Sigh. I knew that name trademark was leading to something.
Marvel’s announced an ongoing comic book series for joke superheroine Squirrel Girl. They’ve deigned to bestow the adjective of “Unbeatable” preceding her name. It will be written by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, Adventure Time, and The Midas Flesh, while it will be illustrated by Erica Henderson, who’s worked on the books Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures, Marceline and the Scream Queens, and Subatomic Party Girls.
For the uninitiated, Squirrel Girl started out as a member of the Great Lakes Avengers, a “comedy” superhero team with conceptually gross members like Big Bertha, a supermodel mutant that can become superhumanly durable but obese that slims down by vomiting. Squirrel Girl moved on to beat up the likes of Doctor Doom and Thanos under the pens of various writers, and has also been a babysitter for other heroes’ children in the Marvel Universe.
If anyone’s going to find a fresh angle for a tired comedy act that should have been put to pasture long ago, it’s hopefully going to be those two. If nothing else, it’ll be good to see more of Henderson’s art, which is colorful and portrays women with faces and body types that aren’t superhero comics’ norm.
Agree with the article. Marvel seems to think jokes work best when you run them into the ground. Nothing against “joke comics” or adding humor to their universe, but I don’t think Marvel has a very good record with them… Haven’t read anything that Ryan North wrote, though, so maybe he can make it happen and actually have the “joke” be something more than “Oh look, here’s Squirrel Girl, you will SO laugh when you find out which big villain she beat up this time! How unlikely is this? Ha ha”
Admittedly, I am not entirely averse to this…
This is very cool news. Lots of male characters get to have fun in “joke” comics. I’d love to see Squirrel Girl’s “joke” continue, if written well.
I know very little about this character but what I do know I like and I really like both of these creators. I’m going to put myself down as “cautiously optimistic”