UNBEATALE SQUIRREL GIRL V.3: A REVIEW
Squirrel You Really Got Me Now
Written by: Ryan North
Artist: Erica Henderson
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Marvel
Language: English
June 2016
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel/Superheroes/Series
New series, New Avenger! With her unique combination of wit, empathy and squirrel powers, computer science student Doreen Green - aka the unbeatable Squirrel Girl - is all that stands between the Earth and total destruction. Well, Doreen plus her friends Tippy-Toe (a squirrel) and Nancy (a regular human with no powers). So, mainly Squirrel Girl. Then what hope does the Earth have if she gets hurled back in time to the 1960s and erased from history? At least Nancy will never forget her friend, but what invincible armored Avenger can she call on to help, through the magic of social media? Decades apart, can they avert doom, or will everything go wrong forever? Howard the Duck hopes not...he has an appointment for a crossover!
COLLECTING: THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL 1-6, HOWARD THE DUCK 6
+++++++++++++
Sometimes you find characters that you just simply adore. You get them. You laugh with them and love every little quirk. Also, if they existed in real life, you are convinced that you would be besties. Ah, if only my fictional friends were less fictional. I am looking at you Willow Rosenberg, Veronica Mars, the Rat Queens, Kamala Khan, Toby Daye, and Jack Harkness.
Now I know a little about Squirrel Girl via other comics and some fantastic cosplay at cons (looking at you most recently Mr John Barrowman). However, I have never read her own series. Until now. Enter Doreen, Nancy, and Tippy Toe….who now need to come hang out with me. We would have a blast that would probably involve crafting, baking, many pop culture references, and possibly a LAN party. Of this I am utterly convinced.
I also think that Ryan North may have a missing part of my brain and understands how I think sometimes…actually a lot of the time.
Now sadly my library did not have Volume 1 and 2 handy, so I started with 3. Usually this is a really bad idea. You find yourself a bit lost, unsure of who anyone is, what the story is about, etc, etc. This was not the case for Squirrel Girl.
I meet the crew. I fall in love with the crew. And then suddenly Doreen gets thrown into the past where fashion looks great on her. What if she is erased from history? What if she never gets to have fun crafty nights with Nancy? What if the boxes not really full of air never get unpacked? Doom cannot win.
Things I liked: What did I not like? I loved the art, the characters, the humor, the footnotes, the stupid songs getting stuck in your head. It was frakking awesome. I love happy comics. Sure I am down with the more doom and action adventure types too, but sometimes it feels good to read something that just makes you happy. You know what I am talking about, the ones that you smile the whole the way through. The kind of comics that make you laugh out loud and when you are done you feel energized and just plain good. That was Squirrel Girl for me.
It was a comic that I read everything. I mean everything. I read the ticker tape footnote things at the bottom of each page. I read the tweets between Doreen and Tony Stark. I even read the questions from fans. And I loved it all. Seriously the trading cards from Deadpool…priceless.
I love Doreen. She is quirky and snarky and full of life…she is perfect for a girl like me. Seriously the amount of energy that woman has. She is crafty, loves to bake, is loyal, has great friends and wants to make new ones. What I really love is that she is unapologetically herself. Not a bad character to look up to. She’s like Kimmy Schmidt except with a squirrel tale and she is unbeatable because nothing seems to get her down (not even being thrown back in time to the 60s). She refuses to give up and tries to make friends wherever she goes. She gives everyone a chance, sometimes even more than one, and to the baddies even.
Ryan and Erica are perfect to bring Squirrel Girl to life. I also love how she is drawn. She’s not the stylized uber sexy female hero. She is adorable, cute, athletic, and just plain awesome while still being her cute sexy self without being a caricature. She is the character I can relate to and the one I want to hang out with. We need more heroes like her and Kamala.
I also dig that the major supporting characters are diverse. Nancy is odd, crafty, loves her cats, and is an awesome best friend who is also black. Tomas is a nerdy Latino and Ken is Asian (both are also superheroes and kind of adorable).
So much love for this.
Things I didn’t like so much: I was not the biggest fan of the Howard the Duck stuff despite my love for Chip going into the Animal House crossover at the end of the collection. Howard is just not my thing. However the crossover worked really well and certainly had its moments (Kraven, Weapon II, the kittie robot, Rocket, Hank, etc). I liked it enough that I may have to give Howard another chance. Yeah, see there wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about this comic.
Buy or Borrow: Buy, but maybe start at Volume 1.
Part of: Ongoing Series
Also Recommended: Try out the Rat Queens, The Lumberjanes, or Ms Marvel with Kamala Khan. All should make you smile.
4 out of 4 happy bibliosnark bookmarks
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