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Squirrel Girl Reading Order, the Unbeatable Comic Book List!

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Many Marvel superheroes have been defined by tragedy, from the death of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben to Matt Murdock being hit by a truck full of chemicals and losing his father. While tragedy and bizarre accidents have created many heroes, it’s nice to be reminded sometimes that you can be happy and superheroic—just like Squirrel Girl!

Right now a playable character in Marvel Rivals (voiced by Milana Vayntrub), Squirrel Girl was created by Will Murray and Steve Dikto.  Also known as Doreen Allene Green, she made her first appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 #8, published in 1991. In this issue, she teamed up with Iron Man and defeated the villainous Doctor Doom with the help of her squirrel sidekick, Monkey Joe. After this one-off partnership with Iron Man, Squirrel Girl didn’t become an instant hit and largely disappeared from comics for years.

She made her return to the Marvel Universe thanks to Dan Slott, in GLA: Misassembled, a miniseries about the Great Lakes Avengers—a team of superheroes with seemingly “useless” or odd powers. This comic book series also introduced her new squirrel sidekick, Tippy-Toe. After that, she popped up occasionally, crossing paths with characters like Deadpool before taking on a job as a nanny for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage’s daughter in New Avengers (in 2010).

It seemed like Doreen was finally finding the success she deserved, right? Well, not exactly. Being a nanny didn’t really open doors for her, at least not instantaneously. But as Marvel sought to publish more fun, female-led books, Squirrel Girl finally got her big break: a solo series! The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl launched in 2015, putting her front and center in her own ongoing title—more than 20 years after her debut.

But who, really, is Squirrel Girl? For a long time, she believed she was a mutant, but a doctor later determined that wasn’t the case. Instead, her genes were altered for unknown reasons, granting her squirrel-like abilities. Doreen can communicate with those small rodents, has superhuman strength and speed, excellent night vision, and razor-sharp claws. On top of that, she studies computer science at the university and maintains a strong social media presence. In the end, Doreen lives fun adventures with a lot of squirrels and friends, proving to the rest of the world that she is just… unbeatable!

Where to start with Squirrel? With the Omnibus!

For all lovers of squirrels out there! Before going into details, Marvel has released an Omnibus dedicated to Squirrel Girl collecting her own solo series. Everything has been penned by Ryan North and Erica Henderson.

  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus
    The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 1 #1-8, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 2 #1-50, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe, Howard the Duck #6, and material from A Year of Marvels: Unbeatable and Not Brand Echh #14

The Complete Squirrel Girl Comics Reading Order

Introducing Squirrel Girl

Discover Squirrel Girl’s first stories in the Marvel Universe, from her debut in 1991 to her adventures with the Great Lakes Avengers, also known as GLA (or is that GLI? GLX? GLC? It changes a lot!). She saves Iron Man, meets Deadpool, and just kicks butts and eats nuts!

  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl & The Great Lakes Avengers
    Collects Great Lakes Avengers (GLA) #1-4, GLX-Mas Special, Thing (2006) #8, Cable & Deadpool #30 And Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular – Plus Material From Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #8, I Heart Marvel: Masked Intentions, Age Of Heroes #3 And I Am An Avenger #1.

Though most of her adventures are collected in this trade paperback, Doreen also appeared in Avengers: The Initiative #19 & 25, when the government was trying to field a super-team in each state. 

Squirrel Girl, Nanny in New Avengers (optional)

This is optional reading. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones need a nanny, and not just any nanny, they need to find a superpowered nanny. Enters Doreen Green, who is chosen to take care of Danielle in New Avengers. She became a recurring character, starting from New Avengers #7 to the conclusion of the series with issue #34. You can find all those issues in:

For other editions and more information, check out our Avengers reading order by Brian Michael Bendis.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1

After leaving her position as a nanny, Doreen enrolled in the Empire State University where she takes a computer science course. This is where she met her new best friend, Nancy Whitehead and her cat Mew. She has to go to class on time, but must also deal with menaces like Galactus and Kraven the Hunter and face Ratatoskr… the Norse God of Squirrels! This is Squirrel Girl’s first solo series and it has been collected in several collections. So you can find all this volume in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus, but also:

In classic trade paperbacks:

In Graphic Novel Trade Paperback:

In deluxe edition (hardcover):

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Comics, Volume 2

The Marvel Universe ended in 2015 with Secret Wars before being rebooted! A new universe was soon established but it didn’t change anything for Squirrel Girl except for the fact that the series was relaunched with a new #1 issue! For the rest, the story picks up almost exactly where the last one leaves off. Now, Doreen is in her second year of college and she is all that stands between the Earth and total destruction. If it wasn’t enough, our Squirrel Girl also joins Sunspot’s New Avengers.

Again, all the Squirrel Girl issues are collected in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus. Following are all the other collections.

Optional. In the wake of Secret Wars, Bobby DaCosta aka Sunspot retooled A.I.M. as a super-scientific global rescue squad of tomorrow’s heroes…today! And Squirrel Girl is a member of his team. She also followed him when he began working for the S.H.I.E.L.D. and the team transitioned into the U.S. Avengers. Those stories can be read independently of her own title, as it doesn’t target the same public. For more details about the Avengers during this era, check out our Avengers reading order.

Part of this volume has also been collected in deluxe edition (hardcover):

Part of this volume has also been collected in Graphic Novel Trade Paperback:

Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show!

Doreen Green, who has recently been outed as a Super Hero—The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! She decided to embrace her public identity and… launched her podcast! With the help of her best girl-friend, Nancy Whitehead as producer, and her best squirrel friend, Tippy-Toe in the booth; Doreen is ready to help people more people than ever with her greatest Super Hero advice. And it’s still written by Ryan North!

Guest-starring Squirrel Girl

Since the conclusion of her own comic series (and the following podcast), Squirrel Girl mostly popped here and there, making cameo or guest starring in other titles. Among those short appearances are a few more noticeable, such as her appearances in Spider-Boy.

Squirrel Girl: Out-of Continuity

Squirrel Girl has appeared in other media and in stories out of the main Marvel continuity.

Marvel Rising! Earth-TRN684. This media franchise is centered around the Secret Warriors, a team of teenage superheroes who must band together to defend the world from powerful threats and a few comics have been released:

Squirrel Girl novels! Two Squirrel Girls novels have been released, written by Shannon & Dean Hale.

Note: An earlier version of this article originally appeared on the site in 2022. 

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