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Squirrel Girl Q&A with Ryan North: “There’s so much to love about Doreen—so the epic adventures came naturally!”

Chris Well

“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is here, and she’s pretty freaking great.” (IGN)

“Comics is a collaborative medium,” writer Ryan North tells Monster Complex. “They all brought their A-game and made the book so much better than you’d ever expect. I was constantly surprised by how GOOD the final pages for the comic would be!”

Doctor Doom, Kraven the Hunter, Galactus, Loki, Kang the Conqueror—these are some of the biggest baddies in the Marvel Comics universe. Yet Squirrel Girl is one hero who has stopped them in their tracks—and sometimes even made new friends along the way. (While also starting college.)

Created in 1991 by Will Murray and Steve Ditko, Squirrel Girl (AKA Doreen Allene Green) can talk with squirrels. For years, she was essentially a random character who just popped up here and there.

Then came the wonderful 2015 series The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl—the comedy adventure we’re highlighting today—exploring Doreen’s activities as she divides her time between superhero stuff and life as a college woman. Over the course of the series, she deals with the likes of family life, dating, making friends, homework, and—well—Galactus.

The series isn’t just hysterical, but also charming. Written by Ryan North, with art by Erica Henderson and Derek Charm, the series shows the heroine approaching typical villains in surprisingly positive—and healthy—ways.

“A supervillain, to Squirrel Girl, is somebody who needs to reconsider their actions and use their gifts for better purposes,” Douglas Wolk said of this series in his book All of the Marvels. “A monster is something that’s lashing out because its needs aren’t being met and that deserves some compassion.” Later in the book, Wolk says of Squirrel Girl, “She believes that everyone can be helped to become better than they are.”

Below, find out more about the amazing The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series from writer Ryan North!

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Squirrel Girl met Doctor Doom in her debut, so it was only natural he would show up again in the new series. And that it might be awkward.

About Ryan North

The author of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic book series, Ryan North has actually written lots of stuff, some of which has won multiple Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards and made New York Times bestseller lists. The creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, his comics writing also includes Star Trek: Lower Decks (also hilarious!), Adventure Time, the Fantastic Four, and the graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.  

North’s work also includes To Be or Not To Be and Romeo and/or Juliet (which offer choose-your-own-path versions of Shakespeare’s plays) and the non-fiction books How To Take Over The World and How To Invent Everything.

By the way, the reason I reached out to North about The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series is because I loved it. After I sent him my questions, I read his Star Trek: Lower Decks comics and I loved them. (And what a great plot twist!)

I’m excited about eventually reading his Fantastic Four run. However, I am currently reading the whole series in order (have so far read from #1-320 or so), so I’m still working my way toward his FF issues.

Below, find out more about the amazing The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series from writer Ryan North!

Just one of the many sections of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl that makes this one of my favorite comic series ever.

Ryan North  Squirrel Girl Omnibus Q&A

Q: This Squirrel Girl saga is so imaginative (and HILARIOUS). What inspired you to give this minor character such a major epic adventure?

“Marvel asked me if I had a pitch for Squirrel Girl, and after reading all her comics up to that point, turns out I did!  I think you can’t write any character without loving them a little, and there’s so much to love about Doreen—so the epic adventures came naturally!”

One of the sweet angles of the series is how Doreen develops relationships—calm, reasonable, encouraging relationships—with people whom everyone else assumes are just bad.

Q: It originally would never have occurred to me to read these issues if not for that great chapter Douglas Wolk wrote in that Marvels book. How often do you hear from people who tell you that they read Squirrel Girl because of Wolk?

“More than you’d expect! Wolk’s book is an incredible achievement, and I’m a huge fan of him. We asked him to write the introduction to the Squirrel Girl omnibus, and he said yes (!) so we got to fold him into the Squirrel Girl family a little bit. :)”

Another fun relationship in the series is Doreen and Loki—who really likes the “Thor as a cat” comic strip that Doreen’s college roommate has been doing.

Q: How much of the greatness of this saga was because of you and how much came from the combination of all the people working with you? (Artistically, editorially, plus whomever else was part of the larger team)

“All of it. Comics is a collaborative medium and my scripts without Erica and Derek and Rico and Travis and Wil and Sarah and everyone else are just nothing. They all brought their A-game and made the book so much better than you'd ever expect. I was constantly surprised by how GOOD the final pages for the comic would be!”

[Note: He’s talking about artists Erica Henderson and Derek Charm, colorist Rico Renzi, letterer Travis Lanham, and editors Wil Moss and Sarah Brunstad. Among others.]

This is literally the moment I fell in love with The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series. (You totally need to read the surprisingly educational scene leading up to Nightmare’s shock.)

Q: What about this Squirrel Girl saga makes you the most proud?

“I came up with the ending with Galactus somewhere around (our first) issue 5 or 6, and held on to that idea throughout the whole five-year run, before getting to use it in the finale. It was nice to have that in my back pocket, to know we were always working towards something. That, and Tippy’s sacrifice in the OGN always makes me cry.”

This moment is actually from Galactus’ earlier appearance. (I didn’t want to spoil the ending of the WHOLE ENTIRE SERIES.)

Q: How much do your Squirrel Girl stories have in common with the other stuff you write? (Of course, I’m putting more of your stuff on my reading list.)

“They all have the sense of adventure, and the idea that the world is knowable—and when you know it, you can appreciate it, and you can move through it better. I think knowledge is an intrinsic good and a ton of my characters do too, always trying to better themselves (and the world) by learning all they can. Plus, computer science is cool, too.”

One of the running gags I enjoyed was how the creators used the “starring” block at the beginning of these stories.

Q: What are the best ways for fans to keep in touch with you or keep up with news about what you’re doing?

“I have a newsletter (tinyletter.com/ryanqnorth) that goes out once a month, and my personal page at RyanNorth.ca has all the news on my latest projects!!”

Oh—and another running gag I loved was all the captions! Which I finally realized I’ve been copying all this time.

Reading The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series in Order

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus—which has 1,588 pages—is a single volume that includes the whole series and a graphic novel and more.

While the omnibus is the best bargain, below are a set of collections if you want to read the series in smaller installments.

More Ryan North Online

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