82 books like Squirrel Power

We’re finally starting to see superhero movies and TV shows featuring the amazing heroines of the comic book world, but some have yet to make the jump. One of these heroines is Amethyst, and Amy Reeder’s recent reinvention of the classic 1980s series is a great distillation of the character. The book is colorful and action-packed, an amazing introduction to a unique setting and heroine that melds the real world with a fantastical realm unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Reeder’s writing is engaging, and her art as she explores and populates Gemworld is gorgeous and immersive. I automatically pick up anything Reeder draws, and this book is her at her best.

I love all of the different Batgirls DC has introduced over the years, and this book brings them together in one delightful adventure. Barbara Gordon is the original Batgirl mentoring her two protégés, the snarky Stephanie Brown and the martial arts master Cassandra Cain. The trio is a mix of different personalities and strengths, but teamwork and sisterhood come first. Cloonan and Conrad craft a rollicking story in this first volume, and Corona’s bombastic artwork is a perfect vehicle for all three of these enjoyable characters.

Superhero comics are known for hyper-sexualizing female characters and limiting them to one uniform, impossibly curvaceous figure. Valiant’s Faith Herbert is a direct reaction to this, the first plus-sized heroine to star in her own comic as she patrols Los Angeles as the high-flying Zephyr. Beyond this meaningful step for the genre, Houser has written a compelling story and Portela and Sauvage deliver great artwork that brings Faith to life. The character is a game changer for superhero comics, and this first collection of her adventures is such a fun read.

In recent years, DC has branched out into standalone YA graphic novels that reimagine their characters, and Nubia: Real One is my favorite one yet. In the mainline comics, Nubia was Wonder Woman’s long-lost twin sister, but here McKinney and Smith reimagine her as a teenager in the southern United States, dealing with her Amazon powers as she reckons with injustice and police brutality. The book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and McKinney and Smith’s desire to create a heroine that resonates with the issues faced by young, Black readers, and they deliver a fantastic story.

A small crew of super-powered middle schoolers try to do some good and end up branded as super-villains...then they find out they rather enjoy it.

It’s an amusing premise filled with wacky inventions, silly antics, and a wealth of cute and creative superpowers. But the characters are also incredibly likable, and as we grow to care for them, we see them confront difficult ethical questions in a world that’s not as black-and-white as the superheroes might have you believe.

It’s a wildly fun world mixed with a heartfelt narrative carried out by characters you’ll love. What more could you want?

Time to put aside the history and cultural analysis. How could I understand the modern Batman phenomenon without delving into Miller’s classic reimagining of Batman? By his own account, Miller wanted to take Batman and the whole superhero genre out of the realm of kid stuff. Boy, did he ever! This Batman has been called dark and gritty, though Miller supposedly didn’t care for that description. But there’s no question Miller’s work influenced the movies that followed. The book includes the four issues that were originally published separately. 

Peter Parker’s struggles give me life! Am I a sick and twisted person? Maybe. But I’m definitely not alone.

Preeti Chhibber knows the key to a good Spidey story is watching our little webhead struggle, and I adore how she puts him through his paces. She really delights in torturing our boy and pushing his buttons. Don’t worry; he still gets to crack jokes and be his charming self. It wouldn’t be a Spidey story without some genuine comedy!

I love it when you can tell how much fun the author had writing the book, and Preeti’s Spider-Man is exactly that. When I wasn’t giggling, I was feeling all the feelings. Maybe I’m not so sick and twisted after all?

I really connected with evil genius Doctor Impossible and his whacky world of superheroes. In grade and high school, I felt like I was the one who was overlooked, which was often the good days; getting noticed generally meant I was being made fun of and bullied. But to take revenge, to show my plebeian classmates the (imagined) might that lay within me, how glorious that would be! Hahaha! Evil laugh aside, as Doctor Impossible does just that, I also enjoyed his vulnerable needs, longings, and regrets. And the lives of the heroes are not all they are cracked up to be. While not as stark (or violent) as The Boys, Grossman also exposes the toll superhero biology can take on the mind and body. A fun and poignant read.

Since the protagonist has some amnesia, I loved piecing together the threads of Jamie’s identity in this book.

Jamie isn’t exactly a villain, per se, but I’d classify him as morally gray; after all, he uses his memory-erasing abilities to rob banks and commit crime. When he meets arch nemesis and do-gooder Zoe in a support group for those who lost their memory, they realize their pasts might be more entangled than they think.

We Could Be Heroes is fun, fast-paced, and features great characters in a speculative world that’s easy to immerse yourself in. I personally really enjoy stories with amnesiacs, since it allows us to learn more about the characters right alongside them and feel the emotional punches of reveals, and Chen’s work balances that with fun and lighthearted moments seemingly effortlessly.

One of the first manga books I ever read and one of the reasons I fell in love with the fantasy genre as a whole which then spread into gaming.

Set in Feudal Japan, a school girl named Kagome one day falls in a well and finds herself in a completely different timezone, where there are demons, priestess, and a particular dog eared half demon named Inuyasha...

It's a rollercoaster ride of emotions and heart, and this one I actually wished had been turned into a game as it would have been so much fun.