Tank Girl One - Alan Martin, Jamie Hewlett
Following high praise from certain quarters, I figured that I'd take the opportunity to check out the new, twentieth anniversary collected editions of counter-cultural icon Tank Girl.
Tank Girl, then, is a destructive sociopath who lives in some kind of vaguely defined futuristic outback where she has random, nihilistic adventures with a group of misfits and mutants - occasionally involving a tank or two. Nihilistic is perhaps the watchword here, as these stories disregard not just pretty much every social norm you can name, but also the rules for coherent, consistent storytelling and character development. The result is a glorious mess of anarchic imagination and unapologetic humour that maintains a real sense that these stories can go pretty much anywhere.
In these earliest issues, we can also see artist Jamie Hewlett moving from a more generic style towards the bold and characterful designs we know him for today, while writer Alan Martin also seems to increasingly eschew fourth-wall breaking anti-stories in favour of some sort of overarching plot. I think this, and the maturation of Hewlett's artwork, will probably bring me back to Tank Girl Two, once I get through a few more of the books on my stack.
3 comments:
Spooky.
I've always loved Tank Girl...I can't quite explain why. I just seem to channel her occasionally. I'm finishing this very comic collection right now actually. The later stuff (from after the movie) has more plot, less sarcasm smashy smashy and little hidden oddities in the artwork. Still, having a change to read some of the original stuff I've never been able to read is nice.
I'd recommend some of the later collections...more plot. The early stuff really is pretty random :)
Try out the Odyssey issue of tank Girl if you can find it. There's a plot and everything :)
I love the movie, and not because it's good. Devo came up today, and their song Girl U Want, which was used in the movie. An enduring appeal for both.
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