Title: Paper Girls, Volume 1 and 2
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Publisher: Image Comics
Genre: Graphic Novel
Brian K Vaughan is quickly becoming one of my favorite graphic novel writers. I sped through all seven volumes of Saga recently, but I didn’t even realize he was also the writer behind Paper Girls until I picked up both volumes at the library.
Paper Girls is about a group of 12-year-old paper delivery girls in the autumn of 1988. It’s the morning after Halloween, and some pretty weird stuff is going down in their hometown. The normal post-Halloween weirdos are still out, but there is something more paranormal happening as well. Across the two volumes, this turns into a bizarre tale of time travel that reminds me of Stranger Things. I’ve heard it described as LumberJanes on steroids…I need to go out and read Lumberjane’s to see if it is an apt comparison!
What I like most about Paper Girls, Volume 1 is the setting: 1988 suburbia, and the nostalgia is turned up high. Both the artwork and the writing is top-notch, if you don’t mind finishing up both volumes having pretty much no idea where the story is going. It’s definitely confusing, and I still don’t know what’s actually happening, but I have enjoyed the ride!
In Volume 2, the girls are catapulted into the future…2016. It just so happens to be election season (in 1988, we glimpse Reagan yard signs, in 2016 we get a Hillary). One of my favorite, and bittersweet, moments in Volume 2 is when two of the girls spot a Hillary yard sign. Tiffany remarks in excitement, “Mac, look. We get a girl president!”, to which Mac quips, “No, some lady is running. Doesn’t mean she’s gonna win.” OUCH. That STILL burns.
I like how each girl is distinct and has their own personality. Erin is very much a 12-year old girl, while the other three are more jaded and less innocent. Mac is definitely the most interesting, and most troubled, of the quartet. Two of the girls get to confront their adult selves (well, kinda….but to say anymore would be a major spoiler), and the result is both heartbreaking and hilarious.
Volume 3 releases in August, and I will definitely be picking it up with the hope there will be slightly more clarity about the plot and where the series is heading.
4thhouseontheleft 
This sounds like an amazing graphic novel series. I’m always for a good time travel tale. :p Great review!
Ohh this sounds great, I’ve recently been reading The Wicked and The Divine, and I think its started to wind down so I am looking for a new series.