Just like my mix-up with Ms. Marvel, I accidentally skipped a book and read volume 3 of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Really Got Me Now before reading volume 2, Squirrel You Know it’s True. Fortunately, missing two did not affect my enjoyment of three, as both books have contained story lines. However, catching up by reading two did give me a few “ah ha” moments of now understanding references in three.
All three Squirrel Girl graphic novels, that I have read so far, written by Ryan North and illustrated by Erica Hendrson, have been pure delight. She wasn’t made specifically to be an antidote to the grim dark direction of some comics but was made as something that the creative team would want to read. Squirrel Girl has since found a growing fan base of all age readers.
Squirrel You Know it’s True opens with an attack on the Statue of Liberty, with Doreen’s (a.k.a. Squirrel Girl’s) roommate and best friend trapped in the statue’s head with other civilians. Squirrel Girl, along with other Avengers, are working on defeating the dinosaurs and mounting a rescue. To pass the time the people share which Avenger they want to save them. Nancy naturally responds Squirrel Girl with everyone else baffled by who exactly Squirrel Girl is. As Nancy tries to explain, people keep interrupting with what they think they know about our heroine. Mixing up origin stories and vastly inflating the truth with internet rumors, it’s clear that while the public may know her name, Squirrel Girl has not hit the collective conscious yet, the way her more famous counterparts have.
Squirrel Girl continues to get out of fights with villains by talking, empathizing with them, and finding alternate solutions, instead of punching them into submission. In this volume we are introduced to Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boy, contemporaries of Squirrel Girl, with the ability to communicate with chipmunks and fish. While Nancy is a non-animal speaking human, her brains and quick thinking make her a vital component of the fledgling team. In the arc where Squirrel Girl gets to team up with lady Thor, Odinson (previous Thor), and Loki, Nancy plays an important role in the final solution. The volume wraps up with a few short appearances of Squirrel Girl in other comics: GLX-MAS Special #1, The Thing #8, and Age of Heroes #3.
Squirrel Girl is awesome and I highly recommend both the graphic novels and standalone chapter books for readers of all ages.
I’ve been meaning to read the Squirrel Girl series (both graphic novel and middle readers by Shannon Hale) Good to know I wasn’t the only one!
Yes! Go get them and don’t let them languish in your TBR, you won’t regret it :)