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A review by ponch22
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North
4.0
When I first heard about the Marvel character, Squirrel Girl, I thought it was a joke. I forget where or when it was, but basically, someone said if there were a March Madness-style bracket pitting Superman against Batman; The Hulk against Captain America; Thanos against Deadpool; regardless of seeding or number of times played, Squirrel Girl would be #1 every time. I was intrigued—what made this girl, unbeatable? But getting into comics has always been tough for me—who has the time to read something weekly, biweekly, or monthly?
Then a friend, [a:Scott Forbes|4595289|Scott Forbes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1295552878p2/4595289.jpg], recommended the series and so I decided to finally give it a shot. After all, my library had the first two volumes and a few more are available through Libby.
For those who don't know, Squirrel Girl has the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel, can talk to squirrels, and is unbeatable. [b:Squirrel Power|23732096|The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1 Squirrel Power|Ryan North|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440092318l/23732096._SY75_.jpg|43344260] starts with her figuring out her secret identity (Doreen Green) on her first day attending Empire State University in NYC. Volume 1 collects the first four issues of the monthly comic, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and throws in her character's first introduction from Marvel Super-Heroes #8.
In the first four issues of her standalone comic, Squirrel Girl "defeats" Kraven the Hunter, Whiplash, a bunch of bank robbers, and Galactus (The Devourer of Worlds). In her first appearance back in 1991, she "defeated" Doctor Doom. The quotation marks are there because she doesn't always win by beating up the bad guys; sometimes she just convinces the bad guy to go somewhere else. But I guess "unbeatable" is different from "always-defeating."
The stories are a lot of fun, and the only reason I didn't give this 5* was because of what seemed like an over-reliance of fan-mail. There were about ten pages of fan mail which I just wish had been more story! A few of author [a:Ryan North|45763|Ryan North|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1516738257p2/45763.jpg] & illustrator [a:Erica Henderson|375348|Erica Henderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1449194223p2/375348.jpg]'s answers were interesting to read, but most of the Qs and As felt kind of redundant (not to mention the fact that one letter was printed verbatim in both issues #2 & #3!).
But still, I already have [b:Volume 2: Squirrel You Know It's True|25066772|The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 2 Squirrel You Know It's True|Ryan North|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448163003l/25066772._SY75_.jpg|44751534] and can't wait to read more of Doreen's adventures. I'm excited for all the possible adventures she's going to get mixed up in (although I'm sad she already seems to have defeated Thanos in an earlier comic!).
Then a friend, [a:Scott Forbes|4595289|Scott Forbes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1295552878p2/4595289.jpg], recommended the series and so I decided to finally give it a shot. After all, my library had the first two volumes and a few more are available through Libby.
For those who don't know, Squirrel Girl has the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel, can talk to squirrels, and is unbeatable. [b:Squirrel Power|23732096|The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1 Squirrel Power|Ryan North|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440092318l/23732096._SY75_.jpg|43344260] starts with her figuring out her secret identity (Doreen Green) on her first day attending Empire State University in NYC. Volume 1 collects the first four issues of the monthly comic, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and throws in her character's first introduction from Marvel Super-Heroes #8.
In the first four issues of her standalone comic, Squirrel Girl "defeats" Kraven the Hunter, Whiplash, a bunch of bank robbers, and Galactus (The Devourer of Worlds). In her first appearance back in 1991, she "defeated" Doctor Doom. The quotation marks are there because she doesn't always win by beating up the bad guys; sometimes she just convinces the bad guy to go somewhere else. But I guess "unbeatable" is different from "always-defeating."
The stories are a lot of fun, and the only reason I didn't give this 5* was because of what seemed like an over-reliance of fan-mail. There were about ten pages of fan mail which I just wish had been more story! A few of author [a:Ryan North|45763|Ryan North|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1516738257p2/45763.jpg] & illustrator [a:Erica Henderson|375348|Erica Henderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1449194223p2/375348.jpg]'s answers were interesting to read, but most of the Qs and As felt kind of redundant (not to mention the fact that one letter was printed verbatim in both issues #2 & #3!).
But still, I already have [b:Volume 2: Squirrel You Know It's True|25066772|The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 2 Squirrel You Know It's True|Ryan North|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448163003l/25066772._SY75_.jpg|44751534] and can't wait to read more of Doreen's adventures. I'm excited for all the possible adventures she's going to get mixed up in (although I'm sad she already seems to have defeated Thanos in an earlier comic!).