Tank Girl: Skidmarks

When best friend Barney ends up in a coma after falling off a skateboard, Tank Girl has only one option to help her friend out, enter in an illegal cross country race. With the prize money that is offered for the winner of the race, Tank Girl will be able to pay for the hospital bills( the very, very, expensive bills) that Barney is getting from laying in the bed as she drools the days away. With Booga, the ever loving kangaroo boyfriend to Tank Girl as the co-pilot, there’s no way for them to lose the race. That is unless the other racers don’t get in the way, or the man with the gun shooting at Tank Girl don’t end up shooting her, or having Dee Dee Ramone win instead of her.

I’ve been reading Tank Girl as much as I can when I can find them and I’m pleased to get to read this graphic novel that collects the 4 issues of the title Skidmarks. With this graphic novel the original co-creator of Tank Girl, Alan Martin writes the story with art work from Rufus Dayglo filling in the rest of the pages, what I got was 128 pages of pure joy.

Let me start with talking about the story of it first because this is one of the unique writing styles of a comic that makes me like Tank Girl. There’s this quirky, snarky, dirty, raunchy, fun loving style that’s been given to Tank Girl and the other characters that I’ve seen nowhere else in the comic book industry. Somehow Alan Martin has been able to give the world of Tank Girl Skidmarks a feel of the future that’s both fake and real. Sure there’s a talking kangaroo man driving a tank but at the same time it seems like it’s just an everyday thing. The comedy in this graphic novel has a sharp, smart, edge to it that allows it to be funny and action packed at the same time.

Though the art work holds it’s own with Tank Girl Skidmarks. Rufus Dayglo has this style to his drawings that’s real with a touch of cartoony to it. His lines are sharp when it comes to the main pieces being drawn, such as the characters and environment. These lines make the characters, some that look outlandish are clear and even realistic. Yet at the same time he can put in some lines that look like they belong in a sketch book instead of a graphic novel. But my favorite is the way he draws the main characters, Tank Girl, Barney, and Booga. The way these characters look is amazing. There’s this gothic, rough, but still fragile look that the girls are given while Booga has a strong edge with a simplistic side to him that draws me into the characters and wanting to know more about what’s going to happen. Tank Girl Skidmarks has a good amount of violence in it, though anyone familiar with the character already can expect this, but it’s not overboard with it. But the best part of this graphic novel was getting the flashback to Tank Girls past when she first met Barney in high school. Only time I was not happy with this graphic novel is when I was finished reading it and wanting more.