Paper Girls #6 Review

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan / Artist: Cliff Chiang / Image Comics Time-space continuum, we meet again. In talking about Paper Girls #6 I have to include this bit of context as a reviewer – time travel is something of a plot-device nemesis of mine. When used properly, time travel can be an extremely clever device to drive a story and a thoughtful-provoking means to examine a present whose elements and actions we take largely for granted. That’s when time travel is done well. When it’s done poorly, however, time travel comes across as little more than a lazy gimmick that is more frustrating than enjoyable, and for some, like me, it can ruin an entire story with inconsistency or unclear rules.

It’s clear now that time travel is the key focus of Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls, and that both excites and worries me. In issue #6 we find the girls in the present – our present – having been launched forward in time from the 1980s. It’s yet to be seen how the series will handle time travel rules, which will now almost entirely determine the quality of this book as such a heavy plot device, but so far there’s been a few signs that point in a good direction. Perhaps the most interesting element of Paper Girls’ usage of time travel is how we see our present through the girls’ eyes after five issues that set the series’ foundation in the 80s. For readers old enough, seeing the juxtaposition of an 80s setting against the modern day is pretty cool, particularly seeing it through the eyes of ki…