A year before Stranger Things launched on Netflix, Image Comics launched Paper Girls, from writer Brian K. Vaughan, artist Cliff Chiang, color artist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Jared K. Fletcher. The Eisner-winning sci-fi series follows a quartet of paper delivery girls in 1988 Cleveland who, after discovering a strange artifact from the future, embark on an adventure across time and space. A television adaptation is set to be released on Amazon Prime next month, and today Prime Video unveiled the first Paper Girls teaser trailer.
The comparisons to Stranger Things are completely understandable. Both obviously tap into ’80s nostalgia, and as artist Cliff Chiang discussed in an interview with The Beat in 2015, the films of Steven Spielberg were a keystone for the comic in much the same way as they were for Stranger Things. However, despite some overt similarities such as having four kid protagonists, anyone who’s read the comic can tell you that Paper Girls is a decidedly different story.
Full description for the television series below:
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-travelers, 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-travelers 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. Based on the best-selling graphic novels written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Paper Girls is a high-stakes personal journey depicted through the eyes of four girls, played by breakout leads Camryn Jones (“Tiffany Quilkin”), Riley Lai Nelet (“Erin Tieng”), Sofia Rosinsky (“Mac Coyle”), and Fina Strazza (“KJ Brandman”). Ali Wong also stars as the grown-up version of Erin, with Nate Corddry as “Larry,” Adina Porter as “Prioress.” Paper Girls is from Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, in association with Plan B. The series is executive produced by Christopher C. Rogers, Stephany Folsom, Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Plan B.
Paper Girls premieres on Friday, July 29 on Prime Video.
