YMMV / Paranatural

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• Alternative Character Interpretation: Boss Leader is unwilling to put her organization's secrets above their lives. Is this because she truly is a Reasonable Authority Figure, or is it because as Spender stated, she and her organization are not getting paid?
• Arc Fatigue:
  • Chapter 4 is 151 pages long. That's almost as long as the previous three chapters combined. Towards the end of its run, some people just wanted it over with so that other things could be moved on to.
  • The Hitball section of Chapter 5 is generally agreed to have ended just after hitting this point, making sure it didn't get too egregious.
    • Chapter 5 in general had been dancing around this, to the point where it’s become its own little Base Breaker. On one hand, it started in December 2014, running before finally concluding on September 2018 with 300 pages. On the other, it’d been able to justify its length with its content, which had kept a good pace and quality post-Hitball. Zack’s frequent breaks hadn't helped, though.
• Awesome Art: Since Chapter 2 in particular, the art exploded with fluidity and expressiveness. However, Zack really upped the ante in quality in Chapter 4.
• Broken Base: Tying in with Arc Fatigue above, the comic's pacing has opened debates if Zack needs to tone down the jokes and long build-ups to a single punchline so the story can get back on track, or if how it's handled currently is fine, considering the plot is still moving despite the comedy.
• Crack Pairing:
  • There's fanart of Racist Whale Frog/Hissin' Pete as well as Isaac/Johnny and Forge/Spender.
  • There's crossover art of Forge/Nightmare Knight drawn by the comics' authors themselves.
  • There's Mr. Spender and Eno, too, though this example makes a degree of sense considering that the comics' respective artists are dating in real life.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • The fandom is especially prone to this thanks in no part whatsoever to Zack being quite the skilled writer and artist, who loves to leave little clues and hints that could easily be missed during first viewing and will 9.9 times out 10 be revisited later.
  • The two spirit languages were also quickly cracked by fans. The first one simple, the second a preposterously difficult code.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Thanks to the entire cast having eccentric traits and quirks, plenty of side characters are well-favored within the fandom. Johnny, Suzy and PJ in particular have accrued sizable fanbases for their interesting dynamics with Max and the plethora of funny moments involving them:
  • Scabs, the Dojo student commonly referred to as "Female Vegeta", became fairly popular despite not really having any lines before Chapter 7.
  • Boss Leader, due to her playful teasing of her subordinates.
  • Cody and Dimitri were relatively minor characters prior to Chapter 5 who were nonetheless pretty popular for their appearances, even before their plot importance was revealed.
• Fan Nickname: Since the names of people and things are not always revealed right away, the fandom has taken to making their own, often involving as many puns as possible:
  • Gorf (the spirit Max fights in chapter 2) was commonly called 'Racist Whale-Frog' prior to his name being revealed on Twitter.
  • "Time snake" for Max's spirit. When it was discovered that the name wasn't really accurate (all spirits "stop time" to commune with their human hosts), a fan offered Scrapdragon as a replacement, which Zack made canon and Max uses later.
  • "Montezeusma" for Isaac's spirit, although its canon name is King C. (Catnine).
  • Mr. Splendiferous, Splendid, Stupendid and all variations thereof for Mr. Spender.
  • "Forge" or "Manvil" for the anvil-headed knight spirit. The former turns out to be canon.
  • The black dog spirits are known by a number of variants of "pixhellhound."
  • Scabs, the Dojo student Isabel spars with in chapter 4, progressed through "Female Vegeta" due to her appearance and behavior, to "Vegetabelle" (vegeta + Belle), which then finally became simply "vegetable" due to an autocorrect mess-up.
  • The giant insect with a zipper down its belly which saved Max from falling off the Ghost Train has been dubbed "The Fly."
  • "BERG" for Broken Evil Riddle God, the mysterious spirit secretly possessing Max alongside Scrapdragon.
  • "Cthumbra" for the shadow spirit inside Spender, a portmanteau of Cthulhu and umbra (meaning "shadow").
  • "Hijeff" for Hijack-possessed Jeff.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • There's some overlap with the Cucumber Quest fandom. This can be attributed to similar tones — both comics are kid-friendly Affectionate Parody adventures with silly humor and a gradually thickening plot. The creators being friends helps, too.
  • There's some crossover with the Homestuck fandom, after Morrison's frequent and well-received contributions to Paradox Space.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Chapter 1 itself started off pretty entertaining but things didn't really pick up until Chapter 2, wherein Max faces off against the Racist Whale Frog. World-building and plot thickened in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 improved the overall composition.
  • In ComicMix's 2014 Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament seeding round, Paranatural placed fourth above the likes of Cucumber Quest, Girl Genius and Lackadaisy.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Isabel keeps Eightfold in line by swatting her, saying you need to have a "firm hand" with your spirit. Eightfold gives her some advice later, including: being aware of the harmful things one has learned, and not hitting one's spirit partner. It's likely that Isabel picked up her treatment of spirits from her grandpa. Later, she meets Flipflop, who is implied to have been abused by his previous spectral.
  • Everyone is humorously exasperated by Max's thinly-veiled attempt to disguise a question about finding his mother in Chapter 3, with Spender saying that he'd been hoping for a low-maintenance member, like Ed. A bit of dialogue in Chapter 5 regarding Mayview's secrets reveals that both of Ed's parents have gone missing, and Chapter 7 showcases the dire state they've been in for ten years.
  • Mr. Spender's ineffective teaching style and repeated failed attempts at looking mysterious and cool are initially seen as comedic. Chapter seven reveals the secrets he keeps hidden are not doing his mental health any favors and he's taken to projecting his issues onto the kids, having no real idea of how to instruct or help them, resulting in people getting hurt.
• Ho Yay: P.J.'s enthusiasm for being able to touch Max. Could also count as No Yay when you factor in that P.J is an undead child.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Max/Johnny is known as "bully magnet".
• Memetic Mutation: There are quite a few and they seem to be ever expanding:
  • "STOP BEING EVIL." ^ExplanationIsabel tells a spirit to stop causing trouble by intimidating it.
  • "Perfecshbluh..." ^Explanation Said by a spirit after powering up, only to be hit by a floating left hand ghost. Now used by fans to give praise in general.
  • "Concur'd" ^Explanation Fans often say this whenever voicing agreement. From this strip
  • "Hard to control." ^Explanation Isaac explaining his powers to Max, Played for Laughs. As seen here
  • On a scale from Yes to No, Yes.
  • Isaac, you're too anime. ^Explanation An inside joke with fans and in the comic itself, thanks to Isaac flaunting several tropes common to Shōnen anime protagonists such as his spiky hair, tendency to sparkle, brooding anti-hero antics completed by having what is implied to be a Dark and Troubled Past. All revealed in Chapter 3. The phrase is a reference to this installment of Gunshow.
  • Calling Mr. Spender variations of his name such as Mr. Splendiferous, Mr. Spencer, etc. ^Explanation This meme most likely arose due to Max mispronouncing Mr. Spender as Mr. Splendid in Chapter 1.
  • [X attack] becomes [Y!] ^ExplanationFrom this strip, where Isabel's grandfather demonstrates his INCREDIBLE ABILITY to... turn spectral fists into dolphins. Huh.
  • Max has been in Mayview for five days. ^Explanation Each chapter encases a day later from the last one. Either used jokingly or as a completely serious jab at the comic's pacing.
  • "LET'S TALK ABOUT ETHICS". ^ExplanationThis was the alt text for one comic, which itself was making fun of the tendency of almost every spirit to give a monologue at some point about their personal philosophy. And particularly about ethics.
• Nausea Fuel: Mr. Puckett accidentally wringing a slice of pizza into Zoey's can of soda is pretty gross. The implication that he regularly does this to his own drinks is even worse.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Max/Isaac is known as Maxaac, Imax or Imaax.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Cody/Isaac has some fans, though the characters haven't met in-comic.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Suzy X Max vs. Isabel X Max. Though given there is some history between Suzy and Isabel OT3 is also available.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Exactly how "unintentional" his sympathy is is debatable, but with how Isaac tends to be made to take the moral low ground regarding his feelings and situations, as neurotic as he can be with dealing with them, it can be hard to not feel bad for the guy. Even though Max is technically correct that Isaac was being rudely presumptuous of Max, it came off as a tinge hypocritical and insensitive when you take into account that Max himself can be off-putting and abrasive to be around, and that Max really did look like he was alienating Isaac despite Isaac being one of the first to open up to the former newcomer. Made worse by the seeming implication that it was done (or at least could be interpreted) as a means of Max wanting to associate with the "sound" kids so as to not be seen as "problematic" or "weird" like Isaac is portrayed to be. The overall insensitivity towards Isaac's feelings is what tends to make him the sympathetic party among the group. Though more or less it's all exacerbated by the fact Isaac both presumes the group dislikes him regardless and doesn't really try to meet halfway.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: The blonde student council member is a girl, but it's not clear from looking at her. The initial appearance of Isaac is also pretty androgynous.
• The Woobie:
  • PJ, the little ghost boy. His dialogue contains a number of hints that undeath is not exactly a bowl of cheerios.
    Max: So, PJ. Have you been, uh... dead for long?
    P.J. ...Too long.
  • Isaac, when lamenting his exclusion from the other members and the lack of a strong bond with Max.

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