Posted on: August 26th, 2010 Comically Challenged-Tank Girl: Skidmarks TPB
Lowbrow. What’s it mean? Something considered to be in poor taste, uncultured, unsophisticated, maybe even immature. This description makes it sound like it’s a bad thing. It really, really isn’t. In fact, the lowbrow art movement has always been one of my favorites. It’s not pretentious, it’s not better than you; it’s the every-man art form. In truth, my first exposure to the art form was in my youth when I was introduced to the hot-rod scene and kustom kulture. Most notably with Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. I’ve grown up with the lowbrow influences and damn-it-all if I still don’t love it. But it wasn’t just popular in the car world, a large portion of it’s popularity came from the underground comic scene in and around the late 70s and into the 80s. That, kids, is our humble origin story of the Queen of Lowbrow: Tank Girl.
Did you feel that? That was knowledge being dropped on your ass. You may want to take care of that.
Here we have Tank Girl: Skidmarks, a Titan Books collection of the four-part mini series of the same name. Scripted by Alan Martin and art by Rufus Dayglo. Quick rundown for those of you not familiar with Tank Girl: girl with a semishaved head goes around in a tank, getting into all kinds of shenanigans with her side-burn clad kangaroo buddy Booga and an assortment of other very punk counterparts. That’s all you’ve got to wrap your mind around. Skidmarks spins the tale of our girl entered into a cross-continental motor-race for a crap-load of money to pay for the medical bills of her friend Barney after she had a tragic skateboarding accident. Dee-Dee Ramone and shape-shifting gnomes fit in there somehow as well. As is the case with any fictional no-holds-barred race, you meet a lot of wild characters, you see a lot of over-the-top strategies for knocking another vehicle out of the way, and despite the numerous detours and set-backs, the main character always ends up in a heated battle to the finish line.
Before we delve into this post, let me note that this book is in color. Tank Girl usually is not in color. I liked it (didn’t think I would-but I did). Now, are you looking for brilliant storytelling and ground-breaking insight? You’re not going to find it in Tank Girl. Chances are, you knew that already. What you are going to find is witty banter, a tricked out weenie-mobile, a lot of creative destruction and curse words you didn’t even know existed. Once again, if you’re looking for sophistication, don’t turn to lowbrow.
When asked to give this book a looksie, I had a pretty good idea what I was getting myself into. Truth be told, I expected more ass-kickery and less sentimental got-to-save-my-friend…ery. It still reached its quota of death, destruction and toilet humor-so at least I saw that coming. What I didn’t see coming was a small editorial note in the back; a description of the Cool-Crap Continuum.
Call it ‘awesomely bad’, ’shitty cool’, ’so bad it’s good’. However you describe it, it pretty much amounts to the fact that even the worst creations have some entertainment value. That’s why people flock to go see The Room (2003). It’s why you know all the words to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”. It’s why a topless review about vampires set to hair metal exists (yes it does). And what that little note said was, everything is awful and awesome at the same time. Well, it actually said cool or crap but don’t get caught up in semantics. Just because it appeals to someone, doesn’t mean it’s going to appeal to someone else. Don’t go off of what other people say. Base your opinions on your own feelings. That’s right: the book I was given to review has a message in it that says don’t pay attention to the opinions of other people. So, go do that. I liked it simply for the fact that it harkens back to the underground lowbrow movement. You go make up your own damn mind about it.