Yes, I’m back reviewing the next volume in the Paper Girls series. If you haven’t read my reviews of volume one and two, then definitely check those out before you read this review, because there may be some small spoilers.

Newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac and Tiffany finally reunite with their long-lost friend KJ in an unexpected new era, where the girls must uncover the secret origins of time travel… or risk never returning home to 1988.

Collects Paper Girls #11 – #15

I just still don’t know what the bloody hell is happening… We’re on volume 3. Surely Vaughan wants the reader to at least have SOME idea of what is going on. Or does he want us to be lost throughout the whole series? Even though I don’t know what’s going on, I am still intrigued, but volume 3 springs up even more questions with no answers, and no resolution. There doesn’t seem to be an end goal in mind. With many novels/graphic novels/films/tv shows, there is an end goal. Even at the very beginning. The writer always states what the end goal is going to be and then the rest of the story is how the characters get to that end point. What Vaughan has done with Paper Girls is completely throw that idea out of the window. There is no end goal which means that there can’t even be a story arc because there’s no ending for that arc to get to.

Anyway, you get the idea about why I’m so mad about this series so let’s just move on… The stars of this volume are KJ and Mac and we see the two of them go on their own little adventure which is nice because one of the things that I said in my review of volume two was that I wanted Vaughan to explore a couple of different girls and not just concentrate on Erin. Throughout this volume, KJ faces anti-semitism remarks (so trigger warnings for that) and also misogyny (as do all of the girls).

There are so many pop culture references in this volume, IT’S CRAZY! I picked up on Hitchiker’s Guide and Stephen King and then Calvin and Hobbes. I know that there were probably loads more, but I wasn’t born in the 80s so I have no clue *shrugs* There was also some teenager moments which I really really enjoyed reading. KJ starts her period and talks to Mac about it, and then there is also a scene where KJ sees herself kiss Mac (in the future, I think (?) I don’t really know).

I don’t really know where this issue sits in my ranking of the volumes. I know that volume 2 is probably my favourite, so I’ll just put volume 1 and 3 tie with each other. This was just a crazier volume with no solutions. It just feels like Vaughan is pulling random ideas out of a hat instead of having – like I said before – a clear end goal and I think that is what is really bringing this series down.

Volume 4 comes out in April, so I’ll read that and see if it gets any better. I’ve bought the first 3 volumes, so my bank account is pretty much invested in this series. Might as well carry it on…