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Comic Book Review


Book Cover

Tank Girl
Two Girls One Tank #1

 

Writer: Alan Martin
Artist: Brett Parson
Publisher: Titan Comics
RRP: UK £2.65, US $3.58, Cdn $4.59
Age: Mature readers
32 pages
Publication Date: 18 May 2016


Fresh off the back of their latest calamitous chapter comes this shiny new Tank Girl tale from series creator Alan Martin and artist extraordinaire Brett Parson! Expect a healthy dose of delirium and plenty of ball-crunching action in this high-octane cross-country skirmish that asks the question: is this world really big enough for two Tank Girls?! Strap yourselves in, folks, because it’s gonna be one helluva ride…!

In a complete contrast to the anthology format of last year’s 21st Century Tank Girl, this new mini-series comprises a single, serialised story. And in contrast to much of Tank Girl’s previous adventures, there’s more of an emphasis on coherent plotting from writer Alan Martin rather than just weird stuff going down – which for this franchise is weird in itself!

Tank Girl’s beloved tank has disappeared, so our heroine, together with her allies Booga and Barney, sets out on a scheme to acquire enough ready cash to buy an identical replacement vehicle. Meanwhile, the tank itself has come into the possession of high-class gallery owner Magnolia Jones, who soon finds herself falling under the machine’s spell and ends up reinventing herself in Tank Girl’s image… This is how we end up with two girls whose lives revolve around (yes, you guessed it) one tank.

It’s quite a big idea, this notion of the essence of Tank Girl somehow being transferred to another person via contact with the tank – or is the tank creating a new driver for itself in the absence of the old one? Is Tank Girl being set up to be replaced by a younger version? Such things happen sometimes to long-running comics characters – think of the multiple iterations of the Flash, Robin or Supergirl. And what are those marks on Magnolia’s back and arms? Is she into bondage, or is there a darker secret in her past?

Amid all this plot (and even some pathos, would you believe), there are perhaps fewer laughs than might be expected from this series, though there’s the usual complement of boobs, booze, swearing and explosions, and I did smirk at a remark about being given a juicy tip! Thankfully, the art chores are being handled by Brett Parson, who was easily my favourite contributor to 21st Century Tank Girl, owing to his particular blend of wackiness and sexiness.

Two girls… one tank… one issue in… seven out of ten.

7

Richard McGinlay

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