Welcome to the latest installment of our Saturday Morning Panels special editions, our chance to pay tribute to those series that have had lasting impact on our staff as they reach important milestones.
Today, it’s a look back at some of the best moments from “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl,” which ended last week with its 50th issue. (Two milestones in one!) If you have a series you’d like us to spotlight for a Saturday Morning Panels special edition later this year or next year, make your case in the comments!
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #1: Mew the Cat is named after Cat Thor’s Hammer, Mewnir. I am not making this up and it’s kind of amazing. – Matthew Garcia
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #1a: And thus a legend was born. One so influential, it warped time and, in doing so, accidentally got transferred to a different animal themed hero. A Spider Man, if you will. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #6b: Can we appreciate the Kra-Van? This may be the best gag of the whole series and is worth the price of admission. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #19: Look, Doreen has had a Day, alright? – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #19: Doreen Green, the hero we all deserve – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #20: Doombear – Brand new character find of 2017 – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #21: A creepy van finally displays the appropriate signage for a creepy van. – Justin Beeson
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #22: Oh hi, Utahraptor from Dinosaur Comics, also by Ryan North. What a surprise to see you here. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #22: I think Squirrel Girl just added a dream to all of our bucket lists – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl” #23: This sounds like a good philosophy to me, I don’t know what everyone else is complaining about. – Robbie Pleasant
”The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #25: This is awesome and everyone should read this comic – Matt Lune
”The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #26: Did you ever think you’d see Jim Davis drawing a Marvel comic?! We live in strange times… – Matt Lune
”The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #26: Galactus and Silver Surfer work surprisingly well as analogues for Garfield and Jon. These really did feel like
actual Garfield strips,
and some were. – Justin Beeson
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #26: This comic knows me so well. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #28: Doreen knows her priorities – Ramon Piña
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #28: Squirrel Loki, presented without context. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #29: Nice recovery, Loki. But now I want to see the gibbering madness of Ulyaoth at work… – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #29: Squirrels are awesome! Also, Henderson’s Silver Surfer is neat! – Ramon Piña
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #30: Haha this arc is the weirdest yet – Ramon Piña
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #30: We all need a friend like Tippy-Toe, there to help us with our convenient slogan needs – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #30: WE HAVE A SQUIRREL WITH THE POWER COSMIC PEOPLE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! – Matt Lune
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #31: THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS! – Ramon Piña
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #33: I actually did an Escape Room game with some friends recently; this isn’t too far off. (And no, we didn’t escape.) – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #34: They’re all canon, and I will fight anyone who dares say otherwise. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #35: Brain Drain is the nihilistic brain in a jar we all need in our lives. Believe it or not, this is him being inspiring. – Robbie Pleasant
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“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #35: On multiple occasions, in fact. And not always with a spear. And sometimes it was his family doing it. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #37: Is The Thing wearing a Yarmulke?! A) Yes. B) He better be. C) Hell yes. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #40: Let’s be real, she’s right to be jaded. Tony did just come back from mostly dead about a few months ago, and brought his best friend back with him. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #40: Leave it to Doreen to find a solution to the trolley dilemma. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #41: This is my new favorite show. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #41: And, surprisingly enough, it ISN’T a clone . . . Spencer’s got some weird hangups over in his books. Eh, I’m sure Squirrel Girl’s many adventures with duplicates will help Pete sort this all out. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #42: Everything about this issue was great, but this panel, this panel right here, that’s the one that got me. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #43: Can I get a hek nay? (Yes, I am
stealing your joke from last week, Jake.)- Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #43: What I wouldn’t give to see this Avengers-Zord in action. I don’t care how impractical it is. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #43: Spidey, buddy, I know Supaidaman’s Leopardon was cool but a web-Avengers-Voltron ain’t gonna cut it. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #44: The sparkles are a natural byproduct of magical girl transformations. But I also very much look forward to seeing someone cosplay this. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #44: It is the spiritual sequel to the “I guess” guy. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #45: Okay, comic, I believe you. God I’m going to miss this series when it’s over. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #45: It’s been a while since I’ve read a comic that made me pump my fist in the air and yell, “Hell yeah!” – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #45: Let’s also take a moment to appreciate how beautiful this comic can be sometimes. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #45: A lovely moment in the middle of a major event. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #46: Smooth entrance there Rachel. They’ll never suspect a thing. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #46: I can appreciate a good musical reference. Fortunately, I’ve got tickets for a show next month (not good tickets, but hey). – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #46: With slick talk like that, I bet Rachel’s quite the. . .party animal. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #47 – First off, those are the perfect pictures for her. Secondly: OH DANG! – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #47: Hard same Doreen. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #48: I mean, I can’t say I share Tony’s tastes, but I get it. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #48: Koi boi is majestic and this is how Aquaman has to jump across cities from now on. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #49: Spot the XKCD reference! – Robbie Pleasantr
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #49: *Squee*! KRAVEN IS BACK! . . .Wait. Hold up. Didn’t Spencer kill you after doing that weird and stupid hunt which threw out everything this series did for you? Is this before? Are you secretly the son? . . .Whatever, my favorite version of Kraven is back and so is Rachel Oscar, I’ll take what I can get. – Elias Rosner
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“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #49: Yep, classic Doom move right there. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #49: This whole comic makes me so happy. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #49: Me when I realize there’s only one more issue of “Squirrel Girl” left. – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #50: You and me both, Galactus. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #50: Oh no, someone has transmuted the universe to prunes! How will we ever not be regular again?! – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #50: Brain Drain and I share a hobby. Not the nut burying, the miniature fantasy figure painting. – Robbie Pleasant
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #50: Once more, we return to this. Circles within circles. Pretentious statement upon pretentious statement to lead into saying Erica Henderson is back!!!!!!! And drawing Doreen doing what we all hope is done to Sinister over in the X-line. You get him Doreen! – Elias Rosner
“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #50: To remain the same for years upon years does not reveal maturity, it instead lets those around you know you are stuck, unable to reflect. So to with a creative’s work. “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” can be said to have never changed over the course of the series but that would be false. The book, the characters, the ethos and the story all grew and morphed and became a beloved staple of my monthly pull list. To see it go is sad but, as Galactus reminds us here, endings are never final, people will never remain exactly as we remember, but all that matters is the moments shared and the joy they brought as they happened. So thank you, “Squirrel Girl,” for a story that channels what it means to be a hero with compassion and wit. Thank you Michael Allred for one of Marvel’s best new logos. And thank you Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Rico Renzi, Travis Lanham, and Derek Charm for a series that makes me laugh, makes me cry, and makes me scream out “Let’s eat nuts and kick butts.” – Elias Rosner
: No Doreen, thank you. And thank you Ryan, Erica, and everyone who made this comic happen, from the first issue to the end. As I’ve said many, many times, this has been my favorite comic to come out of Marvel in a long time. The characters, the humor, and the heart kept me coming back and loving issue after issue. I feel like everything I want to say has already been said in my review of the final issue, but I’d just like to reiterate how much this comic means to me. We love you, Doreen Green. – Robbie Pleasant
