The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 5: Like I'm the Only Squirrel in the World by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 5: Like I'm the Only Squirrel in the World written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson is the fifth collected volume of comics. Squirrel Girl is my favourite Marvel hero and I have previously read and reviewed all the previous collected comic trades (1, 2, 3, 4). Broadly speaking, this volume brings us more of the same Squirrel Girl goodness that I have come to expect.

Everyone gets a week-long break from class, and Squirrel Girl is taking Nancy to visit her parents up in Canada! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG, RIGHT? Turns out, nothing! It's a great trip and nothing of note happens and our story is actually EXTREMELY DULL. Sorry everyone. No, just kidding! Our story is actually SUPER AWESOME and things get real crazy real quick once a certain super-powered villain nobody has heard of for over a decade reappears! That's right! This comic features mysteries AND Canadians AND camping, not to mention our ALREADY super-enticing focus on squirrel powers! Let's see Howard the Duck promise you THAT.

The volume contains a three-issue arc about a new super villain, which involves the excellent events depicted on the cover of this volume: Squirrel Girl throwing Tippy-Toe, who in turn throws Ant-Man. Superhero team-up gold. It also involves Canada and physics, so that's pretty cool.

The remaining two issues in the volume stand alone: we have a story told from the point of view of Mew the cat (who lives with Doreen's roommate), who ends up helping our heroes defeat the villain of the hour (and I think encounters Pizza Dog?). Then we have a special issue in which Doreen turns twenty and we get a look back at little Doreen on her fifth, tenth and fifteenth birthdays. That was an interesting look at the continuity of the current comic run (different to the continuity of the tie-in novels, for example).

Overall, this was a fun read and I recommend it to all Squirrel Girl fans who are this far behind in their reading (as I was). I don't think there's very much continuity in this volume, so only a basic understanding of Squirrel Girl is needed before reading; not all of the previous volumes need to have been read.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2017, Marvel Comics
Series: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol 5 of ongoing series, containing issues #12–16 of the 2015B run of Squirrel Girl
Format read: Trade Paperback
Source: All Star Comics, Melbourne