The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

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The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
ScheduleMonthly
FormatOngoing series
Genre
Publication dateVol. 1: January–August 2015
Vol. 2: October 2015–November 2019
No. of issuesVol. 1: 8
Vol. 2: 50[1]
Creative team
Created byRyan North
Erica Henderson
Written byRyan North
Artist(s)Erica Henderson
Derek Charm
Colorist(s)Rico Renzi

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Squirrel Girl. The solo series debuted in January 2015 and ran for 8 issues, and was relaunched in October 2015 as part of Marvel's All-New, All-Different Marvel branding and was published through to November 2019 with 50 issues, for a total of 58. Both 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.[2] Critics have praised its comedy as well as the empowering portrayal of its heroine.

Milana Vayntrub was cast as a version of Squirrel Girl based on her The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl depiction in the live-action unaired Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) pilot New Warriors, before vocally reprising the role in the Marvel Rising media franchise (2018–2019). A podcast sequel to the comic book series, Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show, launched in April 2022. It is written by North and stars Vayntrub.[3]

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.[4][5] In October, Entertainment Weekly revealed that Squirrel Girl would star in a solo series by writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson.[6] 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".[6]

Starting in May 2015, the Secret Wars crossover storyline affected a number of Marvel comics and characters. 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.[7] 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.[8] Marvel later named this team the Avengers Idea Mechanics.[9]

In April 2022, Marvel Entertainment and Sirius XM launched Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show which is a six-episode podcast series that acts as a direct continuation of the comic series. It is written by North, directed by Giovanna Sardelli and stars Milana Vayntrub as Squirrel Girl; the series is produced by Radio Point.[3][10] Additionally, North "wrote an all-new 'Squirrel Girl' vertical comic tie-in" which debuted on Marvel Unlimited.[3]

Plot

Volume 1

Doreen Green, known as

Thor (Jane Foster), Odinson and Loki to defeat the Asgardian demon.[14]

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.[15] The next morning Doreen is teleported into the 1960s. 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 (from 1991 who was just defeated by Squirrel Girl and Iron Man in Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special).[16] 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.[16] The students track down Doom to Central Park and then teleports before them another student, Cory, and an elderly Doreen Green.[17] 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 then 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.[18]

The next day Doreen notices somebody trying to catnap Nancy's cat, Mew. It was actually

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.[19] 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.[20]

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.

Eisner Award in both 2016 and 2017, winning in 2017 as the "Best Publication for Teens".[25]

Collected editions

The series has been collected into trade paperbacks:

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1: Squirrel Power The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 1) #1–5, Marvel Super-Heroes #8 1 September 2015 9780785197027
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It's True The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 1) #6–8 and material from GLX-Mas Special #1, The Thing (vol. 2) #8, Age of Heroes #3 8 December 2015 9781302483012
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 3: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #1–6, Howard the Duck (vol. 6) #6 14 June 2016 9781302486334
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 4: I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked it The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #7–11 6 December 2016 9780785196273
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 5: Like I'm the Only Squirrel in the World The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #12–16 4 April 2017 9781302903282
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 6: Who Run the World? Squirrels The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #17–21 10 October 2017 9781302906641
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 7: I've Been Waiting For a Squirrel Like You The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #22-26 and material from A Year of Marvels: Unbeatable #1 13 March 2018 9781302906658
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 8: My Best Friend's Squirrel The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #27-31 and material from Not Brand Echh #14 3 July 2018 9781302910761
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 9: Squirrels Fall Like Dominoes The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #32-36 27 November 2018 9781302910778
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 10: Life is Too Short, Squirrel The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #37-41 19 March 2019 9781302914479
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 11: Call Your Squirrelfriend The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #42-46 24 September 2019 9781302914486
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 12: To All The Squirrels I've Loved Before The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #47-50 10 March 2020 9781302917241

The series has been collected into three mid-size graphic novels:

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Powers of a Squirrel The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 1) #1–8 January 7, 2020 9781302920456
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Big Squirrels Don't Cry The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #1–11, Howard the Duck (vol. 6) #6 June 25, 2020 9781302921163
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrels Just Want To Have Fun The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #12–22 September 7, 2021 9781302929909

The series has been collected into Hardcover:

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 1) #1–8, Marvel Super-Heroes #8, and material from GLX-Mas Special #1, The Thing (vol. 2) #8, Age of Heroes #3 15 November 2016 9781302902247
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 2 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #1–11, Howard the Duck (vol. 6) #6 16 May 2017 9781302903732
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 3 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #12–21 20 March 2018 9781302908447
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 4 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #22–31, and material from A Year Of Marvels: Unbeatable #1, Not Brand Echh #14 5 February 2019 9781302915445
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 1) #1-8, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) #1-50, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe, Howard the Duck (vol. 6) #6, and material from A Year of Marvels: Unbeatable #1, Not Brand Echh #14 7 February 2023 978-1302950613

Graphic novel

Squirrel Girl has also been featured in a graphic novel written by The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl's creative team released as an independent story.

Title Pages Publication date ISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe 120 pages October 2016 9781302903039

Novels

Squirrel Girl has also been featured in two

middle grade novels
.

Title Author Publication date ISBN
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World Shannon Hale & Dean Hale February 7, 2017 9781484781548
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: 2 Fuzzy, 2 Furious Shannon Hale & Dean Hale March 6, 2018 978-1368011266

In other media

References

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  2. ^ sdsichero. "Next Artist For 'The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl' Series Announced". Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  3. ^ a b c Maas, Jennifer (April 18, 2022). "Marvel Launches 'Squirrel Girl' Scripted Podcast From Writer Ryan North (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  4. ^ Barsanti, Sam (31 July 2014). "Marvel might be doing something with Squirrel Girl, proving that no superhero is too small". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
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  19. ^ The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 2 #6
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External links