Comic - 21st Century Tank Girl #2

Steve Taylor-Bryant sits back and enjoys the chaos around him as usual but this time he's reading 21st Century Tank Girl #2...

First story, Nanango '71, sees Booga tasked with safely delivering a classic car from the 70's but, after picking up Tank- Girl and Jet-Girl and ripping off a high stakes poker game, a chase ensues that sees the car totalled. After much death and destruction Booga takes the chassis and seats, all that's left of the car, to its new owner who is so distraught he vows to kill them all.

Typical chaos that is expected from a Tank-Girl comic strip and the, shall we say, "flavoursome" language is as funny as it is crude. The artwork is as good as gets and really suits the story but Brett Parson saves his best for the psychedelic dream state sequence Jet-Girl finds herself in after the first huge crash of the chase. Fantastic opening to this second issue. Completely nuts.

This is followed by a very impressive sci-fi penis pin up (a sentence I never thought I'd write) by Jamie Hewlett and a tactical guide to Tank-Girl by Philip Bond, before moving into Journey to the Centre of the Tank. Jet-Girl, Barney, Tank-Girl and Booga are in a tank battle with an unexpected Churchill tank, with only one shell left and are sustaining heavy damage at the hands of their foe. Tank-Girl decides they need a big nuke, so Tank-Girl and Jet-Girl go in search of missiles in the part of the tank they haven't seen for a while. Another hit leaves Jet-Girl injured whilst Tank-Girl keeps searching, eventually finding the cleaning closet and Little and Large (honestly I'm not smoking funny ciggies) before moving into the centre of the tank, which is Grange Hill, full of seventies TV stars, and Tucker Jenkins helps Tank-Girl hide. Meanwhile Barney has fired their last shell as the battle continues. Using Evel Knievel's helmet, Tank-Girl uses herself as a missile, defeating the Churchill before telling her story to a recovering Jet-Girl.

This story is one of the best and funniest I've ever read in any Tank-Girl comic and just proves that Alan Martin is a genius that just doesn't care what people think and writes whatever crazy stuff comes into his warped mind. The artwork of Jonathan Edwards had an older feel to it which totally suited the seventies madness and, whilst his art is completely different to the work of Jamie Hewlett, it really has found a home in Tank-Girl for me.

Jim Mahfood takes the art for You're Young Now, But Won't Be For Long which sees a one page explanation by Tank-Girl on how being old is okay, drawn in a style that reminds of Beavis and Butthead and is a welcome, if short, contribution.

Brett Parson started the issue with a fantastic poster style cover and ends it with a pin up of Booga giving Tank-Girl a shoulder ride, which concludes an absolutely glorious issue full of incredible but differing art styles that showcase many different takes on Tank-Girl and complement Alan Martin's insanity. A must buy for TG fans and anyone who wants something braver than a run of the mill comic.

Image - Titan Comics

21st Century Tank Girl is available direct from Titan Comics.