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Squirrel-Girl Gets Ongoing Title | January 2015
bralinator
Posts: 5,967
In her first appearance, Doreen Green defeated Doctor Doom. Since then, she’s taken on Wolverine, Deadpool, and Thanos—and she’s never lost a battle. Not bad for a Marvel Comics back-bencher who’s probably best known for being Luke Cage’s nanny. And don't forget her time in the Great Lakes Avengers... But now, at long last, Squirrel Girl is getting her own solo ongoing series starting in January.
‘Unbeatable Squirrel Girl’ Comic Chronicles Avengers Nanny In College And Beyond
Marvel is cancelling Fantastic Four and giving Squirrel-Girl an ongoing title. What strange times we are living in! I think Marvel may be trying to tap into the same audience that's buying up Ms Marvel, Silver Surfer and She-Hulk. Clearly going for whimsy and far removed from the mid-90's angst.
(BTW, I love the Art Adams variant cover at the link!)
Comments
Gee, Cory, why is it you like Marvel more than DC again?
All that said, this, to me isn't whimsy. It's absurdity. I'll take the people getting their heads punched off.
That way there's enough for everyone instead of EVERY Book published by a company being the same tone. Music is better when there are chords, and comics are better when you have more than a single tone.
I always hate it when a character created for whimsy and humor gets shoved in a story where people are raped (Identity Crisis) or have over-the-top violence (anything in the New 52). Not everything needs to be Breaking Bad, as good as it is, I also want to watch something light like Warehouse 13, a comedy like Brooklyn 9 9 and so on.
You can have people getting their heads punched off. Me, I think there needs to be room for silly super-hero stuff as well.
I like Squirrel Girl from back in the GLA mini. I like the almost inside joke that this throwaway C-list character is undefeated and gives the likes of Wolverine pause. I worry a bit that bringing the inside joke out into full view might dimnish it but I';m going to give it a go anyway.
I can't wait, though I think it would be best if her big wins happen off camera like when she defeated Fin Fang Foom
That in turn, is part of my issue I suppose - both Marvel and DC have created at least semi-cohesive universes that have whimsy in places and gravitas in other places. Ultimately, my preference is for some level of internal consistency.
Identity Crisis was certainly a dark story much as you described, but it seems to me that it's, with a diametric twist, the same juxtaposition of character as Doom's appearance in that first Squirrel Girl story. Is the one good because it's lighthearted in it's undermining of Doom as a serious contender while the other applies dark consequences to a character that was created for whimsy and humor while still spending years hanging around with the decidedly non-whimsical Orphan and Exile League of America?
I'm not sure that we're reading the same DC books. If we distill cape comics down to their essence, aren't they all people in tights punching each other to submission? They've certainly upped the violence quotient in a lot of their books, but Batwoman, for instance, has been a really good book, and not, IMO over-the-top in violence.
I enjoy Brooklyn 9-9 and loved Raising Hope (not that you asked) and I watched every episode of Warehouse 13, but I was always left feeling that it was lacking something that the old Friday the 13th TV series (no Jason, all about a pair of youngins trying to recover a whole host of cursed artifacts from their deceased evil (?) uncle's antique store. It was all kinds of bad '80's hair and scripting, but it didn't make light of the circumstances behind the mission.
And it speaks volumes that we're at a point in time when FF is being cancelled but they're giving Squirrel Girl an ongoing series.
I WILL give the first issue a try, though. It COULD be good. And it will certainly be something different. I strongly suspect, though, that it's going to be a lot of what I would call hipsterish humor, which I usually dislike.
As far as the character goes, I just don't see a lot of substance there. I've enjoyed her to an extent as a supporting character, but she's never struck me as being all that interesting, or even potentially interesting.
Lately she just seems to have become a joke or living meme or something. Which is fine for what it is, I guess. I even entered an online contest once when a statue company asked which Marvel character they should do a statue of next, and my entree was an enthusiastic "Squirrel Girl!"
I'm all for fun and humor and goofiness, but I'd be lying if I said that seeing more than a couple images of Squirrel Girl defeating the likes of Doom and Thanos didn't irk me a tad, similar to how silly it was to see Wolverine defeat Lobo off-panel back in the day. I get that with Squirrel Girl it's supposed to be humorous, and to a large extent it is... but at the same time I think it'd also be funny for there to be a set-up in which you think she's once again about to defeat Thanos or whatever... and then you turn the page and see Thanos blasting her head off. If that sounds sexist or whatever, just substitute Gamora or Nebula in for Thanos.
I'm just really ambivalent about the whole thing. I think it could be cute, but as someone who did not think Hawkeye #11 was the greatest comic of all time, it's just really annoying to me, this trend of "All we have to do is throw in something goofy, and it suddenly becomes profound." All they'll have to do is show two panels of Squirrel Girl talking to her dog and then talking to the old man who lives next door to her, and you'll have a dozen critics falling all over themselves saying that her supporting cast is the greatest and most original in comics history.
Still, I'll give it a shot. It's better than making room in the schedule for another Avengers title.
Heck, it isn't even the worst indignity he had suffered:
http://io9.com/5899111/10-times-doctor-dooms-dignity-went-down-the-toilet
I can see some executive saying, "We need a funny book with a screwball female lead. Who've you got for me?"
'Stan, stop working on that western and make up a team book of super heroes! I hear that DC's doing good with that Justice League stuff they're putting out. I'm going to lunch. Let me know how it turns out.'
@Hex - Agree!
@shroud68 - Agree!