| “ | Heroes don't die. Not before the story starts.
— PJ to Max Puckett (Chapter 4, Page 53)
 ) |
” |
PJ is the ghost of a young boy who lives in the residential area of the Corner Store, which he shares with Lefty as well as Max, Zoey, and Mr. Puckett.
Appearance[]
PJ is a small child ghost with black hair and eyes. His nose is turned slightly upward and his hair has a small tuft on the front that falls to the left and slightly on his forehead. PJ wears a long-sleeved, blue-and-white striped pajama shirt that has cuffs around the wrists and a small collar. Due to being a ghost, PJ has no legs; below the waist cutoff of the pajama shirt is instead a purple, gaseous tail made up of spectral energy.
While PJ does not change clothes due to being a ghost, the art style of the chapter can show him with an iris that's a slightly lighter black than his pupils[2] and his spectral energy hue can range from grape[3] to a light lavender.[4]
Personality[]
PJ is a timid individual lacking the self confidence needed to poltergeist as well as being incredibly awkward. He is also very depressed, often practicing smiling to prepare for a time he can feel actual happiness again. He wants to be a poltergeist and move corporeal objects and looks up to Max as a sort of superhero for being able to fend off people older than him.
Background[]
PJ died at age 11[1] of unknown causes, and seems to have significant self-confidence issues. According to him, PJ is his given name and has nothing to do with the fact that he died in his pajamas.[5]
Paranatural[]
Chapter 1[]
While lying in his bedroom at night while texting his old friend from Baxborough, Sam, Max notices a strange hissing sound. After snapping his phone shut and focusing on the room, Max sees a shade of P.J. crawl onto his bed and towards him before passing out.
Chapter 2[]
PJ is formally introduced to Max via Max assaulting the ghost as he's attempting to view Max in bed. After Max subdues a protective Lefty, PJ explains that in his excitement that people were moving in, he tried to pass through Max only to realize that he could touch him as if he were alive again, and merely wanted to experience that again. The ghost boy gains an admiration for Max after learning of his "powers" and rustles the new spectral's blankets until Hissin' Pete gives off a very shrill alarm. PJ explains that ghosts need to feel like they should be able to touch things in order to poltergeist, revealing his self-esteem issues. A small conversation allows PJ to reveal that ghosts forget things after a while and fade away, and inadvertently creeps Max out when responding that his mom dying a "sudden, grisly sort of death" would keep her ghost around longer.[6] PJ originally tries to hide from the threatening spirit's presence, but rushes in to protect Lefty from being grabbed. After Ed Burger delivers the finishing blow and the spirit escapes into a plunger, turning it into a tool, PJ follows Max outside the store. Isabel Guerra notices the ghost and threatens to "take care of Max's issue", but Max declines.[7] Isabel and Ed then depart on a paper horse and PJ and Max make amends, ending with PJ misinterpreting Max's fist bump gesture and grabbing it with his hand instead.
Chapter 3[]
PJ is present for Max's discovery of his powers, commenting that "historically, that's a villainish sort of ability" and that Max kicking him for this remark is "his first villainous act". As Max gives the ghost his goodbyes while heading off to school, PJ makes a joke related to the villainy and then immediately deprecates himself for it. [8]
Chapter 4[]
PJ informs Max during his family's Monopoly game that a group of teenagers downstairs are shoplifting glitter and energy drinks. Max deals with the issue by pretending to call the police and mocking them, and the shoplifting trio leave. Upstairs in Max's room, PJ praises Max for standing up to the thieves. PJ notes that he would have simply told his father, to which Max replies that he didn't want to shatter his dad's idealistic notions of Mayview just after moving back. The ghost then tries to give Max the heroic name of "Batman", and Max replies with a smile that the name has already been taken.[9]
The next night, Max is preparing for the Ghost Train mission as PJ meets up with him. After a short conversation involving if CD's are metal,[10] PJ asks Max, "You must think I'm pretty boring, huh?" He elaborates by telling the spectral that while he and his friends are like superheroes with special weapons and superpowers like spirits have, PJ died before their story started, so he isn't an important character, much less a hero.[11] Max tells the ghost that his combination of flight, invisibility to 99.9% of the population, and wall-phasing abilities essentially makes him three superheroes at once, and adds that since PJ has spectral energy, he could probably wield a Tool just like the others. Max leaves PJ by promising him that he'd ask his teacher about it and that he's as real as anyone else.[12]
Max returns early in the morning and PJ floats in to check on him, asking him about the mission and if he found a weapon for him to use. PJ then notices Max's figure in his bed and resolves to talk to him tomorrow about it, leaving an awake and guilty Max alone in his room,[13] unsure of how to tell the ghost that if he tried to wield a tool that it would most likely destroy him.[14]
Chapter 5[]
PJ excitedly asks Max about what his possible tool could be when he spots Isabel buying a toothbrush downstairs.[15] Panicked, the ghost hides in the ceiling, where he overhears Isabel telling Max, "We had each others' backs. That's what friends do." PJ contemplates this as the two spectrals leave for school. Along the way, Max notes that he feels like he is being followed.
Much later, when Max is retrieving his bat from the locker hallway, the Ravenous Gobbledygook attempts to attack him. Max is shoved out of the way just in time by PJ, who reveals that he was the one who had been following Max all day as well as warning him to duck in Hitball and providing a Doctopus for his broken arm. PJ initially tries to drag Max away from the threat, but after seeing that Max can't shoot out his spectral energy at
the spirit, PJ decides to charge the Gobbledygook directly and hold it down so that Max can beat it with his bat. Upon seeing the weapon that defeated it the first time, the bat spirit flies high up into the air and begins to devour PJ. Max is able to save his friend by taking the failed spec-shot from earlier and using it as a baseball to hit the spirit; upon being hit, the Gobbeldygook screeches and leaves. While PJ doesn't know who Hijack is currently possessing, he does note that the spirit had been in the long dog that Max and Isabel had encountered at the Corner Store. Max then receives a text from Isaac O'Connor, and he takes off with the ghost to inform the others of Isaac's revelation.
PJ is present for the Activity Club (and Dimitri Danger)'s fight against a Hijacked Mr. Spender, landing a solid punch on the possessed teacher's face. When he attempts this again later, however, Mr. Spender's expression frightens him and he hides behind Max. Once the party defeats the spirit and Isabel gives it permission to leave, Mr. Spender regains consciousness, mistakes PJ for the additional help Isabel specified, and asks for the young ghost's name. PJ panics and calls himself "Julip Pobin", and shortly thereafter the ghost departs with the Activity Club after seeing that Mr. Spender hadn't noticed the loss of Eightfold the previous night.
Isabel and Max discuss the nature of ghosts in Mr. Spender's history class as PJ merrily pokes and prods the teacher. Isabel notes that a ghost could be really stubborn or have exceptional circumstances as reasons to stick around longer and reassures Max that if he wants to find his mother that she would help him, adding "Even with the worst odds, we can make the most out of doing our best!" Max agrees and turns his gaze back to the ghost, who is still happily prodding Mr. Spender.
As the school day ends, Max sheepishly rewards PJ with the plunger Gorf stowed himself in that night at the Corner Store, apologizing that it wasn't "more special, with powers" and that the ghost deserved better. PJ is quick to reassure him that the plunger and the entire day was special to him, and that simply being around Max made him feel special, "Like [he] was really part of the team". Max responds with, "Who says you can't be?", leaving PJ in awe until Lefty interrupts them. Lefty dusts off the ghosts and drags him back to the Corner Store, with PJ saying his goodbyes and gratitudes to Max and the "scary girl" as he's whisked back home.
Chapter 7[]
PJ tries to strike up a conversation with a Sockpuppy in hiding, asking if she's a puppet and commenting on her hiding system. Sockpuppy, startled by the ghost, flies out of the Corner Store calling for her little sister, with PJ asking her not to go since his other friends are terrible company.
Chapter 8[]
- This section is incomplete. You can help out by expanding it.
Chapter 9[]
- This section is incomplete. You can help out by expanding it.
Relationships[]
Friends[]
- Max Puckett - PJ and Max are friends, though PJ's self-confidence issues often get in the way of their friendship's development. Max sometimes gives PJ words of encouragement, but is just as likely to accidentally disregard or insult the poor ghost.
- Lefty - PJ has been friends with Lefty since before the comic started with the latter seemingly acting as PJ's guardian and protector from more malevolent spirits.
- Hissin' Pete - Pete seems to be in some degree friends with PJ and Lefty, although he hasn't interacted much with them save for clinging to PJ in fear.
- Isabel Guerra - PJ views Isabel as being scary, as Isabel had threatened to use her paper horse to dispose of PJ in Chapter 2. He casually bids her farewell with a, "bye, scary girl" [16] as Lefty drags him away back to Max's house. PJ is currently unaware of Isabel's name.
Quotes[]
- PJ: "A great hero needs a great hero name! Um, like..."
- PJ: "BATMAN...!!"
- — PJ to Max (Chapter 4, Page 22
)
- PJ: "You must think I'm pretty boring, huh? [...] You and those other kids from the other night, you're like superheroes, with special weapons and—and powers like spirits have! You're going on a superhero mission right now, aren't you!?"
- Max: "...Uh, yeah, I guess."
- PJ: "That's so cool! ...I've read a lot of comic books, y'know. I can tell. I'm not like you. I'm not important at all."
- Max: "...How do you figure?"
- PJ: "Heroes don't die. Not before the story starts."
- — PJ and Max (Chapter 4, Page 53)
- Max: "You've been following me all day?"
- PJ: "That's right! Watching your back!"
- PJ: "From the shadows."
- PJ: "Cause that's what friends do!"
- — Max and PJ (Chapter 5, Page 216)
Trivia[]
- P.J. knows about superheroes, which were introduced around the late 1930s, which suggests that he died some time after that.
- The alt text in Chapter 2, Page 19 states that PJ's last words were "Heh, I accidentally buttered both sides of my toast." It is unclear if this statement was directly related to how he died.
- In Chapter 5, Page 271, PJ introduces himself to Mr Spender as "Julip Pobin". As he is panicking in this scene, it is unclear whether this is true, but it is possible he simply misspoke, and his name is actually Pobin Julip or Pulip Jobin, either of which could fit his initials.
Gallery[]
Official Artwork[]
Comic[]
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)References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zack's Comments#Chapter 2.2C Page 26
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 53
- ↑ Chapter 3, Page 1
- ↑ Chapter 5, Page 201
- ↑ Chapter 2, Page 2
- ↑ Chapter 2, Page 9
- ↑ Chapter 2, Page 29
- ↑ Chapter 3, Page 1
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 22
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 52
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 53
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 54
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 151
- ↑ Chapter 4, Page 74
- ↑ Chapter 5, Page 16
- ↑ Chapter 5, Page 292