Does Paper Girls keep its streak of fantastic alive, or do the weird plot twists finally catch up to themselves and derail the issue? Find out next on: ARE YA GOOD?
Paper Girls #5 (Image Comics)
Paper Girl recap! Our badass female protagonists of paper have seen a time/space invasion from the future, beat up some punks who stole from them, and then accidentally shoot one of their own. This is like Goonies gone really really wrong, but in so the right way.
This issue picks up with our hero Erin, fresh from the aforementioned gun shot wound, getting fixed up in the future with our strange chrononauts trying to explain a little more just what the hell is going on.
You’re in a book that is pure god-damn fun every month?
They try, but we really don’t get much of an explanation. They do expound on the bit about time travel that I find to be the most fascinating, i.e. that going back in time means calculating where in orbit the Earth is at a specific moment, or else looooooost innnnnn spaaaaaace.
We also get a pretty interesting look at just how the future deals with injury and near death experiences:
These are iNsects. Yes that’s dumb and yet genius.
But that’s not all! Read now and you also see what’s going on with the other Paper Gals back on Earth in the 80s, including a stand-off scene that is probably the best girl power, oh my god that’s so incredibly awesome, scene I’ve read in months.
Stone. Cold.
This scene made the issue awesome…if only for those pages.
Is It Good?
Okay, here’s my criticism—and considering the praise I heap on this book month after month, it’s probably about time to get some deeper digs in. This book is fun and interesting, and the setting rocks, but it’s starting to feel a little formulaic.
Just like The Force Awakens was A New Hope with slight tweaks, this is still the same basic plot hits as the last good issues: crazy thing happens, girls act awesome, more crazy shit goes down, book ends with a crazy cliffhanger twist.
The writing is still funny, like the slang in the future above, but I feel like I’ve seen this before and I’m hoping that each issue can shed a little more light on what’s going on. Instead it gives us a tiny taste of more info, and then adds even more mystery on top.
Still, if issue 5 is where it finally starts to sag under the mythology it has created, that’s not too bad. This issue still gets a recommendation from me, but if this is your first issue to pick up, don’t. You’ll be confused, and the filler this issue provides to set up the twist is not a great launching point.
Still, overall? One of the best books each month.
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