Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls Still Has The Most Satisfying Time Travel Story

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Brian K. Vaughan’s Paper Girls is considered the best time travel story in comics. While earlier works like 1957’s The Eternaut and 1981’s X-Men: Days of Future Past helped establish the conventions of the genre, Paper Girls, which began in 2015, surprisingly reinvented it. The series initially appeared to be a typical 1980s coming-of-age tale, but it quickly became something much deeper and more complex.

Readers were captivated by Vaughan’s powerful story, which was known for its fast-paced plot and surprising turns, right up to the final issue in 2019. Even if you didn’t read it when it first came out, or haven’t revisited it since, it’s worth checking out again. The story’s clever use of time travel brilliantly captures the complexities of modern life and emotions, and it deserves more appreciation for how rewarding it is.

Time Travel Is Integral To the Character Development in Paper Girls

Many time travel stories use the concept simply for exciting scenes, but Paper Girls goes deeper. It uses familiar time travel ideas to help its four main characters – a group of paper girls – grow and change. In the first big story arc, Erin Tieng meets her future self. Though she’s initially let down by who she becomes, the encounter helps both versions of Erin realize the importance of self-acceptance and pushing through challenges, even when they seem boring or meaningless. This realization motivates Erin to get back to her own time and rescue her friends.

Erin isn’t the only character who changes significantly through time travel. Other characters also experience major growth. For instance, Tiffany meets her future self and is let down to discover she hasn’t become a brilliant scientist, but instead is a somewhat lost goth who enjoys partying. Though she spent her life focused on video games, she finds those skills unexpectedly useful when she and her future self get caught up in a time war involving giant robots. Similarly, KJ briefly sees her future self at a party, confirming her feelings about being a lesbian. This realization is crucial for her relationship with Mac Coyle, giving them both the strength to persevere through difficult times.

KJ’s strong will is particularly crucial for Mac, who faces the most heartbreaking fate. When Mac travels forward in time, she discovers she will die from leukemia just four years in the future. Though she wants to quit, KJ encourages her to keep searching for a cure, forging a deep connection between them. In Paper Girls, Vaughan skillfully explores themes of death, aging, and hope through time travel, ultimately making for a more powerful story.

Paper Girls Features One Of the Most Interesting Time Wars In Comics

The main conflict in Paper Girls revolves around a long-standing time war between two groups of time travelers with opposing goals. One side, the Old-Timers, wants to preserve the timeline exactly as it happened, preventing any changes to the past or future. While this seems reasonable, their opponents reveal a more complex picture, suggesting that even well-intentioned actions can have unexpected consequences.

The Teenagers, a group descended from people living in the 71st century, are rivals to the Old-Timers. They believe past events need to be changed to improve their future. Though not actually teenagers, the Old-Timers often dismiss them as childish for wanting to alter history. However, the Teenagers have a strong motivation: the Old-Timers’ choices created a difficult life for most people, benefiting only the wealthy few. The Old-Timers are determined to maintain their power for as long as possible, while the Teenagers are fighting to create a fairer future for everyone.

At its heart, the time war in Paper Girls is a story about class conflict, and sadly, this theme feels increasingly relevant today. The story follows Erin, Tiffany, KJ, and Mac, four teenage girls from the 1980s who are simply trying to finish their paper route after Halloween when they unexpectedly find themselves caught up in a crucial and unavoidable conflict. Brian K. Vaughan’s masterful weaving of time travel into this story highlights his dedication to Paper Girls and is a key reason why it’s become so highly regarded in the genre.

Paper Girls’ Time Travel Delivers One Of Fiction’s Most Underrated And Misunderstood Villains

The show Paper Girls handles time travel exceptionally well, and a prime example is its main villain, Jahpo, known as the Old-Timers’ Grandfather. Jahpo leads the Old-Timers and is a fascinating character shaped by his experiences with time travel. He appears calm, but hides a deep-seated anger stemming from New Year’s Eve 1999, when his partner, Prioress, died in a crash while they were piloting a large mech suit. This event drives his decision to break the Old-Timers’ rules and actively fight against the Teenagers’ rebellion, ironically becoming the very reason he’s fighting them in the first place.

The story initially presents the Grandfather as a clever, older leader, but readers gradually learn his life story, starting from his birth—though this isn’t immediately obvious. Meanwhile, the girls find themselves transported back to 11,706 BCE, a prehistoric version of their town, where they meet Wari, a young mother, and her baby, Jahpo. They have no idea that this infant will one day become the man who pursues them through time, fighting a decades-long war. They rescue him from his three caveman fathers, who are hunting Wari.

After a dramatic series of experiences, Jahpo comes to understand that he didn’t fully grasp his own past and that, like everyone else, he’s just a small part of history. In the second-to-last issue, he helps the Paper Girls return to their own time and decides to live by the rules of his generation, showing how much he’s grown. Jahpo’s powerful and moving story, woven into the main adventure of the Paper Girls, is a key reason why the series is so highly regarded and considered a classic by many readers.

It’s hard to explain exactly what makes the time travel in Paper Girls so special – you really have to experience Brian K. Vaughan’s brilliant comic to understand it. Though it may have faded from some memories, Paper Girls deserves to be considered a classic for any sci-fi fan needing a bit of optimism. The story begins as a nostalgic tribute to 1980s coming-of-age sci-fi, but ultimately becomes a profound exploration of time itself, delivering a truly rewarding adventure for those who dive in.

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2026-05-07 21:11