With Should I Be Reading… ?, ComicsAlliance hopes to offer you a guide to some of the best original ongoing comics being published today.

Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang's Paper Girls is a story about friendship, sisterhood, and the weirdest time traveling and logic bending experiences since Lost. Except, unlike Lost, Paper Girls actually holds up, and it manages to pass the Bechdel test!

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?

Paper Girls is about a Brechtian Opera troupe traversing the Russian countrysid--- No, it’s about paper girls. You remember back when newspapers were a thing people actually read, and people delivered them door-to-door? The series follows a small group of paper delivery girls who, one morning, run into creatures out of a sci-fi nightmare --- things speaking in tongues that no one can understand; monsters the size of buildings; and time loops that could confuse even Primer fans.

Of course, none of our main characters are Primer fans because the series begins in the '80s --- but (tiny spoiler alert) doesn’t stay there.

 

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WHO'S IT BY?

Series writer Brian K. Vaughan has worked on dozens of acclaimed titles, and the aforementioned Lost, though he's perhaps best known for Y: The Last Man, a series detailing the story of the last man on Earth, and the groundbreaking sci-fi epic Saga, with Fiona Staples on art.

Cliff Chiang provides the art for Paper Girls, and just wow. If you’re a fan of the man from his DC work with Brian Azzarello on Wonder Woman, or his work on the Vertigo series Human Target, you are going to seriously dig this book.

 

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The colorist for the book is the ever wonderful Matt Wilson, whose other credits include The Wicked + The Divine and Phonogram. The letterer and designer is Jared K. Fletcher who does the same job for Southern Bastards.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?

Explosively awesome science fiction is somewhat rare, especially in comics, where science fiction likes to replicate and homage older, worn ideas. Sometimes new ideas are in short supply, which makes Paper Girls --- a series that even makes the Apple logo seem ominous --- such a rare treat.

In addition, while it shouldn’t be noteworthy, a series about young girls supporting each other and fighting together is still a special delight. If you’re a child of the '80s, or a millennial, you’ll dig this comic; it’s like Back to the Future, with teeth!

 

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WHO SHOULD READ IT?

People who wish Lost had been better. Fans of Spielbergian sci-fi. Or of even darker, youthful sci-fi. Those who were super into Stranger Things. If you liked other Brian K. Vaughn fiction, make sure to check this out.

 

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WHERE CAN I BUY IT?

Volume One is available on Amazon and in better book stores. You can find the single issues wherever comic books are sold. If you're not sure how to find a comic shop near you, try this site!

 

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