Right from start, Paper girl comes with a pedigree. Written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Saga) and illustrated by Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman, Human Goals) a sci-fi adventure series about a group of time-traveling teenagers that took the comic book world by storm when it debuted in 2015. It won. Prestigious Eisner Award for the best new Series, received praise and critiqueand has grown a significant fan base over the course of 4 years, 30 issues.
I believe it was the beloved troubadour William Shakespeare who said that “all good stories must be made on television”. The bigwigs at Amazon Studios certainly took note, delivering the sci-fi mystery comic series Paper girl from antiques to the small screen this summer.
Paper girl debut with the first season is eight episodes long Last Friday on Prime Video. For those who are not sure if they want to run this marathon Strange things-good series – you should know, by the way – here’s everything you need to know when taking part in this eagerly anticipated adaptation.
Paper girl is a teen time travel story with a twist
In the early morning hours of November 1, 1988, four 12-year-old girls – Erin, Mac, KJ, and Tiffany – cycled through their small fictional suburb of Stony Stream, Ohio, delivering newspapers. With so many creeps still roaming the quiet streets, the girls decided to complete their route as a group. That makes them discover something beyond their wildest dreams. Their sleepy town suddenly becomes a space battleground, placing these four girls at the center of two time-traveling factions. This unwitting group of seniors may hold the key to solving this endless war.
The tempo of Paper girl is relentlessly thrilling, refusing to hold the reader’s breath as it delves into a vast, complex, and unique story. The series is equally invested in the complexities and ethics of time travel as well as exploring friendship, a future with your own future, and what it will be like to meet your future self again, discover your childhood aspirations are unfulfilled ambitions.
The characters are as good as in the story
It’s easy for a high-concept manga like Paper girl to lose its characters during shuffling. But what makes the series so special is that our four main characters – Erin, Mac, KJ and Tiffany – never get overshadowed. Their needs, goals, and desires are always at the heart of the story, which keeps things on track and makes things easy to follow even when the story is at its absolute best.
Vaughan’s story never loses sight of its only four protagonists, and it’s actually quite miraculous that a male writer has written such an intimate and engaging story about female characters. In a year 2016 interview with Slate, Vaughan talked about casting teenage girls as heroes in his latest series.
“I’ve always liked writing female characters, but sometimes it feels like even when they’re the main characters, they’re still defined by their relationship with the male characters,” he said. “I wanted to write about girls who can only become their own characters, who are not defined by their interactions with men.”
All four girls are defined in their own terms, which is incredibly refreshing and seeing them in control of their own lives is a key factor in The Paper Girls’ successful.
Riley Lai Nelet as Erin Tieng, Camryn Jones as Tiffany Quilkin, Fina Strazza as KJ Brandman, Ali Wong as the adult Erin and Nate Corddry as Larry.
Courtesy of Prime Video
How does the show compare to the comics?
Let’s start with what both the Prime Video show and the comic book series do: focus on the girls themselves. But the show goes even further with this; Definitely less sci-fi elements, with more focus on the girls’ stories and the fact that they face their own complicated futures, rather than exploring the intricacies of being time travel. Their hopes, dreams, and fears are at the forefront of the show, though a particular relationship isn’t developed nearly as beautifully as it does in the comics.
Regarding the timeline, there are significant differences. The first volume is a fairly faithful retelling of the comic’s first volume, but things are dramatically different from there. The show includes elements from most of the first half of the manga. But it takes away from the comic’s breath-taking pace, moving at a slower, more contemplative pace. While we learn a lot about the time-traveling factions, and especially the main villains, near the beginning of the comics, these aspects remain on the sidelines until the final episode of the first season. first. It’s clear that Amazon is gearing up for a second season to dive deeper into the vast world of Paper girl.
More disappointing is how the aesthetic has changed. Leaving some original style behind feels inevitable when translating a work from page to screen. But Paper girl Comics is one of the most colorful and artistic thriller series in recent memory and that simply doesn’t make it to TV screens. There are some hints of comic beauty—namely, the eerie pink sky—but a lot of the gorgeous visuals, including the creatively designed monsters and creatures, can’t be found. where.
Camryn Jones as Tiffany Quilkin, Fina Strazza as KJ Brandman and Riley Lai Nelet as Erin Tieng.
Courtesy of Prime Video
Comics are better — but both are worth watching
In ways like these, live-action Paper girl can feel like a big departure from its roots. But it still has a lot to offer, because while the show is different from a lot of what makes the comics so great, it understands that it’s the girls who are the ultimate glory of the story.
If you’re hooked on the TV show, I recommend diving into its inspiration—it’s one of the most entertaining, creative, and best character comics ever. And even if you watch the show and it doesn’t surprise you, Paper girl The manga is all but guaranteed to blow your mind.
