Media Roundup: Awesome Girls!
Mar. 27th, 2026 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryHave some more thoughts about media!
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 1-2 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al— Remember last time when I was like “maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl”? Well I decided to go for it and that was a great idea, thanks past me. These are so much fun! I enjoy Doreen’s unconventional approach to problem solving and her general enthusiasm for everything! I’m also glad that they kept the letters sections in the collected volumes – I love getting to see all the cute cosplay and squirrel pictures.
(Reading this had made me think about the were a bunch of girl centric fun comics around 2015. I wish that trend had continued)
Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— The final Lumberjanes graphic novel. Pretty cute, though I do feel that these graphic novels aren’t as good overall as the main series.
Mamo by Sas Milledge— I really liked this fantasy graphic novel about two young women trying to deal with a town where the magic has gone wrong. The art was so good! Lots of big sweeping landscapes, but also great details. Lots of excellent birds too!
Batman: No Man’s Land— This was such a lot I don’t even know what I think about it. No Man’s Land is year long muti series crossover story event where after an earthquake the US government decided to evacuate all of Gotham and turn what was left into “No Man’s Land” (I did not so much suspend my disbelief about this course of events so much as shove it firmly to one side) Counting the prequels its 7 volumes, which is a lot.
Some of this is very grim, especially right at the beginning before Batman decides he does need help actually. As always my favorite parts of this were the team ups, and I wished there were more of those. No Man’s Land was published in 1999 and early 2000 and it’s very 90s in some ways. The style of grimness feels very of that time, like it's trying to shock and shame the reader. It’s also very 90’s in that it is a long arc made up of many discrete stories. Some of the stories focus on ordinary people, and some on heroes and villains. I ended up skimming the grimest bits. I generally like that kind of structure but some threads did end up getting dropped.
I kept waiting for this to gel a bit more, and it never quite did
Batgirls by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, et al.— I was really looking forward to this, since it sounded like it would be full of things that I like. (Women who are friends with each other, mentorship, shenanigans!) and Becky Cloonan was also one of the key writers for Gotham Academy, which I loved. I was also a little nervous to start something that I had high expectations for, in case it didn’t live up to them. But after No Man’s Land I wanted a break from older comics so I thought I’d give this a try.
The premise of Batgirls is that the three Batgirls are all living together and doing Batgirl things. So it's a good set up for friendship and mentorship. It does feature those things but it's also a bit grimmer than the premise makes it sound, touching on some heavy topics, and featuring some intense violence
I'm not sure what is going on with Babs' disability or how I feel about that but it is nice to see a character who sometimes walks and sometimes uses a wheelchair.
Overall I think this is really good, but some of the darker stuff makes it not top tier for me.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 1-2 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al— Remember last time when I was like “maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl”? Well I decided to go for it and that was a great idea, thanks past me. These are so much fun! I enjoy Doreen’s unconventional approach to problem solving and her general enthusiasm for everything! I’m also glad that they kept the letters sections in the collected volumes – I love getting to see all the cute cosplay and squirrel pictures.
(Reading this had made me think about the were a bunch of girl centric fun comics around 2015. I wish that trend had continued)
Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— The final Lumberjanes graphic novel. Pretty cute, though I do feel that these graphic novels aren’t as good overall as the main series.
Mamo by Sas Milledge— I really liked this fantasy graphic novel about two young women trying to deal with a town where the magic has gone wrong. The art was so good! Lots of big sweeping landscapes, but also great details. Lots of excellent birds too!
Batman: No Man’s Land— This was such a lot I don’t even know what I think about it. No Man’s Land is year long muti series crossover story event where after an earthquake the US government decided to evacuate all of Gotham and turn what was left into “No Man’s Land” (I did not so much suspend my disbelief about this course of events so much as shove it firmly to one side) Counting the prequels its 7 volumes, which is a lot.
Some of this is very grim, especially right at the beginning before Batman decides he does need help actually. As always my favorite parts of this were the team ups, and I wished there were more of those. No Man’s Land was published in 1999 and early 2000 and it’s very 90s in some ways. The style of grimness feels very of that time, like it's trying to shock and shame the reader. It’s also very 90’s in that it is a long arc made up of many discrete stories. Some of the stories focus on ordinary people, and some on heroes and villains. I ended up skimming the grimest bits. I generally like that kind of structure but some threads did end up getting dropped.
I kept waiting for this to gel a bit more, and it never quite did
Batgirls by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, et al.— I was really looking forward to this, since it sounded like it would be full of things that I like. (Women who are friends with each other, mentorship, shenanigans!) and Becky Cloonan was also one of the key writers for Gotham Academy, which I loved. I was also a little nervous to start something that I had high expectations for, in case it didn’t live up to them. But after No Man’s Land I wanted a break from older comics so I thought I’d give this a try.
The premise of Batgirls is that the three Batgirls are all living together and doing Batgirl things. So it's a good set up for friendship and mentorship. It does feature those things but it's also a bit grimmer than the premise makes it sound, touching on some heavy topics, and featuring some intense violence
I'm not sure what is going on with Babs' disability or how I feel about that but it is nice to see a character who sometimes walks and sometimes uses a wheelchair.
Overall I think this is really good, but some of the darker stuff makes it not top tier for me.
