OK, so nobody read She-Hulk like I told you to, and so it's been put on hiatus after 12 issues (but is coming back in November... so read it this time).
Fortunately, the writer (Dan Slott) and artist (Paul Pelletier) have teamed up for a four-issue miniseries in a similar vein: take some fourth-string Marvel characters and write the hell out of them. GLA (for Great Lakes Avengers) is comedy in a much darker vein, but so far a great read.
But most importantly, it marks the triumphant return of the ultimate Marvel superhero of all time...
Squirrel Girl.
Yes, Squirrel Girl. This plucky heroine, who possesses all the powers and abilities of... um... well, squirrels, first appeared in the Winter 1991 issue Marvel Super-Heroes.
Er, and, only appeared.
SG was actually created and drawn by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, whom we can only assume was trying to get back at Stan Lee for stealing all his thunder. Because, really Squirrel Girl's powers, along with her buck teeth and unfortunate choice of eye shadow, made her a long shot to ever appear in comics again, outside of the ones I make up in my brain.
Although she did do a good job taking down Dr. Doom, in one of his most humiliating defeats.
"Get these INFIDEL RODENTS off of me!!!!" Hilarious. I don't think that scene's going to make it into the Fantastic Four movie this summer. We'll have to wait for Squirrel Girl: The Movie, which, judging by the way Hollywood works these days, should be coming out around July 2008.
It appeared Squirrel Girl would fade into D-list oblivion until GLA came along. What a surprise; Andrew and I weren't the only ones who remembered her. Not only do Squirrel Girl and her squirrel pal Monkey Joe (yeah... don't ask) make appearances, they also serve as de facto narrators to all the carnage, much to my delight.
(Heh. "Owww! My scalp!" Hilarious.)
And it all leads up to GLA #3, in which SG finally, finally, gets her first cover appearance. And it's a doozy.
Yikes! Scary Squirrel Girl! Avenger of the Night! And she's about to lay the smack down on Batroc the Leaper, the French supervillain with exceptional leaping abilities.
(Again, don't ask.)
At any rate: this cover makes me inexplicably happy. I think it's because I identify more with the never-see-them characters who don't get any respect. There are 400,000,211 comics out right now featuring Spider-Man... enough already! It's more fun to read about Squirrel Girl at this point.
So, in conclusion: Squirrel Girl. Get her comic today. See the movie in 2008.
And if her comics/movie don't work out, she has a future in internet porn - there are plenty of fetish sites for guys (and girls, I guess) into "hirsute" women, and that pic of her with her legs spread to kick those 2 guys, exposing her furry nether regions, would rack up the hits.
Eww. That's just her costume. Which, come to think of it, might be made of squirrel.
Hmm. I hope for Monkey Joe's sake, it's fake squirrel.
I have some late-80s Captain America comics with Batroc appearances. He's a master of some mostly-kicking fighting art that starts with "L." Larate? Latare? Hold on, I'll look it up...
...Savate. So close.
Does she actually have squirrel-like powers (a la Spider Man or an X-Man) or does she just get off on fighting crime while dressed like a mild woodland creature (like some wussy version of Batman)?
Damnit, James - we need an origin story.
Oh, and I assume you're pitching for her to be played by Cuthbert in the movie, right?
James, that is hilarious. Almost makes me want to check out GLA. Is the series good?
Batroc getting lots of play in the Marvel U of late, as well.
She is apparently a mutant with... squirrel-like powers. Whatever those are. Proportional strength of a squirrel doesn't seem like it would do you a whole lot of good, but there you go.
GLA is a fun read. It's much darker than She-Hulk; there appears to be a "one team member dies per issue" mandate. You should be able to find the first two issues at your friendly neighborhood comic store.
I have come to love and expect that Andrew's "starts with 'a_letter_01' " clues are NEVER right.