s.penkevich's Reviews > Paper Girls, Volume 1

While I await SAGA to come back again, I’ve decided it’s finally time to dive into Brian K Vaughn’s earlier series, Paper Girls (this was definitely inspired by Nataliya’s amazing review of the series). And what a fantastic choice this was. Illustrated by Cliff Chiang in lots of pinks, blues and yellows, this is an 80s extravaganza that hits the ground running into the weird and wild. If there’s one thing I love about BKV it’s that he will always catch you by surprise in some in-your-face, gritty action that flows so well with imaginative stories set in really dynamic worlds. This one happens to be our world, but a long-running cosmic war seems to have arrived and shit hits the fan right from the get-go.


You are treated to cool sights such as this!

This volume drew me in immediately and I love the characters. The 1980’s stuff is great and there is a lot of good humor going on, such as a drunk step-mom assuming the zany happenings are the result of the Rapture brought on by Dukakis running for President. Reagan shows up in a surreal dream and all the 1980s after-school teen horror film vibes are alive and well. And it’s BKV so there has already been a decent body count and unexpected violence that makes you gasp. Good stuff. There is a bit of homophobia going on—it is 1988—but there is also pushback against it, so I guess take that into consideration. That said, the dialogue in this is amazing. It's very good banter and the back-and-forth feels natural.

I think I’m going to pick up the full collection instead of doing individual volumes because I don’t want to wait and after doing SAGA chapter by chapter all year I need something to just burn through. So I’ll check back in when that happens. But if you want a series that is going to hit you in the face and hook you right away, Paper Girls is off to a fantastic start.