Review: Tank Girl, Vol. 1

Tank Girl, Vol. 1 by Jamie Hewlett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tank Girl should have been in my life probably from birth, but somehow I didn't see the movie until about a year ago, and just got around to making my way through the comics. It's a post-apocalypse tale in the style of Mad Max: lots of loosely-connected tales with an 80s punk aesthetic about zooming around the Australian wilderness in a trademark vehicle with few connections to others, giving zero fucks. They could even be in the same universe. Tank Girl, though, is spastic, spontaneous, and thoughtless where Max is deliberate and methodical, always with one eye toward the future. Tank Girl is also much more lighthearted; whether it's a warehouse full of beer, Tank Girl's life, or the whole world at stake, you know that somehow she'll pull through. It makes both the movie and the comics incredibly fun to experience.

Tank Girl, Volume 1 is a collection of the first several runs of Tank Girl, accompanied by commentary from the authors that frame Tank Girl's origins and development. I'm probably in the minority on this, but sometimes I wish all books came with a retrospective letter from the author (or an informed editor) that give some context or history for the work. In this case, the foreward gave me notice of the various inspirations for Tank Girl, told me how the character developed to the point where she got her own story, and discussed the styles of each of the creators, which allowed me to trace various artists' and writers' contributions.

For the most part in Volume 1, each issue was its own, self-contained story. Tank Girl fucks up a rare mission from what I presume is the post-apocalyptic Australian government in the first story, liberates a warehouse where some cronies are stockpiling her favorite brand of beer in another, and (possibly my favorite) teams up with her best friends Jet Girl and Sub Girl for a birthday bash in yet another. We see a lot of Booga, her on-and-off fuckbuddy/boyfriend. One of the most striking stories is one that has little Tank Girl in it at all; she appears at the end, as a mythic figure of liberation. And another (again, maybe my favorite) where her teddy bear is ruined and they have to retrieve another from the store.

The artwork develops throughout, since these are the first several issues, but from start to finish it's a blast. There isn't an inch of wasted space on the page, everything is full of in-your-face bold colors or fantastic world-building detail. I'm a sucker for comics that flesh out their world by paying close attention to their scenery and details - adding in tiny elements that don't just add visual interest but convey something about the world, about the characters. And that's something the artists do here wonderfully.

I also just love Tank Girl. I love her kickass style. I love her foul language. I love the design of Tank Girl, unabashedly female and not here for the male gaze; there were very few moments where I was uncomfortable with the physical portrayal of the female body, which is rare for comics of any era. She's sexual, voraciously and scarily. I love that in some scenes her face reminds me so strikingly of my sister that I do a double-take. I love her combat boots and her stupidly awesome hair.

The world-building and storytelling here is interesting to me, as someone who came from the movie first. In the film, it's clearly a post-apocalyptic scenario. Here, amidst all the chaos of Tank Girl's life, it's hard to tell exactly what is happening. A gang can control the production and release of a brand of beer, but Tank Girl clearly gets orders from someone military. There's still media and government. But I love that things are left unclear; the patchwork nature of the story here, where you get bits and pieces of sometimes clearly contradictory information as-needed for whatever story is happening, is something quintessentially Tank Girl. It's as if we're seeing the world through Tank Girl's eyes, regardless of how the world actually is, she only pays attention to what is relevant at that moment.

I'm eager to read the rest in this set - hopefully, they're all as rewarding and entertaining a read as this.

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