Comic Info
Comic Name: Paper Girls
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Cliff Chiang
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2016

Paper Girls #6
Reprints Paper Girls #6-10 (June 2016-October 2016). Tiffany, Mac, and Erin find themselves flung into the year 2016 and teamed with Erin’s older self in their hopes to locate KJ and get back home. When a second Erin appears from the future, a race against time starts as the reality of 2016 begins to suffer time incursions that could tear the world apart…but who can Erin, Tiffany, and Mac trust and what does this vision of the future hold for them?
Written by Brian K. Vaughan, Paper Girls—Volume 2 is an Image Comics sci-fi adventure series. Following Paper Girls—Volume 1, the series features art by Cliff Chiang, and issues in this collection were also collected as part of Paper Girls—Book 1 and Paper Girls—The Complete Story.
I love almost all of Brian K. Vaughan’s work and sometimes I get it when it starts (like Saga and We Stand on Guard) but sometimes I miss it…like Paper Girls. Going into Paper Girls after it has finished is a nice little respite because I know how much I have left and how much “time” that will be as a guesstimate due to how the first two volumes read. Paper Girls—Volume 1 is a nice set-up and this volume starts to get into different adventures.
The volume is built around the idea of how a teen or pre-teen sees themselves as adults. The Erin character expected more from herself and the adult Erin sees a younger and less jaded version of herself. You also get the idea of Mac who has the idea that “you never grow old” type childlike view of the world shattered by learning her fate is question in the year 2016. It feels like both an excursion in the story and a core feature of the story.

Paper Girls #8
The volume also starts to get more into what is happening with the future aliens. A cloned version of Erin shows up and it may or may not be someone trying to betray them. In addition to that you get the Old-Timers who appear to be “time fixers”, but Grand Father and his men are still a bit unclear…it could all be a mistake or they could be the biggest danger to the girls.
The series is of course bolstered by Cliff Chiang’s fantastic art. I really liked Chiang’s Wonder Woman and this series brings a whole different look to Chiang’s style since it isn’t about superheroes and capes (though granted most of the Wonder Woman series was about the gods). Chiang’s work is blended with great coloring by Matt Wilson that enhances the art instead of being a distraction.
Paper Girls is off to a great start, and Paper Girls—Volume 2 has you excited for where it is going to go. Paper Girls won a number of awards when it was released and though I am only two volumes in, it seems to have earned them. Tiffany, Mac, Erin, and KJ are on a big adventure, and it feels like the madness which has started is going to continue. Paper Girls—Volume 2 is followed by Paper Girls—Volume 3.
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