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Squirrel Girl Read-Through

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Doreen Green, a.k.a. Squirrel Girl, is claws-down my favorite comic book character and superhero. Soon I’ll have the tattoo to prove it.

Comic Books

I’m basing this on The Definitive Squirrel Girl Collecting Guide and Reading Order from Crushing Krisis.

Introduction

Marvel Super-Heroes Vol. 3 (1990) #8

Steve Ditko: Plot, Pencils, Inks; Will Murray: Script; Christie Scheele: Colors; Brad K. Joyce: Letterer

Doreen introducing herself: “Hi, I’m Squirrel Girl.”

There’s our girl! This story starts with 14-year-old Doreen ambushing Iron Man as he flies through a forest near Stark Enterprises to show him how “rough and tough” she is.

Iron Man with Doreen’s tail over his helmet saying it feels like fur

TIL that Iron Man can feel textures through his suit.

She demonstrates her powers:

  • Jump, climb, hop (anything a squirrel can do)
  • Knuckle spike for slashing, and finger claws for climbing
  • Tooth that can chew through solid wood
  • Talking to squirrels
  • A tail!

And then reveals that she’s just come from a run-in with Doctor Doom, who proceeds to attack Iron Man.

Iron Man says he takes back any bad things he’s said about squirrels. Doreen asks, “what bad things have you said about squirrels?”

This exchange feels like the Doreen that we see later in the North/Henderson run.

  • We establish both Doreen’s belt pouches and their contents: nuts.
  • The pard-nership between Doreen and Tony is referenced in the first arc of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and becomes a recurring part of the series, especially and most hilarously in the Twitter exchanges between @unbeatablesg and @starkmantony.
  • Doreen introduces herself as a mutant, though she doesn’t want anyone else to know (and thinks that they’re stuck-up, “especially that obnoxious Kitty Pryde”).
  • Bookmarking Doctor Doom saying “squirrels are emotionally resilient.”
  • And we meet Monkey Joe, Doreen’s first squirrel partner, who lets her know that the squirrels are sabotaging the electronics of Doom’s ship.
Doctor Doom swats at the squirrels that are attacking him

Things conclude with the squirrels attacking Doctor Doom’s armor enough that he flees through an escape hatch, which Iron Man refers to as an “inglorious defeat.” We also get a glimpse of Doreen’s personal life when she describes being teased and called “rodent” by kids at her school.

Certainly 14-year-old Doreen is naïve and scared and played for a gag, but we still get some of the important qualities that become part of her character. She doesn’t like to be teased, but she’s proud of being Squirrel Girl. She works in partnership with the squirrels and also looks after them. And of course she’s capable of taking out Marvel’s most dangerous villains.