Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

Marvel has announced a new bi-monthly book called A-Force Presents that will collect issues of various Marvel comics featuring female heroes in trade paperback format. Rather than the traditional collection of a single storyline, these collections will be more of sampler of what's going on at Marvel at any given time. This is a great idea from Marvel, and a really exciting example of how the publisher is taking women seriously as an audience.

Welcome to the latest episode of ComicsAlliance Presents “Kate or Die,” a series of exclusive comic strips created by one of our favorite cartoonists, Kate Leth! In this episode, Kate says what everybody's been thinking about the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl as depicted in Erica Henderson and Ryan North's new Marvel Comics series.

The closest thing Marvel has to a pure superhero, the return of Squirrel Girl with a new ongoing series from Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Rico Renzi and Clayton Cowles is very good news indeed. First seen in a classic Steve Ditko story where she canonically proved herself to be stronger than class 100 cyberwizard Doctor Doom and smarter than the +40 intellect of Tony Stark, the character has taken on cultish status over the last few years. The basic idea is: no matter how tough a character says they are, or their fanbase wants them to be, this teenage girl with Squirrel Powers is always going to be tougher.

We're excited about Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, the forthcoming series from writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson. Now, sure, Henderson is a contributor to the site and a collaborateur with that Sims fellow, but we'd be excited about this book even if that weren't the case, because it promises a lot of things we want to see more of in comics: a confident and self-defined female protagonist, smart comedy pitched at an all-ages audience, quirky superheroics, and entertainment that's squarely welcoming to an emerging audience of young female comic readers -- or as we like to call them, 'the future'. So now we get our first chance to see if the comic will live up to our expectations, courtesy of an unlettered two-page preview of the book, and a two-page lettered teaser that sees Ms. Doreen Green giving full voice to her own theme song. The good news? It's charming, funny, and looks fantastic. If you're not on board the Squirrel Girl train, you may want to follow the example of one of the young men in this preview and reconsider your choices.

For most people New York Comic-Con marks the end of convention season, capping off a long summer of announcements, reveals, and other assorted fun. As such, it’s also one of the last big places for fans to get amazing sketches and commission pieces from artists, who tend to cap off the season with some truly amazing art. Full disclosure: Erica Henderson is not only a friend of the site and a collaborator with our own Chris Sims on Subatomic Party Girls, but also a contributor to the site, most notably with her Sims portrait for the ongoing Ask Chris feature. All of which just means we noticed her considerable talent before everyone else caught up. ow she's working with Ryan North on Marvel's recently announced Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and her skills were in high demand at NYCC.

Welcome to the latest episode of ComicsAlliance Presents “Kate or Die,” a series of exclusive comic strips created by one of our favorite cartoonists, Kate Leth! In this episode, Kate anticipates some truly terrifying Halloween horrors.

We're big fans of animator, illustrator, and comic artist Erica Henderson around these parts -- her work frequently appears in our Best Art Ever feature, and she's provided several amazing illustrations for the site, including a portrait of her Subatomic Party Girls collaborator Chris Sims for the ongoing Ask Chris feature. We're also rather fond of Ryan North, writer of Midas Flesh, To Be Or Not To Be, and the beloved Adventure Time comic. And, of course, everyone loves Marvel's Squirrel Girl. So we're very excited to learn via Entertainment Weekly that Henderson and North are joining forces on a Squirrel Girl ongoing series, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Now, sure, maybe the world wasn't specifically clamoring for a Squirrel Girl book, and now we're getting one from these creators, it's everything we didn't know we always wanted.