Paper Girls #4 Review

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan / Artist: Cliff Chiang / Image Comics I once went to an intensive comic book writing course taught by a long-time writer and former editor at Marvel. At one point in the afternoon I remember him talking about the importance of an editor to independent comics. They can be expensive in the indie scene, and most of us come out of pocket trying to make our work as best it can be, but it’s essential to have an experienced, outside perspective for a well-polished product. “…Unless you’re Brian Vaughan,” he said, “he’s practically perfect, so when you feel you’re as good as him then you can save your money.” And that about sums it up. Paper Girls continues at its breakneck pace with no time wasted between each issue. Since issue #1, only a few hours have passed in real time, and that’s included a bully fight, an alien discovery, a gunshot wound, an alien invasion, a few more weapons fired, and a bigger effing alien discovery. All the while we’ve gotten to know our four-girl squad of Erin, Tiffany, Mac, and KJ, with their personalities and home lives subtly integrated throughout each conflict.

Much of this one is centered on laying groundwork by introducing us to two new characters – one of which will probably prove to be important, the other whom we’ll probably learn to love just enough to see them die. We met the two alien-looking teens at the climax of issue #3 when they saved our girls’ lives, and we see a lot more of them here on the “come with me if …