How much do you think the others will just let her hit them? Not likely I'd assume...

You called it, Westbrook. GG.

Johnny won't go down without a fight, even if it's completely unreasonable to do so.

...This is the guy who's probably gonna get fire powers soon. Be afraid.

And with this latest page (5.69), Johnny easily becomes my favorite character.

Is it bad that I sort of ship it? Because I sort of ship it.

THEORY

You know how Isabel spectral-hammered Jeff and nothing happened?  On page 5-23 we saw Jeff get strung up on wires.  And it's been shown many many many times that the ceiling is filled to the brim with spirits, where most of us expect PJ is probably hiding out.

What if Hijack's up there too, doing a little puppeteer thing?

That sounds like a pretty plausible theory, I honestly didn't even notice the wires until just now.

The only real hole I can see in it so far is the eventual burst into the Teacher's Lounge with "IT'S ONE OF THEM!" If this were actually the case and one of the teachers was possessed, they could just...look up? But we'll see.

Well since Hijack is a spirit he could just hide in the ceiling itself, maybe. It's a lot lower than the ceiling in the gym...

Also, the burnhounds are now a flame puppy :0 so cute...


Edit: Oh I just remembered Hijack was following Isabel and Max around on their way to school, which was in the wide open outdoors... So either Hijack was just out of panel taking advantage of the fact people almost never look up or invisible while pupetteering...

New theory: Johnny will soon get his spectral fire powers. Like, before the end of the game.

# GET HYPE FOR DRAGONBALL

And he will defeat Jeff with the power of fire puns...

...

Probably with a lot of help from Max...

...Hitball!

Aaaaaww YEEEEEEEEEAH! It's time to END THIS! I'm so hyped for the end of this Hitball game! It was super cool and fun and all, but it's time to get back to the rest of the school. I mean, the gym doesn't exactly smell all that great, you know?

So. I can think of three things that might happen: 1.Max will surprise Hijack by not dodging and taking the hit instead of Johnny. 2.Max will dodge, and Johnny will take the hit, which will kickstart his powers as a spectral and medium. 3.Max will not dodge, and Johnny's spectral powers will activate due to seeing Max take a hit for him. (you know, "must protect peeps" and all.) 4.(Did I say 3? Haha I lied.) The gym blows up.

I am fully expecting Coach Oop to run in at either the very end when he will be useless, or to run in at the most inopportune moment.

5. They both dodge the ball and Coach Oop gets hit.


Hijack you do realize Johnny can still see you Max isn't that big of a blind-spot.

Given that Dmitrii seemed to have the plan worked out, I'm sure Max has another trick up his sleeve rather than just dodging.

I did like how the background bench-sitters' expressions changed when Hijack revealed he had the ball, haha.

I just realized. On the last page of the three-page update, the effects on the bottom go OUTSIDE the panel. The line is there, but the effects just ignore it. That is just. SO COOL! And it reminds me of how Unsounded (another awesome comic I read, but less on the comedy and more on the story/action) does the same thing. It's super cool and great and i will never be as good at comic-ing as these guys... *whispers* they're too cool. TLDR: This comic is awesome!

Yeah, I've noticed that lately! The comic protruded a little out the right side of 5-71 and the left of the one right afterward. It's really neat to see in action when it's so subtle!

It really helps the action pop out!

Pages 5.77 and 5.78 are out.

Hitball is over, but Hijack still has to find a way into the teacher's lounge while following guidelines, so unless it's planning on waiting until next pajama day, it's not through yet.

Looks like Max might be seeing a trip to Mina Zarei after the game, which will likely lead to her asking for the story of the train ride she didn't get from Isabel.

That was a nice plan he had there. Gotta say, this game of Hitball ended fantastically. I wonder what Hijack is planning to do now. I mean, he did injure a student just now, but will this be enough to send him to the office? We'll have to wait to find out, I suppose.

Welcome back Blathers

Also, I wonder what went snap. I got the impression that it was the arm bones Max blocked the ball with, though it isn't clear.

I never considered the snap being anything other than Max's arms breaking (which is supported by his body and facial language in the panels following).

If it wasn't, I don't think we've seen any healing powers presented by any spectrals that don't have spirits whose powers revolve around them (e. g. the Doctopi), so to prevent Max's arms from breaking (which would cause the sound effect if it happened), there would need to be some sort of outside force actively keeping him safe during the Hitball game.

There probably isn't though, so it is indeed most likely that his arms snapped. Max is gonna need some heals! I wonder how he's gonna handle this... is he gonna hide that he is in great pain? Like "N-nah, I'm fine. Just, a little out of breath. You guys go after Jeff." While wincing.

I dunno. This could happen, or it could not. *shrugs*

I...don't think the hitball game is over?  Zach himself linked to page 5x27, which straight-up says "If you catch the ball they threw, they're out, UNLESS it's the Golden Switch, in which case your team coming back into the game is the ONLY thing that happens".  So essentially Hijack is still in the game, and so is Max's entire team.  More...more people to get hurt?  Not a good plan...

Hm. But, Violet (I think that's her name) went to wake up coach Oop, so maybe he'll end the game?

 \ ( ' - ' ) /   *shrugs*

Westbrook wrote:

THEORY

You know how Isabel spectral-hammered Jeff and nothing happened?  On page 5-23 we saw Jeff get strung up on wires.  And it's been shown many many many times that the ceiling is filled to the brim with spirits, where most of us expect PJ is probably hiding out.

What if Hijack's up there too, doing a little puppeteer thing?

Whelp, I was wrong! Hijack is clearly leaving Jeff in today's comic.

Indeed. You know, Isaac states that one of the ways to become a spectral is prolonged exposure to spectral energy. Does this mean that we'll get not one new spectral (Jhonny) but two? (Jhonny and Jeff) After all, Jeff has been possessed by a spirit all day, and has been spectral-hammered. That counts as prolonged exposure right? And if he does become a spectral, It would seem likely that his energy would be orange, since that's Hijack's color, and as someone stated somewhere in this forum on normal people becoming possessed: the normal person becomes a spectral with the color of the spirit which possessed them. Though, perhaps Hijack wasn't there long enough...


(P.S. I missed you! )

Westbrook wrote:

Westbrook wrote:

THEORY

You know how Isabel spectral-hammered Jeff and nothing happened?  On page 5-23 we saw Jeff get strung up on wires.  And it's been shown many many many times that the ceiling is filled to the brim with spirits, where most of us expect PJ is probably hiding out.

What if Hijack's up there too, doing a little puppeteer thing?

Whelp, I was wrong! Hijack is clearly leaving Jeff in today's comic.

I was wondering about that too, and had a look at the archives again. It was at this point that Jeff started showing red eyes, which I assume was when he started properly possessing Jeff (and made him protrude his veins a few pages later