Tank is what Tank Girl does. And what she does is party with Jet Girl, Booga, and Barney. 21st Century Tank Girl is the kind of trade paperback you can store on your bag/backpack and take on the road with you, go back to any time you fee like, and read along. The richness in every story, every illustrated essay, and pinups, are the type you keep with you, and when the mood strikes, you pick up and re-read over and over again. You can bust it open in the middle of the book, and even in the middle of the story, and sometimes it’s a lot of fun trying to figure out why is Tank Girl talking to 80s sitcom stars in a big ballroom when Booga and Jet Girl are getting shot at by another badass tank.
The writing seemed to have one purpose in mind: mayhem. No matter the story, or who’s drawing it, Alan Martin put forth a mission to make Tank Girl involved in destruction of some kind at every corner. A car, a big time mall, another tank, military protocols, god’s undies; anything is up for grabs in this book. One of the wisest decisions taken by this book was assuming everyone already knows what the world of Tank Girl is like, and opening it up with a story that could easilly go in an issue of Grant Morrison’s new reign on Heavy Metal Magazine, the consitency in the writing allowes the reader to enjoy each story for what it is and the art that compliments it. Each artist offers their own piece of madness in their alotted tale, from traveling in space in a giant… banana, to a huge car chase sequence and Jet Girl losing track of where (and whe) she is, 21st Century Tank Girl devolves into Jim Mahfood level of madness where he breaks the fourth wall and talks to his colorist, the book then brings tou back up to the surface to catch your breath, before pulling you right back in with more batshit crazt antics.
This book isn’t a reintroduction to the world of Tank Girl. It’s more like you had coffee brewing up one morning, heard a knock at the door and before you could fully open it, Tank Girl kicked it wide open, with Booga, Jet Girl, and Barney coming in right behind her. They make their way into your kithcen where they cook the sloppiest plates eggs, pancakes, and bacon as well as kill all your freshly brewed coffee. 21st Century Tank Girl doesn’t belong on your shelf, it belongs in your living room table, coffee stained, with cigarrette ashes between the pages, and once in a while snuck into the bags of unsusecting firends, when they ask you why you put thta book in their back, that’s when you slap them in the face and show them the cover once more. THEN they get it, take it home, and you will realize you’ll have to challenge your friend to a wrestling match in order to hold the Tank Girl once agaiin, with me running commentary, ovbiously.
I’m not absolutely sure if Tank Girl will continue after this series, I truly hope Alan Martin has penty more madness to talk to us about and will join up with an even wider arrange of crazy artist who will give Tank Girl their own twist and flavour to the madness.
Score: 4/5
21st Century Tank Girl You Read That Shit Because of: Alan Martin You Loved ALL The Pretty Pictures Done By: Jamie Hewlett, Brett Parson, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, Jonathan Edwards, Jim Mahfood, Craig Knowles, Philip Bond Publisher: Titan Comics/Books Price: $22.99 Release Date: 11/11/15 Format: TPB; Print/Digital