Paper Girls, Volume 1

**Paper Girls, Volume 1** is the first volume of Brian K. Vaughan's *Paper Girls* comic series. This volume includes issues #1-5.

## Synopsis

In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.

## Plot Summary

The Volume begins with Erin Tieng's nightmare. Initially there's darkness then an apple fazes into view, cupped in Erin's hands. We see Erin knelt on the ground, the background a swirly, twinkling purple sky with a distant planet to the far right, Earth. An astronaut in a bright blue NASA suit with angel wings appears behind her declaring that Erin's in heaven, which looks a lot like the moon. Erin's starstruck as she realises she's in the presence of Christa McAuliffe - a high school teacher and the first American civilian selected to go into space. Christa confirms to Erin that everyone on the Challenger - the space shuttle Christa herself was on, which exploded - is there too, with Erin's grandma but not her fish. Erin asks where her sister, Missy, is and Christa replies that she's in hell. Erin's taken aback by this but Christa affirms that she has one chance to save her... by answering an obscure question posed by the Devil. The scene transforms into an eerily bright classroom where Missy sits at a desk guarded by the Devil, spouting gibberish. She helplessly exclaims she doesn't understand yet the Devil taunts she has one minute. Erin responds with "Fuck you." which astounds Christa who's wings have changed into flames. Erin defends herself with "I've had this dream before. It... it isn't even real, so it doesn't count if I swear in here." however the Devil takes this as Erin's answer with a chilling "Incorrect." impaling Missy's face with its sharp fingernail. Erin covers her face in horror from the sight whilst Christa, with the face of a withering skeleton reveals a deadly premonition: "We warned you... never eat from the Tree of Knowledge." the apple now bit into.

Erin groggily awakens to the darkened bedroom she shares with Missy, checking on her by asking if she's dead, earning a grumpy side-eye from her. The Cleveland Preserver mail delivery van pulls into the Tieng's drive and Erin springs into action; flipping on the desk light, the comic calendar date showing November 1st 1988 with a red annotation underneath reading 'Hell morning!!!'. She opens her desk drawer, wads of cash pressed to the back, a string of keys, ball of elastic bands, an assortment of pencils and laying ontop of a collection of post-its lies a red switchblade Erin takes with the stack of papers to the kitchen-dining room. Flipping on the light switch with her elbow, she places the heavy stack onto the circular dining table, the front page headline reading 'No Progress in Iran-Iraq Peace Talks'. Erin uses the switchblade to cut the band holding the stacks together and begins using elastic to secure each paper after rolling them up, the clock by the landline reading 4:40am. She heads off into the darkness on a bright pink bicycle sporting a denim jacket, sweater vest, collared shirt, leg warmers, jeans, and sneakers, the Cleveland Preserver issues in a bag of the same name slung over her shoulder, a bright pink shooting star of sorts flashes across the night sky which foreshadows the arrival of the Old-Timers.

It's now shown that Erin lives in the town of Stony Stream, Ohio. During one of her rounds she's interrupted by a group of teens still in their Halloween costumes. The first who speaks, Lucas Kurzenberger, remarks that Erin skipped his house and wants to grab a paper from her. She asks for his address but he sharply responds it's "none of [her] business" and asks if she goes to Stony Stream Middle School. She responds that she actually attends St. Nick's, prompting one of the teens in a ninja outfit who inappropriately comments on her education. The other in a clown mask remarks "She's like, eight, man." Erin responds that she's twelve and tries to get on with the rest of her route. Lucas stops her, grabbing onto the handles of the bicycle "Not until you give me a goddamn paper." He's cut short however by the rest of the paper girls, pointedly Mackenzie "Mac" Coyle, who intimidates Lucas with a homophobic slur and threatening to tell his dad that "[you] were out past curfew, harassing little girls." The pair square off for a moment before Lucas concedes with his own threat: "Good luck getting home alive, bitch." Karina J. "KJ" Brandman and Tiffany "Tiff" Quilkin apologise for Mac's language, Tiff clarifying "she just knows how to talk to their kind." Erin recognises Mac as "the first paperboy around here who wasn't a... you know [boy]." Tiff quickly defends the title, clarifying she was the first long before Mac took over her brother's route. KJ retorts that "Tiffany's like the Amelia Earhart of crap that doesn't matter." The trio compare schools, Tiff attending St. Pete's and KJ attending Buttonwood Academy, before Mac breaks up their "rich girl" bonding in favour of getting back to work. Tiff reveals that they all deliver on All Saint's "'cause there are so many crazies still out" and KJ notes that they all met last Halloween and decided to team up, extending an invitation to Erin. Mac shuts the exchange down, commenting it'd take too long for all four of them to cover the entire development and to instead split into pairs with Tiff and KJ being one, and "New kid can ride with me." Mac asks to borrow one of Tiff's walkie-talkies, who corrects her "it's a Realistic TRC-218 with channel 14 crystals." and also warning the pair "if you lose it, you're hauling your butt to Radio Shack for a--" due to its high price. Thunder interrupts Tiff and the group comment on the changing weather. Erin speeds off after the paper girls but unbeknownst to them a trio in black-clad outfits sneak past a suburban home, a close-up on one of their eyes being bloodshot and their pupils alien.

Mac notices Erin watching her smoke and comments if she wants one, to ask. Erin quickly declines, stating that her grandma died of lung cancer. She changes the subject, the pair discuss houses on their root and Mac says she delivers to every house on Poplar except one due to "the bald creep stiffed me last time I came to collect". Erin pointedly poses "aren't we supposed to keep delivering until they cancel?" to which Mac responds "Our routes, our rules." Erin says she's grateful to Mac, saying she "opened a door for lots of us" however Mac doesn't share that sentiment, instead responding they're "the last of a dying breed anyway. My dad says there's no future in newspapers." and that soon everyone will get their news from TV. They're interrupted by the flashing lights of a Stony Stream Police car and an officer enquiring what Mac's doing and is even more so suspicious of her due to receiving multiple reports of someone smashing windows in the development. Erin hurriedly vouches for Mac, saying they've been together all night. After the officer gives Mac a warning and leaves, Erin's baffled that the police know Mac by name, and begins to inquire about the taste of cigarettes out of curiosity but is cut off by the walkie-talkie spurring to life, releasing a cutting message from KJ asking for help from the corner of Locust and Ash.

Tiff's jean is cut and her knee is bleeding. KJ shouts "Real brave, tough guys!" as Mac and Erin ride over. KJ quickly explains that they got jumped by three guys who stole Tiff's other walkie-talkie. Tiff's in dismay as she admits she "had to use almost all my Christmas tips to finally afford a second one". Erin asks if they were the same guys as earlier but KJ shakes her head, stating they were "speaking Spanish or something." Tiff remarks that she's taken three years of Spanish and that the guys definitely weren't speaking Spanish. Erin asks what they do next and Mac reaches for the walkie-talkie they'd shared and send the guys a message: "[...] if you can hear this, get ready... 'cause we're coming to get our shit back."

The girls ride through the development of unfinished houses and Tiff spots an open window. KJ's the first to climb through the window, remarking that it smells terrible. Erin - the last to climb in - notices a humming sound, which Mac notes seems to be coming from downstairs in the dark basement. The girls descend the staircase and see a giant structure hidden by a sheet which KJ says "feels kinda like... skin?". After this Tiffany turns back up the stairs and starts to climb, stating "That's some Texas Chainsaw bullshit." Erin notices rope tied to the sheet, saying it's like a parachute. She pulls the sheet off and the girls remark at the structure. Erin theorises its from outer space as it looks like an old Apollo space capsule, however NASA uses shuttles recently - Mac says - to which Erin responds it might've come from Russia. KJ dismisses all of this, saying she read in the paper they were delivering that its the fiftieth anniversary of War of the Worlds. She explains an actor trying to trick everyone that aliens had invaded, saying this was "obviously a rip-off of that hoax." Mac points to its size and how it'd be impossible to fit it down here but gets interrupted by the humming growing louder and louder resulting in the girls getting zapped by a bright pink light. The humming grows even louder and Erin yells to run, the girls sprint out of the house as a nearby lightbulb explodes in a flash of yellow light. The girls turn their attention to the sky, now a shade of purple like in Erin's nightmare, covered in hundreds of stars and bright lights. This distraction however is temporary as Tiff spots the three guys sprinting away from the unfinished house. KJ quickly hurries after them, running to attack one but they uppercut her, sending her falling to the floor. Mac, now enraged, tackles the shroud off one of them, revealing a grotesque, alien-like face. Erin begins to say "Put her down," but Tiff beats her to it by knocking the guy out with KJ's hockey stick. A whirring noise begins as the guy is knocked to the ground, causing him to sprint off to the woods. KJ points to where the guy was, saying that he dropped something. Erin picks it up, noting the symbol to be an Apple.