Does anyone find it weird that the Squirrel Girl book continues to be published since 2015?
Is the character so popular and loved for to exist that factor?
Does anyone find it weird that the Squirrel Girl book continues to be published since 2015?
Is the character so popular and loved for to exist that factor?
Years ago, Tom Brevoort wanted to do a Squirrel Girl book on a whim. As it lingered in development, Wil Moss became way more attached to it, so Brevoort turned it over to him. Moss proceeded to cast North and Henderson on the project. Due to its quality and more unique genre as an all-ages comedy book, it found a steady fanbase, many of whom can't be seen because a lot of the sales are from digital and collections, which are the preferred formats for kids and women. The book is still going for the same reason every other book is. It makes that bread. Obtains that grain. Yeets that wheat.
It is a textbook case of no matter how unpopular a character is, with the right creative team resonating with the right audience, you can get a hit. Nothing is impossible! JUST! DO IT!
Squirrel Girl is very unlike most Marvel Superheroic books. It is very high quality and its humor ranges from stuff for kids to jokes that only long-time superhero fans would appreciate. It's good nature and undetailed but excellent art combine to provide a book that can be appreciated by any group. Like a lot of the early Warner Brothers cartoons and the early Flintstones, it combines material for kids and adults flawlessly.
If this ever stops, we will have lost something truly awesome.
The Squirrel Girl book has the advantage of accessibility, right down to multiple done-in-one issues. Many people jumped into the first trade with very little knowledge of most of the Marvel Universe. The fact that the book isn't constantly mired in crossovers or events helps even more, which also made Wilson's Ms. Marvel a breath of fresh air pre-Secret Wars. It also appeals to those who like female lead characters with more distinctive appearance (though it's obviously subjective, as many found the book when drawn by Erica Henderson to be very ugly to look at) and a humorous tone. It's one of multiple books of this sort to be published by Marvel, but I think it caught on due to Ryan North's solid scripting and just the whole squirrel gimmick in general. So I do think she's just that popular, but it combined with the perfect comic to sell her to a more casual audience and the timing, since all age comics have really caught on in recent years.
Much like with Aquaman, John Stewart, Static and others-she is a character who has fans that don't worship a comic book store.
Also they found the PERFECT creative team-both North & Henderson FIT her. And they were give FREEDOM to do what they needed to do. When you give folks freedom-it can work as we saw with Ms Marvel & Moon Girl.
She is also something that screams MONEY MAKER.
Her costume scream cosplay like Ivy, Spider-Gwen, Miles, Storm and others.
She not the slim heroine but a chubby one and that stands out next to Valiant's Faith.
Her book does not pack bins (at least around here)-so if you want to get into her-you gotta buy the trades not dollar bin comics like others.
Now she got toys.
She is prove that comic book sales nor comic book stores are the end all for who get to do what. And if Black Panther, Antman, GOTG & Blade films didn't prove that-she does.
And she's been so successful they removed her from the Great Lakes Avengers joke team and put her on a real Avengers team (Al Ewing's New and U.S. teams).
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I posted this in Doreen's appreciation thread, but it about sums it up, why people (myself included) enjoy the character:
Basically the book is just a fun, enjoyable read, and she is a wonderful positive character, that can serve as an inspirational example to anyone reading it.
She has fans, they're just not 'traditional' comic book fans. Her books sell in trades, (her trades have cracked the NY Times Bestseller lists, they sell well) digital, Scholastic, etc. Marvel is not a charity, they don't publish books that lose them money, so bottom line is that her book makes a profit, even if it's not a big seller in the direct market. And cultivating markets other than the direct market is important, since you don't want all your eggs in one basket, and attracting new audiences is important to ensuring that they will continue to be successful in the future. Squirrel girl is most likely part of Marvel's long game.
Last edited by Raye; 12-04-2018 at 09:23 PM.
Yeah, Moon Girl survives for the same reason. They used to be short sighted and cancel stuff before they could properly gauge those other markets - they've learned their lesson, which is why Unstoppable Wasp (another one that sells well in trades but not direct market) is back.
Appreciation Thread Indexes
Marvel | Spider-Man | X-Men | NEW!! DC Comics | Batman | Superman | Wonder Woman
Thanks for the Answers, Now i'm begin to understand it. Hope this is a trend that can continue with the points you said on future books like this, guys.
I just want to re-post Capt. Cleghorn's excellent statement, as it perfectly reflects my own opinion:
"Squirrel Girl is very unlike most Marvel Superheroic books. It is very high quality and its humor ranges from stuff for kids to jokes that only long-time superhero fans would appreciate. It's good nature and undetailed but excellent art combine to provide a book that can be appreciated by any group. Like a lot of the early Warner Brothers cartoons and the early Flintstones, it combines material for kids and adults flawlessly. If this ever stops, we will have lost something truly awesome."
It's one of two Marvel titles I 'must' have; one of the four titles I still get from Marvel.
Age/Bronze, Age/Reptiles, Alex&Ada, Anne Bonnie, Astro City, Bone, Briggs Land, Cerebus, Criminal, Courtney Crumrin, Eleanor & the Egret, Fables, Fatale, Fell, Grass Kings, Green Valley, Goon, Gotham Midnight, Groo, Hellboy, Hillbilly, Incognegro, Jack Staff, JL8, Jonah Hex, Kane, Lazarus, Little Nemo, Lone Wolf, Next Wave, Popeye, Powers, Princess Ugg, Resident Alien, SiP, Squirrel Girl, Stray Bullets, 10G, Thief of Thieves, Tuki, Uncle Scrooge, Usagi, Velvet