The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4

Written by Ryan North
Art by Erica Henderson
Color Art by Rico Renzi
Galactus Trading Card Art by Chris Giarrusso

I just read a comic book that was so dang adorable it made me mad. Has that ever happened to you?
The funnybook in question is the fourth issue of Ryan North and Erica Henderson's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, wherein the titular character comes face to face with none other than the devourer of worlds, Galactus. Fans of the Squirrel Girl character already know she has a penchant for throwing down with cosmic baddies and coming out on top. Just ask Thanos.

Or even Dr. Doom.

I should confess that I hadn't actually been reading Squirrel Girl up to this point. I'm more of a Howard the Duck guy. But everything I ever heard about the power of a cover proved true when I saw this on the "new releases" shelf at my LCS.

Mmm . . . takes me back to X-Men vs. Street Fighter. I bet S.G. has a totally cheap infinite combo.
In this issue, our plucky heroine and her furry sidekick Tippy Toes steal some Stark tech and head for the stars, but end up settling for the Moon. Galactus has arrived in a "stealth ship" of some sort, allowing him to sneak up on the unsuspecting planet Earth and get his munch on. His past attempts involved a herald (like Silver Surfer or the Frankie Raye Nova) coming to warn the planet ahead of time, which even Tippy Toes points out is a bad move, since Earth seems to be the home of most of the superhero population. Why would the big guy want to warn them ahead of time?
The first page, after an amusing Twitter exchange between Tony Stark and Doreen (Squrrel Girl) that acts as a recap page, is an image of a defeated Galactus lying on his back with S.G. and Tippy Toes taking a victory selfie. Then the "secret narrator" at the bottom of the page tells us the issue is over and it's onward to the letters page. The next two pages are the letters page, which not only follows through on the gag, but commands that the reader not take this stuff too seriously.

And I like that.

The "secret narrator" I mentioned chimes in at the bottom of each page, never letting up with the puns, fun facts, and words of encouragement for the protagonist. It's a fun device, but I could see it wearing thin if I were to continue on with the series or snatch up the previous three issues. But the print is tiny, if not invisible to some, and it's down at the bottom of each page, so you can ignore it if you want to, unlike the voices in your head.

You probably just have a squirrel or two trapped in your dome. Like Whiplash. Poor schlub.
S.G. deals with Galactus using her Marvel fangirl-powered ability to recognize patterns and detect tropes. She knows the only way to get Galactus to leave is to provide him with an alternative food source. To get the devourer off-world and keep him there, she sneaks aboard Big G's space laboratory thingy and finds a planet populated only by nut trees. As we all know, nuts are a great source of protein and lipids and whatnot, so their supposed "life energy" will be enough to tide the purple planet eater over for a while.

The dialogue here might irk the nerdiest of nerds, as Galactus isn't really presented as the force of nature longtime Marvel readers will know him to be. But what North and Henderson do so well here is take the piss out of it. Squirrel Girl knows how heroes, villains, and demigods operate in the Marvel universe, which allows her to dart past and dodge the same tired, old scenarios.
And for saving the world, she gets a trading card! It's not even a holofoil tho . . .

North's script is fun and funny, and features a pacing he honed during his time working on the Adventure Time comic book series. Erica Henderson makes Doreen, Tippy Toe, and everyone else involved as cute as can be. Like so cute  . . . it hurts me. Seriously. I'm getting some kind of weird sugar high just looking at this comic. I should put it down.

I want to rant about how this is "how comics should be" and everything else from Marvel is grim and gritty garbage, but I can't. Squirrel Girl isn't alone as a lighter, more fun to read superhero book. Marvel's making a real effort with this series, as well as Ms. Marvel, Howard the Duck, and even Nick Spencer's Ant-Man, which has been surprisingly bouncy.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed this read quite a bit, especially since I only picked it off the shelf for the Capcom fighting game homage cover. It's a dreary kind of day when you wake up wanting to be a bitchy neckbeard, and are pleasantly surprised. Can't I just be angry?

Gahhh . . . the cuteness . . . it burns! Okay, okay, I'll be happy!