Paranatural

More stealth allusions to the Maelstrom

>>85878148
The blind leading the autistic
pottery

I'd love it if there was an RPG based around this.

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>>85878192
Just ask for for it and I'll post it.

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>>85878222

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>>85878240

>>85878172
What the fuck is Maelstrom
Is that some ship between Isaac and someone?
Speaking of shipping, blindy clearly wants a piece of that autistic ass

>>85878222
>>85878240
That's cool, but I was talking more Pen and Paper.

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>>85878255

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>>85878260
Can't stop me now

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>>85878285

>>85878148
what's this chapter even about anymore, what was the plot heading into a year ago

>>85878148
...She's cute.

>>85878260
I'm sure there are already systems that are designed for very similar settings. I'm pretty sure we've asked about this many a thread ago.

>>85878298
>what's this chapter even about anymore
HITBALL
>what was the plot heading into a year ago
HITBALL


GET

HYPE

>>85878259
Some unknown incident a few years back that made the papers. Speculated to be the incident where Isaac freaked out with his newfound powers. Or, an event of greater significance.

>>85878260
I always feel like the main point of settings like Paranatural, where people have individual and creative powers (except for Max and Isaac being magent and lightning lad respectively), is hard to achieve in Pen and Paper. The only thing that would really accommodate that is free from, which would probably just be shit anyway.

>>85878453
Not really. Pen and paper is all about imagination.

>>85878555
I mean the actual mechanics of it. It seems like it might be hard to balance the mechanics of the abilities or maintain any sort of cohesion between them.

>>85878763
Not really. It all depends on your group.

>>85878148
Please there be Clothing(TM).

>inb4 "THEY MUST BE GAY" in some other circle

>>85878259
Nah, I think it's more hero-worship. Last chapter made it clear that Agent Day is a huge fangirl

>>85878259
>>85879341
Dr Headscarves seems to be more like Sherlock Holmes (the BBC version, that's all I know of) - married to her job - anyway.

>>85878148
Is the muslim a tranny?

I'm half expecting that to be the case

>>85878148
I'd date a blind girl.

At least she'd only be disgusted by my voice...

>>85878187
>pottery

Excellent jab, good sir! You leave me much amused.

>>85878148
I completely forgot Agent Day was a character.

>>85879577
>blind woman isn't a lesbian, she just thinks she's dating a man

>>85879713
Blind, black, AND gay
Wow

>>85878259
>What the fuck is Maelstrom
Dictionary definition says it's basically a whirlpool.

Given Mayview looks pretty landlocked, I don't want to think too hard as to what could cause a whirlpool in it.

>>85878148
What is even the point of this comic being divided into chapters?

Also this page is a direct response to that person complaining that his sjw characters don't get enough screentime.

>>85880052
We got the set up to this awhile back. This is Zarei's lunch plans.

Zack just can't hack pacing for shit, and he's actually been getting worse about it over time.

>>85878148
She looks like a really weirdly cheerful Amanda Waller.

>>85879647
Anon.

>>85880106
No wonder I'm this hard right now.

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>>85878148
Jesus Christ. Don't know if its Manga Studio or being in the company of his webcomic friends, but the comic doesn't look any different from the average tumblr comic now. Pink and purples, soft lineart, round and blob-ish looking character designs.

Compare this to any page from Chapter 3.

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>>85880349

>>85880349
Were the Wack! sound effects giving off light against the trees in panel 4?

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>>85880381
Shit. Nice catch. Reminds me of sound effects casting shadows in that OPM flipbook page.

Here is Chpater 4 Zarei for comparison.

>gay muslims
>with a fat blind black woman at that
all we need now is zarai revealing her hair is partially dyed under that cloth, and she has a sleeve tattoo of ironic pixel art.

>>85880427
>two women interact
>must be lesbians

>>85880435
You're getting it, anon.

>>85880435
you don't make a character enter the page surrounded by pink without de facto telling the readers the other characters aren't romantically interested.

>>85880349
>>85880359
His artwork has lost all of its personality.

>>85880435
Pretty much yes.

>>85880435
Zack obviously set up this page for lesbian shipping bait.

>that full-body panel to show off her outfit
>speaking over one another then getting flustered over it

>>85880406
Why did he turn this baddass into an autist?

>>85880449
idk, Zach's been trying to push the whole 'Agent Day is adorable/love related' I think she's basically always going to appear like this

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>>85880349
>Pink and purples
Oh man, you're right anon. The comic is all pink and purple now.

Except this is literally the page right before this. This new scene is meant to be lighter and softer and the character of Day being super bubbly and pink. I won't disagree that he likes to use that weird purple for when people are in shadows. Or that the designs have become rounder over time.

But let's not just randomly shit on everything as if it was anything more than tiny nit picking. There's no reason to do so when there's other, more legitimate things to critique. "All pink and purple now," Jesus fucking Christ.

>>85880477
soffffttt

>>85880477
>The comic is all pink and purple now.

I didn't say this. I just said those colors are more abundant now than ever before.

>that Steven Universe cheek on Isaac.

Ugh.

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This person seems suspicious. I think Zarei and Day are being spied on.

What are they even holding and sitting on?

>>85878148
This will end into gay pandering, right?
Not just innocent goofy antics?

Also the colo choices is pretty bad holy shit, that first pannel looks like a doll house.

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>>85880629
People seemed to have already been talking about it on Tumblr

>>85878148
>Her dress is an upside-down flower
Cuuuuuute!

>>85878148
Whyyy, why couldn't we stay with Isaac.

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>>85878273
>FFTA style

>>85880435
and this is why you'll never be a famous webcomic artist

>>85881178
Rather than switching scenes where each one naturally reaches a lull, it is of course much better to constantly cut from one scene to the other right as each one is approaching its meat. This the perfect way to maintain tension and totally isn't an annoying as fuck way to handle multiple subplots.

>>85878148
i havent read these comics in forever

>>85881292
The worst part is that I'm getting the feeling this scene will stick for long. This is the GIRLS ONLY part that Zack foretold.

Why is Zarei suddenly autistic when she was completely normal during the train scene?

>>85881423
because the characters are meeting in a less formal setting, people can often be awkward when socially interacting with someone they do not know well.

>>85881292
Have you ever read a book? This device has been around for ages.
The only difference is that we're dealing with a trickle of content for free instead of purchasing a wholly completed tome. I agree that it's annoying, but if it's your primary concern you should step away for a half-year at a time and just binge up to present to keep your frustration levels at a minimum.

>>85878148
This panel composition is fucking HORRENDOUS.

>The majority of the action takes place in an ˩ shape in the bottom right corner.
>The right side of the page looks like you're supposed to read it vertically, like a newspaper strip, but it wants you to cut over to the left halfway down with no visual cue.
>The least important panel is by far the biggest, taking precedence over establishing the setting and character action.

Holy fuck

>>85881621
It's a common device for hacks who suck ass at writing. Not every transition should be interrupting progress in the previous scene.

>>85881651
>that adorable outfit
>least important panel


shiggy diggy

>>85881688
It's way too dominant on the page. Even if he wanted a big shot like that, he could better structure it so as to not take away from the core of the page.

>>85881651
As boring and worthless as this page is, its not hard to read. The focus is on the cute dress. Thats where the priority lies. Theres nothing horrible about the composition.

>>85881621
The common device is to switch at lulls in an otherwise ongoing scene, once something actually happens. Not always when it stops, but when the action and narrative has reached a good point for breaking. Sometimes it cuts away right when something is about to happen, yes, and it can help hold the tension. But it can't be done continuously, and not across three subplots while continuing none of them and introducing another.

Take a look at what's going on in the current chapter of Unsounded. There are three subplots all happening at once: a fight in a clock tower, people trying to race to the clock tower, and people trying to race out of town as it all burns to the ground. Recent cuts have included

>when someone escaped from being trapped underwater and began to fly up the clock tower on a magical device
>the fleeing group heading for the exit
>a fighter is thrown out a window after his ally has been incapacitated and the ideological argument he was having with their opponent was concluded

Importantly, cuts tend to happen in the middle of a page, often with a wider shot showing the last subplot and focusing on the new one, making the flow more natural and events seem more contemporaneous. It helps that they're all in the same place, but then so is everyone at the school. It also helps that updates are more frequent.

Paranatural keeps cutting away before anything can happen. The only real advancement in the last several pages has been Spender and Isabel's conversation and Isaac's quick scene of angst. We're still waiting for Ed to be harassed, we're still waiting for Max to have his meeting at the diner/store/lounge thing, and now we're waiting for Isaac to figure something out about Garcia while we shift over to a subplot completely divorced from the main plot. A plot already delayed by a cancerous subplot known as hit ball.

I like Paranatural. I like the designs, I like the characters, I like the art, I like the dialog. But its pacing is bad.

>>85881835
I should also mention it helps hold the tension if you're switching to another scene with tension. The only thing tense about this new scene is the character's combined social awkwardness. Nor is it great when you cut away from a scene in progress to an entirely new scene that needs to establish itself. It's better to begin such cutaways once all the scenes have established themselves, so that even as you go from one to the other, there's a relatively similar level of shit happening in each and they can all progress together.

Paranatural is juggling too many scenes and also juggling them happening at different paces. I have little doubt we'll be cutting back to each scene eventually exactly where we left off. Except for perhaps Spender and Isabel. The benefit of cuts is to allow for each scene to continue in the background through its lull, out of sight, then return when it can pick up again some time later in the in universe timeline.

>>85881740
>Hard to read
Motherfucker, panel composition isn't about difficulty, it's about style, natural flow and structure.

This page is structured terribly. If the point was the outfit it'd be a splash or near-splash. He crams in eight other panels because the point is the "joke."

Learn about how comics are constructed before weighing in.

>>85881880
Theres no joke. The point is that they're cute lesbians. Are you retarded?

>>85882086
Just because the joke is bad doesn't change that it's a joke.

>>85882123
WHAT JOKE

>>85882143
The one in the comic, anon.

>>85878148
>Another scene change before anything interesting happens.
It's going to be a long build up before anything actually happens again isn't it?

>>85882282
How long ago did this arc start?

>>85881621
>The it works better as a whole meme
This is bullshit, I've re-read it as a full story a few times and the pacing remains horrible, every time I try to introduce it to people they like it very much and become less interested with it when they get towards hitball etc. It's a goto excuse and it's simply not true.

Also the medium is a webcomic, work to your fucking medium zack.

>>85881651
The top two panels really would have worked better as one and it could have let the page breath a bit more.

>>85881867
You can alos add that...
>Paranatural is juggling too many subplots even in just one chapter alone

>>85882311
Hitball chapter started end of 2014, this arc where they're running round the school was the start of this year I think. Since then,

>Ed's being stalked by Johnny's gang CUTAWAY.
>Isabel and Spender spent a couple of months flirting in the corridor, finally got into the teachers room CUTAWAY.
>Isaac is alone in the woods following a teacher CUTAWAY.

My guess is these lesbians will go into a bedroom and then we cutaway to Max.

Was there a huge drop in the quality of this comic or am I just getting tired of it?

>>85882550
We already saw max in the tuck shop.

>>85878148
>blind, fat black woman dating a muslim doctor
Is there no end to the SJW delusion? They just want to live in a dream world where nobody is white, male or able-bodied?

>>85882400
The archival reading excuse is applied to almost every comic, but there's only a few it legitimately applies to. The speed at which pages are churned out has nothing to do with the pacing of individual pages.

>>85882431
I would actually recommend nixing panel two and pulling panel three up into its position, but for the same reason. Doc's already established in panel one, and having the big Agent Day panel on the right creates natural flow as she'd be coming from the same relative direction established in panel 1.

>>85882622
So we did I'd actually forgotten that, back to Suzie at the paper or Dimitri and his agenda then I guess.

>>85882623
I'm sure the blind girl dreams of Spender's magnificent ass.

>>85882584
Nothing has happened for nearly two years. It's not you. More webcomic authors need to pre-plan/do layouts for their stories and impose page limits on themselves.

>Fat blind girl running
That should have been a setup for comedy.
Also that's a horrible cane to be hit int he shins with.

>>85882623
>black woman tries to seduce muslim with haram job on the brink of doing haram things with her

OH BOY TIME TO FINALLY PASS THE BECHDEL TEST

ISN'T IT AWESOME WHEN AUTHORS LITERALLY CREATE CHARACTERS AND A SCENE FOR THIS PURPOSE

>>85883570
Kinda sad that it has nothing to do with the plot, isn't it?

This comic has been to damn slow in plot and senseless recently. i love paranatural but i swear its boring the hell out of me.

>>85880467
What are you guys talking about?

>>85883878
In her first appearance Zarei was basically a straight man to contrast with a cast full of idiots. Now she's just another bumbling autist.

I didn't mind it when she last appeared with her parents because the idea of a character who's always calm and collected going full retard around their parents is funny, but apparently that's just her general personality now. Thanks Zack.

>>85883924
We see her for, like, 4-5 pages on her first appearance. Perhaps you shouldnt draw conclusions so fast. That said she can be both, serious And socially inept.

Also..
>straight man

>>85883570
Zack really isn't our lad any more is he?

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>>85878148
How did she picked an outfit if she's blind?

>>85884872
she is not blind, she just have poor sight. To begin with, she spotted Zarei.

>>85884912
She recognised her smell ofc

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>>85884604
He did acknowledged how passionate /co/mrades are with his work and their projects surrounding it (e.g deciphering secret codes) but that's it, nothing even remotely passionate or indebted. Methinks that Zack's supposed anti-4chan rant was probably more from his casual AKA 'normie' perspective...you know, when he gets news like "THE HACKER KNOWN AS 4CHAN".

>>85884912
hard not to when you stank of curry

>>85885520
>Mina Zarei
>Persian name
>eat curry

I would've been less civil and (assuming you are American) berate you for your lack of Geography education and living the stereotypes...but I won't. So here you go:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_cuisine

>>85885805
>thinking /co/ knows or cares about anything beyond stereotypes
They'll just call you tumblr and be done with the conversation.

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>>85884017
>We saw her for 4/5 pages, perhaps you shouldn't draw conclusions so fast.

>Comic introduces character and completely fails to convey their personality.
>This is the reader's fault.
It's not like he even tried to intentionally misdirect the audience, her initial appearance was just entirely different.

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>>85878273
>Game isn't accurate unless it is 15% action
>85% HITBALL

>>85878148
is she blind or can she just not see well without glasses?

>>85886739
He always manages to make something slightly worse or less enjoyable with every update, makes me sad compared to how great this comic was pretty much up until this chapter.

Maybe it'll get better. Y'know. SOMEHOW.

>>85887090
Depends on whichever is funnier at the moment.

>>85878260
Someone on /tg/ has to have done it by now

>>85880477
Why are the colors so faded and pastelish?

>>85885988
Depends on the thread anon, we have both kinds here.

>>85885805
Probably a brexiter I'd warrant. Chavs have small brains.

This guy isn't talented enough to be juggling so many subplots in such a badly paced chapter

>>85887090
She is legally blind, enough that glasses obviously don't help, but can see -something-.

I mean she has some idea of which direction to squint when she asks her spirit what she's looking at.

>>85878148
From the thumbnail, I thought the character was a fat, trans-black, amputee.

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>>85878148
Christ. Porn when?

>>85880449
Honestly, considering Day's powers, I wouldn't be surprised if she comes off as lovey-dovey towards everyone

>>85879743
I'm sure nobody has ever been that collection of things.

>>85892989
>Porn of adult females.
This is png anon, they don't approve of that.

>>85880629
>>85880762
Oh shit! I never would have noticed it. Could this be a meetup of Spectrals? That would be very interesting so I doubt that's what this is.

>>85882623
Majority of this comic is male and white, anon. Do you want to live in a dreamworld where EVERYONE is white and male?

>>85893855
>Majority
You're talking out of your ass, try counting along and you'll see.

>>85888157
This is just how Zack wants it to look. There's no sense asking why it looks this way. The answer is that's what Zack wants since he's drawing it.

>>85892989
I drew one of Day once. Hopefully someone saved it and will post it for you.

>>85878148
So Day is gay. Gay for Zarei.

>>85883924
I feel like you don't actually know what the word 'autist' means, and you're just flinging it around as a general insult.

Also, it fits well enough. Her appearances with Spender and Grandpa are both her dealing with other professionals in the field. Known entities, so to speak. She's awkward with her parents because they're out of the loop, and she's awkward with Day because, as far as she's concerned, Day's a wildcard.

>>85884872
Presumably, whatever spirit she's channeling has good fashion sense

>>85893896
Let's see.
White males: Max, Max's dad, Spender, Colin, Isaac, Johnny, Ollie, Johnny's friend scarface, Walker, Ed, Ginger afro kid, Starchman, Cody, PJ
That's 14
Not white male: Dimitri, Suzy, Isabel, Lisa, Violet, Day, Zarei, Boss Leader, Ms. Baxter, Bottle War, Garcia
11
And you'll only say it's pandering if it's a woman anyway so disregard all the nonwhite males. How about YOU try counting.

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>>85894150
>Bottle War

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>Sure, sure Johnny...
>Little bottom bo~y...

What did he mean by this?

>>85894150
>Counting main cast rather than whole developed world.
Lazy and not useful. Try again.

>>85894150
You do realize you're arguing with a shitposter, right?

>>85894324
Background characters don't count worth shit and neither do incidental characters that will probably appear once.

>>85894659
>no background character
>no meaningless characters
Then why did you count Ed?

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>>85894734

>>85894150
Also I'm not the guy saying it's pandering, I'm very happy to have a diverse cast of characters I was just offended that you said paranatural is a mostly white male comic when the world is clearly more realistic than that. Don't assume everyone who disagrees with you is your arch nemesis or something.

>>85894980
character =/= skin color, Dimitri could ve been white and no one would care.

>>85894819
I've seen that image posted for years and still don't get the filename reference.

>>85896591
Superman 2

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>>85896591
The Phantom Zone.

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>>85896591

>>85896777
>>85896838
I got that part of it

>>85896874
That's what I was missing, thanks.

How much longer is this chapter going to go on for?

At this rate it's going to be as long as everything that came before it and that's already taken like 4 years

>>85897244
Chapters don't mean anything in this comic. Disregard them.

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This comic used to have "rough" art but good writing and flow, now it feels like the exact opposite.

>>85893765
The black guy is going to have to suddenly leave so it's a 3way womanthon about being stuck in Mayview and Spender being shady and the unknown enemies of Team Death and Team Life.

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>>85894315
Little bottom boy
fucking so slow
with fragile, tiny gasps
just before i blow

>>85897960
Yeah, I've been saying this every thread now, but I really dislike what Zack's been doing lately

>>85878148
I'm disappointed there are no background spirits/ghosts

Also that the majority of panels are gradient backgrounds

>Chapter 4 Page 151
>AND THAT'S THE END OF CHAPTER 4!!! I hope you all enjoyed what will most likely be Paranatural's longest chapter.

We are currently on Chapter 5 Page 142. Does this chapter somehow wrap up in 8 pages or is Zack wrong after not even one fucking chapter?

>>85902254
>inb4 Zack does big rehaul someday
>" 'Paranatural: Brotherhood' COMING SOON"

Did Zack get a little too ambitious with this? I think he has real talent but this comic feels like a total mess now. He's trying to do too many things at once.

>>85896874
What is this from?

>>85897960
You're right. The art has so little life now. Zack needs to go back to scanning and inking. Or get a cintiq.

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Day's just pretending not to see.

>>85903922
No. Zack just is having trouble maintaining the comic's energy and is not taking any real criticism into account.

>>85904666
Well, many (but a few*) tumblr fans seem to lap up and agree unconditionally with everything "as long as johnny is max's bae is ok"...meanwhile the Reddit community seems pretty boring and quiet.

* Thewebcomicsreview guy; this link -[ http://jcrowly.tumblr.com/post/139701673326/um-excuse-me-but-on-the-topic-of-zack-morrison ]

I just want the comic to get better again. But I don't know how to help, and I don't want to give Zack money if he's not going to bother making some changes.

>>85906126
You can't, he's trapped inside a hugbox at this point and any criticism seems like a personal insult when everyone else tells you everything you do is perfect.

>>85893457
It's a pretty remote chance.
Almost as unlikely as having ghost powers.

>>85897308
>Excusing bad pacing.
Fanboys, not even once.

>>85902254
He didn't account for how his composition had changed and what a stupid, page-eating beast he made Hitball.

I warned you fucks back in Chapter 4. This always happens.

>>85878298
Someone infiltrated the school and they must discover why.

>>85894150
The numbers look close enough. It might be because of the region they're in; ATLA has Zero blonde characters for example, so it highly dependa on setting. It doesnt really mean anything.

>>85904666
So yes.