The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl


The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is an completed American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Squirrel Girl. The solo series initially debuted in January 2015 and ran for 8 issues, and was rebooted in October 2015 as part of Marvel's All-New, All-Different Marvel branding. The initial and reboot series were written by Ryan North. Art was by Erica Henderson from the start of the publication until issue #31, with Derek Charm taking over as artist for subsequent issues. Critics have praised its comedy as well as the empowering portrayal of its heroine.

Publication History

Marvel registered a trademark for Squirrel Girl in July 2014, leading to speculation that the character would appear in a future film or television series, such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Jessica Jones. In October, Entertainment Weekly revealed that Squirrel Girl would star in a solo series by writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson. Entertainment Weekly called it a "quietly bold move for Marvel", publishing "a female-centric comic that's intended to appeal equally to canon-heads and newcomers".
Starting in May 2015, the Secret Wars crossover storyline affected a number of Marvel comics and character. Marvel announced in June 2015 that, after Secret Wars was complete, they would reboot their entire line as part of an All-New, All-Different Marvel rebranding. Though The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was not part of the Secret Wars storyline, the series was set to be rebooted with Squirrel Girl joining an Avengers team. Marvel later named this team the Avengers Idea Mechanics.

Plot

Volume 1

Doreen Green, known as Squirrel Girl, is a human superhero with the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel, as well as the ability to speak with squirrels, like her sidekick, Tippy-Toe. While originally introduced as a mutant, she was later retconned to be "medically and legally distinct from being a mutant." She can also command an army of squirrels, which she typically uses to overwhelm her foes. As The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl begins, Squirrel Girl has left her home in the Avengers mansion to major in computer science at Empire State University. While moving into her dormitory, she fights the villain Kraven the Hunter and convinces him to go after more dangerous prey. Later issues had Squirrel Girl facing Whiplash and Galactus. A romantic interest named Tomas is introduced, who later turns out to also be a hero named "Chipmunk Hunk" and also has animal-based powers. During a battle with Ratatoskr, Squirrel Girl teams up with Thor, Odinson and Loki to defeat the Asgardian demon.

Volume 2

Doreen and her dorm-mate Nancy move off campus into an apartment. During a lunch with her mom, Brain Drain attacks them, but it turns out there was a malfunction that they were able to fix and make him kind. They then dress him in human clothes and enroll him in Computer Science classes to allow him to upgrade his old WWII tech. The next morning Doreen is teleported into the 60's. Nobody remembers Doreen except for Nancy. She finds a secret message from the past, so Nancy begins exploring ways to go into the past. She then meets Doctor Doom. Nancy tricks Doom to travel into the past and rescue Squirrel Girl. In the past, Doreen found several other ECU students also stuck in the past and creates a support group. Doom and Nancy meet them, but then Doom reveals he plans on killing Squirrel Girl and all the other super heroes before they gain any of their powers. Nancy iPhone, which still shows the future, verifies on Wikipedia that Doom controls the future. The students track down Doom to Central Park and then teleports before them another student, Cory, and an elderly Doreen Green. It turns out Cory received a teleportation device from a crazy aunt, and since his Computer Science classes graded on a curve he teleported all the smarter students into the past. Nancy the adjusts the teleporter to go back randomly over the last several weeks and teleports Doreen multiple times, creating a Time Loop with dozens of Squirrel Girls, that all overwhelm Doctor Doom, not unlike his initial encounter Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special, but with dozens of Squirrel Girls instead of Squirrels. Doom surrenders and returns all the Squirrel Girls to the correct time lines, except for the elderly Squirrel Girl, who becomes Cody's crazy aunt.
The next day Doreen notices somebody trying to catnap Nancy's cat, Mew. It was actually Howard the Duck investigating a missing cat case. Kraven then appears and abducts Howard. Doreen follows him to a billionaire madwoman named Shannon Sugarbaker, who is obsessed with cosplay. She has abducted human-like creatures, like Beast, Rocket Raccoon, the missing cat built into a cyborg, and a Squirrel that was fused with Wolverine's DNA and adamantium claws and was going to release them in a high stakes hunt. Kraven and Doreen join them, but Sharon has a superpowered Cosplay outfit with Angel's wings, Iron Man's repulsors, Hulk fists, and Thor's hammer. Doreen and Howard sneak back into the mansion and Howard finds his own superpowered costume and rescues the other abductees. Howard is glad that he closed his case and Kraven learns humility after being hunted for the first time. He vows to only hunt hunters in the future.

Reception

Issue #1 was published on January 7, 2015, to positive reviews. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was praised for its comedy, and the character of Squirrel Girl was seen as empowering for being likable, smart, and having an average appearance unlike that of typical superheroes. The Guardian in particular applauded the cartoon-like artwork by Erica Henderson as unique in Marvel's publications. IGN regarded the series as "one of the best new debuts of recent memory". Reviews of issue #2 were positive, with PopMatters calling it a "breath of fresh air: funny, charming, quirky, strong, brave, unbeatable". Comic Book Resources write that issue #1 of the reboot was "silly as ever" and "consistently fun". Entertainment Weekly has said that Squirrel Girl will soon be "defending Earth from threats most cosmic". The series was nominated for an Eisner Award in both 2016 and 2017, winning in 2017 as the "Best Publication for Teens".

Collected editions

The series has been collected into trade paperbacks:
TitleMaterial collectedPublication dateISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1, #1–5 & Marvel Super-Heroes #81 September 2015
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 2: Squirrel You Know It's True
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1, #6–8, GLX-Mas Special #1, The Thing #8, Age of Heroes #3 8 December 2015
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 3: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #1–6 & Howard the Duck Vol. 6, Issue #614 June 2016
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 4: I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked it
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #7–116 December 2016
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 5: Like I'm the Only Squirrel in the World
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #12–164 April 2017
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 6: Who Run the World? Squirrels
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #17–2210 October 2017
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 7: I've Been Waiting For a Squirrel Like You
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #22-26, A YEAR OF MARVELS 4 13 March 2018
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 8: My Best Friend's Squirrel
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #27-31, Not Brand Echh 14 3 July 2018
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 9: Squirrels Fall Like Dominoes
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #32-3627 November 2018
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 10: Life is Too Short, Squirrel
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #37-4219 March 2019
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 11: Call Your Squirrelfriends
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #42-4624 September 2019
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 12: To All The Squirrels I've Loved Before
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #47-50early 2020

The series has been collected into Hardcover:
TitleMaterial collectedPublication dateISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1, #1–8 & Marvel Super-Heroes #8, GLX-Mas Special #1, The Thing #8, Age of Heroes #3 15 November 2016
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 2
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #1–11 & Howard the Duck Vol. 6, Issue #616 May 2017
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 3
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #12–2120 March 2018
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 4
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2, #22–31, A Year Of Marvels: The Unbeatable #1, Not Brand ECHH #14 5 February 2019

Graphic novels

Squirrel Girl has also been featured in a graphic novel written by The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl's creative team released as an independent story.
TitlePagesPublication dateISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe120 pagesOctober 2016

Novels

Squirrel Girl has also been featured in two middle grade novels.
TitleAuthorPublication dateISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets WorldShannon Hale & Dean HaleFebruary 7, 2017
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: 2 Fuzzy, 2 FuriousShannon Hale & Dean HaleMarch 6, 2018