History ComicBook / PaperGirls

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Mackenzie is prone to offhand homophobic comments and is later revealed to be an actual homophobe, which Vaughan says was important to use to establish the rampant casual homophobia of the 80s. She also smokes cigarettes, [[spoiler: which eventually contributes to her death from leukemia in the '90s]]. All of this helps establish her as the girl from the WrongSideOfTheTracks.
** Erin mentions several times that Mac isn't just ''a'' papergirl, she's the ''first'' papergirl, at least in Cleveland, because delivering newspapers was traditionally considered boy's work. Younger readers might be surprised to learn that the glass ceiling was that low fairly recently.

* ForeverWar: The future appears to be locked in a perpetual inter-generational war, with adults as the villains and teens leading LaResistance.

* TrustPassword: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin]] asks several very personal questions in a row to verify that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] is who she claims to be. Subverted in that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] doesn't know the answer to the first one (her social security number), and the last one isn't a Trust Password at all, it's a genuine question that [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] has always wondered about.

* {{McGuffin)): the girls find a mysterious, futuristic high-tech artifact--instantly recognizable to modern readers as an old IPod -- but it's the apple symbol that's significant, not the object itself.

** She also has a FarSide page-a-day calendar which depicts an actual Far Side cartoon and may just show the correct cartoon for November 1, 1988.

* AdultsAreUseless: worse than useless, they're the actual enemy.

* TrustPassword: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin]] asks several very personal questions in a row to verify that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] is who she claims to be. Subverted in that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] doesn't know the answer to the first one (her social security number), and the last one isn't a Trust Password at all, it's a genuine question that [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] has always wondered about.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: apples and biblical and mythological references to apples show up everywhere, and Erin's first name (rather irish sounding for an Asian-American girl) is awfully close to ''Eris'' the greek goddess who created the ApplesOfDiscord.

* BadFuture: Where the invaders seem to hail from. [[spoiler:1988!Erin also seems to think this about 2016, much to her older self's annoyance.]]

* TrustPassword: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin]] asks several very personal questions in a row to verify that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] is who she claims to be. Subverted in that [[spoiler:1988!Erin]] doesn't know the answer to the first one (her social security number), and the last one isn't a Trust Password at all, it's a genuine question that [[spoiler:2016!Erin]] has always wondered about.

* TeensAreMonsters: namechecked. The future appears to be locked in a wa

* AlienInvasion: An oversimplification of the world.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Mackenzie, one of the protagonists, makes a series of offhand homophobic comments, which Vaughan says was important to use to establish the rampant casual homophobia of the 80s. She also smokes cigarettes, [[spoiler: which eventually contributes to her death from leukemia in the '90s]].

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mac insists on retrieving her father's gun for protection but they find it in the hands of her drunken and suicidal stepmother, who promptly shoots Erin in the stomach by accident.
* MostWritersAreAdults: The girls are all 12-14, but talk and act like hard-drinking, hard-smoking longshoremen.

* TimeyWimeyBall: One of the aliens, when asked if they are time travelers or space travelers, helpfully points out that time travel has to ''be'' space travel because the planet is always in motion: If you traveled in time without travelling in space you'd end up drifting in vacuum where the planet used to be.

* StrayShotsStrikeNothing: Averted: When Mac wrestles her father's gun away from her suicidal stepmother it goes off. The bullet strikes Erin in the stomach.

* TimeyWimeyBall: One of the "aliens", when asked if he is a time traveler or a space traveler, points out that time travel ''is'' space travel because the planet is always in motion: If you traveled in time without travelling in space you'd just end up drifting in vacumm where the planet used to be.

[[caption-width-right:300:From left to right: Mac, KJ, Tiffany, and Erin]]''Paper Girls'' is a 2015 ongoing Creator/ImageComics comic book series written by Creator/BrianKVaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. Early on the morning of All Saint's Day 1988, newspaper girl named Erin goes on her normal route in a Cleveland suburb only to be rescued by a trio of other paper girls from middle-school boys with suspicious intentions. That's when things start to get strange.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Mackenzie, one of the protagonists, makes a series of offhand homophobic comments, which Vaughan says was important to use to establish the rampant casual homophobia of the 80s. She also smokes cigarettes, [[spoiler: which eventually contibutes to her death from leukemia in the '90s]].

* IHatePastMe / FutureMeScaresMe: First played straight, then averted as [[spoiler:the Erins come to an understanding with each other.]]
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mac insists on retrieving her father's gun for protection and promptly shoots Erin in the stomach by accident because she doesn't know the first thing about gun safety.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Mackenzie, one of the protagonists, makes a series of offhand homophobic comments, which Vaughan says was important to use to establish the rampant casual homophobia of the 80s. She also smokes cigarettes, [[spoiler: which eventually leads to her death from leukemia in the '90s]].

* HumanAlien: Save for their strange speech, clothing, and mounts, the invaders could pass for human.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mere minutes after getting their hands on a gun, one of the paper girls is accidentally shot.

* AllWritersAreAdults: The girls are all 12-14, but talk and act like hard-drinking, hard-smoking longshoremen.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Mackenzie, one of the protagonists, makes a series of offhand homophobic comments, which Vaughan says was important to use to establish the rampant casual homophobia of the 80s.

* TrustPassword: [[spoiler: 2016!Erin uses one to verify that 1988!Erin is who she claims to be.]]

* TranslatorMicrobes: With the help of translators attached to their throats, the invaders can speak heavily-accented English.

* ShoutOut: Erin has a ''Film/MonsterSquad'' poster in her bedroom.

* NotalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: The series is both nostalgic and realistic, pointing out some of the less glamorous parts of the '80s (such as the casual use of homophobic slurs, or young teens smoking without any regard for the health risks).

''Paper Girls'' is a 2015 ongoing Creator/ImageComics comic book series written by Creator/BrianKVaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. Early on the morning of All Saint's Day 1988, newspaper girl named Erin goes on her normal route in a Cleveland suburb only to be rescued by a trio of other paper girls from middle-school boys with suspicious intentions. That's when things start to get strange.

* TranslatorCollar: With the help of translators attached to their throats, the invaders can speak heavily-accented English.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: With the help of translators attached to their throats, the invaders can speak heavily-accented English.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Mere minutes after getting their hands on a gun, one of the paper girls is accidentally shot.

* Cliffhanger: In classic Vaughan style, every issue seems to end with one.