A couple more comics off my huge comic TBR shelf! I’ve read volume 2 of both Paper Girls and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl over the past couple of days, and I think there are as many commonalities between them as there are differences.

Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang is a kick ass sci-fi mystery comic about a group of newspaper delivery girls from the 80s. Think punk, Stranger Things, Stand By Me and War of the Worlds with some time travel thrown in for good measure. I love the non-nonsense get shit done approach of these fab 12 year old girls, and I am OBSESSED with the colouring in this comic. It’s unapologetically saturated in shades of pink and purple, and manages to simultaneously evoke the atmosphere of the narrative whilst playing with the stereotypes of feminine colours – this is a girls story, but there’s nothing weak or princessy about it. Or rather, these princesses take no shit. Adding volumes 3 and 4 to my Kings Comics cart, stat!

I’ve had Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson on my radar since I first met my awesome friend Penny, but I only started reading it last year, and as I sunk into volume 2 I remembered just why I love her. She’s kind, funny, unapologetically enthusiastic, and a fantastic friend. Plus, she’s STRONG. Infinity War would have been a different film if they’d just tweeted Doreen to pop on over to “eat nuts and kick butts”. But her real strength is her empathy, which runs through every panel of this fab collection of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl numbers 5-8. Adding more to my cart? Why yes, yes I am. How did you guess?