The impossibility of an even remotely adequate adaptation of a comic in film or series form is particularly evident in the series “Paper Girls”. Writer Brian K Vaughn rouses the comic with exuberant ingenuity, which is reflected in his creations in wildly twisting storylines and unpredictable fantasy. All of this skillfully balanced on the foundation of questions about the innocence of youth and the disillusionment of growing up.
What begins as a story about a quartet of young newspaper delivery women with a slight “Stranger Things” vibe in a suburb at the end of Cleveland at the end of the eighties, develops in just a few pages into a transtemporal conflict that catapults the four protagonists across human history. Flying pyramids with Lovecraftian influences, prehistoric giant sloths, hungry space amoebas and skyscraper-sized Gundam robots are just a few of the guest stars appearing in the 30 issues of the comic series.
Great pathos, but also great questions
Meanwhile, past, present and future, time-travelling teenagers and a die-hard old guard wage an eternal war over the fate of humanity. Yes, that’s right: Vaughn’s stories tend to have big stakes, breakneck pacing, and enough ideas to spin four series. However, Vaughn not only tends towards narrative superlatives, his stories always contain a core of clever questions. As the four girls jump through time, they keep meeting adult versions of themselves. Great expectations of their own future crash into the disillusioningly banal reality of adulthood and the betrayal of carefully cultivated ideals of youth that comes with it.
The comparison to the Duffer brothers’ series is repeatedly raised around the series’ release – even though the first issue of “Paper Girls” came out almost a year before the first season of “Stranger Things”. But with the almost exclusively female characters, a much harder tone and the far less nostalgic glorified view of the lost innocence of childhood, the comic template proves itself as an ambiguous jewel. The big catch of the series version that has now started on Prime Video is obvious: A creation that fully exploits the strengths of the comic medium as a balanced mixture of precise storytelling, remarkably cool artwork and subtle science fiction story cannot simply be converted into a new one press narrative form.
Verve and liveliness of the original are lost in the series adaptation, as are some of the crazier set pieces that, simply because of their sheer CGI effort, would not have been possible without a substantial blockbuster budget. With a plot that is strongly adapted to these circumstances, not too much remains of the original. Which is more than unfortunate given the potential sci-fi tour de force that Paper Girls could have been. The wildness and aesthetic determination of the comic template would be good for the medium of the series, which in the streaming boom has recently often seemed uninspired in terms of narrative and staging.
So the series seems more like an improvisation on the same theme by an artist who is leaving behind the art form he has mastered. As the author of the comic original, Brian K. Vaughn intones a modern classic of the medium with wild joy of playing with tempo changes and unheard riffs. As the producer of the TV series, he covers his own piece as a slowed-down and withdrawn serial waltz that meanders rather than sweeps you away.
SIMILAR ARTICLES
Ninth Art: Why You Should Visit a Comic Book Store on May 13th
On this day, the “Free Comic Day” takes place in almost all German comic shops. Then there are dozens of comic books for free – with some real treasures.
<!–
–>
<!–
–>