Tank Girl Celebrates 30 Years With Titan Releases And Events Starting In April
by Olly MacNamee
Created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett way, way back in 1988 as a black and white strip in Deadline here in the UK, Tank Girl has survived the past 30 years and still looks in pretty good shape, all things considering. And, to celebrate this auspicious milestone, Titan have year-long plans for Tank Girl to help her celebrate culminating in a global Tank Girl Day event on Saturday, October 20, 2018.
Since Hewlett’s departure as regular artist in 1998 (going on to create ground-breaking music band Gorillaz with Blur’s Damon Albarn), the comic series has continued to attract top artistic talent, including Philip Bond (Kill Your Boyfriend, Vimanarama), Ashley Wood (Spawn, Zombies vs. Robots), Jim Mahfood (Clerks, Spectacular Spider-Man), Mike McMahon (Judge Dredd), Glyn Dillon (film storyboard and concept artist, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One), Rufus Dayglo (Judge Dredd), and current fan-favorite series artist, Brett Parson (New Romancer).
That’s an impressive list of indie creators on board that has helped sustain Tankie’s success thus far.
Here’s the full list of publications and celebrations running throughout the year:
Celebrations kick off in April 2018 with Tank Girl: Full Color Classics 1988-1989 – the first of six prestige editions presenting those original seminal strips from Deadline in glorious color, just as Hewlett and Martin envisaged them three decades ago. Colored by Tracy Bailey (Fighting American) and Sofie Dodgson (Tank Girl: Bad Wind Rising), this is a new take on the classic strips. Plus, it includes rare and unseen artwork, as well as photos from the early days of the Martin and Hewlett partnership.
April 2018 also sees the release of The Way Of Tank Girl, a fantastic hardcover gift book full of Tank Girl’s most personal and bonkers brainwaves, musings, and secret weaponry. Original creators Alan Martinand Jamie Hewlett, with artists Brett Parson and Ashley Wood, bring together a collection of strips, poems, covers, and extracts from Tank Girl’s 30-year career. It’s Tank Girl’s philosophy on life, distilled from her filthiest, dirtiest, stupidest best!
Tank Girl also leaves her mark on Free Comic Book Day on Saturday May 5, with a special Tank Girl FCBD edition. Entitled ‘A Brief History of Tank Girl’, this special comic features tales from Tank Girl’s past that illustrate how she became the loveable, unhinged rogue she is today! Plus, it features a cover by Jamie Hewlett! Fans can pick up this free comic at their local comic store on May 5.
A brand-new comic series starts in June 2018 with Tank Girl All Stars, which sees fan-favorite Tank Girl artists from her wild history return! Featuring Brett Parson, Chris Wahl, Ashley Wood, Philip Bond, Jim Mahfood, and Mick McMahon!
June 2018 also sees the critically-acclaimed 2017 series The Wonderful World Of Tank Girl hit stores in collection format. It features four stand-alone stories starring Tank Girl and her supporting cast, including: ‘Tank Girl Strikes Again’, The Man from Tank Girl’, ‘The Importance of Being Tank Girl’ and ‘Tank Girl Takes a Trip’.
In August 2018, The Legend Of Tank Girl – an all-new, bumper collection – hits stores. This highly-anticipated edition features the madcap adventures of Alan Martin and Brett Parson’s best-selling, 2017 graphic novel trilogy; ‘Two Girls One Tank’, ‘Tank Girl Gold’, and ‘World War Tank Girl.’ Packed with dozens of guest artist covers, previously unseen artwork, and character and vehicle sketches, this is the trilogy as you’ve never seen it before!
October 2018 – the actual 30th Anniversary of Tank Girl – is set to be a packed month of events, signings, comics, variant covers, and book releases. October 9 sees the release of a fun Tank Girl Coloring Book– where fans can make their own pages and pin-ups of their favorite anarchist as colorful as her language! The Tank Girl All Starshardcover collection hits bookstores on October 16, and the following day, October 17, sees the launch of a brand-new Tank Girl comic series from Alan Martin! This busy month culminates on Saturday October 20, as Titan Comics launches Tank Girl Day – a global event celebrating everything Tank Girl! The event will see new comics and collections, variant covers, signings, and events across the world at comic shops, bookstores, retail chains, libraries, and digital platforms.
