cover image Tank Girl: Visions of Booga

Tank Girl: Visions of Booga

Alan C. Martin, . . IDW, $17.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-60010-280-6

In a perfect world, everybody would be able to live like Tank Girl, even if just for a day. The snarl-lipped, occasional tank-driving, semi-postapocalyptic punk scamp and her kangaroo lover, Booga, seem to be having a good time even when they're racing hell-bent across the outback with guns blazing and cigarettes askew, with bloodthirsty madmen on their tail. This time out, Tank Girl and Booga have run afoul of the Aussie mob on a robbery job and are fleeing for their lives as usual, only to come across the ultra-rare “Book of Hipster Gold,” a lost beatnik epic that has the potential to save the world. Martin's text makes sense in its own cockeyed way, with the slangy references flying thick as the exhaust and gunfire, livening up one fist fight where the characters announce each punch with Z-movie flair (“Wesley Snipes!” “Christopher Walken!” “Vinnie Jones!”). Dayglo's art has spit and sawdust galore, with sunset tones fitting the desert outback setting, and sharp angles to punctuate the frequent action. It's an electric crackle of a book with modish postpunk zip to spare. (Nov.)