WHY YOU SHOULD READ PAPER GIRLS: A THREAD

paper girls is an american comic book series written by brian k vaughan, illustrated by cliff chiang, colored by matt wilson, and lettered by matt wilson. it was published by image comics 2015-2019

there are thirty individual issues and six collected volumes that you can easily find at any bookstore. (they’re also online to read for free, but you should do what you can to support the creators!!)

the story focuses around four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls who meet up on the early morning of november 1st, 1988

mackenzie coyle is a punk redhead who smokes, has a troubled home life, and deals with (spoiler) serious internalized homophobia. early on in the series, she’s an asshole and it’s easy to hate her, but she warms up as the series goes on

erin tieng is a chinese-american girl with social anxiety. she has a hard time making friends and doesn’t really bond with anyone other than her sister.

tiffany quilkin is a black girl who’s obsessed w/ video games and technology. she has trouble making decisions for herself, despite her strong will

kj (karina) is a jewish girl and a talented field hockey player. she’s the most book smart of the four girls and a definite over-achiever; however, like erin, she doesn’t have any Real connections. (spoiler: she’s a lesbian, too)

so on the morning of nov 1st, 1988, the four girls are delivering the newspaper together when they are suddenly sucked into what feels like a nightmare, and they’re unable to make sense of it at first.

but what’s actually going on is that they’ve become unwilling participants in a time travel war between two different factions: the “old-timers” and the “teenagers”

the old timers believe that the timeline should be preserved, and that to go back in time and change the past for a better outcome would be destructive.

the teenagers believe that they have to go back and change the timeline in order to right the wrongs of the past.
however, due to the amount of time traveling, a majority of the teenagers have 4DC, a disease that effects some of those who time travel.

but the main focus of the story is the characters: mac, erin, tiffany, and kj, and how they develop. how they deal with learning their fates: whether they accept it or reject it.

these are some of the most well-written depictions of 12 year old girls i’ve ever seen. each one of them feels so real and authentic to how girls that age — esp in that era — acted.

(which is crazy because it’s written by a man? i think brian k vaughan is three lesbians stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat but that’s a thread for another day.)

none of the girls are defined by their relationships to men. in fact, there’s really no male protagonists in the story at all — which is So Refreshing

also!!! the art is beautiful!! cliff chiang is a MASTER at comic art. ESPECIALLY THE COVERS OH MY GOD

and let’s talk about the rep!! there’s two
poc main characters, two lesbian main characters (both of which are heavily coded as butch), a jewish main character, + wlw relationships AND mlm relationships!!

and. like. there’s a lot of hot women. so... lesbians come get y’all juice

anyway READ PAPER GIRLS! right now! you will NOT regret it!!
.
(only TWs i can think of are period-typical homophobia, drug use, alcoholism, and (minor) police violence)

ALSO THERE IS A TV SHOW IN PRODUCTION. I AM VERY EXCITED FOR IT. OK THATS ALL BYE TY FOR READING

actually wait. here’s the link to read it online: https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Paper-Girls/Issue-1?id=7424 make sure u have adblock on :^)