This past Friday, longtime The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl artist Erica Henderson announced she was stepping down from the series.

Breaking the news via her Twitter feed, Henderson said she left "of my own accord" to do creator-owned work. Further, she'll continue doing covers for the series, and the the book, written by Henderson's Eisner Award co-winner Ryan North, will continue.

With her name on Unbeatable issues solicited through May, it's safe to say Henderson's art will be gracing readers with its presence for some time yet. But with 37 issues (counting this month's #30) plus the OGN The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe, on hand, there's plenty of evidence to examine how Henderson went above and beyond to make Doreen Green the kick-butt hero comics needed.

RELATED: Erica Henderson Leaving Squirrel Girl, Series Will Continue

From the outset, Henderson took a very different tack to drawing Doreen. In other Marvel books published before Unbeatable's 2015 debut--and concurrently with it, like the concluded U.S. Avengers volume in which she co-starred in--Doreen was drawn in the typical female character mold: Barbie doll-esque figure, long hair, thin face, etc. Right on the cover of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 #1 (the series ran eight issues and then was rebooted with new numbering under the All-New, All-Different initiative), Henderson said nuts to that.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #26
Get out your markers for the zine-themed The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #26.

Her Doreen -- the one who, as page after page of heartwarming letters and tweets suggest, is the first version of her either experienced Marvel readers or kids are encountering -- is short-haired, stocky and noticeably strong. In personality and looks, is about as far from a typical cheesecake superhero drawing as you can get. To have that all happening in a mainstream Marvel comic is nothing short of revolutionary.

As laid out so clearly in Henderson's energetic pencils, her and Tom Fowler's vibrant inks, Rico Renzi's poppy, energetic coloring and Travis Lanham and Clayton Cowles' exceptional lettering, Doreen isn't the goofy punchline she had been pre-Unbeatable. She's capable as hell, endlessly empathetic, and willing to do anything that needs to get done to save the day, whether that be talking a bad guy out of their crimes or punching them till they see sense.

It's Henderson's skill with body language that's testament to that. Rounding out Doreen's face so her pointed buck teeth blend in while still standing out, Henderson has her be as expressive and animated in the way Fiona Staples draws Hazel in Saga, or how any number of artists have made Deadpool and Spider-Man's masks convey every bit of what they're feeling. Her faces for everyone -- but especially Doreen -- are so good that i09's countdown of 25 great Squirrel Girl moments mostly contained Doreen faces.

Another area Henderson brought her expertise to is the design. The backgrounds on up are always impeccable and vibrantly real, and the character design is, likewise, consistently memorable. Doreen's roommate and BFF, Nancy Whitehead, has changed hairstyles several times over the course of the series, with each looking as natural as the last, and none obscuring the character's identity.

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Doreen, Nancy and the rest of the comics' cast (excepting squirrel Tippy-Toe and the nihilist-robot-disguised-as-a-boy Brain Drain, who can only wear so many things to disguise that he's a floating brain-and-eyes-in-a-jar on top of a robot body) also wear different outfits every issue, which is totally befitting of modern college students. That's a rarity in just about any medium, but comics especially. Ditto Doreen's varying superhero outfits, the varied ensembles of heroes like Iron Man who upgrade their gear constantly, and those of fellow animal-themed heroes Koi Boi (who, not for nothing, is one of the few transgender characters in mainstream comics) and Chipmunk Hunk.

Henderson, according to this video interview with SyFy, was a film major in college. That background (plus time spent in the video game industry), informs how she lays out, stages and composes her comic book panels. This is most obvious in Unbeatable's many glorious action scenes.

From the double-page spread in the Beats Up OGN where Doreen and her newly created clone, Alleen, beat the snot out of a bunch of human-animal hybrid goons of the High Evolutionary's to Doreen beating the snot out of who I can only call Dinobot Ultron, the series' action scenes hearken back to the classic two-fisted brawling Kirby, Romita Sr. et.al. were so great at as well as the dynamism of modern fight scene masters like David Aja, and Masashi Kishimoto.

Henderson's cartoony, vibrant art is also clear and uncomplicated, which makes it easy to follow for any comics reader of any age. This is where the collaboration between her and Renzi shine brightest. Far too often, the realities of monthly comic production work mean coloring often gets rushed or oversaturated, resulting in panels that feel cluttered up with static and are at times really hard to read.

Henderson and Renzi don't have that problem. Every page is eye-popping in the best House of Ideas tradition, with a clear story flow. Given the sheer amount of dialogue and plot that come from Ryan North's scripts, that's no easy task.

North's scripts often involve copious dialogue, as well as loads of crowd work and high-energy fight scenes, and while that could sink any other artist, Henderson has shown with each and every issue that she's up to the task. Of a piece with Shelly Praoline and Braden Lamb's work on North's Adventure Time run, she's very capable of depicting both the serious and silly.

Finally, let's talk about her cover work. It's just exquisite.  From a simple daydream about being cheered on by the Avengers [issue #1, vol. 1] to an homage to Superman #1 [issue #17, vol.2], they're as attention-grabbing as comics covers should be. The many variant covers done are nice, but it's Henderson's I gravitate towards.

No one knows at this point where Henderson will pop up next and what kind of comic she'll be doing. But if her work on Squirrel Girl is any indication, readers are in for a treat.