G.L.A.

(Marvel, 2005-2006)
™ and © 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.

From the Comics Buyer’s Guide:

With The Avengers once again temporarily out of business, The Great Lakers finally get their chance to save the world from an actual major super-villain plotting to destroy the world. But, boy, is it ever going to cost them.

Those used to Dan Slott’s wackier sense of humor from She-Hulk will find the laughs here a great deal darker, as he gives a Dark Knight Returns-style treatment to an Inferior 5-type group of would-be heroes. (You know you’re in strange company, when Squirrel Girl is the most competent one in the bunch.) In short, this one is all about death.

All the fourth-wall breaking and asides by talking squirrels does little to diminish the impact when a character is brutally killed; the story has a strange, uneven tone that works in large part because of the beautiful art by Paul Pelletier. If you don’t believe Squirrel Girl defeated Doctor Doom, that story (drawn by Steve Ditko!) is included here, along with The GLA’s first appearances from West Coast Avengers drawn by John Byrne.

— S.A. Bennett

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