Squirrel Girl’s creators are back and more dangerous than ever before
Trying to summarize Danger and Other Unknown Risks is tricky. It’s truly one of those stories that has everything: Magic, time travel, Y2k, the apocalypse, a chosen hero. But to artist Erica Henderson and writer Ryan North, who joined Polygon on a recent Zoom call in anticipation of the graphic novel’s release, the most important thing might have been the dog.
“Every time we came up with a story idea, you were like And also there’s a talking dog,” Henderson told North over video chat, when I asked about how the book came to be. “And I was like, OK, none of these stories work with a talking dog. Let’s make one that does.”
“I have no memory of that,” North admitted, “but it absolutely sounds like something I would be doing.”
North and Henderson, who made their name with the wildly and unexpectedly successful Unbeatable Squirrel Girl at Marvel Comics, have firmly entered their post-Squirrel era. The graphic novel is their first independent, creator-owned tale made together — which should interest any Squirrel Girl fans who appreciated the way in which that comic boldly and lovingly diverged from standard Marvel Comics fare in tone, story, and art. And from Squirrel Girl’s emphasis on the power of connection and friendship, fans might also appreciate that Danger didn’t start with any particular idea or pitch.
“It started with Erica saying, Hey, let’s do a book. What do we do a book about?” North said. “And I was like, Yes, let’s do a book, what should it be about?”
A conversation between the Canadian North and the American Henderson about the U.S.’ obsession with chosen-one narratives eventually turned into the colorful, magical post-apocalypse of Danger and Other Unknown Risks.
After waxing on about the strange
Read more on polygon.com
