With this third volume of the 'remastered' Tank Girl collections, we see the end of Alan Martin's (questionable) authourship. Strangely, though, it is also here where Martin's hand is shown as most evident, accompanied by guest artists Philip Bond and Glyn Dillon in place of the usual finery of Jamie Hewlett. Both Bond and Dillon acquit themselves well, the former putting in at least four stories while Dillon only offers one (and that of Tank Girl's occasional compadre Jet Girl), but neither are really replacements for the one-of-a-kind Hewlett style. Of course, Hewlett hands in his fair share of work, and it is typically frenetic and fun.
The stories this time around are a return to earlier form, typically playing hard-and-fast with the rules of both physics and narrative while eschewing the acid-house mind-warpage evident in volume two. As Martin explains in his final introduction, these stories were happening at the peak of Tank Girl's popularity as best shown through the real-world appearance of the Tank Girl motion picture. Perhaps the return to madcap hijinks at this time is reflective of the creators' hopes to maintain the spirit at the core of the title, but it also seems to be injected with a heart that wasn't in the earliest stories. Naturally, that may just be the sign of both originators growing that little bit older and more mature.
In addition to being Martin's end on the series, this is also where I will stop reading it. Though the remastered editions go on for another three books (and at least three more authours/illustrators), this is the last one in my hands. It's probably best I leave it here, anyway, as I'm not entirely certain I'd want to see where this character's taken after here. This original run on Tank Girl seems to have plumbed what little depth there ever was to her and her friends, and beyond this I can only imagine she'll be suffering what writers call 'character development.' As shallow as these stories tend to be, it's probably better than seeing them get deep.