#Booky100Keepers Day 52: "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Derek Charm et al (Marvel Comics)

In my constant quest to lure C deeper and deeper into a love of comics, I wanted to find a Marvel or DC super-hero series that she could call her own. Luckily, as it happens, Marvel have been going through something of a radical reinvention over the past ten years, switching comics from being solely the 'territory' of white male stay-at-homes obsessed with boob windows and ultra-violence, more into the realms of super-kick-ass girl comics with clever heroes at their core.

"The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" series may now be done and dusted (waahhhhh, boo!!!!) but over the course of Ryan North, Erica Henderson and Derek Charm's run, they've produced one of the best comic series Marvel have ever run.

Doreen Green, the squirrel-loving squirrel-powered superhero at the heart of the comic is exactly the sort of girl superhero I wanted C to seek out, and after picking up the first volume (the brilliant "Squirrel Power") she was hooked almost instantly. Doreen isn't some glamour-puss clad in Lycra, but she is unbeatable, sassy, utterly charming and completely wonderful in every way (we're still completely baffled why she doesn't have her own MCU movie but, yeah, Hollywood males failing to cast Shannon Purser in her own SG movie is one of the greatest injustices ever done to comic moviedom).

When we first meet Doreen she's enrolling in college for the first time, where she meets her bestie (and regular awesome comic sidekick) Nancy Whitehead, forming a friendship that also leads to some real heartstring-tugging moments later on once the series beds in (one story where Squirrel Girl and Nancy enter 'hypertime' and age rapidly / move more quickly than the world around them leads to one of the most touching moments I think I've ever seen in any Marvel comic full stop).

The other lure of this series is how Doreen interacts with and quite often bounces off other characters in the Marvel comics universe. Her Twitter exchanges with Tony Stark (Iron Man) are worth the entry fee alone, as is the adventure where Doreen's slightly evil but well meaning clone actually duffs up the entire Marvel universe is just sheer brilliance.

As we've said in these articles, kids are spoilt for choice for brilliant comics - and the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comics have a wide ranging fan base of all ages (including loads of kids like my daughter) who just can't get enough of whip-smart writing and gorgeous illustrations at the very highest level such as you'll find here.

Unbeatable? Unmissable more like!

Original Review Links:

ReadItDaddy's Book(s) of the Week - Week Ending 24th February 2017 - "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volumes 1 and 2" by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

Powering up with four recent comic acquisitions featuring thoroughly mighty women.

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 10th August 2018: "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volume 8: My Best Friend's Squirrel" by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 13th April 2018 - "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volume 7: "I've been waiting for a Squirrel like you" by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel Comics)

ReadItDaddy's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week - Week Ending 16th August 2019: "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volume 10: Life Is Too Short, Squirrel" by Ryan North, Erica Henderson (cover) and Derek Charm (interior and comic artwork) (Marvel Comics)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 1st February 2019: "Marvel Rising Volume 1" by Devin Grayson, Ryan North, G Willow Wilson, Gurihiru and various artists (Marvel)