarrchitecture:
    • The base of the Activity Consortium. Flying elevators, multicolored floors, and the the whole structure appears to be shaped like a corkscrew. Of course, the fact that it's a sort of communal dream that all the members visit when they go to sleep means that it probably doesn't have to adhere to the fire code.
    • On Chapter 4 page 58, The Rant lampshades Isabel's house as being one, saying that it "appears violate several zoning/physical laws". Due to the many spectrals living in the house, it likely violates the laws due to itself being under the "prolonged exposure to supernatural phenomena", as Isaac mentioned in the first chapter.
  • Black Speech: Cursed speech is typed in skulls and explicitely a supernatural language that is learned the more a spirit does truly evil stuff. Wight Wail, meanwhile, is just as impossible to understand, but is said to be an expression of pure emotion, and as such, is mainly rendered as really loud screaming.
  • The Blank: Briefly happens to Ed (and, off-camera, Isabel). Boss Leader may be a more permanent example; while her face is covered in bandages, there's no sign of a nose or other facial features underneath.
  • Boss Subtitles: Played for Laughs in chapter 5 with Jim, The Evil Brain Man, but began to be used sincerely starting in chapter 6 for pretty much every newly-introduced character. Some are even given retroactively!
    TRUANT HEIRESS Ritz Price-Lee
    DELINQUENT TRIO Gage, Paige, and Youth Culture
    VILLAINOUS DIVORCEE (to be) Lavish Price-Lee
    MIGHTY STORM SPIRIT King Catnine
    ARTIFICIAL SPIRIT PROTOTYPE Ventrilobite
    ANOMALOUS SPECTRAL LIFEFORM Sockpuppy
    SECRET VAMPIRE OVERLORD Davy Jones
    MANNEQUIN MAGICIAN Phantomime
    ANONYMOUS BENEFACTOR The Angel
    PUREBRED PARAGON Cherub
    CAPTIVE WIGHT Polaris
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall
    • One scene ends with Boss Leader roasting marshmallows, and the next opens with a character elsewhere looking at a bag of marshmallows. The bag is labeled as "soft and digestible, like this scene transition."
    • When Max doesn't recognize someone, the person in question says it's okay because their character design changed a lot in the meantime.
  • Brick Joke: Is that a friend? In the loose sense of the word, sure.
    • "Black spectral energy? That's... pretty common, actually." White spectral energy, however, is bad, bad news.
  • Breathless Non Sequitur: Mr. Garcia delivers one of these.
    "...so here's your textbook, and you can Jeff get a haircut finish this packet at your leisure so that you're caught up."
  • Broken Masquerade:
    • Johnny's seen Isaac use his powers while pretending to be out cold.
    • Soon followed by the entirety of Johnny's gang spotting the Activity Club and Agent Day sitting in the Ghost Train.
  • Call-Back:
    • Chapter Five, Page 33's Alt Text says "because i'm a weird psychic and my dad loves me" which is a call back to Chapter Four, Page 55, where Max's dad says the same thing.
    • In this page, Johnny gives Jeff a conciliatory high five. The Alt Text says, "that supernormal strip but this time jeff's hand has a conciliatory steam key on it", referencing this side comic◊. On the same page, after Jeff is high fived, he says, "…I'm cool now." He said the same thing earlier in the chapter after Max high fived him.
    • The Alt Text on this page claims, "the cop paige is threatening is scared because she has "A BIG NERD" written backwards on her hand and she's threatening to high five him", a reference to this◊ Supernormal strip where Johnny does just that to Jeff.
  • I Can't Hear You: Spender talks to the club dramatically while facing the window, but they can't hear him very well because he's facing away from them.
  • Cap: Max gets hit by a "hitball" as the number 9999 appears to imply the damage he took.
  • The Casanova: A background character on chapter 1, page 39, panel 4.
  • Cast Herd: Most of the cast can be organized by group. There's the Activity Club, Johnny's gang, the Journalism Club, a group of Max's classmates, and the teachers, for starters. Then there's a few different supernatural factions involved with Mayview: the Consortium, Doorman's group, the Cousinhood, and the group behind the 'dog' spirits.
  • Cast of Snowflakes: The comic is famous for its use of quirky faces and hilarious expressions.
  • Casual High Drop: Attempted by Spender here. He tries to look cool by jumping off the roof and landing on the lawn, but immediately falls over saying "ow, Jesus".
  • Cerebus Syndrome: While the comic was most certainly not 100% happiness and rainbows before, it's taken a pretty dark turn with chapter 4.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: All the chapter titles so far. "The Activity Club and the New Kid", "Max and the Midnight Visitor", and "Max, Isaac, and the Secret Shortcut", for just a few examples.
  • Character Shilling: Agent Day is built up before making her first appearance; Boss Leader says she "respect[s] her wisdom very much, despite her youth".
  • Chekhov's Armory: Re-reading the comic will reveal a truly staggering amount of continuity- for example, you can see Ed receiving Isabel's message in the background of one panel, the Doctopi make an appearance before they're explained, and passing mention is given all the time to things that are elaborated on later.
  • Cheshire Cat Grin:
    • P.J. gives one to Max when they meet. Apparently, it's because he's just exercising his facial muscles "for when [he] can be happy again."
    "Your grin was at least an 8.3 on the international scale of creepy."
    • This is also Suzy's default expression. If she's smiling and paying you attention, it's bad.
  • The Chew Toy: Doctopi are harmless, helpful, and adorable. Naturally, they get abused. Multiple times.
  • City of Adventure: Mayville is basically a town where every fantasy and even scifi trope lives and breathes. Every character is basically the MC of their own little narative and almost everyone and their mother is harboring a secret or two or three. The amazing thing is all these adventure stories rarely interact.
  • Clickbait Gag: The ads on one webpage that Ms. Baxter was looking at.
    This Fool Puppy Fell Into A Sewer. What Happens Next Will Warm Your Heart
    This Incredible New Medicine Will Lower Your Credit Score— And Warm Your Heart
    Top 10 Weird Tricks You Won't Believe Will Happens Next Will Warm Your Heart
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Lots of kids and adults alike are a little weird, but Ed and Max's dad take the cake.
  • Color-Coded Characters: The kids tend to wear their associated spectral colors- Isaac and Ed have both tinted panels in blue and green, respectively.
  • Color-Coded Wizardry: Ties in with Color-Coded Characters. Every spectral has a different colored aura, and within colors there are related but distinct shades. Isabel's is red, Ed's is green, Isaac's is blue, Spender's is yellow, and Max's is black. The only known difference between colors is that a Spectral's color and a Tool's color must match otherwise the Tool will be a normal object. With effort, a Spectral can attempt to use a Tool if their shades fall under the same color, as Mina's lime green is close to the Ghost Train's teal, though this is said to be "no fun for anyone involved". It's also been implied that advanced techniques using spectral energy differ between colors.
  • Color Failure:
  • Combination Attack: According to the author, and this◊ wallpaper, all of the characters' powers can be combined.
  • Combining Mecha/Fusion Dance: Parodied with Johnny and pals' "friendship fusion".
  • Comically Missing the Point: Max turns down on offer by his dad to visit their old town over the weekend and avoids explaining why by going to take a shower. Max's dad asks him if his shower is really going to take all weekend.
  • Comically Small Bribe: In Chapter 4, Mr. Garcia tries this on Max... with a Starchman star.
    • Later found out to be a bit less comical when it's revealed Lisa uses them as currency for information. Still funny, though.
  • Contemplative Boss: Humorously Played With. Spender briefs the club on their mission while standing facing the club room window, but since his back is turned to them, they can't hear him very well.
  • Continuity Nod: In Chapter 2, Max looks under the couch to find a tiny orange spirit battling a giant purple rat. Two chapters later, the fight is still going on in the background while Max and his family are playing Monopoly.
  • Cool Horse: Isabel makes one out of her powers, complete with the ability to unfold its head into a horrible, toothy mouth.
  • Corrective Lecture: Doorman gives one to Isaac when he sees him lashing out violently (due to feeling excluded from the Activity Club). Doorman sympathizes with the unfairness of the situation, but warns that his anger risks him recklessly harming his friends with his powers. Doorman pushes him that he needs to find peace of mind in self reflection, rather than aggressive catharsis if he is going to heal. It helps that he gets this across in the form of half a dozen weather related puns.
  • Cypher Language:
    • Several spirit characters speak in a cypher language called High Spirit. The cypher was decoded◊ by fans only a few days after its first use.
    • Shortly afterward, when Max sees Isaac talk to his spirit, the Alt Text says "Easy, 4chan, it's just random squiggles this time".
    • He kicked it up a notch with Cursed Words, the second cypher language, this time represented by pairs of skulls. Each pair decodes to a specific word located somewhere in the comic's own archives, with the parts of the skulls representing the chapter, page number, and how many words into the page it is. A pain to read, but undeniably creative.

    D-E 
  • "Darkness von Gothick" Name: Boss Leader doesn't know Spender's middle name, so she makes up ones for him like "Darkstorme" or "Nightfox".
  • A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 6 focuses on Stephen's misadventures around the town during the day Chapter 5 takes place, and the Activity Club only show up for a few pages at the end.
  • Dead All Along:
    • A crowd of students in the first chapter turn out to all be ghosts.
    • It's revealed later on that Isabel's grandpa has been a ghost all this time.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Max, mainly, but also... pretty much everyone else.
  • Death Glare: Suzy levels a couple at Dimitri. The first one is effective, but the second one fails.
  • Defeat Means Friendship:
    • To an extent. Johnny seems less hostile towards Max after kicking his butt. The same seems to go for Lefty.
    • A more straightforward example in Chapter 5: Johnny and RJ's interrogation of Ed ends with Ed beating up both of them. Johnny shortly afterwards implies that Ed is now his friend ("The best friendships really are forged through fights violence") and states his desire to hang out with him again after the trio beat up Mr. Starchman. RJ also seems to have befriended Ed through this incident.
  • Deus ex Machina: Just when Max is about to fall off the Ghost Train, a large, heretofore unseen insectoid spirit catches him, gently lowers him onto the Train's roof, and then flies off without a word. Max sums up the readers' reaction.
  • Diegetic Visual Effects:
    • In the first chapter, people in the background are colored purple and slowly begin to crowd the hallway, making it difficult for Max to follow Suzy. When he mentions the problem, she wonders what he's talking about, as the hallway is empty. The people were really shades that Max was seeing as he became a spectral. Actual background characters are colored like normal people.
    • Mr. Spender is fond of adjusting his glasses to create a shine. It then turns out the flash effects are real, and with his light manipulation powers, he can use them as throwing stars.
    • During the hitball game, the teams are briefly likened to a tiger and a dragon, with the creatures appearing in the background behind the teams. It turns out to be a tiger and a dragon spirit crossing in the middle of the game who are reprimanded and forced to move off the court.
    • Isaac has oddly styled hair which initially appears to just be an effect for his Animesque design. It then turns out to be a side effect of being possessed by a spirit.
  • Discard and Draw:
    • The possibility is implied in chapter 3, and made explicit via Word of God. Tools and mediums are really just ways for spirits to recover from grave injury, and spectrals are able to use their powers during that interval. A spectral will lose that spirit's abilities once it leaves, but they can always pick up a new tool or get possessed again.
    • Chapter 4 has Isabel losing Eightfold, her long time paper-controlling spirit partner, as a result of the battle on the Ghost Train. In Chapter 5, she's granted an umbrella that contains Flipflop, a spirit that can flip objects, and immediately puts it to use to flip doors and her own positioning.
  • Double Meaning:
    • In Chapter 5. When Hijack is surprised that Isabel isn't going to destroy him, Isaac starts reaching for her from behind with an alarmed expression. Then Isabel asks Hijack, "Is that really who you think I am?" Isaac stops, looking surprised, then pulls his hand back, crossing his arms and looking away. Though the words are directed at Hijack, they are also applicable to Isabel's recent conflict with Isaac, and he has realized he's been unfair to her.
    • At the end of Chapter 5. As Garcia and Spender watch the kids walk home, Garcia asks Spender if he wants to give them a ride. Spender says sombrely that they're fine on their own, reflecting his own feelings about being useless to them as an adult figure. With more assurance, he says, "They're together. They'll be just fine," reflecting how the kids' bonds have been repaired and strengthened, giving them the power to face things together.
    • At the end of Chapter 6, DJ Mothman invites Professor Bigfoot out for beef wine. They have the following exchange:
      Professor Bigfoot: …I've tried it before. In the moment, it felt like an unforgettable experience. But… it didn't stick with me.
      DJ Mothman: …Give it a second chance… and I promise it won't let you down.
      They are not talking just about beef wine, but also about their relationship. They shared some experience in the past, and Mothman is inviting Bigfoot to rekindle their relationship.
  • Double Standard: Spender refuses to tell Isaac what he wants to know because he's a medium for a violent spirit. Later, it's revealed that Spender is the vessel for an extremely dangerous spirit, but he's still in charge of the Activity Club and an agent for the Activity Consortium. The reason why is eventually revealed: Catnine's danger comes less from his power level and aggressive nature, and more from his ability to sniff out the Boss Leader's true identity through smell alone, a secret that the Boss cannot afford to be made public.
  • Dramatic High Perching: On this page, Spender makes a dramatic entrance by appearing on the roof overlooking the other characters.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: Lucifer and Hijack argue over this. Lucifer favors cold reason, arguing that basing morality on feelings is a dangerous path to go down. Hijack argues that being emotionally removed from the consequences of your actions is just as dangerous.
  • Enemy Exchange Program: Welcome to Hitball ('Cause your wimpy parents banned Dodgeball — dodging wasn't the most important part anyway)! Now sit down while you're sitting down and take notes from Coach Oop about the Golden Switch:
    Oop: Only thing happens when ya catch this puppy is yer WHOLE TEAM gets OFFA THE BLEACHERS an' BACK IN THE GAME. NO. BIG. DEAL.
    Isabel: Why would we ever throw it at the other team then, Coach Oop?
    Oop: Good question, you impatient buffoon. Score a clean hit with the Golden Switch, an' the chump you bonked SWITCHES TEAMS. Lil' tip: AIM FER THE ENEMY'S ACES.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: Alex, the girl who actually did give Max the note in Chapter 5 claims to know what the word before "Activity" is. This initially has Max nervous, but then she reveals that she really doesn't by saying "Extraterrestrial," instead of "Paranatural". Amusingly, her reasoning has some basis in the truth.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The first thing Stephen sees upon encountering Ritz Price-Lee is her kicking a dog around while recording a conversation to herself as if she was talking to her lover.
  • Everything Except Most Things: Jean tries to decline the delinquent trio's offer to hang out by saying their relationship is "professional", but undercuts his claim by acknowledging the myriad of ways he's enabled their delinquency.
    "Look, guys. What he means is... I'm fine, y'know, not ratting you out for slackin' off, and letting you smoke, and smoking with you, and lying and saying it was bears when you break stuff and also shoplifting with you and giving you rides and stuff, but, like..." He pushed a stray hair back behind his ear. "What we have is a professional relationship."
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
    • Isaac wears a Clothing-brand shirt in chapter 3.
    • Inverted with Ed's "PANTS" shirt in chapter 4.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Max's internal narration describes Scrapdragon, and it eventually becomes apparent that it is not just describing Scrapdragon from memory, but describing the sight in front of Max at that very moment. This is followed by an illustration of a wide-eyed Max staring at Scrapdragon, suddenly realizing that he is in Scrapdragon's spirit realm.
    What had Max been thinking, treating that leviathan like an unruly pet?! I mean, just look at it! It was huge! It spanned half the horizon! Which was bright red now, a sunset over fields of metal scrap, just barely visible through the... ruins of...
    [Illustration of Max staring at Scrapdragon towering over him, the surroundings having suddenly taken on a junkyard look]
    "Oh for freak's sake—"
  • Exotic Eye Designs: Several spirits. Many of the human characters get in on this too, such as Collin's pie-shaped eyes and RJ's concentric green irises.
  • Eyedscreen: Invoked by Isaac using two black notebooks.
  • Eye Am Watching You: RJ gives this gesture to Ed in the fourth panel of this page.
  • Eye Scream: The whale-frog spirit can make reflections come to life. This is taken to the logical extreme through including reflections in peoples' eyes. Which causes tiny doubles of himself clawing their way out of P.J.'s eyes.
  • Eyes Out of Sight: Jeff's poofy hair entirely covers his eyes and eyebrows. His emotions are expressed through his mouth and cheeks.

    F-G 
  • Faceless Masses:
    • In chapter one, the school hallways are filled with purple and less-detailed extras. Subverted; they're actually ghosts.
    • During the hitball game, some of the people sitting on the bleachers are drawn without detail. Lampshaded in this page's alt text: "the purple bodysuit squad is terrible at hitball"
  • Facial Horror: The pixelhounds can pull the skin off their faces. It's as creepy as it sounds.
  • Failed Attempt at Drama: Spender makes a dramatic rooftop appearance from the shadows, applauding while praising Isabel, but she calls out that she can't understand him when he's clapping at the same time.
  • Fantastic Racism: The whale-frog spirit apparently finds ghost-powered humans abominable. On the other end, Isabel's grandfather considers Tools unreliable, despite the fact that the majority of Spectrals shown use them.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Not at first, as the only supernatural phenomena were ghosts, but the comic slowly has begun drifting into this territory with the reveal that vampires also exist in the setting. Mr. Garcia later indirectly implies that werewolves are a thing as well.
  • Finger-Snapping Street Gang: Johnny's gang approaches Max while ominously snapping.
  • Fish-Eye Lens: In chapter 1, when Max realizes that the students crowding the hallway were all ghosts.
  • Flashback Cut: In chapter 5, Max looks off and has a flashback to recall the plan that he discussed moments ago, allowing the audience to know what he's up to. The flashback only lasts three panels before Dimitri asks him to "stop wasting time having a flashback to things that happened seconds ago," only for Max to defiantly have a flashback to Dimitri telling him to stop having a flashback.
  • Flashback Episode: Chapter 7 focuses on Spender's connections to the three longtime Activity Club members and how he's been a part of their lives.
  • Flat "What": Max, when a giant snake(-ish?) spirit suddenly interrupts his fight with the frog-whale.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Gorf alludes to the existence of mediums before we learn about them the next chapter.
    • One in chapter 3, for chapter 5. On this page you can see a book about aliens next to the brown-eyed girl. In chapter five, she reveals her theory about the activity club being involved with aliens.
    • PJ's magical journey following Max into the school and constantly saving him: Him hearing out how friends have each others' backs, two times Max feels he's being followed, and twice he aids Max without him finding him, finally culminating in here, with all the prior events shown.
    • Grandpa Guerra does not hesitate to straight up call Spender a "callous servant of evil. Later on, it's revealed that he's a medium for an insanely dangerous and powerful spirit. And it's not Lucifer, who is also shown to not be the kindest tool in the shed.
  • Frame Break: On this page, when the werewolf digs its claws into the Ghost Train, one of its claws extends past the panel border, tearing a gash in the surrounding white.
  • Freudian Slip: At the end of Chapter 3, Max asks Spender a question about where could a ghost more likely be found, whether where it died, or where she was buried. Every other member of the Activity Club catches the slip, and Mr. Spender and Isaac comment how that wasn't subtle at all.
  • Fridge Logic: In-universe. Max wonders aloud in chapter 3 why the earth isn't covered in bug ghosts.
  • Friendly Enemy: Johnny and Max have something like this going on. Johnny has absolutely no problem being cordial to Max and also with beating him up for no given reason.
  • Fun T-Shirt: So many of them. So many. (Isaac's "CLOTHING" t-shirt was even available as merch for a while.)
  • Funny Background Event: The comic is absolutely full of them, some of which later turn out important.
  • Gang of Bullies: Johnny, Stephen, Ollie, and R.J. chase and beat up Max in Chapter 1. Johnny and Ollie harass Max and Isaac in Chapter 3. In Chapter 5, Johnny, Ollie and R.J. harass Jeff, and later Johnny and R.J. interrogate Ed.
  • Genre-Busting: An Urban Fantasy high-school Dramedy with a gratuitous amount of Anime tropes, Kricfalusi faces, and Chekhov's Armory.
  • Genre Refugee: Combined with Genre Savvy at the same time. The webcomic does an excellent job of having every minor side character as the protagonist of their own story, but the genres vary wildly.
    • Max is the protagonist of a silly webcomic, and seemingly has the unique ability to get dragged into or involved with all the other story genres as a supporting character, apparently because of his magnetic personality.
    • Isaac is a shonen anime.
    • Isabel is a wuxia flick.
    • Cody's in a less overtly fantastical anime than Isaac.
    • Collin's in a workplace comedy.
    • Spender's in one of those TV shows about everyone lying and scheming and keeping secrets from each other.
    • Mr. Starchman is the host of an edutainment TV series.
    • Stephen hosts a radio show about History Channel-esque conspiracies.
    • Boss Leader does prank videos.
    • Max's Dad is the protagonist of a comedy sitcom.
    • Suzy is in a teen focused Disney sitcom based around the School Newspaper, as written by one of their edgier guys.
    • Violet is in a teen drama on the CW, possibly involving love triangles both real and imagined.
    • Johnny is the bully with a team in a classic 90s or 80s film. He's also the hero who gets sucked into the weirdness by investigating the other characters.
    • Alex is in a conspiracy government show.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Johnny swings his hand wildly past RJ's face twice after the latter has completely lost it, but the sound effects reveal he's actually wiping the latter's tears, accompanied by sound effects of WIPE and CONSOLE
  • Ghostly Animals: A fly drowns in a glass of water and shows up on the next page as a ghost, which is promptly eaten by a spirit.
  • Ghost Train: Chapter 4 is named "The Activity Club and the Ghost Train." It features... members of the activity club going for a ride on the eponymous Ghost Train.
  • Gilligan Cut: In chapter 4, Isabel says: "It's Mayview. No one important ever comes here." Cut to Forge sitting beneath a tree. Lampshaded in the alt text:
    Is masterful writing technique, yes? Character says "it won't rain" and then it rains. Good writing, A+
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger:
  • Go Out with a Smile: There was something similar to this. While the character in question didn't die, as Eightfold is falling into the underground where she'll be trapped indefinitely, she smiles at a distraught Isabel and attempts to say she feels the same, just as their mental connection is severed by distance.
  • Good Behavior Points: English teacher Mr. Starchman gives out "Starchman Stars" for answering questions in class. They are gold foil stars with Starchman's face on them that can be traded in for prizes. They are also used as currency among the students, such as for making bets or buying things at the student-run School Store.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Spender/Forge conflict in chapter 4 looks to be this. Spender is focused on the greater good and acting for the future. Forge discounts this philosophy for the damage it does.

    H-I 
  • Halloween Cosplay: Noncanon examples. Zack posted these on their Twitter page:
  • Has Two Thumbs and...: Max does this in the background, but uses his pointer finger instead of his thumbs. He silently corrects himself in the next two panels.
  • Hidden Eyes:
    • Spender gets a shadow over his eyes as he lies to avoid Zarei's inquiry, with lampshading from the alt text that he could have made the shadow with his own powers for theatrics' sake.
    • Zarei after reading some messages from Spender.
    • Cody has a shadow over his eyes after meeting Jeff again after hitball, but quickly covers it with a smile.
  • Human Resources: Specifically averted in the alt-text for this bonus page.
    "the HR department of the activity consortium has a disappointingly standard function considering the immense horror potential of the phrase Human Resources"
  • Hurricane of Puns: Literally this whole page from Doorman to Isaac, who is possessed by a storm spirit.
    Doorman: I have heard its rumblings time and again since we first met... Deep anger storms inside you.
    ....
    Isaac: ...You really like using weather metaphors with me, huh?
    Doorman: Yes, you're right.
    [Beat]
    ...as rain.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Isabel's grandpa on Isabel:
      Isabel's Grandpa: Arrogant girl! How could an immaculate and majestic being such as myself produce a descendant with such a flaw?!
    • The being possessing Jeff has no problem using innocent dogs and children as hosts but is shocked at the Vice Principal's behavior:
      "Jeff": Wait, you mean you didn't know I'm— Do you stalk and capture NORMAL students...?!
    • The Sphinx of Truth apologizes for the golden sphinx's behavior:
      "I apowogize for that unseamwy dispway," she purred, lifting her leg to lick herself in an equally unseemly display.
  • Imagined Innuendo: Dave gets visibly squicked out when Stephen's mom mentions her "personal" handcuffs... which are easy-slip cuffs for magic acts. The Alt Text takes it a step further.
    dang it, captain! what have i told you about mixing work and pleasure??
  • Improbable Weapon User: The "tools" used by the activity club to fight monsters include such things as paintbrushes and books. There's even a plunger tool out there, though as of yet no one's gotten stuck with it.
  • Inelegant Blubbering: In chapter 5, after Max is injured in hitball, he is reduced to comically undignified sobbing as he attempts to wave it off, tears spilling and mouth gaping cartoonishly.
  • In Medias Res: Chapter 5 opens with the activity club bursting into the teacher's lounge at lunch. It then cuts back to morning and proceeds from there.
  • Intangibility: When Max accidentally activates a Spirit Trace and gets pulled into Scrapdragon's world on the second floor of his house, the top most layer of the building transforms into a ruined version open to the sky. Max becomes yanked out through what seems to him to be open air thanks to Scrapdragon's magnetism, But a freaked-out observing Mrs Baxter in the real world makes it clear that he phased through what was a solid wall, referring it is as "Garry's Mod".
  • Invisible to Normals: Few people can see the supernatural creatures.
  • iPhony: Suzy's tablet has a banana bunch on the back. Lampshaded in the alt text:
    I am proud to be breaking into the well-respected "Just Like My Cat" and "Putting Different Fruit on the Back of Apple Product" genres of humor.
  • Ironic Echo: In chapter 5, Johnny mistakes Jeff for Isaac and tries to bully him to get information about the Activity Club. When he finds out Jeff doesn't know, he says, "what a waste of good violence." During the Hitball game, when Jeff is possessed by Hijack and giving Johnny a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, he says these words right back.

    J-L 
  • Jacob Marley Apparel: If P.J. is any indication, ghosts appear in whatever outfit they died in.
  • Kamehamehadoken: One of the basic spectral attacks is shooting a ball of energy. Isabel's grandpa calls it a "spectral energy compression projectile burstshot". Isabel just calls it a spec-shot.
  • Lame Pun Reaction:
    • It can come from whoever happens to be holding the Straight Man Ball, but one of the best example comes from Isaac while dealing with the Sphinx (and Max):
      Max: Isaac, I sphinx you should calm down.
      Isaac: Max.
      Max: I'm just saying, you seem a riddle bit mad.
      Isaac: Max.
    • Johnny and his gang also get a few good ones.
      Johnny: What are you? An out-of-work doctor? Have some patients!
      Ollie: Johnny I just lost a lot of respect for you.
    • In response to Ed's joke here, Isabel creates a spectral energy "jail" box and puts it over his head.
  • Large Ham:
    • Mr. Starchman - announces his presence, throws gold stars and promises fabulous prizes. At least he's enthusiastic.
    • The Whale-Frog spirit loses its damn mind when it finds out Max is a spectral.
    • Johnny has a few hammy moments. To quote a random commenter: "Johnny’s face assaulted me as I clicked upon this page, and I was forcefully made aware of his appearance..."
  • Leaning on the Furniture: On this page, Stephen puts his feet on the dinner table while talking back to his mom.
  • Leaning Tower of Mooks: While chasing down Max in the first chapter, the bullies Johnny, RJ and Stephen perform the Friendship Fusion by stacking as they attempt to attack him, though they quickly fall apart when Max hits Johnny in the head when a soup can. Evidently, Johnny sees the Friendship Fusion as a sacred act, as he angrily shuts down Ollie's suggestion to stack in order to climb a fence to chase Max.
    Johnny: The Friendship Fusion is not a ladder, it is a union of souls!!!
  • Literal Metaphor: When confronted by two formidable opponents in a game of Hitball, Max thinks to himself there are two monsters on the opposite side of a field, a tiger and a dragon. Then a fish spirit descends from the ceiling and yells at a phantom tiger and a phantom dragon that were literally walking across the field during the Hitball game.
  • Living Ghost: Spectrals are living humans who have gained abilities similar to spirits and ghosts in the comic's universe. Like all paranormal entities, they emit Spectral energy and can interact with spirits, with some having further ghostlike powers through the use of Tools or by virtue of being a Medium.
  • Look Behind You: Spender thinks this is what Forge is attempting here.
  • Loophole Abuse:
    • Hitball was created to get around the dodgeball ban. It's almost exactly like dodgeball.
    • During hitball, a background character is covered in duct tape, sticking balls thrown at her to her. She's not out because the balls haven't hit the ground, and balls that hit those balls technically don't hit her at all.
    • This trope is the bane of the Vice Principal's existence when it comes to school rules, even when it isn't intentional. Such loopholes do not last very long around her. See also Obvious Rule Patch.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: Max expresses some concern over entering the Doorman's belly-portal.
    Max: What if the other side is a simulation in this guy's stomach? What if he's eaten us and we live out our lives mistaking extremely slow digestion for the aging process? What then?
  • Lucky Seven: The Alt Text for Chapter 7 Page 77 hollers over the triple 7's like a slot machine win:
    chapter 7 page 77 baby!! jackpot baby!! big money!! ten million dollars!! right now!! please!! oh god please somebody please

    M-N 
  • Magic Mirror: The Whale-Frog spirit can create these at will, summoning crude copies of itself or others from any reflective surface. It uses these copies for offense or nutrition.
  • Magnetism Manipulation: Max's weapon is a baseball bat which acts as a giant mentally controlled magnet.
  • Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Suzy wears literal rose-colored glasses which appear to be only for decoration. She alternates between wearing them on her head and on her face.
  • Malevolent Mugshot: Davy Jones likes to plaster his face on everything he owns, usually in the form of mascots. Even his own house, which is otherwise somewhat "normal", is designed to look like it shares his massive chin.
  • Marilyn Maneuver: By Doorman of all characters
  • Masquerade: So ghosts are like totally a secret, OK? Lampshade Hanging when Max asks why this needs to be a secret, Mr. Spender seems to be at a loss for an answer and quickly changes the subject.
  • Match Cut: Chapter 7 Page 83 has an illustration of Spender reaching out to offer his hand to Isaac, immediately followed by an illustration of Spender a few weeks later, in the same pose, but reaching out to clasp a doorknob instead. The Alt Text jokes that Isaac turned into a door.
  • Mathematician's Answer:
  • Meaningful Background Event:
  • Medium Blending: This page puts live action actor heads over the drawn characters in a speech bubble.
  • Metaphorgotten:
    • Spender's attempt to explain why ghosts can't use tools gets... a little off-track.
      Spender: Think of it like this: Spirits are creatures that eat yarn... And spectrals are people in sweaters. Um, regenerating sweaters. Well, I guess you can't "take the sweater off," so they're more like people with yarn... body hair? And ghosts are people made of all yarn. Which, um, also regenerates, just not as fast as spirits can eat it. And spirits would also be made of yarn, actually. ...in this metaphor.
    • Max compares the size of Scrapdragon's head to a car:
      Heck, Scrapdragon's head was as big as a car. And its jaws were like... that car's trunk, but—but filled with teeth, like a huge mouth would be!
  • Mini-Golf Episode: Due to a wrist injury, Zack once substituted a regular comic page update with a short side story called "THE ACTIVITY CLUB and the FINAL HOLE," detailing the exploits of Max, Isabel, and Isaac as they hunt a ghost that supposedly haunts the last hole of the mini-golf course at "Small Business Benson's Gas Station & Human Joy Emporium" on the outskirts of Mayview. They've been told the ghost can only be drawn out by playing a full round of mini-golf, so the Activity Club members are forced to golf their way past fake clowns and plastic skeletons, through pirate-ship lagoons full of stagnant water and swarming mosquitoes, and around a treacherous mini-windmill. The short story was eventually expanded to include illustrations and moved to Gumroad.
  • Missing Mom: Max's mother died sometime before the story began.
  • Mission Briefing: Dramatically attempted by Spender before Activity Club catch the Ghost Train. Key word: attempted.
    It's kind of hard to hear you when you're talking with your back to us.
  • Mistaken for Flirting: Spender offers to show Day around Mayview and take her to a "macrobrewery". She mistakes his intentions for romantic due to his mannerisms making him come off too strong.
  • Mixed Metaphor:
    • Max here:
      Max: Is that why you participate in keeping secrets from Isaac?
      Isabel: Max, that's a whole can of worms.
      Max: Hey. I'm fishing for information. Open that can I need those worms
    • On this page, Professor Bigfoot mixes various sheep/dog/wolf-related sayings including "crying wolf", "lambs to the slaughter", "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing", and "lone wolf".
  • Mondegreen Gag: Max mishears "Sure be" as "Sherby", and pictures a sherbet Furby.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • After setting down a photo of Max's Missing Mom, the family goes quiet for a moment. Then Max's dad erupts into "WHO WANTS PIZZA?"
    • Hijack!Jeff has just thrown a Hitball so hard that it puts a hole in concrete. Everyone on the field and looks in shock at the impossible throw as each panel cuts to a different person, only for Cody to end the reaction panels by happily complimenting Jeff on his throw. Lampshaded by everyone else, who yell at Cody for not keeping with the tone of the moment.
      READ THE MOOD!
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: When Isabel slices one in half, we learn that the pixel spirits have teeth all the way down.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The "Super Max Speed-Changing Cool Technique", the soup can throw, and other things.
  • Mundane Utility:
    • Defied by Johnny. When confronted with a fence:
      Ollie: Here, Johnny, get on my shoulders and climb—
      Johnny: THE FRIENDSHIP FUSION IS NOT A LADDER, IT IS A UNION OF SOULS!!
    • The Alt Text continues the joke:
      Ollie: Well. how about I just like, throw you over-
      Johhny: THE CAMARADERIE CANNON IS NOT FOR CLEARING OBSTACLES.'''
    • In a more traditional example, Ed hangs his clothes on ink lines and writes himself notes in midair. According to The Rant on the next page, this only works because those clothes are possessed. He also drew himself a new face when it got erased by a spirit (and immediately regretted it).
    • Francisco's dojo uses tools possessed by minor spirits as targets for practicing spectral energy attacks, because the spirits make them tangible to spectral energy.
    • Agent Day is blind, and gets her spirit to read things for her, like restaurant menus.
  • Narrative Profanity Filter: On Chapter 8 Page 15, a character's swearing is depicted as Gosh Dang It to Heck!, with the narration indicating that the actual speech is more profane, describing it as "censored here for readers of faint temperament."
  • Nerd Glasses: Max's dad wears half-moon glasses.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Agent Savage jumped the gun and killed the Ghost Train, thus trapping every single spirit and spectral in Mayview for a while given the Ghost Train's size and slight color incompatibility with Mina, which cause it to heal slower than normal.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Collin is the only Pie-Eyed character.
  • No Ontological Inertia: All of the whale-frog spirit's reflection mooks melt upon his defeat.
  • Noodle Implements: Exactly what was Mr. Starchmann planning to do with that pool noodle?
  • Noodle Incident:
    • Something regarding Mr. Garcia and a pizza.
    • Isaac alludes to a previous new spectral having a Freak Out over suddenly seeing ghosts all over the place before Mr. Spender cuts him off, possibly referring to himself.
    • In chapter three Mr. Spender implies that he used to have a different fourth spectral on his team before Max showed up. That turned out to be true; Dimitri quit the club after an incident made him lose his faith in Spender.
    • According to an Alt Text, P.J.'s last words were "Heh, I accidentally buttered both sides of my toast". And then adds a disclaimer that it's not a joke.
    • Whatever the third riddle of the sphinx was.
    • Something happened thirteen years ago involving Rick, Mina, Jean, Lucifer, an unknown spirit, Walker, Summers, Ed's parents, the former Boss Leader and the second Wight, resulting in the disappearance of the Burgers and Summers, and possibly Rick's possession. Unfortunately, no one has all the pieces to this puzzle and everyone's too distrusting to help each other figure it out.
  • No Social Skills: P.J., probably because he's been dead, desperate, and needy for who knows how long now.
  • Not in Front of the Kid: In chapter 7's flashback, Rick cuts off Mina before she can finish saying "ass", reminding her that he is holding toddler Ed.
  • Not What It Looks Like: A constant situation, since normals can't see spirits but can see the spectrals trying to fight them. This situation is an exemplary example.
  • No, You:
    • Employed by Johnny when Max taunts him by calling him the "lord and sovereign of stupid kingdom."
      Johnny: NO YOU
    • In The Activity Club and the Final Hole, Max tells Isaac, "Don't get cute with me"; Isaac splutters and blushes and manages to stammer out "YOU'RE cute with ME!", much to Isabel's amusement as he goes even redder.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: King C. gives one to Isaac in Chapter 3. It strikes a chord with him as his spirit digs deeper with it.

    O-Q 
  • Obfuscating Insanity / Obfuscating Stupidity:
    • An interesting out-of-universe example, the comic itself seems to display either of these tropes. While at a glance it could be said the comic oozes random humor and whimsical nonsense, readers that pay attention to detail can notice there's a certain method to the madness. Dialogue that seems random has its purpose or are witty responses to previous lines. Characters that seem to be just fooling around actually have reasons to do what they do. Pages that apparently make no sense at all are later explained off when the time is right. There's even purpose to background events and stylistic choices. Random? Think again.
    • It's hinted that multiple characters do this in order to conceal the whole spectral business. Ed exaggerates his eccentricities, and Dimitri plays the idiot to screw up Suzy's attempts at recording an Activity Club conversation.
      Ed: Peeps won't deduce the whole spirit ghost secret spectral superpowers thing from a bit of weird behavior. They'll just think yer crazy! And if ya really own it, they might even like you! Ha ha!
  • Obviously Not Fine: When Coach Oop comes to check on him after Hijack injures his arm, Max's attempts to dispel any worries are... unconvincing at best, being shouted through Inelegant Blubbering.
    Max: [welling up with tears] MRRRHRRG I'M TOUGHRR AAHBUHUH
  • Obvious Rule Patch: The Vice Principal excretes these like bodily fluids. See also Loophole Abuse.
  • Oh, Crap!: Hijack in panel 8 of this page — after the character talking to him says something suspicious, Hijack's eyes go wide and he tenses up in fear.
  • One-Hit Kill: How Max takes out his first spirit.
  • One-Winged Angel: Pulled off in quite a big way by the bat spirit in chapter 1, and then again (possibly) by the whale-frog spirit in chapter 2. It's implied to be a form of Super Mode that all spirits are capable of when under stress, which Mr Spender calls "the Grudge effect".
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Max notes Isabel's unusual hesitation when fighting the Vile Spirits in Chapter 4:
    Max: [to Isabel] Why is your lack of unsettling battle grin so unsettling?
  • Opaque Lenses: Ed and Mr. Starchman, both of whom are hyperactive, eccentric, and nerdy, and Mr. Spender.
  • Orwellian Retcon:
    • A date on chapter 1, page 38 was altered from "September 25, 2008" to "September 25, 20––" because an explicit date would call attention to the Webcomic Time.
    • This page originally had the Unsound Effect GENUINE DISTRESS from Mr. Spender and Isaac in the hypothetical situation where Max loses his head.
    • The sixth panel of chapter 4, page 47 counts as well. It originally had such wonderful sound effects written in the wind like "Emo Fresh" and "Sweet Breeze". Zack later removed them after deciding they wanted to play that moment straight.
    • Jeff's full name, revealed on chapter 5, page 49, was changed from Jeffrey to Jeffavorite.
    • After Isaac was revealed to be thirteen, one of his lines here was changed from "the strength and reflexes of a 12 year old child?!" to "the strength and reflexes of a small child?!"
    • This page originally had Max wearing pants instead of shorts, and Spender holding a walkie-talkie instead of a cellphone.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: Best explained at the end of chapter 1 and midway into chapter 3. But for a brief primer:
    • "Ghosts" are dead people; "spirits" were never alive and run the gamut of weirdness. Everyone from either category has a special power that is fully subject to the Superpower Lottery (one spirit can shoot lightning while one ghost can...conjure pretty glowing butterflies).
    • "Spectrals" are humans who can see the supernatural, and with some training can access a basic set of ghostly superpowers, such as a Finger Gun. Spectrals can supplement their powerset by obtaining a "tool" (a possessed object that can access a spirit's powers) or becoming a "medium" through direct possession.
    • Other ghost-related terminology includes "poltergeist" (a ghost that can manipulate physical objects—also used as a verb), "shade" (the indistinct, shadowy blobs that people see when their sixth sense is first awakened), and "grudge" (a dangerous spirit that runs on fear and rage. Max's spirit is one).
    • We've yet to learn what Hijack is, because he's some kind of artificial spirit creation that doesn't interact with spectral energy like everything else does.
    • Wights are one of the scariest kinds of spirits. Fueled by fear and anger, they are grudges that have crossed the Despair Event Horizon, and are incapable of rational thought. Killing them is impossible as not only will they instantly reform, but they will rip the energy from every being for miles around due to their white spectral energy. It's unknown exactly what they are capable of, but they're the reason Ed's parents are gone.
  • Our Sphinxes Are Different: The sphinxes are spirits with varying powers, though they only resemble sphinxes in a very vague sense, looking closer to winged cats. The Sphinx of Games forces people to play games and answer riddles, with all rules he creates becoming laws of reality. The Sphinx of Truth, despite her semblance to a kitten, is more dangerous, able to turn her tail into blades and causing anyone in her presence, even herself, to be forced to tell the truth if they attempt to lie.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Dave seems to be a vampire, along with three delinquents from Mayview Academy.
  • Our Wights Are Different: Wights are maximally grudged-out spirits with white spectral energy that will suck up all the spectral energy for miles if they are destroyed, regenerating in moments.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: Stephen refers to himself as the Johnny gang's strongest "death capo."
    Alt Text: the strongest death capo and the fourth strongest overall member
  • Painting the Medium:
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: The Vice Principal's Normal Kid disguise, which consists of attaching a dummy body to her nose and wearing a camouflage tarp.
  • Parallel Conflict Sequence: In chapter 5, the Activity Club members simultaneously face off against different opponents in different parts of the school, the comic cutting back and forth between them. Max faces off against the bat spirit, Isaac faces off against Mr. Garcia, Ed teams up with Johnny and RJ to face off against Mr. Starchman, and Isabel must sneak out of Ms. Baxter's office without getting caught by her.
  • Perspective Magic: One Consortium agent's tool has the power to squeeze things from a distance, as if they were small instead of just far away.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Isabel, one of the strongest members of the club, has far and above the smallest spirit seen so far. Eightfold is about the size of a chihuahua. Isaac's spirit is the size of a minivan at least, and just how big Scrapdragon is remains to be seen, but we've seen enough to know that it's enormous.
  • Poor Communication Kills:
    • Spender keeping vital information from Isaac (or his spirit) gives him a huge inferiority complex, creating underlying tensions between him and the other members of the Activity Club (particularly Isabel) and fuelling their conflict in chapter 5.
    • Dr. Zarei's spirit Patchworm wants to avert this, or at least head off some potentially unnecessary plotting:
      Dr. Zarei: If Mayview's chosen Richard Spender and his toddler squad as the epicenter of its latest conspiracy, I'll want as many friendly eyes in their midst as I can get.
      Patchworm: you don't need to spy on him, Mina
      talk to him
      he is still your friend
  • Portmantitle: The title "Paranatural" comes from the fact that, among themselves, the Activity Club calls itself the Paranatural Activity Club. This splices and combines the words 'paranormal' and 'supernatural', even though both words mean the same thing. On the flip side, we have "Supernormal" — one-off gag strips in the extras section that show the non-supernatural side of life in Mayview.
  • Post Apocalyptic Gasmask: There's a wallpaper available for download which shows the main characters in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and Ed is shown with a gas mask.
  • Powers via Possession: Mediums.
  • Practice Target Overkill: Isabel's grandpa demonstrates the strength of his energy attacks by blasting straight through a target, breaking it in half.
  • Psychoactive Powers: While Spectrals can generate energy voluntarily, they also tend to radiate it when angry or upset. P.J. also implies that the reason he can't interact with physical objects is his lack of self-confidence.
  • Pun: This comic is absolutely chock-a-block with these.
    • Max notes with glee that since Isaac is possessed by a spirit, he's...a tool.
    • Followed up by this:
      Isaac: I'm not a tool, Max. I'm a medium.
      Max: Yeah? I'm a large.
    • "Wuh-oh! Snark attack! Close the beaches!"
    • When Spender drops in on Francisco by flipping into his yard from the roof:
      Francisco: [exasperated] To what ill twist of fortune do I owe this unexpected visit from my brightest pupil?
      Alt Text: You owe my unexpected visit to THIS ill twist!! *does another front flip off the roof*
  • Punny Name:
    • P.J., a pajama-clad ghost living in Max's house. Although he would like you to know that his nickname was P.J. before he died in his pajamas.
    • Chapter five establishes Johnny's friend Ollie as the son of Coach Oop, making him Ollie Oop.
    • The entire Spender family seems to run on this, with father Bill Spender, son Rich Spender, and daughter Penny Spender.
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes:

    R-S 

    T-U 
  • Tears of Blood: A hitball causes the Vice Principal to get a nosebleed. Of course, because her nose happens to be the head of the marionette she's using, the kids think this trope is happening.
  • Tele-Frag: A respawning pixelhound spawns around Isabel's hand. It kills the hound without doing damage to Isabel, who then uses this knowledge to defeat the hounds by making them repeatedly respawn inside each other, causing an infinite loop.
  • That Came Out Wrong: Agent Day tries to tell Spender and Zarei that she's excited to solve the mysteries of Mayview.
    Day: I'm so pleased to be a part of your story. And… if I could help bring it to an end… it would mean the world. Truly.
    Spender: is that a death threat
    Day: HUH?? N-NO, I MEANT—
  • Textplosion: The seventh chapter switches to an illustrated novel format halfway through due to the author suffering from wrist strain.
  • That Man Is Dead: Collin apologizes to Max for letting him get hit with the Golden Switch in dodgeball, only for Lisa to stop him, because since he's on the other team, he's as good as dead. Lisa then holds a disturbed Collin who attempts to get away.
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Initially, it seemed like the Consortium was the only group within Mayview and possessed total control over the town from outside forces, aided by an impenetrable barrier that covers the whole place that restricts access from Spectrals, Spirits and other individuals, and which only the Consortium can bypass. However, it becomes clear that the Consortium has differing opinions between members over how Mayview should be handled, with inter-departmental rivalries and conflicts constantly simmering. Furthermore, as the comic goes on, it becomes clear there is an ongoing secret power struggle occurring in the shadows of Mayview between several non-human groups, unknown to the Consortium. Each group has their own opinions about how to use the mysterious "power" that's hidden within Mayview, and additionally, it's made unclear to what extent their expressed good intentions are even genuine. By Chapter 8, the only thing that can be concretely said is that the Activity Club (excluding Mr Spender) falls into the "good" for the entire tangled web, and even then, that's because the Kids are mostly Locked Out of the Loop. For the other disparate groups, almost all of them fall into the Grey scale of morality, save for the death cult, which is the most evil-alleged group so far, for obvious reasons.
  • They Would Cut You Up: Referenced by Isabel when Ed uses Super-Speed at school.
    Isabel: STOP POPPING INTO YOUR SPIRIT WORLD IN PUBLIC! DO YOU WANT TO GET US ALL DISSECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT?!
  • This Cannot Be!:
    Johnny: The Friendship Fusion...defeated!? I-Imposs..
    • Cody when he gets hit in hitball.
  • Thunder Shock:
    • Cody in the middle panel of this page, when he realizes he lost sight of Max.
    • Max in the last panel of this page, when the other student reveals her knowledge of the activity club.
    • A bright zigzag passes behind Max and Zarei's heads as they look at their phones and receive some shocking news.
  • Toilet Humour: After Hijack stops possessing a dog to take a human host, the dog farts with some Bishie Sparkle and runs away.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: Ollie's legs are rather tiny compared to his torso. This gets lampshaded a few times by Violet and the man himself.
    Ollie: Sorry, boss. Slipped through my legs.
    Lisa: No easy feat.
    Violet: Haha yeah
    Violet: Because of how tiny his legs-
    Violet: Because of how low to the ground his torso is
  • Touched by Vorlons: A normal human can become a spectral by being possessed or spending enough time around a tool.
  • Town with a Dark Secret: Multiple as Mayview is full of crazy people and haunted by supernatural creatures. Pretty much everyone has some secret double life they are dealing with.
  • Tranquil Fury: Wights are grudge spirits whose hatred is so vast, they discovered a moment of clarity within it, giving them white auras that can use any spirit energy. They are generally passive, but kill one and its fury will erupt with (literally) the force of a spirit-based nuclear bomb.
  • Transformation of the Possessed: This happens to mediums and tools over time; their physical appearances are influenced by their spirits.
  • True Companions: Unlike most bullies and their cronies, Johnny and his gang are true bros 'til the end.
  • Turns Red: Spirits seem to be able to, if they take enough damage, enter an Unstoppable Rage state called "grudge mode" where their body transforms and they attack mindlessly. The exact mechanics and details have yet to be fully explained.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Unlike in almost all comics and cartoons, the entire cast actually wears different clothing each day. You can easily keep track of time by when they change.
  • Unnecessary Combat Roll: Attempted and failed by Max who just ends hitting his head.
  • The Unreveal: In Chapter 2, Isabel responds to Max complaining about not knowing things about the spectral world, like giant time freezing snakes, with "Wait, giant time-freezing snake? Oh! That's just... ...cool."
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The other members of the Paranatural Activity Club often get up to wacky adventures off camera that are just summed up as "standard fare" rather than explained. Examples: 1 2.

    V-Z 
  • Villains Act, Heroes React: Lucifer uses this as the reason why Spender and crew will eventually lose, along with a good dose of trash talking his optimism. If all his side is good for is licking wounds and letting their emotions get the better of them, then there's no way they can stop evil from eventually winning.
  • Visual Calculus: When Dimitri realizes what Max is up to toward the end of the hitball game, he gets a devious look and his head is surrounded with images representing intelligence and strategy: a chess board with arrows indicating potential moves, nonsense equations, neurons, and Sun Tzu giving a thumbs up.
  • Voice of the Legion: On chapter 3, page 39, Max briefly speaks with two voices, represented as one speech bubble with two stems.
  • The Voiceless: R.J. is described as, "A quiet member of Johnny’s gang of bullies and ne’er-do-wells." They don't speak until Chapter 4, page 69.
  • Weaksauce Weakness:
    • Spectral energy is a powerful and versatile way for Spectrals to fight without having to rely on the powers of a spirit, but the main drawback is that it only works on spirits, anything that's not a spirit the powers just phase through.
    • Hijack can make anyone he controls super-strong by using his spirit strings to unleash their true potential, but if they're grappled then his spirit strings are pinched and he can control but can't buff.note 
  • Webcomic Time: The webcomic started May 1st 2011. January 20th, 2015 marks the 4th day Max has been in town.
    • Chapter 5 cranks this up to eleven, spanning roughly three years in real-life time from start to finish. The vast majority of the chapter takes place over two class periods.
  • Weird Currency: The students use Starchman Stars (which Mr. Starchman hands out for class participation) to barter among each other. Lisa, especially, bleeds every last star from her customers at the student store.
  • Welcome Episode: Chapter 1.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: One of the themes of the comic is extremists using good intentions to justify evil deeds... even if the deeds have nothing to do with their good intentions.
    • Spender is a lesser example of this theme. His goals are still unclear, but he discusses killing one of his coworkers to keep things hidden, and Isabel's grandfather claims that one day someone more heroic than him is going to end up killing him. Spender's boss knows he's obviously up to something, but also knows that not everything he is hiding is important. She jokes that she doesn't even know his middle name.
      Boss Leader: I suspect he keeps secrets from me more out of habit at this point.
    • Forge is a powerful fire spirit who did many terrible things when he was younger in pursuit of the greater good. While he claims to have changed, and has come to Mayview to serve "the angel" since her moral compass is far more reliable than his own, he still hasn't learned his lesson. He scratches a near-mortal wound in the Ghost Train merely as a distraction, and then blames Spender when this action puts Spender's kids in danger.
    • Hijack is a spirit who can puppeteer human bodies. He takes control of Jeff partly because he needs to get inside the teacher's lounge, but also because he feels bad that Jeff was bullied and wants to give him some vengeance. Except then he attacks Max (in order to get in trouble and get sent to the teacher's lounge), despite Max having done absolutely nothing wrong. Max calls him out on this, saying he's just another bully. Isabel says something similar.
      Isabel: He has fun hurting people, so his evil heart tells him it's for a good cause.
    • It's implied the Consortium's rivals the Cousinhood imagine themselves to be monster hunters destroying dangerous creatures and people to save the world when they might be killing innocents out of prejudice.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Chapter three, towards the middle/end of it, is full of WHAM. Johnny sees Isaac use his weather powers, and Max is revealed to be possessed by something bad.
      Max: I'd laugh... but I didn't end up with the sense of humor.
    • Chapter four has several more Wham Pages. We find out there's a barrier around Mayview that will complicate Max's plans to find his mom. Isabel loses her tool and dear friend Eightfold. There are three Bait-and-Switch moments where Max nearly dies. We find out Spender is possessed by a great evil, and it nearly escapes. Johnny and his gang see the Activity Club floating in mid-air. Johnny is possessed by Forge. And then the ghost train dies, making it impossible to pass the barrier.
    • Pages 229-235 of Chapter 5 were released as a single big update, and for good reason. It is revealed that Mr. Spender has been controlled by Hijack since he encountered Jeff at the principal's office and Hijack was sent in by Dr. Zarei to find out what Spender is hiding from her.
  • Wham Line:
    • Chapter 1, page 32, after Max yells at Suzy to slow down because he's stuck in a crowd.
      Suzy: Huh? Crowd? ...But this hallway's practically empty.
    • Chapter four, page 146:
      Dr. Zarei: You just trapped us all inside Mayview.
    • Subversion in Chapter 5.
      Girl: because the real secret i know... is the word before "activity".
      the extraterrestrial activity club!
    • Later in chapter 5, revealing radically recontextualizing info about the character being spoken to:
      Dave: [to Cody] Very well. It's your school… Mr. President.
    • In chapter 6, revealing radically recontextualizing info about the character being spoken to:
      Mr. Guerra: And I trust you understand that with the wrong witness, even a wisp of white will spell trouble beyond the kind you're used to, Miss Spender.
    • In chapter 7, in a flashback to Isaac's first meeting with Boss Leader:
      King Catnine: You don't smell human. Not at all.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
    • Part of the Doorman's lecture involves the fact that Isaac called him his "shortcut", labeling him for his utility rather than his own being, even if Isaac didn't mean anything by it.
      Doorman: You refer to me by my function ...how ...human.
    • A large part of Eightfold's departure stems from the fact that Isabel unconsciously considers her more of an item than an equal.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Delivered bluntly by Lucifer for Spender's long chain of childish, shortsighted actions in one night. Lucifer being Lucifer, this isn't the most morally sound speech, but the fact that Spender put his students' lives in danger multiple times is very effective at breaking his usual coolness deflectors.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: At first. Mayview and Boxborough were at least known to be in the same state, given how Suzy talks about Baxborough. Then Max's inspiration for stunt-jumping was revealed to be a public-access TV show set in Neo-Pittsburgh, supposedly putting both in Pennsylvania.
  • Who's on First?: In the background here, Ed and Isaac spend a bit of time confused about Jim. And the gym.
  • Wild Take: Lots thereof. The comic is rife with exaggerated expressions, now an integral part of its style.
  • With Great Power: We get a highly effective With Great Power speech in chapter 3. Delivered by a guy with a door handle for a face, no less.
  • World of Ham: A good number of Mayview residents are very over-the-top.
  • "You!" Squared: Isaac and Max meet again. Max has had a weird night (and can't remember Isaac's name); not sure what Isaac's excuse is.

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