By Shanece Brent, Staff Writer

Published in print on Jan.14, 2015

Marvel’s Squirrel Girl has been around since 1992, providing comic relief in a comic world that had become almost entirely dark and gritty. In her time, Squirrel Girl has been a would-be sidekick for Iron Man, a member of the Great Lakes Avengers, a babysitter, and always a protector. But one thing she’s never been is the star of her very own comic. That is until this past Saturday, when the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 debuted at Acme Comics.

The new series written by Ryan North, illustrated by Erica Henderson, and colored by Rico Renzi has already generated quite a buzz; the new series has captured the attention of online publications The Mary Sue, Entertainment Weekly, and IGN, which gave The Unbeatable Squirrel girl #1 a 9.5 rating on a ten-point scale.

People were definitely excited for this release online and off.

On Saturday, Acme Comics made room for Henderson and Renzi at a table laden with Squirrel Girl buttons, splash pages, and of course, copies of the graphic novel. The occasion called for a day of events which included meeting the artists Renzi and Henderson, a meeting of the Squirrel Scouts, and then a live podcast at 8:30 featuring the artists.

The day was a joint effort between Greensboro’s Acme Comics and Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema. Jermaine Exum, manager of Acme Comics, was excited about Henderson and Renzi’s achievement. “The book has been pretty successful,” Exum said, “we began with 200 copies on Wednesday, and today we have less than 25 copies left.” Squirrel Girl’s popularity, he explained, “speaks volumes to the varieties of comics that are available today, and the type of audience that is available for this type of comic.”

Henderson has a theory about Squirrel Girl’s popularity. “She’s relatable,” he stated at Saturday’s event. And it’s true, judging by the diverse crowd who arrived to meet the artists and grab a signed copy of the book, and maybe even a sketch or two throughout the day.

“Squirrel girl is definitely optimistic,” Henderson said. “That’s the entire reason she was created, because comics were dark and gritty, and they wanted to create a character who was the opposite of that, to go back to the fun times of comics. The grand majority of the stories she’s been in have been fun stories, or if not, they have at least kind of commented on dark stories.”

Working on the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series was a project that veteran colorist Rico Renzi didn’t want to pass up. “I’m usually pretty picky,” he says, “but I loved the idea.” Renzi, who has worked as a colorist on comics starring classic heroes such as Batman and Spiderman, surely had his pick of projects.

Along with signings by Henderson and Renzi, the artists also sat in for a meeting of the “Squirrel Scouts,” students from area schools who share an interest in art and comics. “Since we have Erica coming in to promote this high profile comic book, I thought this would be a time to sit a bunch of kids down in a room and give them a chance to ask a working comic book professional, ‘What do I need to do to accomplish the goal of working in comics?’” said Geeksboro owner Joe Scott, who organized the Scouts meeting and owns Geeksboro Coffeehouse and Cinema with his wife Rachel. “And the kids came in asking a lot of great questions, a lot of practical questions, even some very serious questions.”

There’s more to come for Renzi and Henderson, as well as Acme Comics and Geeksboro. Renzi is the colorist for next month’s upcoming issue of Spider-Gwen. In February, Geeksboro is featuring comic artist Dan Dos Santos, and the folks at Acme will bring in esteemed G-Man author and illustrator Chris Giarrusso.

Henderson is working on several things, but declined to comment on those projects’ specifics with a mysterious smile. But one thing is for certain: based on the great start that Squirrel Girl has had, it’s obvious that the heroine has a long run in her future.