The series that could out-Stranger Things Stranger Things was released the same year as the Duffer brothers’ hit show. Stranger Things became a global phenomenon by perfectly tapping into a collective longing for 1980s nostalgia with a hefty dose of supernatural mystery. The element that ties everything together is its young cast, which grows up together as the central mystery develops.

Stranger Things isn’t the only story of its kind. The landscape of 1980s supernatural adventure is vast. Worlds of suburban mystery and growing pains with a growing scope and a wide assortment of supernatural threats are shared by other childhood adventures.

Paper Girls Is The Perfect Story For Stranger Things Fans

Paper Girls Is A Supernatural 1980s-Set Friendship Drama

Paper Girls, written by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Catwoman: Lonely City artist Cliff Chiang follows four twelve-year-old newspaper delivery girls who find their mundane route interrupted by a temporal war between rival time-traveling factions. Erin, Mac, KJ, and Tiffany venture into a surreal odyssey through the future of 2019, where the girls encounter bizarre creatures and giant mechs, as well as their older, disillusioned selves.

Paper Girls excels by blending nostalgic 1980s aesthetics with a brutally honest portrayal of pre-teen friendship. It dives into the complicated lives of its protagonists and their both exciting and disappointing realization of what the future holds. Paper Girls‘ supernatural elements serve as a catalyst for the young girls’ collective strength and wits to survive a world that has become unrecognizable overnight.

Like Stranger Things, Paper Girls features a tight-knit group of outcasts navigating 1980s suburbia on bicycles while stumbling into a conspiracy involving supernatural threats and bizarre technology. While Stranger Things leans into 80s horror and interdimensional monsters, Paper Girls tackles high-concept science fiction and time paradoxes. However, both share the same essence in the feeling of being a kid against the world, where the bond between friends is the only shield against the apocalypse.

Paper Girls’ TV Show Adaptation Fell Short Of Its Potential

Amazon’s Paper Girls Doesn’t Live Up To The Graphic Novel

Paper Girls is a technicolor explosion of high-concept sci-fi, but Amazon’s TV adaptation struggles to capture the same ambition on a streaming budget. Brian K. Vaughan’s graphic novel is famous for its no-holds-barred approach to sci-fi, featuring giant tardigrades and towering mechs. The Amazon series feels visually constrained, as it lacks the surreal, neon-soaked energy of the panels. Without the necessary financial backing, Amazon’s Paper Girls plays it too safe, without the awe-inspiring scale that makes the comic a masterpiece of the genre.

Beyond the visual hurdles, Amazon’s adaptation suffers from a rushed plot that doesn’t allow the story to develop naturally. In the graphic novel, the tension between the girls and their adult selves, as well as the mysterious Old-Timers, is a slow-burn drama despite all the surrounding action. The show hurries through pivotal plot points, sacrificing character-building for a faster pace. A truly successful adaptation requires patience to allow the audience to grow with the characters rather than sprinting toward the next temporal anomaly.

The most tragic aspect of Paper Girls‘ adaptation is that it absolutely nails the casting of the four leads. Each of the titular paper girls perfectly embodies the spirit and chemistry of the original squad. Despite the child actors’ undeniable talent, the production simply doesn’t come together to support them. Just as the show was beginning to find its footing, Amazon canceled the series far too soon.

Paper Girls’ Adaptation & Stranger Things Suffer Opposite Problems

Paper Girls Needs Streaming Prestige While Stranger Things Lacks Source Material

Paper Girls is practically custom-made for streaming. The graphic novel boasts the narrative structure of a perfectly paced television season. To truly do justice to Brian K. Vaughan’s vision, a Paper Girls adaptation requires the kind of blank-check support typically reserved for tentpole franchises. It demands a high production budget for its surreal VFX, top-tier marketing to establish a place in pop culture, and elite talent behind and in front of the camera.

Stranger Things lies at the opposite end of the spectrum. Without the grounding influence of a completed source material, Stranger Things grew too massive. By Season 5, Stranger Things becomes a non-stop spectacle of high-octane action and CGI set-pieces that sacrifices the small-town mystery charm that made the first season a phenomenon. Because the Duffer Brothers lacked a defined roadmap, the endgame felt bloated and directionless compared to its tight, focused beginnings.

The irony is that both sci-fi mysteries possess exactly what the other needs to be perfect. Paper Girls would have become a global cultural pillar if it had been granted the marketing machine and financial backing that Stranger Things enjoyed. Stranger Things would have benefited immensely from Paper Girls‘ smaller scope and clear ending. While one struggled to breathe, the other eventually suffocated under the weight of its own success.

Paper Girls Has Everything It Needs To Surpass Stranger Things

Paper Girls Could Outdo Stranger Things On The Small Screen

Paper Girls is based on a finished thirty-issue graphic novel with a definitive beginning, middle, and end. This existing roadmap prevents the aimless expansion that affects Stranger Things‘ later seasons. A properly paced Paper Girls adaptation can maintain a relentless, high-stakes momentum that ensures every mystery is answered and every character arc is earned, avoiding the messy, action-heavy pitfalls of a directionless finale.

Paper Girls offers a deconstruction of 1980s nostalgia that uses this era as a springboard to explore the existential dread of meeting one’s future self. Its sci-fi palette offers a varied library of characters and creatures right off the bat. The interactions between the child characters and their adult counterparts add a unique dynamic rarely seen in this type of series. A second adaptation attempt could truly make Paper Girls the next Stranger Things.

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  Release Date

  2022 – 2022-00-00

  Network

  Amazon Prime Video

  Showrunner

  Stephany Folsom

  Directors

  Brian K. Vaughan

  Writers

  Stephany Folsom

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  Created by

  Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

  First TV Show

  Stranger Things

  Latest TV Show

  Stranger Things

  Upcoming TV Shows

  Stranger Things, Stranger Things Animated Series

  First Episode Air Date

  
  July 15, 2016
  

  Cast

  Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Joe Keery, Jamie Campbell Bower