By Hewlett & Martin (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-759-4
Hard on the funky-booted heels of the first volume, the second in the series of remastered, chronologically complete compilations featuring the wildly absurdist ever-so-cool independent girl who took the early 1990s by storm includes work from Deadline March 1990 to April 1993, plus relevant excerpts from The Tank Girl Postermag, the Comic Relief Benefit Comic and a Christmas prezzie from the December 1990 Speakeasy.
Never too wedded to the concept of internal logic or narrative consistency (or spelling – so if you’re pedantic be warned!), the next couple of years saw the creative team’s energies dissipated by other gigs, with a consequent irregularity of stories about the big-eared social iconoclast. But the level of in-yer-face absurdity, British Cultural Sampling and addictive sex’n’violence remained high in such smuttily psycho-active tales as ‘I’ve Got Friends at Bell’s End’ and ‘Force Ten to Ringarooma Bay’ whilst the introduction of vibrant colour for the 5 part ‘Summer Love Sensation’ (a nominal return to the old homestead for the slap-happy slapper and her mates) plus the visually stunning ‘Sunflower’ from The Tank Girl Postermag did much to cement her position as the style touchstone for the crucially hip of the commercial acid-house generation beyond the world of comics.
In Deadline the work became more radical, experimental and often impenetrable (perhaps rushed would be kinder or fairer). Three-part Seventies crime-spoof ‘Askey & Hunch’ was self-indulgent and far too long whilst the Jack Kerouac homage/pastiche ‘Blue Helmet’ was often clever, sharp, funny and facile at the same time. The art however, was always astounding – radical, fresh and with an underlying patina of unique Englishness made up of equal parts Steve Parkhouse, Brendan McCarthy and sheer original enthusiasm.
Always self-referential, the strip hit new highs with ‘The Fall and Rise and Fall of the Ship in the Bottle’ and ‘Guide to Joy’ (Hewlett & Martin’s observations on swearing, sex, the mind, drugs, comics and fans). The book closes with a selection of strip oddities comprising ‘Booga’s Christmas Carol’ (from Speakeasy), ‘Jet Gurl in Hairy Pussy’ (Deadline December 1992) and the two pages by Hewlett and Martin from the Comic Relief Comic jam featuring a stupendous battle between Dawn “I’m Sorry Jennifer Woman” French and Ben “Student Fridge Sausage Man” Elton. The heady brew is all topped off with a selection of covers from Deadline USA and the Tank Girl II Dark Horse Comics US reprint comics.
Even if you’ve never seen the anarchic, surreal, ultra-violent (in a funny way) and neo-pop-culturally drenched peculiarity that was Tank Girl, or if the gag might be wearing a little thin in places, this is still a culturally viable, generally readable and wonderfully pretty package of Rude Britannia, and a part of our history well worth the occasional visit.
TM & © 2009 Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. All rights reserved.