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Monday, March 12, 2018

Paper Girls: Book One


Four twelve year old paper delivery girls in the 80s (which is another draw for me) find themselves at the center of strange events on Hell Morning. Before they know it, they've met masked men (boys) from another time, faced death, and traveled into the future!!! 

It's the morning after Halloween when Erin, new to the paper delivery game, runs into Mac, KJ, and Tiffany. Well, not so much runs into considering they come to her rescue when some local teens begin harassing her during her delivery. Because of the holiday antics, the three girls are already delivering together and invite Erin to tag along. Unfortunately teaming up doesn't prevent three weirdos still in costume from attacking KJ and Tiffany and stealing one of their walkie talkies. The girls give chase, tracking their attackers to an abandoned house and that's when things get weird...

First off let me say that I have struggled in the past trying to get into comics. I read my brother's X-Men comics when we were kids - in particular anything Rogue/Gambit and Jubilee. Beyond that, I did very briefly try to buy Buffy comics when they started releasing. And this is likely why I also stopped - a quick perusal of my oh, so small comic collection from those days revealed two copies of the same comic (with different covers) and four comics that I apparently thought followed the duplicate, but were actually part of a completely different series. This was before the bound books, folks!

But there's that whole Read Harder challenge (which has THREE comic categories this year). As such, I've been open to trying some comics. In particular two series I heard about on Book Riot that sounded right up my alley. And while we were in San Diego, I decided it was time to give a few a try. 

Paper Girls had been described as perfect for fans of Stranger Things, so of course it was at the top of my list (right alongside Misfit City, aka The Goonies for girls)! And it's probably no surprise that I fell in love with this series!

Paper Girls is ongoing, currently clocking in at 20 installments. Paper Girls: Book One, with its impossible to miss hot pink cover, collects issues 1-10 (or vol 1 and vol 2). And it has a total cliff hanger ending, which means that I was dying to get my hands on vol 3 and the soon to be released vol 4!

The story is oddball and the Stranger Things comp is completely appropriate. First, it starts in the 80s. Second, there's paranormal weirdness - in this case, time travel! Before the girls know it, there are dinosaur riding people in space suits after them!

I know I'm new to the comics world, and there are plenty of people who've been into it longer and know more than I do. I also know that Vaughan's other series, Saga, is so incredibly, massively popular that you can't miss references to it. There are even Saga Funkos now! But, I don't think anything can possibly top Paper Girls for me. The series is super fantastic fun! The story is engaging and the illustrations are phenomenal. And, obviously, it's perfect for folks just getting into comics!

1 comment:

IYamVixen2 said...

I have this on the WWBL. It's super cool that you dig it. It makes it that much more important to get it. I think I found out about it thru Entertainment Weekly. I feel a need to get to the bookstore....