Guest Recap By Lauren Carr! The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volume 1: Squirrel Power

Happy Friday! I am excited to announce my first ever guess recap. Lauren was happy to recap her favorite comic! I have also read this comic because of her recommendation and let me tell you, while I am a hard core DC fan. This comic really pulled me in and I think this recap might do the same for you!

Hi there! Shari has been kind enough to let me take over her blog for a guest post. I chose to recap the first volume of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Power from Marvel. This series is a great place to start to get introduced to the Marvel universe, as well as to get those feelings of pure friendship and love we all need and crave. As someone who only had knowledge of the Marvel universe via the movies prior to reading this series, I was pleasantly surprised at how in-depth the Marvel education and know-how was. I hope everyone enjoys Squirrel Girl’s adventures as much as I do.

Issue 1:

We start this issue, and Squirrel Girl’s whole story, with shots of her singing her own theme song (to the tune of Spider Man's) as she beats up thieves. I mean, what’s more to like than a badass woman who isn’t afraid of singing in public AND of singing her own praises? It’s such a great way to get a very quick glimpse of who she is. I’m immediately in love with her self love and confidence. We learn her real name is Doreen Green and she’s about to go to college. We meet Doreen’s squirrel friend, Tippy, as they discuss Doreen’s plans while at college, all while Doreen seamlessly stops another thief (what is up with all this crime?). If you haven’t noticed by now, there is tiny text at the bottom of the pages. It’s too much for me to personally read each line but if you are into that, awesome.

While moving boxes into her dorm, Doreen runs into Tomas, another freshman. He seems to notice her talking to Tippy but isn’t able to get a word in before Doreen runs off. If you take a close look at Doreen’s outfit, you’ll notice she is wearing an “MJ” necklace, which refers to Monkey Joe, Squirrel Girl’s original squirrel pal back in the day.

Doreen makes it to her dorm where she meets Nancy Whitehead, her new roommate. Nancy is no nonsense, is a knitter, and loves her cat, Mew. Before the two girls can bond, Doreen spots a man swinging past her window, Tippy in his hands. Making an excuse to Nancy, she runs out, quickly changes, and uses her Deadpool’s Guide to Supervillains cards to learn the man is Kraven the Hunter. She approaches Kraven, but when he won’t release Tippy after she asks, Squirrel Girl fights him. She throws him up in the air as she decides what to do with him. When he falls back down to earth, they end up talking, and Doreen convinces Kraven there are better creatures out there to hunt than squirrels and spider men. He now has a better purpose in his life and he leaves Tippy to pursue his new found passion - hunting giant sea monsters.

Doreen goes back to her dorm and informs Nancy that Tippy will be staying with them too. That’s when Tippy starts talking to another squirrel and learns there’s something giant up in space heading their way, the planet is doomed! Thankfully, they have enough time for college orientation before Doreen has to figure out what’s going on.

Issue 2:

The first page introduces us to Galactus, a clearly giant space humanoid, heading toward Earth. In another part of the universe, Doreen and Nancy head off to orientation where they learn about clubs. Doreen runs into Tomas again. Tomas tries to chat with Doreen (he’s a super friendly guy, it’s cool) but Doreen gets lost in her own thoughts, imagining her future relationship with Tomas, until Nancy pulls her into the bathroom to point out how Doreen clearly has a crush. (Best roommate ever?) While contemplating her future, Tippy interrupts Doreen and informs her that the future may not exist because the Star Sphere (Galactus’ spaceship) is on its way. Queue Deadpool’s cards again where we learn about Galactus. There’s only 2 hours until Galactus will be at Earth so Doreen quickly turns into Squirrel Girl and heads to Stark Tower, she’s gotta find a way to the moon so she can stop Galactus there.

Doreen uses her awesome squirrel abilities to break into Stark Tower where she attempts to sneak her way into Tony’s armor room. She doesn’t quite make it before robots made out of Tony’s old suits find her and they kick her out. But no worries, while Doreen was busy distracting the robots, her squirrel friends were stealing all the goods. Squirrel Girl is able to commandeer Stark tech into helping her create some really rad (and maybe only slightly creepy lookin) suits for her and Tippy. But just as they begin to fly off to head to the moon, a dude named Whiplash spots them and, thinking Doreen is Iron Man, lashes Squirrel Girl back to the earth. It’s a real bummer because there’s only 1 more hour before Galactus arrives. How will Squirrel Girl get out of this one?!

Issue 3:

This issue begins with some tweets - these and all future ones are definitely worth reading if you have a bit of extra time to give them a look over.

The comic begins with Nancy wanting some falafel but needing cash so she heads to the bank as a real rude man pushes in front of her. Cut to Doreen getting out of the Iron Man armor to keep it safe and figure out what’s going on. She meets Whiplash and is unimpressed as he attempts to fight her in an honestly futile attempt to hurt Tony Stark. Her frustration with Whiplash’s ineptitude to understand the seriousness of the situation leads her to pantomiming what she needs to do and then pulling out her Deadpool card on Galactus. But Whiplash, being the asshole he is, slices the card in half without even reading it. Squirrel Girl is pissed now so she calls her squirrel friends into action - they swarm up Whiplash’s whip and into his mouth. It’s gross, but it does work. Doreen asks the squirrels to keep him tied down while she goes off to fight Galactus. A chipmunk shows up, thinking he’s helping Chipmunk Hunk, only to realize he’s in the wrong place, helping Squirrel Girl.

With 50 minutes left before Galactus arrives, Squirrel Girl gets ready to suit up again until she learns from another squirrel that the bank is being held hostage. Squirrel Girl knows she has to save the hostages while also stopping Galactus so she comes up with a new maneuver. 

Flash to the bank, Nancy is there and is one of the hostages! She taunts one of the robbers (his name is Larry) in a truly brave attempt to distract and keep him from killing anyone. (Best roommate ever?) She’s able to distract him long enough until a creature made out of squirrels barges in and punches Larry right in the face. Turns out Squirrel Girl is surrounded by squirrels. They free the hostages, including Nancy, who notices Tippy Toe. Squirrel Girl gets out of her live squirrel suit, leaving the squirrels to beat up the robbers. She gets back in her Iron Man suit, makes a quick pit stop at the Stark Tower again to get better thrusting power, and she and Tippy make it to the moon. Only problem? Galactus just passed the moon. Squirrel Girl thinks on her tail and has the suit turn into a giant hand that points Galactus back at Squirrel Girl and the moon. Galactus, for reasons unknown, heeds the hand’s directions and hops onto the moon to see what the hell is going on. Squirrel Girl and Tippy jump up to face him.

Issue 4:

This issue tricks us with a panel showing Squirrel Girl on Galactus. She won! But surprise, we don’t actually know how that happened and it’s not really the full story or the end of the story for that matter. Squirrel Girl regales us of how her interaction with Galactus went. Her and Tippy went up to Galactus and kicked and punched him in his foot while yelling out what I assume they thought were threats (it was mostly about eating nuts and then maybe kicking butts). Squirrel Girl realizes that Galactus likely can’t hear her because of how space works but she thinks about vibrations and attempts to speak with him while touching his foot. It appears to work because he picks her up in his giant hand.

Galactus, Squirrel Girl, and Tippy all have a conversation about why they’re there and how awesome Galactus is. We get some background info about Galactus and then get back to the point of how Squirrel Girl is trying to stop him. She mentions how she beat up Thanos (to signify she could do it to Galactus) and that gets a laugh out of the giant person who wields the Power Cosmic (aka Galactus). But her words are not enough to convince Galactus to not eat Earth. He heads back to his ship so Squirrel Girl launches herself into his ship to try to figure out a new plan. She finds his computer (Galactus and his ship look different to each species) and decides to hack into it.

Twenty-five minutes later, Squirrel Girl pops her head into Galactus’ main deck and tells him she knows his secret: he comes to Earth so he can “order in”. The humans of Earth will find other planets for him to eat in order to save their own. Turns out Doreen found a planet full of nuts but no sentient life, it’s the perfect place for Galactus to eat his fill without harming anyone. Galactus listens and they all travel to the nut planet together and eat to their hearts’ content.

We return to the present day where Squirrel Girl finishes her story of her interaction with Galactus by saying they all over ate. Galactus wakes up from his nap and gives Doreen an updated Deadpool card of Galactus as a gift. It’s very sweet. Galactus sends Doreen back home which is great because she’s late for class. She sits next to Nancy when she gets to class and Nancy tells Doreen she knows she’s Squirrel Girl…and she’s totally cool with it (best roommate ever?). After class, Doreen has the squirrels envelope Nancy so she can experience what it’s like. A page later, we see that Whiplash is still being held by the squirrels and the poor guy has to use the bathroom. The end.

Thoughts:

The volume really ends with the issue of the first appearance of Squirrel Girl but I didn’t want to write about that. You’ll have to go read it for yourself if you’re interested. It is useful information to have, as Ryan North, the author of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series, does reference the OG Squirrel Girl a few times throughout the run.

And while I love this new version of her (this is the comic book that got me into comics), this first volume has her physically beating up bad guys and has her squirrel friends punching bad guys, which seems a little counterintuitive to who I think Squirrel Girl actually is. Doreen Green, aka Squirrel Girl, is a person and hero who uses friendship and caring to help bad guys realize they don’t have to make bad decisions. She doesn’t need to punch or kick anyone and it’s a little disappointing that she does use physical harm in this first volume.

With that said, I still love this whole run. Having read the entire 12 volumes of this story, it’s fascinating to go back and see the Easter eggs in the very first volume. I won’t spoil anything for those who haven’t finished though so it’s up to you to discover them yourself. I love how Doreen Green is drawn, she looks like a normal human. Thank you Erica Henderson (artist) for doing that. It was a really good choice. I love Doreen’s self love and confidence, I mean, she knew she’d be able to beat Galactus, not all of us could say the same. And who doesn’t want their own copy of Deadpool’s Guide to Supervillains cards? They are such a great way to quickly learn about the different baddies in Marvel while also getting some quips from Deadpool himself. There are some really great lines said by the characters in these stories too that are 100% worth reading. Erica and Ryan also answer fan questions in between each issue which can be enjoyable to glance over. They include pictures of cosplay and all things squirrel and it’s great. Overall Squirrel Girl’s stories are fun while also promoting well being and communication. I love them!

If you liked this post and want more guest authors on this blog every once in a while, comment below. And if you think there’s a better friendship than Doreen and Nancy, let me know, I want to read about it!

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