4 out of 5

Here’s my advice to Ryan North: he needs to stop being Ryan North.  I mean, I get it, Marvel: the current ‘thing’ is to grab web comicers for your books, and if they’re known for a particular style, then it makes sense to encourage the use of that style on their print series as well.  And North’s notable dumb-cool speak, plus the alt-text of his Dinosaur Comics, means that all of his characters are going to use dumb-cool speak (that is: self-aware applications of ‘yo’ and ‘hashtag’ and etcetera) and that the bottom of most pages are going to have little lines of Northy commentary.  This was, admittedly, super refreshing and fun for the first few issues of SG.  But now?  It’s both a crutch and a distraction.  In the case of the dialogue, it really does hinder opportunities for character development: the cast will forever be friendly commenters on their situation, but not really “experiencing it” in a way that I feel invests you in them beyond the page.  In the case of the alt-text, it consistently rips you out of the fiction, doubling down on that lack of investment.  I know you could “ignore” the commentary, but at the same time, I really don’t feel it works that way.  It’s on the page.  Once you notice it, you’re not going to un-notice it.

What’s especially frustrating about these aspects of the writing is that, otherwise, North is writing some good stories.  The end of volume one felt a bit wonky, but overall, Ryan’s been coming up with fun ways to involve Doreen Green in the Marvel U, and this arc – involving Doctor Dooms and time travel (although issue one is just sort of a reintroduction to the title) – is an especially good time.  …And maybe possibly because we spend most of that time with Doreen and not the rest of the cast, so only one character is using North-speak.

I also suspect that if Ryan would stop being Ryan – which, realistically, _isn’t_ what people want, and it’d have to be something done gradually if it’s done at all – it would give Erica Henderson’s art a bit more room to breathe.  I don’t doubt she’s enjoying the title, as the pages are generally lively (and polished; I’d feared sloppiness approached with her work at the end of volume one), but she gets so much more dynamic on the covers that I’m curious what she’d do with a page if Ryan’s scripting wasn’t so self-explainy.  I don’t think she’s great with big set pieces, but I bet there are some cool panel layouts to be had if the script wasn’t so wordy.

Now, it’s worth noting that this is _all_ criticism, and yet that rating is still high.  In part that’s because of what I mentioned, that these are pretty dang good stories, represented by an artist, colorist and letterer who all definitely get the friendly and goofy vibe, but also because I have to accept that the fans are liking North being North, and so he’s doing a bang-up job of that.  Well, I’d have to accept it if I were to keep reading the title, I suppose, but I think here’s where I check out.  Like Waid’s Daredevil, where the potential for something greater felt curtailed by the book’s “sticking to what works” approach, I just don’t see anything changing in Squirrel Girl.  Ryan will keep coming up with clever deconstructions of big villains, everyone will say some current slang with a wink to the reader, Henderson will give Doreen a cute outfit, backgrounds will be colored with poppy splash colors, and stakes shan’t be raised.  It’s not broken.  Don’t listen to my advice.  I’ll return to slinging curmudgeon-colored mud at all the titles the rest of the world adores.