deerstalker

It’s has been 14 years since we’ve seen the Parr family come together and fight villains. For Brad Bird, he didn’t really notice the years gone by between the first film and the upcoming release of The Incredibles 2. “I think there is a tendency nowadays to not get the soda pop,” Bird explained in […]

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan / Artist: Cliff Chiang / Image Comics

By now you’d think we’d be exhausted by how little we understand of Paper Girls, but this comic stays great by its ability to tell short stories. While the bigger picture is messier than a Jackson Pollock painting there’s always a sense of urgency, a short game that matters more. It’s a hard gambit to play in a story — stringing readers along — mostly because it risks reader frustration and fatigue. Paper Girls‘ accomplishment though is that the payoff would be more of a bonus than an actual goal. Much of its joy — aside from its witty dialogue and the strength of its characters — is that Paper Girls is a playground of imagination.

In issue #21, from its opening dream sequence to its imaginings of where the girls find themselves in the future over 200 years from now, Vaughn and Chiang come up with elaborately creative visualizations and ideas of the future. It’s so much fun regardless of what’s going on; there’s always a plot in front of your nose that keeps you engaged while you piece together the bigger picture of who, what, when, why, and how the hell is this all happening. Depictions of the past is a fairly restricted sandbox, but the future? We’re in a land where they can go all out, and this arc is bound to be the most imaginative yet.

The girls are all reunited, plus the addition of future-Tiff, and they’re closer than they’ve ever been to the answers they — and readers — have been searching for. I don’t expect them to come as easy, so look for a bad-luck curveball to keep some secrets safe, but we’re going to take another big leap forward in the plot come issue #22. Overall, Paper Girls continues to be the fastest read I cover. There’s no other comic that pulls me to the last page so fast that it feels like I just started. It’s suspenseful, smart, and wildly creative. Now more than ever, emphasis on ‘wildly creative.’

8.8 out of 10

Reading Paper Girls? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube and Google+.

The post Paper Girls #21 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Beyoncé and JAY-Z left much to the imagination of their fans as they geared up to kick off their joint On The Run II Tour on Wednesday. Hitting the stage in Cardiff, England, the Carters nearly stopped the world again when it looked like they gave a second glimpse of their nearly one-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir.   Although the babies they initially cradled in photos projected on the screen were not the youngest of their offspring, the “Drunk in Love” duo continued to toy with the emotions of concertgoers (and those incessantly refreshing social feeds) with more speculatory tea. In videos captured by fans and shared on social media, the two appear to renew their vows, most likely in honor of their 10th anniversary. Beyonce and JAY-Z tied the knot on April 4, 2008. To celebrate their decade-long marriage, the couple appears to have had three very special guests in attendance to witness their recommitment in the name of love. From the looks of it, Bey rocked a dress similar to that of the one she wore on her big day in ’08 (who could forget that Mama Tina designed wedding gown) and Rumi, Sir, and their big sister Blue Ivy were also there to see it. The couple closed the show with the 2009 Hov classic, “Forever Young” as a montage of moments from their notoriously private family life was shown in the background. The couple’s publicist confirmed to ESSENCE that the twins are featured in the video. Now the only thing we need is that long-rumored joint album!

It's been almost a year since we were first introduced to them.