Max Puckett

Maxwell "Max" Puckett is the main protagonist of Paranatural, an up-and-coming spectral, and a (reluctant) member of the Activity Club.

Personality
Max can initially seem to be somewhat cynical and pessimistic, often making snarky and sarcastic comments half the time while dealing with residents of Mayview. Despite this, he cares about his family and friends though, dealing with shoplifters himself rather than ruin his father's optimistic view of Mayview, and giving PJ a (not very convincing) pep-talk to boost his self-confidence while feeling guilt when he's told ghosts couldn't wield tools despite promising him one.

Though Max is usually a straight man to Mayview's eccentricity, he's not above annoying people for the sake of it or making puns, qualities he shows in full force when he's hanging with Isaac O'Connor.

Biography
Max and his family lived in Baxborough (the "big city") before moving to Mayview. His friends in Baxborough included two kids called Sam and Doghouse. Max, along with Sam and Doghouse, became involved with parkour during his time at Baxborough. Mrs. Puckett, Max's mother, died five years before the start of the comic from an unknown cause; because of this, Mr. Puckett decided to move with his children back to his childhood town of Mayview.

Paranatural
Max Puckett moves to Mayview with his family to discover his new home sits above a corner store. Though he notices strange noises in his room late at night, he does not actually see any spirits until his altercation with Johnny Jhonny and his gang the next morning. A lengthy chase occurs after he lands on Johnny's face with his scooter and he is greeted by Susan from the Journalism Club, who shows him around the school while trying to get him to join her. After meeting his new classmates and teachers, he is asked by his history teacher Mr. Spender to meet him after school. Later he notices Isabel chasing a Gobbledygook he can see, and follows her. Though Isabel is excited that he could see the spirit too, she locks in a storage closet for his safety. He's drawn to a bat that turns out to be a tool, which he uses to take out the rampaging spirit before he collapsed. Max is introduced to the world of ghosts, spirits, spectrals and tools by Mr. Spender. He initially declines to join the activity club, wanting to have more time to think about it.

Later at night, he meets the ghosts inhabiting his bedroom, a boy named PJ and his companion poltergeist Lefty, a disembodied hand. After this, his home briefly attacked by Gorf. Before he confronts the spirit, he calls Isabel for back up before joining Lefty in fighting. During their fight, Max has a brief encounter with his spirit in a trance, and is almost defeated by the frog before a timely arrival by Edward Burger, who defeats it.

The next morning, Max and Isaac O'Connor embark towards Isaac's "Doorman," with the intent to blackmail Mr. Spender for answers about the club. They run into Johnny and Ollie, the Sphinx of Games, and Suzy, and eventually make their way to Isaac's contact, the Doorman. After a brief confrontation between Doorman and a spirit speaking through Max, he allows them to teleport inside the clubroom. Inside, Isaac and Max overhear a conversation between Mr. Spender and Texas Walker about a Cousinhood in Mayview before Max gives their presence away. Mr. Spender inquires about Max joining the club again while explaining to him more about his tool and Heightened State of Perception|the trance-state he entered. After being Spender presses further, Max relents and joins the club.

Abilities
Before moving to Mayview, Max apparently had a history of recreational free running alongside his friends back in Baxborough, and is shown to be very agile on feet and on his scooter. These talents alone allow him to avoid the likes of Johnny's gang when given the right environment - though he loses the one-on-one fight - and is shown to be very adaptable with his surroundings, such as when he used water to slide over and attack Gorf.

As a spectral, Max can physically interact with other spectral creatures, as well as manipulate his spectral energy as a weapon, though he has absolutely no skill in it as his attempts to fire off a "spec-shot" made of his energy fall flat.

Max's tool is an aluminum bat that grants him the power of magnetism which affects most metal objects, including non-ferrous metals. With this power, he can either attract smaller metals to the bat - ranging from quarters and soup cans to the broken pieces of his scooter - or use it to rocket himself towards a large metal structure. Max claims that he can "aim" it so that only the objects he wants to attract will do so.

Trivia

 * Max's interaction with Doorman during Chapter 3 implies that he may unknowingly be a medium.
 * While Zack Morrison has not stated that this is intentional, Maxwells are a unit of magnetic flux.
 * He is 4'8".