The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up The Marvel Universe!
Grade: B+
Of all the books I read over the holidays The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up The Marvel Universe was the one I was probably most looking forward to. Doreen winds up getting cloned accidentally (because Tony Stark apparently can’t do anything right in the comics) and cloned Doreen decides that in order to make the planet safe for squirrels she needs to get rid of the humans.
This was almost to packed with cameos (and really why does Tony always come off like such a dip in these stories?). The most emotional moments involved the squirrels and I kind of felt for clone Doreen. I enjoyed it and it had some cute moments. But it was also a bit disappointing and it lacked some spark that the other Squirrel Girl’s had for me. I think even despite the clone Doreen’s starting to veer into that too perfect category for me but like I said I still overall enjoyed it. If only for the Squirrels. Recommend: Yes.
Paper Girls Vol. 2 is another one I was really looking forward to that kind of fell flat. We jump back into the story with Erin, Mac and Tiffany who have been slingshotted into their future (2016) and meet up with the older Erin.
There are some cute moments where the girls are off balance in the future and an interesting emotional fate for one of the girl’s to deal with but it’s a whole lot of set-up.
Everything expands and there is not a whole lot of answers. Really only one I can think of and that’s not until the very end and it might be considered an answer without an explanation. I love Brian K. Vaughn so I believe this will go somewhere but it was a little frustrating this time around.
Recommend: Yes. Despite my frustration I’m enjoying this series and to be fair I read a lot of people who said they actually enjoyed the second volume more than the first.
Last among the graphic novel reading was Harley Quinn Vol 4: A Call To Arms. I always love Harley and this one starts off fun going forward with her “Gang of Harley’s” and crime-fighting. That was definitely my favorite part. I generally love Harley’s interactions with her friends and her trying to do good.
So it was a little weird that I had a hard time finishing this one- especially the last stories. There’s one when she’s in LA and another with a road trip with Poison Ivy and Catwoman. I just found both a bit dull even though there’s a Suicide Squad character cameo in one of them. I’m also not a big fan of this Catwoman. It probably took me longer to read this one than any other Harley.
Recommend: Yes. If for no other reason for her fighting crime and doing good while happily blackmailing the Mayor as only Harley can 🙂