Alright, I think we all know that the witch that lives in a gingerbread house is the Vice Principal after this last update. Which made me even more terrified of her.

SHE WILL EAT A KID.
SHE MIGHT HAVE ALREADY DONE SO.
GET THE LAWYERS.

That's a nice panel layout on the first row.

The Vice Principal's nose is already the most terrifying thing in the comic...

Looks like Jeff is no longer unarmed >_>

And omg Suzie... that face...

Also, I had a hard time believing anyone was actually fooled by that puppet and the camouflage and thought they were just playing along because this is a normal thing for the VP to be doing...

Page 5.55 is out.

c'mon, man, your tool is a baseball bat and a ball is being thrown at you there is literally no moment that fits you more than this one

Johnny has already become a spectral off-screen, apparently. The train incident happened the night before, didn't it? If so, becoming a spectral takes a lot less exposure than I thought it would.

Dimitri is confirmed to be a spectral, meaning every theory about Dimitri being an ex-Activity Club member suddenly gains more credit.

If Johnny's fire is created from external materials (read: the surrounding oxygen), the other students would be able to interact with it, wouldn't they? Depending on whether Dimitri's power can also be seen by non-spectrals, I can see a huge storm ahead.

Blathers wrote:

Page 5.55 is out.

c'mon, man, your tool is a baseball bat and a ball is being thrown at you there is literally no moment that fits you more than this one

Johnny has already become a spectral off-screen, apparently. The train incident happened the night before, didn't it? If so, becoming a spectral takes a lot less exposure than I thought it would.

Dimitri is confirmed to be a spectral, meaning every theory about Dimitri being an ex-Activity Club member suddenly gains more credit.

If Johnny's fire is created from external materials (read: the surrounding oxygen), the other students would be able to interact with it, wouldn't they? Depending on whether Dimitri's power can also be seen by non-spectrals, I can see a huge storm ahead.

Hm, I don't think Johnny has become a spectral already, off-screen. I think he'd be much more freaked out and talk about it with his friends (instead of "levitating people"). Also, he'd probably see the train on the picture. (and tbh, I'd LOVE to see his reaction so please, Zack, let us see this)

But, this page is so action! And I have no idea what's goin on (hahah maybe it's because I didn't have much sleep and I'm tired ahhahh oops). I'm so hyped to see what's gonna happen!

I forgot about near death experiences causing the possessed to become spectrals much more quickly. Shame on me.

I don't think the glowiness on Johnny and Dimitri was spectral energy. It was more an artistic effect, calling attention to Johnny preparing to take the shot to protect his friends, as well as Dimitri diving to block the shot for Johnny. Max is colored darkly as he runs to save his own skin.
I have a feeling that this is all a big metaphor. Earlier in the chapter Izzy was yelling at Max to stop dodging/deflecting and participate. Now a school bully and a calculating, secretive guy are about to out-heroic him, a kid with supernatural powers (and the one most qualified to do any protecting). In that tiny last panel on 5.55 we see Max's eyes widen, possibly realizing what a loser he has been for dodging conflict and only looking out for himself.
In other words, I have a feeling this is the part where Max stops being a little weenie and Abswers the Call. He might expose himself in the process, and he might even regret it in the future, but I have a feeling it will be a major developmental moment for him.

Yeah I had the same impression that it's more an artistic effect than something paranatural going on.
And Max realising he's being a bit too dodgy >_>
Does he actually know Dimitri and Johnny are being all heroic like though? He's kinda looking at the completely opposite direction... Maybe he senses the glowy heroic aura <_<

I have a feeling he's at least aware that he's leaving ordinary people to face something alone that could totally kill them.

I wouldn't leave out the glowiness being spectral energy just yet.
The fact is there is no way non-spectrals are going to survive the intensity of Jeff's attack, and I'm sure spirits would be aware of this.

There is a big likelihood that Forge, being in his weakened state, isn't ready to abandon his suitable host just yet. Sure he could just leave after Johnny gets 86'd, seeing as he's where he wants to be. But that would leave him vulnerable, and worse off vulnerable to Spender and his students. So he could probably just advance his possession of Johnny and more than likely, like Blathers suggested, super heat the air immediately around johnny (maybe not in a large enough radius to hurt his friends) in order to incinerate the ball before impact.

Of course, then there's Dmitri and the speculation surrounding him. Unless Ed or literally anyone else in the universe somehow manages to maneuver in fast enough to stop the ball, we're going to be seeing Dmitri display some spectral abilities. He's a smart kid, smart enough to know that there's no way on gods good earth that a normal person is stopping that ball. He's also smart enough to know that this jeff nonsense needs to be stopped immediately, and since the gameplan is his, he needs to be alive to adapt it even if jeff picks off someone else. I dont think he'd get in the way of the ball if he thought he might not survive to see out the plan.

Zack posted on Twitter that the glow was artistic effect. I have got to become better at reading the moment.

Although, it doesn't rule out Johnny becoming a spectral during the dodgeball game. This can still count as a near-death experience, depending on how hard Jeff threw the ball. I may be grasping for straws here.

Blathers wrote:

c'mon, man, your tool is a baseball bat and a ball is being thrown at you there is literally no moment that fits you more than this one.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

The near death experience is likely to help things along, nice catch Blathers, I totally forgot about that too...
Also I think when Johnny goes spectral it'll be a lot less ambiguous. And probably a lot greyer...

For Dimitri to be able to do something paranatural to stop that ball he'd need to be a medium or have a concealed tool, since spectral energy can't interact with the ball and spectrals don't have any powers without a spirit companion. At first I thought the lines around his hand were the beginning of him using some sort of power but it's probably also just an artistic thing indicating movement...

Judging by the last panel I think Max is gonna see the Electric Time Eel again. Like right now.

So! That new page, huh? There is for sure a lot more going on with Dmitri, confirmed that he has some sort of ability! And also that Forge came very close to going into action. I guess the biggest question right now is what is going on with Dmitri? Although now he's out at this point because nobody caught the ball.
Also, I think it should be noted how cool Forge seems to look on this page. I'm guessing that's him without the armor?

Ok, so yeah, there's a new page 5.56 and I just WHOA.

We've seen Forge again yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah just wow, yes. And because of his appearance, Johnny may become a spectral sooner, I guess. Which is just YEEEEEEEES.

Oh, an look! Nobody died and everyone's kinda ok! Although, Dimitri is out, right? Cuz nobody caught the ball. Also, he got hit in the hand with this ball pretty hard, hmm?

I'm kinda wondering what would happen if Dimitri wasn't here though?

Oh, and also, WHERE THE HECK IS COACH OOP, IS HE STILL SLEEPIN?! (well, of course he is)

I think Dmitri is going to be one of those obligatory voodoo, spiritualist kind of character, one that isn't exactly like the main characters but knows exactly what kind of sh*t's going down. He does seem to have wisdom beyond his years, it seems likely he'll fulfill that "telling the protagonists something crucial they didn't realize about their powers/situation/whatever" trope

HIGH FREQUENCY VIBRATION ABILITIES HECK YEA.

I can't even put into words what this might mean for Dmitiri )other than SPECTRAL/MEDIUM CONFIRM) as far as who or what his past might contain but I have to say I'm jazzed with the skillset Zack opened up for him.

Also, forge is now more rad looking? Didn't even think that was possible tbh

Johnny is no spectral, he hasn't even seen shades yet. We'll get there at some point. It'll be interesting.

Omgosh yesss! So much greatness on one page!

Panel layout continues to be pure genius.
And yay for Dimitri getting such an awesome reveal Though now he has to go to the bleachers to feel bad...

I'll second Forge looking even more awesome than before. I wonder what he would have done if Dimitri hadn't come to the rescue... What would he even be capable off in that situation? Since he hasn't had any way to recover due to Johnny not making any spectral energy yet, he's probably still in a very weakened state... It does look like he was doing something though.

Also the amount of dust in that gym is probably a health hazard  

In regard to the alt text of c5p56, I once played a game of dodgeball in middle school that led to two people breaking their arms, one kid breaking their glasses and three people losing teeth.

Also, wow, Max is a huge coward.

Wow, your dodgeball games sound rather intense... Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that Max was being a coward. You've seen Max's strength's, which mostly include dodging and acrobatics. He doesn't seem like he has a strong arm, or a high pain tolerance. He very easily lost the fight against Johnny, being covered in bruises himself but Johnny looking completely unscathed. Max couldn't really do anything to help Johnny or anyone else then,which doesn't include horribly injuring himself and possibly others. As Muse said earlier in the chapter, "Without power, bravery is no virtue. For the weak and foolish, it's a liability." Max is not a coward for knowing his limits, for sure.

Fair point. He may not necessarily be a coward, just very fragile. ("I am not a healthy boy" - Max)

Well! The new page is up now, and it seems Dmitri's hand was completely unscathed. Now we know for sure when he tells Johnny that only he could take that hit without horribly injuring himself that there's something supernatural going on.

...Does anyone know where RJ got the golden switch? I haven't exactly been paying attention to where that has been, but I'm not sure how RJ managed to get it.

Yup, Dimitri is uninjured at all, whoa! It's something supernatural for sure (ya know what I mean).

Also, it looks like the Student Council are out of the game too. Which is not good.

Other things I noticed:
1. I really like how Johnny helps Max. Just yES!   this is a good team
2. what the hell are ya doin, Max? Do you just, like, pose like that or...? - panel 8
3. Johnny's face. oh my gosh - panel 9

We can always count on Johnny to have the most incredible faces, heh. When it comes to the student council, though, I can't say that they're too much of a loss, I don't think. For Max, however, I guess we'll have to wait until after the game to figure out why Max is acting the way he is... Is it that he's feeling a little worthless, or something else? Maybe he realized something? The only way we'll know is if after the game Max has some thoughts he decides to let out about it. I'm also excited to see if there is a Max/Johnny team going on. With Johnny, however, it feels a little strange to have a page where he's actually concerned about his classmates that aren't in his crew.