Skidmarks is just like any other Tank Girl comic written by Alan Martin…completely original and off the wall. The art by Rufus Dayglo is great as well. Like always, we’re intermittently treated to awesome full page drawings, but what really makes it pop is the coloring by Christian Krank. The characters almost look 3D as they leap off the backgrounds. If you’ve never read a Tank Girl comic before, this one would be a great one to start with. And if you like randomness, sarcasm, back talk, smack talk, lots of action, and tons of swearing, there’s more where that came from!
Right from the get-go Alan lets you know what to expect by making the introduction about a totally random story concerning the huge cow-horn handle bars he loved of a bike he once totaled. The beginning of the story posts a disclaimer promising added swearing, and boy does it deliver! The fifth spoken word is “twat”…followed by bastard, fuck, big-arsed, bugger, balls, shit, buttocks, fucked, hell, jesus, cunt, motherfucker, poo-poo, bastards, fucked-up, nutter, tosser, ballbags, christ, tits, arse-end, twonk, toffo, dicks, arse, ballbag, crappy, fucker, bonkers, fuckin’, cunts, turdy-boy, poo, fucking, fucksake, bitch, testicles, wanker, fruck, arse-hat, and tit…just to name a few.
It also features celebrities, including “mustachioed ladies man” Burt Chest, who proclaims “That’s me! — A splash of aftershave, a chamois leather, and a strong smell of burnt pubes!” The star celebrity of the evening however, is Dee Dee Ramone, who aids in trying to save the day due to a feeling of guilt. In the midst of all the mayhem we’re treated to a back story about Tank Girl’s school days, and how she and Barney met. We even get to learn her real name, or the one (in her words) “for reasons long forgotten, I used to call myself.”
The story is about the Watermelon Run, “…an illegal cross-continental race that happens every twenty years. The odds of winning this race are over two thousand to one…and the odds of surviving the first ten minutes are even slimmer.” The prize for winning? Twenty billion dollars. And Tank Girl really needs to win all that prize money to pay a typically overpriced brain surgeon’s fee, “give or take a million.” Dee Dee Ramone gave Barney his skateboard in a trade, and after bashing her face in while riding it and going into a coma, they need the money to pay the doctor who can save her from being “lost in the deepest, darkest recesses of her murky, muddy brain.” Tank Girl does make it to the finish line, but when she gets there she’s got a major twist awaiting her! Who will win the race? The answer will definitely surprise you!
And here, for your reading pleasure, are a few choice quotes! –
“Hey! Some flying cunt is stealing our advertising!” – Racer
“A guy who thinks he can fix heavy machinery with a cheap pair of knickers…and me, semi-conscious and dribbling guts.” – Tank Girl
“Hey, you don’t have to worry about knickers, I’ve got plenty in the back.” – Burt Chest
“…no dressing like a complete cunt.” – Tank Girl
“Like a fucked-up wagon train, we rode on into the night…” – Tank Girl
“I’ve known her to knock a few teeth out eating a bowl of cornflakes.” – Jet Girl
“We sure could use a self-motivated, technically minded elf.” – Dee Dee Ramone
“Where’s the magnum of cheap champagne and the girls with the big melons?” – Tank Girl
“Who the fuck is driving that sausage?” – Tank Girl
The Movie Lady
themovielady@comicattack.net
I don’t know too much about Tank Girl aside from the few issues I’ve read over the years and the movie, but all of the issues that I have read just seem like very over the top fun each time. Oh and ‘tosser’ and ‘wanker’ aren’t THAT bad lol