Favorite Book of the Week: Paper Girls from Image

Paper Girls #1

The comic book genre has undergone some radical shifts over the years (okay, decades really). These days there is much more in stock at your local comic book dealer than the traditional slew of super heroes trying to stop crime.  There are literally a ton of options these days, and not just from the Big Two of Marvel and DC.

This week, I wanted to take a minute to highlight one of the more interesting series from Image not titled “The Walking Dead.” I want to talk a little about “Paper Girls.” With art from Matt Wilson and Cliff Chang and written by Brian K. Vaughan, this science fiction storyline has engaged a lot of readers, and with good reason.

Ironically, upon reading the first issue of the series I was surprised to learn that the girls in the story were actual paper girls, or that is to say girls that delivered newspapers. That’s right boys and girls, before this world wide web type of thing, kids actually made a few dollars delivering newspapers to just about every home in a neighborhood. Imagine that happening today! I suppose it’s just easier and cheaper to point and click, but I digress.

The hook of Paper Girls is that the characters are actually interesting and the story is pretty creative. In a lot of ways, without putting out any type of spoilers for the uninitiated, the book smashes separate genres together and blends out a nice smoothie of entertainment. Image has done a lot of different comics over the years, but this one stands out for the cool simple covers and the intricate science fiction type of story being told.

While number one might be a little hard to find, this is one series that has a ton of potential. Better yet, it’s just six issues in, which means there is ample chance to get in on the ground floor before a whole lot of story takes place. Better yet, the back issues and trades are pretty easy to get ahold of, which means if you like it, you won’t go broke or have to save up your paper money for a few months to afford a quality copy.

So take a quick bike ride with the Paper Girls. You might enjoy the trip, and you might even end up having a bit more fun than you thought would, which is exactly the point.