My life has been nuts lately, so what better book to check out than Squirrel Girl!
This book has been highly recommended by my friend Michael at My Comic Relief who waxes poetic about this series. Combined with my need for a short book to review this week, due to a time crunch with the upcoming holidays and a big final project due in one of my grad classes, I gave it a go. The book was funny, quirky, girl-friendly, and well drawn…but a bit annoying.
We are introduced to Doreen, aka Squirrel Girl, who is moving into her college dorm and meeting her roommate Nancy (♥) for the first time. To hide her secret identity, Doreen tucks her tail into her pants, giving her a Kardashian look on her already voluptuous figure. Already, I like that she is realistically proportioned, and not some fanboy version of what a female should look like.
She gets pulled into battles with Kraven the Hunter, Whiplash, and later with the mighty Galactus in between attending classes. How does she fight these super villains, when her powers are not equal to theirs? She talks them to death. The back and forth banter between all the characters is clever, with additional social media inserts that are amusing, but at times overkill. In addition, there is running commentary at the bottom of many pages that I found distracting.
The artwork is bright and attractive, with a varied layout of panels that pull you into the story. The Deadpool cards were an awesome addition. I loved how they put the first time SG ever appeared in a Marvel comic, and her story with Iron Man, in this book. Flashback to the epic costumes and drawing styles of the late 80’s/early 90’s! While this is somewhat her origin story, I would like more info on how she acquired her powers.
I look forward to Michael’s longer and more in depth blog about Doreen. He will certainly make connections that I couldn’t muster during my initial read through. This short and sweet review (just like SG!) will have to do for now. So remember- you don’t need luck, just eat nuts!
-Nancy
December 3, 2016 at 4:35 pm
Ahh, yay! I’m glad you’ve taken your first step into the world of Squirrel Girl. I’m in the process of doing some obligatory re-reading (and not at all driven by just-for-fun-because-I-love-the-book reasons) before I can finish my next post on Doreen and her crew :). I can appreciate the distracting nature of some of the commentary/social media/asides. Ryan North likes to throw a lot at his readers! But I’ve been reading his Dinosaur Comics online for years so I’m pretty used to his style. Anyway, I’m glad you’ve infused a little Squirrel Power into your end-of-term project. I hope it helped!
Also, how great is Nancy?? The supporting cast in this book (Mew and Tippy-Toe included) are fantastic!
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December 3, 2016 at 6:42 pm
I agree on the supporting characters- I almost felt bad being critical of the series, because it has a lot of other great features.
When I went to order this book through my library lending system, I did not even realize my library owned a copy! It was in the Juvenile section, while I do the ordering for the teen and adult graphic novel section. I almost feel we should have two copies of it- one for the younger set who do not go in the graphic novel area we have in the adult section, but then I don’t want teens or adults to miss out on reading it either.
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December 7, 2016 at 3:47 pm
I love Squirrel Girl! She is one of my favorite characters and I have been collecting her since Ryan North started writing it a couple years ago. Squirrel Girl has a stand alone graphic novel called, “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe”that is super fun.
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December 7, 2016 at 4:46 pm
I will have to check that one out!
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December 9, 2016 at 2:22 pm
I’ve been meaning to read this series. It got many awards but now I don’t know if I should. Is it worth renting?
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December 9, 2016 at 3:42 pm
It is a fun quick read that people of all ages will find some humor in. If you want something light to read, this would be a good choice.
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