We are almost back folks! Later this week, we’ll be kicking off 2012 with a series of episodes looking at comic book films set after the apocalypse (or are at least set in future dystopias). First up is the 1995 cult classic Tank Girl!
The character made her debut in the British magazine Deadline in 1988, which would remain the character’s home until the magazine ceased publication in 1995. The strip follows the misadventures of the titular Tank Girl, Rebecca Buck, in a post- apocalyptic Australia. Initially, the strip begins with Buck working as a bounty hunter, until she botches a mission to deliver colostomy bags to the President of Australia, turning her into an outlaw. This status doesn’t change all that much for Tank Girl however, as she quests for good beer and good times, hanging out with Sub Girl, Jet Girl, and her mutant Kangaroo boyfriend while occasionally having to deal with various threats, from bounty hunters out for her head to the devil himself.
The character is the creation of writer Alan Martin and artist Jamie Hewlett. While Martin has worked almost exclusively in comics and only on Tank Girl, artist Hewlett has in the years since gone on to co-create a little known virtual band called the Gorillaz:
I’m sure the band will hit it big someday. Anyway, in 1995, the adaptation of Tank Girl was released in theatres, directed by Rachel Talalay. Talalay made her directorial debut in 1991 with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, the sixth (and not final) film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series.
Hewlett and Martin reportedly hated the script to the film, even attempting to rewrite it at various points without luck. The credited screenwriter is Tedi Sarafian, who worked on the story of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines:
And given the visual design of the film, it is worth bringing up the production designer, Catherine Hardwicke, who has gone on to become a director in her own right. Amongst her directorial credits is the acclaimed drama Thirteen...
...the well received Lords of Dogtown...
...and…um, the first Twilight film...
Anyways, join us this week as we take a trip back to 1995 for Tank Girl!
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