Prime Video has been killing it on the graphic novel front lately with successful adaptations of The Boys and Invincible. The streaming service’s next foray into the comic world is an adaptation of Paper Girls. If you’re looking for something to fill the Stranger Things void, this is it.
What is Paper Girls about?
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If you’re not familiar with the source material, Paper Girls is a best-selling graphic novel series from Image written by Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Runaways) and illustrated by Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman).
Vaughan and Chiang have described the comic series as War of the Worlds meets Stand by Me with a cast of female leads.
Like everyone’s favourite show Stranger Things, Paper Girls takes place in the ’80s and follows four girls on their delivery route. Here’s the TV series synopsis from Prime Video:
In the early morning hours after Halloween 1988, four paper girls — Erin, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ — are out on their delivery route when they become caught in the crossfire between warring time-travellers, changing the course of their lives forever.
Transported into the future, these girls must figure out a way to get back home to the past, a journey that will bring them face-to-face with the grown-up versions of themselves. While reconciling that their futures are far different than their 12-year-old selves imagined, they are being hunted by a militant faction of time-travellers known as the Old Watch, who have outlawed time travel so that they can stay in power. In order to survive, the girls will need to overcome their differences and learn to trust each other, and themselves.
You can learn a bit more about what to expect from the series in the new teaser trailer.
The full trailer gives us a better look at Paper Girls. We start to see each of the girl’s personalities and what their future selves look like. The show also dips into plenty of sci-fi action when a time travel faction realises they have some intruders from the past in their midst.
If the use of The Bangles’ ‘A Hazy Shade of Winter’ in the trailer is anything to go by it looks like Paper Girls will have a similarly rocking soundtrack to Stranger Things.
Who are the characters?
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Between all the time travel shenanigans, Paper Girls is anchored by four unique female characters. For the Prime Video series, a group of breakout female stars have also been cast.
Erin Tang, played by Riley Lai Nelet, is the new girl in town and is a bit of a stickler for the rules. Her older self is played by Ali Wong (Always Be My Maybe).
Mac Coyle is the tough and snarky leader of the group, who is played by Sofia Rosinsky. KJ Brandman is the sporty and smart one who is played by Fina Strazza. Rounding out the group we have Tiffany Quilkin (Camryn Jones), the hardcore gamer and tech obsessive.
If you want to learn more about the actors and their characters, check out our interview with the Paper Girls cast.
Pay attention to those names because they’ll soon be your new faves.
Vaughan told the Los Angeles Times back in 2015 that he wanted to write female characters who weren’t defined by their relationships with boys.
“The female protagonist [always seems] defined by the boy they’re chasing or the relationship they’ve just gotten out of. I wanted to write a story about four kids who did not give a… about the opposite sex. They’re aware of them, but it doesn’t define their lives.”
Filling out the rest of the cast is Nate Corddry (For All Mankind) as Larry and Adina Porter (The 100) as Prioress.
The series is executive produced by Christopher C. Rogers, Stephany Folsom, Christopher Cantwell, Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Steven Prinz and Plan B. Episodes are directed by Mairzee Almas, Georgi Banks-Davies, Destiny Ekaragha and Karen Gaviola.
When can you watch Paper Girls?
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Fans may have been waiting for this since the graphic novel was first released in 2015, but the time until Paper Girls hits screens is inching closer.
All eight episodes land on Prime Video in Australia on July 29.
If you want to check out the graphic novel before watching the series, it comes in a few different formats. You can pick it up as either six paperback collections, three hardcovers or a compendium that collects the whole series.
You can see what else is streaming in July here.
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