There’s lots of Tank Girl in this omnibus. We’ve three different stories in a single collection thanks to Alan C Martin, Ashley Wood and Rufus Dayglo. The stories themselves, if you’re a Collector and need to know, are The Gifting, Visions of Booga and The Royal Escape.
You might think you always know what you’re getting with Tank Girl. You don’t. I’ve read Tank Girl books that have been bloody and messy, others that have been zany and surreal, there are gritty Tank Girl books and high power rampages.
As a result I’ve not always enjoyed ever encounter with Tank Girl.
Proof that this trilogy is a clever omnibus is that I thoroughly enjoyed all three stories here. We’ve a large cast at times. If you’re not following Tank Girl religiously (and I don’t) then the new characters aren’t a problem – they’re the type of people Tank Girl would collect.
Sometimes, I note, these characters manage to overshadow our hero. Sometimes they can be more Tank Girl than Tank Girl. This isn’t a problem at all. It just adds to the mayhem.
The art is brilliant. We know Ashley Wood from the likes of Metal Gear Solid and Zombies vs Robots while Rufus Dayglo has done Tank Girl: Bad Wind Rising and Judge Dredd. The opening story art is especially effective. It’s drawn without panels, more or less, and so floods out to fill the papers of the book. It’s like reading something between an arcane tome and a gun fight handbook.
Each of the three stories have their own strengths. Expect twists, turns and plenty of attitude. There isn’t really a problem that can’t be overcome if you’ve more determination and a bigger gun to throw at it.
The catch? Tank Girl fans will have these individual stories already. The solution? As an omnibus The Power of Tank Girl is simply perfectly placed for geeks like me who appreciate a bit of underwear, girl power and explosions but don’t buy each TG book as it becomes available. It’s a bit crazy to be thinking of Christmas already but that’s exactly what springs to mind with this book. I think The Power of Tank Girl would make a great gift. It certainly feels like a comic book you can sneak off with after the Christmas meal and escape into.
The video below was made using Google+. The “Auto Awesome” provides an automatic colour filter so these images are a guide to the art rather than a replication.
My copy of The Power of Tank Girl (Omnibus) was provided for review. Titan Books; Martin, Wood and Dayglo, £19.99
