Review:
Erin. Tiffany. Mac. KJ. Four 12-year-old girls delivering newspapers in the early morning hours in the Cleveland suburb of Stony Stream. Four children pulled into the timestream that lands them in the middle of a war for control of time itself. Can they lean on one another and their own still-nascent skills enough to survive all the perils they face, and get back home safely? And can their friendships survive if they do?
Out of this raw material, the creative team of writer Brian K. Vaughan, artist Cliff Chiang and colorist Matt Wilson assemble a grand, epic and award-winning coming-of-age tale. It's an after-school special that collides with Twilight Zone and Doctor Who. It's trippy, beautiful, moving. Amazon Prime brought the story to an 8-episode series in 2022. And it all started here.
This first volume collects the first five chapters of Paper Girls. The very first one could well be a comic version of an old-time after-school special. Its pages are filled with friendships and drama, a dash of weirdness, conflict with older teens, and hints of something more ominous lurking in the shadows.
Mac is the tough who-gives-a-f*ck character, at least at the start the group's leader, if only by virtue of her aggressive personality.
Erin Tiang is the new kid, still in the early days of her paper-delivery job, who is only now meeting the other three. Smart and dedicated, she is no fool.
Tiffany brings the positive-energy vibe to the group. And, crucially in this first volume, she also brings the fancy new walkie-talkies.
KJ is the hardest to read in these early pages. She has courage in spades, and a dark thread of violence woven into her; she my let others lead in key moments, but she stands ready to defend her friends.
When flying monsters and their lance-wielding riders appear out of the purple-pink lightning, our four heroes tumble from the realm of teen drama into science fiction and fantasy.
This volume is very carefully paced; Brian K. Vaughan slowly unfolds layers of plot, as they encounter glimpses of the generational conflict between the mutant, deformed teens and the Old-Timers, along with time travel in a stolen space-time ship ("It's a bad idea to travel through time without also considering location")
Cliff Chiang provides the volume with stellar images. His use of well-spaced full-page splash reveal-moments add to the awe we feel in ourselves and in our four heroes. The many visual nods to the late 1980s era, in details such as hair styles, clothes and cultural references give the tale an extra level of delight. And his art is often tasked with carrying the plot over several wordless pages. What he and colorist Matt Wilson give us feels like watching a TV show.
Wilson's own work on colors is also amazing and deserves highlighting. From the pre-dawn hues of a 5 AM paper delivery, through shafts of light and shadow, early sunrise splashes on buildings, and shocking pinks and purples when temporal shifts happen, his palette range and contribution to the visuals earned him multiple well-deserved awards for this exceptional work.
By the end of volume 1, our girls have been shot, chased by glowing green Editrix creatures, met some deformed future teens, escaped the Old Ones and Grand Father, and finally jumped through time to the year 2016. It's a fantastic start to a superbly crafted series.
Description:
From Brian K. Vaughan, #1 New York Times bestselling writer of SAGA, and Cliff Chiang, legendary artist of WONDER WOMAN, comes the first volume of an all-new ongoing adventure.
In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.
Collects: Issues #1-5
Authors: Brian K Vaughan
Artists: Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
Published By: Image Comics
Published When: April 5, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1632156747
Pages: 144 pages
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