If you were to ask us which comic is the most fun and optimistic in all of Marvel, we’d probably tell you Squirrel Girl, because Squirrel Girl is amazingly fun and funny. But if you were to ask what is the second most fun and optimistic, we would tell you to look no further than the Unstoppable Wasp (TUW). This book is fun and funny and inspirational as heck. It’s one of our favorite Marvel books and it’s only three issues old! This week, we were lucky enough to read the third issue of TUW, and it did not disappoint.
When we left off with Nadia, The Unstoppable Wasp, she was battling an R.O.U.S. (rodent of unusual size) with Moon Girl. It turned out to be a trap sprung by Nadia’s former lab partner from her days in the Red Room. What dangers await Nadia this month? Will her friend take her back to Russia? Will Moon Girl join Nadia’s lab? Will Nadia ever get her citizenship? Will Princess Buttercup make it out of the Fire Swamp? Oh, wait, that’s another story. We’ll find out the answers to (most of) these questions in The Unstoppable Wasp #3!
Ying-credible!
We open on Nadia in a dark alley face-to face with her old friend and lab partner Ying. She’s been sent to bring Nadia back to Russia. They knew Nadia would have a harder time killing an old friend. Nadia, in true Nadia form, doesn’t even think about defending herself. She’s genuinely happy to see Ying and asks her to join the G.I.R.L. lab after a big hug.
Ying doesn’t believe it will be as easy as all that. Despite Nadia’s optimism, Ying is resigned to her fate and disappears, but not before springing her final trap. This time, it’s a giant raccoon. Luckily for Nadia, Lunella is still hanging around, and she brought her dinosaur. Dinosaur and Raccoon fight (goddammit, we love comics). After the battle Nadia and Lunella compare notes on whose life is weirder because of course they do.
Cell Phones and Teleporters
Nadia continues working her way through the list of geniuses to recruit for her lab, but first she has to go get a new phone. Nadia’s new phone song is maybe our favorite thing ever now.
After she gets her new phone she runs afoul of a grumpy looking punk girl at the bus stop. But of course, she makes instant friends because who couldn’t like Nadia? They bond over tattoos and Nadia gives the girl a G.I.R.L. patch before hopping in the car with Jarvis to go find her next recruit.
On the way, they get a call from Janet VanDyne (your momma’s Wasp). She makes Jarvis promise to get Nadia’s citizenship figured out. He promises to go see Matt Murdock to get it taken care of. (Future team-up?) They get to the next address just in time for a girl to launch herself out of a third story apartment window. This must be the place.
After Nadia rescues her, she drops her proposal. This is Lashayla Smith, and she is instantly onboard with G.I.R.L. She and Nadia geek out over her inventions and make jokes at Jarvis’s expense (like you do) until her dad comes home. He is delighted by the idea of Lashayla going to a lab (it will save him on home repair expenses).
Times Square Scientist
Nadia and Jarvis have one more stop to make, but not before visiting Times Square. Then Nadia ducks inside a shop where we meet Priya. She is a brilliant geneticist, but is more interested in being popular like the two culturally insensitive airheads in her shop. She turns Nadia down, but not before a surprise villain attacks the store.
Could Nadia be any Cuter?
Ok, so, we are now fully in love with Nadia. She is so unabashedly optimistic and geeky. She has a level of sincerity that makes it impossible for us not to grin from ear to ear when reading her book. She makes bad jokes and gets pop culture references wrong, and she is pretty much just the best.
Elsa Charretier and Megan Wilson’s art fit the book perfectly. Nadia’s goofy faces only add to her charm, and can we pleeeease join G.I.R.L.? Can we at least get one of those cool patches?
Okay, all gushing aside, this book continues to be a breath of fresh air in a Marvel universe overshadowed by Nazi!Cap and his Secret Empire. It’s great to have a book be lighthearted and fun, but not totally devoid of meaning. TUW continues to push the girl power angle big-time. The back matter once again contains interviews with two real life women in STEM fields. They are both brilliant and nerdy in their own right, and one of them is even a cosplayer!
What’s Happ’nin’
The story continues to be about Nadia searching for women to join her lab. As fun as it is getting to see how easily Nadia makes new friends, this is the third issue, and not much has happened yet. We’ve had a fun cameo with Moon Girl, and met a few new girl geniuses, but aside from that, the storyline hasn’t really begun moving yet. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as we could read Nadia wandering New York and being nerdy and love every second, but we can’t help be curious what the overarching story will be.
It’s still early in the series, and we love Nadia so much, you don’t even know, so we’ll be reading TUW into the foreseeable future with or without that overarching story. It really is that much fun. Once again (we can’t stress this enough) get this book into the hands of any and every nerdy geeky brainy girl you know, young and old. They’ll be happy you did.
The Unstoppable Wasp #3
Writer: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Elsa Charretier
Colors: Megan Wilson
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Images courtesy of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and @sadiebydesign
