Tank Girl: Visions of Booga

Tank Girl #8

by Alan C. Martin, Rufus Dayglo

In Visions of Booga, we join Tank Girl and her marsupial hubby Booga as they find themselves the victims of the worst run of bad luck ever. Their tank has been lost in a wager and the Australian Mafia are after their pelts. Their only hope seems to lie on the other side of the country, with Booga's estranged little brother.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Fiction, Fantasy

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Louise Bloom]

Ah Tank Girl... About time I started to model myself entirely on your utterly fictional awesomeness. 'Hang on' you cry, 'That's ridiculous. You are a 36-yr-old mother of two. Grow up woman and by some proper clothes'. 'Phht!', say I. 'Turn to the last page. I'm good.'.

Perhaps I could convince them to do a 'Tank Girl: The middle-aged years where she gets a bit bored, bakes and lot and feels quite tired, while Booga gets a bit fat and develops a complex about nasal hair.' Oh well, perhaps not.

[Jack Rousseau]

The creators of Tank Girl, Hewlett & Martin, had "broken up" long before this trash hit the stand. Hewlett, as Wikipedia informs us, "went on to make his fortune creating Gorillaz with Blur's Damon Albarn". While Martin "wandered around for a bit, staying at communes with hippie friends, looking for stone circles and ancient sites before settling in Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland with his wife and two children".

The declining quality of Tank Girl can be attributed to the "break up" of the creators of Tank Girl, along with the remaining creator's descent into nostalgia for an era he never lived through.

The nostalgia in question is for the Beatnik culture* of the 1950s and the Hippie culture** of the 1960s. Both of which find outlet in VISIONS OF BOOGA. Both of which are untrue to the spirit of Tank Girl, a character that emerged from Punk culture.

FOOTNOTES

*The name itself, "VISIONS OF BOOGA", is a reference to Kerouac's "VISIONS" ("VISIONS OF GERARD", "VISIONS OF CODY"). If the reference wasn't obvious enough, the story ends with Booga holing up in a cabin to write his story (à la Kerouac).

**Perhaps the most appalling bastardization of Tank Girl was the marriage scene. Tank Girl marrying Booga and becoming his "old lady" (wife) was a betrayal on a par with William S. Burroughs appearing in a Nike advertisement.

[Page]

I have long been a fan of Tank Girl -- the movie drew me in and the comics are even better. This collection is a particularly fun one with a main story in four parts that is told with the help of beat poetry. Two shorter stories and some fun art round it out.

[Joshua Williams]

I'm starting to think Tank Girl just isn't for me...

[James]

Plenty of hippy wisdom. Pointy. Very chaotic and non-sensical at times.

[Sarah]

Cute, sweet story of Tank Girl and Booga on the run from the Australian Mafia, a trousers-obsessed psychopath and their brother the Chief of Police. Along the way, they hook up with Barney (another of their tank-obsessed friends) and find The Hipster Book of Gold. Good times!!

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Kiwi]

Borrowed from a housemate of mine and loved this one to pieces! Love the gender play and nonstereotypical gender roles. Fantastic. :D

[Sasha]

This story line was easier to follow and I enjoyed the art style. This was on the tamer side of Tank Girl though which was an interesting alternative.

[Annierobert]

I want to be Tank Girl when I grow up.