Paper Girls Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang | Rating: ★★★☆☆

Hilarious and darkly told, Paper Girls, Vol. 2 may not be my favourite graphic novel read from the last few years it is a vast improvement on its predecessor, Paper Girls, Vol. 1, in terms of coherent story telling. It's still a bizarre tone and a bit sloppy from time to time, but you have to hand it to the team behind it: it's super, insanely, compelling and is only getting better with time. As also, the graphics are the most stunning part of the story and really ties up the plots, and the characters, vividly. Moreso, it captures a sort of nostalgic feel that is necessary to how the story is told and keeps your attention for the long haul.

Picking up immediately where volume one ended, the girls are--somehow--sent to the future and are forced to team up with the older version of one of them. During this time, shit really hits the fan and it appears that whatever happened in their past is happening in the future. And, though we don't get a lot of answers about the how's and the why's, there are quite a few revelations to be found.

The entirety of volume two is told quickly and wonderfully so. It has its patchy moments that feel too quick/rushed and underdeveloped, but for the most part it's an engaging read. You can't help but wonder how they were sent forward in time (seeing their reactions to modern technology is super endearing) and where they are going next. I felt my heartbreak more than one time and had a lot of suspicions that were never confirmed nor denied--but that's okay.

I'm looking forward to future installments now that the girls have all been reunited and another mystery is unfolding. You can't help but to be intrigued by the lingering questions: are they going to survive this? Is their future set in stone? What comes next? Overall, it was much more captivating and fun than volume one and I enjoyed it a lot!