• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2023
    • Marvel 2023: Where to Start?
    • DC 2023: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Featured / THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 Review: “Go Nuts or Go Home!”

THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 Review: “Go Nuts or Go Home!”

January 10, 2015 by Matt Lehn Leave a Comment

Peggy Carter and Ant-Man may be most prominently flying the flag for Marvel this week but the real pound-for-pound winner is undeniably this book. Operating in some respects as twenty serialized pages as it is a cohesive narrative, the debut issue is the perfect gateway for even the most casual of comic book readers.

"This looks like a job for..."
“This looks like a job for…”

Structurally, a great deal of this has to be attributed to the idiosyncratic humor of writer Ryan North. Fans of his syndicated Dinosaur Comics will instantly recognize a natural through-line of his comedic sensibilities. While his previous Marvel offering, the Young Avengers segment of the Original Sins anthology, favored the “quirk” element of his writing, Squirrel Girl bombastically exudes unapologetic fun from cover to cover. The opening scene of Doreen “re-appropriating” the famous “Spider-Man, Spider-Man/ Does whatever a spider can…” song as a musical backdrop to thwarting muggers in the park pretty much sets the tone. There’s a zaniness afoot that wouldn’t be out of place with, say, Deadpool but it universally cuts across all demographics in a way that the Merc never could (or should).

"Something-Man, Something-Man, Hey look- a squirrel!"
“Something-Man, Something-Man, Hey look- a squirrel!”

Despite the overtly cartoony and auteur approach the creators take, there’s still plenty to appease those who are comfortable only with more traditional super-hero fare as classic Marvel bits are scattered throughout. Granted, most of it’s dealt with in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion but it serves as great reminder for comic book fans to maintain good senses of humor about themselves. Artist Erica Henderson makes her full-issue Marvel debut here as well, augmented by relative unknown quantity, Maris Wicks, on trading card art and sporadically-featured color artist Rico Renzi. Although a recurring in-story joke device, the notion that such a thing could exist in the Marvel Universe begs re-examination, perhaps as its own Official Handbook-style special (or side-series). C’mon, marketing department- start thinking outside that box already and throw this crew some more work!

Get thee to a poly-bag!




Get thee to a poly-bag!

In all, there’s not a lot more that needs to be said about this issue. There isn’t a tremendous amount of deep plot analysis to be pored over nine different ways or herculean storylines requiring extensive annotation. Nope, this is the rarest of things: the ultimate in plug and play enjoyment that meets the reader at their own pace. And it works best when the talking heads just step aside and let it do its thing. Apparently there’s a song about what some of those things may be even…

You know, an appropriate arch-nemesis...
You know, an appropriate arch-nemesis…

 

Filed Under: Featured, Marvel Reviews Tagged With: Squirrel Girl

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

CBH Newsletter!

About Matt Lehn

Musician and freelance web denizen Matt Lehn has been living and breathing the Marvel Universe since 1985. Always a die-hard New Yorker at heart, he now lives with his wife, three boys and two cats in Portland, Oregon. Check out his Avengers-specific blog at: avengersaccessible.wordpress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @fierykillrock

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Ultimate Year podcast and reading club

Recent Posts

  • Extra Issues – Superhero Subversions ep. 3: Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt June 1, 2023
  • 2003 Pt. 4: Mystique, Runaways, Wolverine, & Emma Frost May 29, 2023
  • DIRECTOR OF SHIELD | The Fall of the Invincible Iron Man May 24, 2023
  • “Grand Slam Romance” w/ Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous | CBH Interviews #112 May 22, 2023
  • 2003 Pt. 3: Captain Marvel, Thanos, & Marvel Universe The End! May 22, 2023
  • The Final Architect: The End of Jason Aaron’s Avengers and a Marvel Era May 20, 2023
  • Spider-Man Killed Who?! | Comic Book Herald Live May 19, 2023
  • 2003 Variant Cover A: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review! May 15, 2023
  • The Road to Fall of X: Week of 5.10.23! | Comic Book Herald Live! May 12, 2023
  • “Arca” & the Mignola-verse w/ Jesse Lonergan | CBH Interviews #111 May 9, 2023
  • 2003 Pt. 2: Truth & The Crew (With Ernie/Blerd Without Fear!) May 8, 2023
  • Sins of Sinister: Event Review Post-Game (w/ Blerd Without Fear!) | Comic Book Herald Live! May 3, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 10: Nightcrawlers #3—in Review! May 2, 2023
  • Extra Issues – Superhero Subversions ep. 2: Planetary May 2, 2023
  • 2003 Pt 1: Fantastic Four “Unthinkable” & Sentinel May 1, 2023

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Extra Issues – Superhero Subversions ep. 3: Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
  • 2003 Pt. 4: Mystique, Runaways, Wolverine, & Emma Frost
  • DIRECTOR OF SHIELD | The Fall of the Invincible Iron Man
  • “Grand Slam Romance” w/ Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous | CBH Interviews #112
  • 2003 Pt. 3: Captain Marvel, Thanos, & Marvel Universe The End!

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in