Paper Girls Vol 5 by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Paper Girls Vol 5 written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang is the fifth volume in the ongoing series. As I discovered after finishing it (and suspected while I was reading) this is actually the penultimate volume of the series. And it shows. In a good way.

Can anyone escape fate? That’s what Mac and her fellow newspaper delivery girls must discover as they escape the year 2000 and travel to the distant future. Plus, the truth behind the mysterious “old-timers” is finally revealed.

After finding the previous Paper Girls volume a little bland, I was pleasantly surprised by how much this one upped the ante. It starts off much like the previous volumes have, with the girls in a new time and finding Cleveland less familiar than they’d like, but quickly raises the stakes. As I was reading, especially towards the end of the volume, I got the sense that the story would be wrapped up soon, which just made it more exciting. The overarching plot, which has always been in the background and has mainly been too confusing for the girls to piece together, is brought to the fore in this volume. Suddenly, a lot of things (almost) make sense and we are made aware of just how badly everything can go wrong. It was an exciting read.

I enjoyed this volume a lot and I definitely recommend it to any fans of the Paper Girls series. If you found the previous volume to be a bit bland, then I urge you to persist. This volume is more interesting and the end of the series is nigh. I am very much looking forward to the concluding volume and am a bit disappointed that I have to wait months for it to be completed.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: December 2018, Image Comics
Series: Paper Girls volume 5 of 6 planned. Contains issues #21–25
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased at All Star Comics in Melbourne