Comics Disassembled: Ten Things of Note from the Past Week in Comics, Led by…Is That Squirrel Girl’s Music?!
The best news arrives! Squirrel Girl news! Let’s get to that and more, as we break down ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics in Comics Disassembled.
1. The Squirrel Girl, Cometh
For a while now, there’s been a question circling my brain: where is Squirrel Girl? On the heels of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl concluding, it’s understandable that everyone would want to give Ryan North, Derek Charm, Rico Renzi, Erica Henderson, and friends’ magnum opus a bit of space, if only because even the finest comics would struggle in comparison to those titans (I am being completely serious). But we’re pushing three years now. That’s a lot of space!
Little did I know, there was something in the works, and something I couldn’t have expected: more from the same…but in a different form! That’s right! Squirrel Girl has a podcast now! Titled Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show, this series is written by North with a voice cast that includes the once and future Squirrel Girl from the gone but not forgotten New Warriors series Milana Vayntrub (who you may know as the woman from the AT&T ads but you should really see in Werewolves Within, as she underlines her formidable comedic chops in that movie), and it follows directly on the heels of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic series. It finds Doreen Green, aka Squirrel Girl, trying to figure out what’s next for her after her identity was revealed to the world, so her answer was to create a new student radio show at Empire State University with her friends like Nancy, Brain Drain, Koi Boi, Chipmunk Hunk, and even Tippy-Toe. That’s right: there is a human being cast as a squirrel in this scripted podcast.
I have not listened, but I will, and I will bask in the glory, assuredly. But to make things even better, the squad – North, Charm, and Renzi – came back together to make a Marvel Infinity Comic that fills the gap between the finale and the podcast’s launch. MORE SQUIRREL GIRL COMICS! OR COMIC! WHATEVER! I love it so, however much we get.
That’s all I have. Long live Squirrel Girl. Love live that team working on the character. Shouts to Vayntrub, as well, who finally gets to full out play this character. I’m all about it. Let’s celebrate by you coming on Off Panel and talking Squirrel Girl with me!
2. So Long, Bone’s Adaptation
In the wake of the revelation that they were down several hundred thousand subscribers instead of being considerably up in the first quarter of 2022, Netflix’s stock cratered and changes are coming aplenty for the streaming giant. Rather than refocusing their efforts from crafting endless waves of instantly forgettable shows and movies, it appears they’re chasing after people who share their passwords and tearing their animation wing – one of the more well-liked sides of the platform! – apart. You might be wondering what this has to do with comics. Well, that animation wing had a project I was eagerly anticipating in development: a series adapting Jeff Smith’s Bone.
Initially announced in 2019, Smith’s excitement for the project, its snug fit with the idea of an animated series, and my love of the series made it one of the most anticipated Netflix project for yours truly (with it only behind the new season of Russian Doll, the Knives Out sequels, and the theoretical concept of more Lupin). While the comics will always be my north star for Fone Bone, Rose, Phoney and Smiley, those stupid, stupid rat creatures, and the rest of the crew, I’d be lying if I wasn’t thrilled about this idea if only because it just made so much sense. To kill it now just feels cruel and unusual, which is far too common in terms of the marriage of comics and animation these days. Fingers crossed that Bone eventually finds a new home like ND Stevenson’s Nimona did after it was shut down when Disney closed Blue Sky Studios, but given that Nimona was saved by Netflix, that might be a little harder than it was last week.
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