Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s comic book series Paper Girls was referred to by many as the female equivalent of Stranger Things. Now, with the series adapted into an Prime Video TV show, it would seem that the mega hit Netflix series has competition. PopWire was fortunate enough to view the eight episode first season of Paper Girls before its release and as such, can safely say that Vaughan and Chiang’s Eisner winning story is in safe hands. Don’t worry, this review will be spoiler free!
It’s November First, 1988, or as it’s known to our titular Paper Girls, “Hell Day.” Four paper delivery girls on their route are suddenly jumped by mysterious time travelers and when they follow them, Erin (Riley Lai Nelet), Mac (Sofia Rosinsky), KJ (Fina Strazza) and Tiffany (Camryn Jones) end up in the middle of a war across time, leading to some extremely personal encounters for each and every one of them.
Much like Hulu’s Runaways before it, this adaptation of Vaughan’s work, while not an exact translation of its source material, nails it when it comes to the cast of characters. Vaughan’s characters leap off the pages of his comics and the pitch perfect four newcomers each embody those girls to the point that it’s almost eerie.
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Riley Lai Nelet begins the series as the shy new girl on the paper route, but as the season progresses, she gets tons of opportunities to shine as an actress when the emotional gauntlet is thrown at her. Fina Strazza brings lots of life and layers to KJ and Camryn Jones take center stage towards the latter half of the season, but Sofia Rosinsky is a revelation as Mac. Not only does she look, sound and feel tailor made to play Mac, but she brings home the bacon in the season’s outstanding third episode, which shows that she can do a lot by saying little.
While slightly more faithful to the comic books than Runaways, the show does diverge from the comics’ plot, but interestingly, the first half of the season will feel very familiar for readers. It’s episode five that throws readers off course with a major detour from the comics that fuels the next few episodes, not to mention create lots of drama for the girls. Even so, throughout all of the insanity and time twisting narrative, which is a little more grounded than the comics, the paper girls of the title are front and center.
The show is at its best when the four leads are simply playing off each other and the creators seem to know that because there are many scenes of the girls just sitting around and taking a breather from the action, talking about their lives, their futures and in one case, their periods. While some may take issue with numerous moments that forget the main plot of the show, the acting and writing is so strong that most won’t care.
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And it’s not just fun time travel antics that makes this a worthwhile watch. The strong and profound themes of the comics, such as the future ain’t all it’s cracked up to be and that friendships and found family are an unbreakable bond, are presented here in a more unique way than the comics. Much like with its characters, the show will slow down and take the time to discuss the themes, but it’s never pace breaking or obtrusive. After all, if you could find out what the future holds for you, wouldn’t you take the time to find out? But the wish fulfillment element, like so much else in the show, has more layers to it than that, but the less said about that, the better.
Paper Girls takes an already strong tale and brings it to life in a perfectly organic way. With a cast that feels like they stepped out of Vaughan’s pages and a truly meaningful story to tell, it would seem that Prime Video a potential competitor for The Boys.
Paper Girls is now streaming on Prime Video.