about the book
If you need a palette cleanser from the standard cape and tights fare, this is the graphic novel for you. Meet the young squirrelly protagonist. She’s cute. She’s bubbly. She’s witty and empathic. She can talk to and make friends with anyone. She just wants to experience real college life. As Tony Spark’s friend, she’s tired of living in the Avengers’ attic (yup, those Marvel Avengers!)
Squirrel Girl adopts the Doreen Green identity, enrolls in Empire State University’s computer science program, and rents an apartment with her quirky pals. Tippy-Toe is a small talking gray squirrel. Nancy Whitehead, a snarky tall masculine-looking black gal, is obsessed with knitting. Chipmunk Hunk is the quintessential hunky masked superhero type, and Koi Boi is a shorter oriental dude who wears fish-eyed goggles to distract from his true abilities. With friends like that, it shouldn’t be too hard to fit in, right?
Like that is going to happen! I did say Squirrel Girl, didn’t I? A mutant, she has super squirrel strength, speed, and, agility, and she looks like—that’s right, a squirrel! The huge bushy tail is a problem. When not fighting crime or saving civilians, she tucks it into the back of her pants, which in her words, givers her a conspicuously bodacious rad podunk! (Goofy, right? Check out the sly asides at the bottom of each page!)
Unfortunately, almost as soon as she hits the campus, Tippy-Toe reports from the worldwide squirrel network (yah, it’s a thing) that Galactus, the Devourer of Earths, is headed toward our planet, looking to get his snack on.
Besides the squirrelly abilities, all she’s got to beat this unbeatable bad guy (who can shoot lasers from his eyes and create and destroy life across all space and time) is an army of squirrels, a collection of Deadpool villain trading cards, and nut-inspired catch phrases. She’ll just have to talk her way out of this mess! Unfortunately for Squirrel Girl, this mega villain wields the Power Cosmic, so talking to quirky squirrels is no big thing! He just hurls her back to the 1960s and erases her from the future.
Now what can she do? She has to save Earth. She has to save her friends in the future. She has to save her nice normal campus life! Can she find an invincible Avenger to help her? Can she use social media to get out of this conundrum? Will Nancy even remember her?
Squirrel Girl is the only thing that stands between Earth and total destruction! Nuts!!!
(This graphic novel also includes the original 1991 classic Marvel Super-Heroes #8 comic, in which Squirrel Girl first appears.)
about the author/illustrator
Ryan North is a man who wears many hats. He is a computer programmer, an entrepreneur, a t-shirt maker, a longboarding enthusiast, a songwriter, a humorist, a distracted comic illustrator and writer, a prankster, and a troublemaker. Check out how he got himself and his dog stuck in a rain-slicked, empty, graffiti-embellished swimming pool/local amateur skate pit.
Ryan was born on October 20, 1980, and grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, in Canada. He studied computer science and film at Carleton University and earned a master’s in computational linguistics at the University of Toronto.
He is the creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, which has run for more than 2700 issues, and the co-creator of Whispered Apologies and Happy Dog the Happy Dog. He is also the co-editor of the Machine of Death series and the author of To Be or Not To Be, a choose-your-own-path version of Hamlet. He is best known as the writer of the Adventure Time comic book series, which won an Eisner Award and a Harvey Award. He is currently working on The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for Marvel Comics.
When he wasn’t working on comics, Ryan created three tools to aid webcomic authors: Oh No Robot, a webcomic transcription tool that creates searchable text databases for comics; RSSpect, a method of creating RSS feeds for websites; and Project Wonderful, a pay-per-day auction-based ad serving system.
Six-foot six-and-a-half-inch tall, Ryan is a total introvert with good friends. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, with his wife Jenn Klug and Noam Chompsky, their dog. Ryan uses dog walking time to work out plots, figure out jokes, and recharge his creative juices.
Sources:
Author/Illustrator interview: Life Hacker
Author/Illustrator Q&A: Quora
Author/Illustrator biography: Wikipedia
Book trailer: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Also by Ryan North:
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe. Marvel Entertainment Group. 2016.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl : 5 : Like I’m the Only Squirrel in the World. Marvel Entertainment Group. April 2017.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl : 4 : I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked It. Marvel Entertainment Group. 2016.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl : 3 : Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now. Marvel Entertainment Group. 2016.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl : 2 : Squirrel You Know It’s True. Marvel Entertainment Group. 2015.
read more!
The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks
Superhero Girl has the power to leap tall buildings, and one punch from her super-powered fist can send an alien monster back into space. Yet she struggles to pay rent and has to buy her capes from thrift stores. For this gal, being a superhero with powers is a boring, humorously ordinary life!
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl : 2 : Squirrel You Know It’s True by Ryan North
When Squirrel Girl meets Chipmunk Hunk, Koi Boi, and Girl Squirrel, she hopes they’ll be new allies, but she has her doubts about Girl Squirrel. And the world’s fate is at risk when Ratatoskr, the Norse God of Squirrels, attacks.