Marvel Pick Of The Week - March 18, 2015 [SPOILERS]

Pick Of The Week:

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 3, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

Armed with little more than confidence, an army of loyal squirrels, and a stolen – borrowed? – suit of Iron Man’s armor, Doreen Green heads to the moon to punch Galactus in the face before he has a chance to eat the entire planet Earth. Along the way, she might also have to fight a classic Iron Man villain and stop a bank robbery, but nothing ever makes her think she can’t just punch Galactus in the face. Because she totally can.

Every issue of this series thus far has been terrific, exemplifying the kind of fun humor Marvel Comics can support when it doesn’t take itself so seriously. Deadpool tackles this type of playful exploration of the universe, but the violence in his gags usually takes me out of the story. Squirrel Girl is a character who can make a situation even funnier by the way she so dramatically eschews violence. For instance, in this go-round, Doreen convinces her army of squirrels to subdue the bad guy and then hold paws until they’ve formed the cutest net ever to pin him to the ground. Then she lectures him, “I need to fight Galactus, dude. Galactus.”

Her supporting cast continues to develop, with a spotlight on her roommate, Nancy. Poor Nancy runs into the bank to get some cash for the falafel cart (and they make every falafel joke they can except “I can’t go to school today, I falafel,” which my favorite and only falafel joke). Bad timing – the bank gets robbed, and she is disgusted to find herself held hostage by “a mime doing Zorro cosplay.” And like the best supporting characters in superhero comics, Nancy appreciates the rescue by Squirrel Girl, but she’s pretty much saved herself by cleverly annoying the criminals until they’re ready to let her go.

Squirrel Girl hasn’t made it above Honorable Mention for me before this one for two major reasons. First, the humor is great, but the first two issues were up against Ant-Man, and Spencer’s lovable loser jokes are just a twitch closer to my heart than the sweetly silly bombast of Ryan North’s script. Second, the art is unlike anything else at Marvel now, but it has taken me this long to get into what Erica Henderson’s doing. It’s terrific. The cartooning is expressive and communicates perfect comedic timing, but it’s just taken me a while to get on board with the facial distortions. Now that I’m in, you can expect to see The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl top this weekly roundup again.

Honorable Mentions:

Silk 2, because Stacey Lee is absolutely killing it on art. The story’s terrific, with the character in an exciting battle with an evil tentacled skull robot while trying to find her missing family, but even out of context, every panel is gorgeous.

Moon Knight 13, because Cullen Bunn takes over writing with a done-in-one violent ghost story that is not afraid to show Moon Knight as kind of a jerk, and maybe prejudiced against dead people.

Captain America And The Mighty Avengers 6, because THIS is the group our heroes should be fighting. I want a response to WESPE from each candidate next year before I cast my vote.

Also, this cover is the scariest thing since Rafael Albuquerque’s Joker variant. Seriously. And the inside pages are just as scary.

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Marvel Pick Of The Week – March 18, 2015 [SPOILERS]

By Matt Conner | Mar 18, 2015

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