Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang & Matthew Wilson | Rating: ★★★☆☆

There's a quality to Paper Girls that ought be admired: it's quirky and unique. It's altogether a throwback of science fiction and fun. We get a lot of solid girls as our leading ladies (and I appreciate this most of all) that don't seem like their age. But it's downfall is that it's also fast. A lot of graphic novels lack a proper speed (either they are too fast or too slow) and sadly this one is in the "went by too quickly" category of things.

You can hardly catch your breath by the time you catch up with the plots. It feels oddly choppy; like there were a lot of parts that were underdeveloped and which went by in the blink of an eye, leaving an unsavory taste of confusion on readers minds. There was a lot of promise and potential to the premise that ultimately kept tripping over itself. I felt like a lot of things were disconnected from me and my preference and this was frustrating.

I had several moments where I was like, okay, this is it. I can't continue reading it and feeling like I've soaked up nothing in suspense. Because despite its general quirkiness and solid plot line, there was just something dull in its development and pace. Just when I was about to give up and toss it to the side, in an effort to shake off the feeling that it was going nowhere, it got good.


And then it ended.

Was it enough to pick up Vol. 2? I'm not certain yet. Part of me wants to--to see what happens next, to see more of its glorious artwork and to find out if it will live to its potential. I'm considered that it won't, and that's what is making me hesitant. I wanted to like Paper Girls more than I actually did and can't help but feel like it was a load of wasted potential. My favourite part of it was its delightful (and equally colourful and creepy) illustrations.

Paper Girls is a solid enough release but it isn't all that memorable beyond what is sure to be an iconic selection of illustrations. Everyone clap for pretty artwork by longtime talent!

If anything, I'll gladly support the series for the artwork and hope for the best.