The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 7: I've Been Waiting for a Squirrel Like You by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 7: I've Been Waiting for a Squirrel Like You written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson is the seventh collected volume of Squirrel Girl comics. I have previously read and reviewed reviewed the earlier volumes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This one stands alone reasonably well and does not require having read the earlier stories for continuity reasons.

Squirrel Girl goes savage! When Doreen Green and Nancy Whitehead enter a mysterious programming competition, they don't suspect that the prize for winners will be an all-expenses-paid trip to...the Savage Land! Will Squirrel Girl fight a dinosaur? Will Squirrel Girl fight two dinosaurs?! Will we come up with really excellent reasons why these fights would take place, reasons that both justify the fights while also telling the story of what lead to this dinosaur-punching smashup: a story which, even though it stars dinosaurs and Squirrel Girls, contains within it the chance for us to recognize, perhaps for the first time, our most personal and secret selves? Of course! Plus, jokes and a super villain who's causing major problems - it's the complete package!

This volume contained a four-issue story arc in which Doreen and Nancy (and Tippy-Toe) visit the Savage Land, which is a magical tropical world in Antarctica filled with dinosaurs (which was originally built by aliens). Of course, something goes horribly wrong but perhaps not quite in the way you would expect, assuming your expectations are based on Jurassic Park or its sequels. One of the problems requires programming to solve, so that's fun and different. I like how often Doreen and Nancy break out their programming chops — or at least consider things programmatically. So that was a fun arc.

The dinosaur story was followed by a special "zine" issue which was more like an anthology issue. Various guest artists wrote/drew short stories based on many Squirrel Girl characters plus some other Marvel heroes. These were mostly entertaining, although I did feel some were too short to be properly funny (and the Galactus one just wasn't).

Finally, the last issue in this volume was A Year Of Marvels The Unbeatable #1, which was a story centred on Tippy-Toe and involved a supervillain and a team-up with Rocket Racoon. That was pretty adorable because Tippy-Toe can't not be adorable. I enjoyed it even though I'm not a fan of Rocket — in large part because it was very much Tippy-Toe's story.

So this volume is a bit more diverse than the last few I've read. I wasn't a huge fan of the anthology zine issue, but I enjoyed the glimpse at Tippy-Toe's life when Doreen is otherwise occupied. Recommended to fans of Squirrel Girl. I think it's a reasonable place to start, although the zine issue will probably be lost on readers unfamiliar with the various characters.

4. 5 / 5 stars

First published: 2018, Marvel Comics
Series: the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 7th volume of an ongoing series, collecting issues #22–26 and A Year Of Marvels The Unbeatable #1
Format read: Trade Paperback
Source: All Star Comics, Melbourne

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 6: Who Run the World? Squirrels by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 6: Who Run the World? Squirrels written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson is the sixth collected volume of Squirrel Girl comics. I have previously read and reviewed all the preceding volumes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) except for the Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe hardcover which is its own self-contained story and also an expensive hardcover. (I’ll probably buy it eventually.)

It's a normal, quiet day at Empire State University, filled with lots of lectures and higher education and students learning quietly. But don't turn away, there's also going to be a fistfight! A big one! And Doreen Green will also get a new Flying Squirrel suit from a mystery benefactor that would render her even more unbeatable, if such a thing were scientifically possible! That pretty much means crime is over forever. There definitely can't be a new super villain in town conspiring to mold Squirrel Girl into the perfect minion...or is there?! Gasp at a secret invasion of character motivations! Thrill at a civil war of emotions! Boggle as monsters truly get unleashed and Doreen's fate hangs in the balance! Also, machine-gun-wielding bears! It's squirrels and girls and punching, oh my!

This volume starts with a four-issue arc featuring a new villain who decides to target Squirrel Girl specifically on the way to world domination. I enjoyed the depth offered by the length of this story as well as the passing nod to “fake news” towards the end. Also the minor side plot about the bear and the chicken was surprisingly awesome. Yes, this was an animal-heavy story.

The final issue in this volume was a standalone one in which Doreen and Nancy go on a trip, leaving Koi Boi, Chipmunk Hunk and Brain Drain to guard New York and have their own adventure. While I am significantly less invested in these characters, it was still an entertaining read and they got to have a bit of character development, which is nice for them.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this volume of my favourite Marvel superhero’s adventures. I recommend it to fans of Squirrel Girl who haven’t already read it. I already have the next volume lined up and I look forward to getting stuck into it soon.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2017, Marvel Comics
Series: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol 6 of ongoing series. Containing issues #17–22 of run 2015B
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: All Star Comics, Melbourne

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

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 4: I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked It by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 4: I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked It written by Ryan North and (mostly) illustrated by Erica Henderson is the forth volume in the current/modern run of Squirrel Girl comics. This volume contains a three-issue arc nestled between a couple of stand-alone issues.

The hero who refuses to be beat celebrates 11 consecutive issues without a new #1! And she's letting you seize the chance to be the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl in a choose-your-own path encounter with Swarm, buzzkill made of bees! Then, Doreen takes charge of her life -her love life, that is - and starts dating. But just who will kiss a Squirrel and like it? Surely not...Mole Man?! When the subterranean super villain falls deep in love, he's willing to hold the world hostage to get Doreen's attention. Can she save everything without becoming Mrs. Mole Man? But enough with the hearts and the flowers and the kissing, you read this book for computer science and super heroics (not necessarily in that order). You'll get both - and more - in a showdown with Count Nefaria!

As always, Squirrel Girl makes for a fun read. The first issue was a "choose your own adventure" comic, which was amusing but slightly annoying to follow. Funny, but not a gimmick I'm keen to see too often. The story involved Swarm, a villain made of bees.

Next up was a three-issue arc in which Squirrel Girl attempts online dating and has some unfortunate experiences. Some of the dates are just mediocre, but one (which involved a superhero truther — denying their existence as part of a large conspiracy complete with animatronics) leads to an encounter with Mole Man. Mole Man had been planning to go on an evil rampage, but when Squirrel Girl is civil to him and convinces him to leave, he decides to hold the world to ransom to get a date with her. Classy. Lots of nice feminist commentary from Nancy in this one, though. And lots of gross stuff from the media, of course.

And the final issue in this volume is a short one-off in which Squirrel Girl battles a villain mainly using the powers of computer science, so that was pretty cool.

All in all, an enjoyable read and one for fans of Squirrel Girl and female-led superhero stories generally. This volume doesn't rely very much on events of the past, so I don't think it's a terrible place for new readers to start. Of course, starting at volume 1 gives you more Squirrel Girl to enjoy, but I suspect the comics are still enjoyable out of (volume) chronological order.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2016, Marvel
Series: Yes, vol 4 of ongoing comic book series. This volume contains issues #7–11 (of the 2015B run).
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased at (I think) All Star Comics in Melbourne

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 3: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 3: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now, written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson, is the third consecutive volume of Squirrel Girl comics. Although they restarted the issue numbering, they thankfully left the volume numbering in tact. For now. It's also not a terrible place to jump into the comics, although I would recommend starting with Volume 1 because then you get more Squirrel Girl and more backstory to establish the other characters with.

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!

The opening issue is somewhat introductory, (re-)introducing Squirrel Girl, Nancy and a few other key characters. There's a bad guy attack that, in true Squirrel Girl style, is more morally grey than you might expect from a monster-of-the-issue incident.

The main story arc of this volume involves time travel to the 60s and Doctor Doom. The Doctor Doom part, actually, is probably yet another reason to read the first two volumes of Squirrel Girl. It's not strictly necessary to follow this story, but I think it still helps to provide some useful context. I quite enjoyed the story arc, especially the way the new (temporary?) side characters were integrated into the story. And I approved of it being more Nancy and less Koi Boy and Chipmunk Hunk — not that I hate the latter two, I just find them a bit meh.

The final story arc was a two-issue crossover with Howard the Duck, with the Howard the Duck issue included in this volume. I haven't read any Howard the Duck before and this arc didn't especially encourage me to. It wasn't bad, and I didn't mind seeing a new character, but I didn't find him interesting enough to bother following up. Squirrel Girl was much more interesting to me.

I enjoyed this volume of Squirrel Girl and, as always, I am looking forward to reading more Squirrel Girl when it becomes available. I highly recommend the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl to fans of humour, female characters, squirrels and computer science. If you're new to Squirrel Girl, this isn't a terrible place to start, but I think Volume 1 is an even better place to start.

5 / 5 stars

First published: June 2016, Marvel
Series: Volume 3 of ongoing series, containing issues #1–6 (and Howard the Duck #6) of the 2015B run of Squirrel Girl.
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: A comic book shop. I think it was Orbital Comics in London\

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2: Squirrel You Know It's True by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2: Squirrel You Know It's True written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson contains the latter four issues (#5–8) of the first solo Squirrel Girl run. Thanks to events, the numbers were reset after the issues in this volume (but no Secret Wars business happens in this book. Phew). There are also some extras from old issues (circa 2006), which are shorter stories and not, I think, any entire issues.

The breakout character of 2015 continues her one-woman crusade against injustice and jerks! These TAILS of the Squirrel Girl will show you the Marvel Universe's most powerful super hero from a bunch of brand-new perspectives, several of them QUITE ASTONISHING.

SQUIRREL GIRL IS AWESOME. This is 100% still my favourite comic book series. I laughed a lot. I was a little leery about the two new super-powered characters that are introduced as Squirrel Girl's friends and sidekicks — Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi, lol — but they don't overshadow Doreen at all. (Or Doreen's one true sidekick, Tippy Toe.) Mostly they help and accept that she's better than them and also there are way more squirrels in New York than chipmunks or koi fish. Haha. They contribute to the comedy of the book, too, so yay.

The break-out awesomest sidekick, however, was Nancy, Doreen room mate. We met her in the first volume but in this second trade she really gets a chance to shine. She's a normal human who writes Cat Thor fan fiction and loves her cat above all. And quickly jumps at being on team Squirrel Girl — so long as she doesn't get kidnapped too much more often. Also, we get to actually see some Cat Thor action in this volume, which was AWESOME and adorable.

The villain in the last story arc of the trade was an Asgardian squirrel goddess, so of course some of our favourite Marvel Asgardians also made an appearance (both old and new Thor, and Loki). There were also some background cameos from other Avengers and also a villain who was a hippo, which was also awesome (because hippos, like Squirrel Girl, are the best).

The commentary at the bottom of most pages also continues to add hilarity to an already hilarious comic. There are bits of some old comics included in the back, which are entirely skippable, but really not as terrible as they could be (as they are in basically every other franchise I've read that has included them to bulk out trades). My main takeaway message from those was that the Great Lakes Avengers sucked and Squirrel Girl was probably the best thing about them. Also 2006 was about a decade ago, wow.

Basically, Squirrel Girl and this book are awesome. If you haven't yet, you should buy it. If you haven't read the first four issues, you should also buy those. Read Squirrel Girl. Why wouldn't you want to? Squirrel Girl for all!

5 / 5 stars

First published: December 2015, Marvel
Series: Squirrel Girl, volume 2 of 2 of the first Squirrel Girl solo run containing issues #5–8. The numbering has restarted subsequent to these issues.
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased in person from a physical bookshop

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1: Squirrel Power written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Henderson. It is the first trade paperback collection of Squirrel Girl comics, containing issues #1–4 and also the first issue she ever appeared in from 1990.

Wolverine, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, Thanos: There's one hero that's beaten them all-and now she's got her own ongoing series! (Not that she's bragging.) That's right, you asked for it, you got it, it's SQUIRREL GIRL! (She's also starting college this semester.) It's the start of a brand-new set of adventures starring the nuttiest and most upbeat super hero in the world!

OK. Squirrel Girl is my new favourite. Sorry Carol/Chewie and Kamala, you are now number two. (For the record, Spider-Woman and She-Hulk are number three. For now.) This comic is awesome. I had read issue #1 before, but while it stands as a nice introduction, the real meat of this story arc happens in the other three issues. Issue #1 does introduce Doreen, her surroundings, her squirrels and her room mate, though, so don't like, y'know, skip it or anything silly like that.

The main arc of this volume is Squirrel Girl saves earth from Galactus (I don't think it's a spoiler that Earth doesn't get destroyed, especially not this close to Earth/reality actually being destroyed in Secret Wars). She has a limited amount of time before Galactus reaches earth and by golly do other things just keep getting in her way. Hilariously. And OMG the Squirrel Girl and squirrel armour/space suits were the absolute best. Especially Tippy's version. *flails and dies of cutedorable*

Ahem.

(I wrote the rest of this review, other than this paragraph, before reading the 1990 issue.) The retro issue, which I suppose isn't that terribly retro since it's from the 90s, was a better read than I expected. It had the old art style and, even ignoring the weird 80s make-up, Squirrel Girl didn't look as nice as she does now. (Notably, her tail was less fluffy and her uniform was a bit meh.) BUT! It did cover the backstory with Iron Man that she kept alluding through in the modern story arc, so that was pretty cool. The actual story was enjoyable and almost as funny as the modern story, so whoo, not a dud. Squirrel Girl is awesome no matter what! This kind of makes me want to go back and read other old Squirrel Girl-having issues... at some point when I've subscribed to Marvel Universe again.

This comic/volume was hilarious and super fun to read. Unless you hate fun or adorableness (or squirrels, I suppose), this is the comic you should be reading. I cannot wait for the next volume, which luckily is only three months away, whoo. I am very tempted to go buy the floppies/digital floppies so that I can have MOAR NOW, but we have made a pact to only buy trades so I will be strong and wait. (I want a squirrel-ear headband. I would probably only wear it at cons, but still.) Also the trade included the letters columns, which I wasn't expecting but which kind of makes sense, in retrospect, given issue #4. So if you like letters, you still get them in the trade. Bonus! You also DO get the hidden text along the bottom which I'd heard somewhere we wouldn't so YAY because it is awesome.

Read Squirrel Girl!

5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2015, Marvel
Series: Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, first volume of first run of solo series containing issues #1–4 plus Marvel Super-Heroes #8 from 1990
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Online book shop which is entirely not affiliated with Amazon.

A pocketful of issues

Mostly thanks to Free Comic Book Day downloads on Comixology, but also thanks to a few other sources, I recently read a bunch of free-floating issue #1 comics. Also because I was jetlagged and Comixology suddenly seemed like a good idea. I might not want to give the evil empire money, but where's the harm if it's free downloads?

Anyway, so I'm posting short reviews of the issues I read. I'm also dividing them into three categories of interested-in-reading-on-ness.

Definitely going to buy the trade paperback

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

This was an issue #1 that a friend bought as a floppy and let me read while we were hanging out. It is awesome. Squirrel Girl can talk to squirrels and has a tail and super strength (the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel)! In this new comic series she is off to college, disguising her tail by tucking it into her pants. Everything about this series looks awesome, including the voice and the art. I am very much hanging out to buy the trade volume when it comes out (though it looks like I'll be waiting till September).


Bitch Planet #1 by by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro (Image)
 

This has been on my radar for a while but I wasn't sure whether it would quite be my thing. It definitely is. I don't think describing it as "Orange is the New Black in space" is inaccurate. There's a lot of very positive female representation, especially from a body-positivity sense, although the setting is aggressively misogynistic. I mean, women are sent to a prison planet (hence the title) for minor crimes such as not being perfect wives or daring to age. It was quite horrifying, actually, but I'm confident this is going to be a great series and I look forward to the trade coming out in July.

Considering Reading On

Wayward #1 by Jim Zub and Steve Cummings (Image)

An Irish-Japanese girl moves to Tokyo to live with her mother. While still very jetlagged, she wanders around the city, runs into a band of ruffians and also a swarm of cats. The ruffians turn out to be evil turtles and our heroine is rescued by a superhero girl and also discovers super powers of her own. It caught my fancy and I am definitely interested in reading more, just not quite as urgently as the two books mentioned above. Mind you, the first volume is already out, so I might pick it up impulsively if I see it reasonably-priced. Also cats. I want to know more about the cats.


Trees #1 by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard (Image)

Set a decade after aliens come to Earth and leave mysterious cylindrical towers all over the place ("trees"), this series looks like it will be looking at the ongoing consequences in a variety of places around the world. Just in issue #1 we see Rio de Janeiro, Manhattan, somewhere polar, and a weird Chinese artists' enclave. So it seems like it will be a fairly diverse story and, of course, the premise is pretty interesting and I'd like to see where they take it. I'm leaning towards wanting to read this one on more than an impulse buy level.



Batgirl #1 (New 52) by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes (DC)

Promising and whether I keep reading will come down to laziness (or lack thereof). I know they've just rebooted this character too with a new costume (better, though the old one's not that bad) so I'm a bit torn as to whether I'd want to keep reading this version or start with the new one. That said, they did a pretty good job of dealing with the fact that the character spent three years in a wheelchair. Insofar as you can ever magically cure a disabled character well, this could have gone a lot worse. She remembers and acknowledges her time in a wheelchair (and gets rightfully annoyed at her new house mate for suggesting that being in a wheelchair is the worst thing ever) and also suffers from PTSD from the incident which caused her injury, another nice touch. Having written all that, I am definitely interested in continuing this story.


Shutter #1 by Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca (Image)

A woman whose father was some sort of possibly-supernatural/superpowered Indiana Jones type character (except an explorer) is lamenting her father's death a decade previously and gets attacked my supernatural monsters. Promising but no idea where it's going. I am intrigued and would be interested in finding out. If anyone has read more of this series, feel free to chime in. It's another one where the first trade is already out, so I might impulsively buy it if I see it, but I'm less certain than with the above two.

Not Interested in Continuing

Alex + Ada #1 by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn (Image) — Not the worst thing ever but not for me. Dude whose grandmother gives him a female robot for companionship. Eh.

Roche Limit #1 by Michael Moreci and Vic Malhotra (Image) — Too much man pain (even though turns out one of the main characters is female) and baffling physics. Might have potential, but I'm not going to bother to keep reading.

Planetary #1 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (DC) — I feel less strongly against this one than the two above. I didn't actively dislike it, but I didn't feel it brought anything particularly new or exciting to the table, so I'm not interested in pursuing it.