Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

'King Tank Girl #1-5

Tank Girl: King Tank Girl

Rate this book
Another round of outlandish adventures from the queen of the outback, Tank Girl is back and this time she's gonna make it to the top! The stylistic artwork of Brett Parson and genius of co-creator Alan Martin create this whacky graphic novel of all-new Tank Girl stories!

Writer and co-creator Alan Martin returns with fan-favorite artist Brett Parson to bring you the all-new adventures of the classic, punk rock comic character Tank Girl! Turning the clock back to the early years, 'King Tank Girl offers up a veritable banquet of brand new stories: Tank Girl and the gang head to the beach for Barney Don't Surf; they explore the expensive world of Wellbeing; and Tank Girl is crowned King of England. And all that before tea time!

128 pages, Paperback

Published December 13, 2022

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

Alan C. Martin

193 books111 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
6 (10%)
4 stars
19 (34%)
3 stars
21 (38%)
2 stars
7 (12%)
1 star
2 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Alex Sarll.
7,351 reviews385 followers
Read
December 1, 2022
As in 'fucking' when you swallow the first syllable, but also because one of the stories in here sees the lead caught up in a scabrous reworking of Arthurian myth, and perhaps Once And Future in particular given the way it ends up with two rival kings thanks to the myth's two rival swords. And if you think that's a tenuous pun, just wait until you see the contortions involved in its take on the Grail. Still, smashing ye olde manner of speech into standard Tank Girl dialogue has its moments:
"Surrender, ye poxy resins! The sword of righteousness is ours! We have the higher moral ground!"
"Fuckarama!"

Plus an origin story I could have sworn had already been done previously, but then it's a long time since I read the early stuff; a crossover with sixties surf kids the Kook Patrol, and if you're not familiar with them, don't worry, their solo introduction is in here right before said crossover; and a car race, complete with modding, to see who has to make the tea, which is such a splendid imbalance of effort that I can't help but love it.

(Netgalley ARC)
Profile Image for Alexander Peterhans.
Author 2 books316 followers
April 23, 2023
I like Tank Girl, and I'm afraid I found this book a chore to get through. Tank Girl stories tend to be.. insular, and that means it takes a bit to get into them, but here I just found it too much trouble for what you actually get.

(Thanks to Titan Books for providing me with a review copy through NetGalley)
Profile Image for Donovan.
737 reviews108 followers
April 15, 2023
A mixed bag and frankly, did Tank Girl get hit over the head and the whole book is what she dreams? Interesting nonetheless. But none have made me laugh like the originals by Hewlett & Martin.
Profile Image for Aggie Kidd-Ray.
29 reviews
March 11, 2023
After many misses in its illustration over the last few years (in my opinion), Tank girl finally has an illustrator that really gets the character and puts the stories across so very beautifully and in such detail that it just made me so so happy, besides, it’s pretty fucking fun!! Off to read all of Brett Parson’s Tank Girl :)
Profile Image for Nicole.
1,002 reviews115 followers
September 20, 2022
Issue #1: 3 stars read on 12/16/20
Issue #2: 3 stars read on 03/03/21
Issue #3: 4 stars read on 03/03/21
Issue #4: 3 stars read on 05/16/21
Issue #5: 4 stars read on 06/29/21
Profile Image for Jess Twibey.
248 reviews25 followers
October 12, 2022
As always Tank Girl is iconic, the stories are bizarre and the illustrations are amazing - a great edition to the comics of tank girl and a fun read too
Profile Image for Booksaboutem.
76 reviews15 followers
October 17, 2022
Oh tank girl my nostalgia was in full force. I loved all the quirky stories and banter. And as always the illustrations are so detailed and beautiful 🤩

Thanks NetGalley for the review copy
Profile Image for Saif Elhendawi.
185 reviews7 followers
March 7, 2026
Really underwhelming and not worth your time. I thought it was a heavily anarchist coded and political satire comic, but it seems to be just silly banter that is not really entertaining or funny.
Profile Image for Books Over People .
441 reviews
November 25, 2022
Well, that was everything I wanted from a Tank Girl comic. It made no sense, she changed her clothes a million times for no reason, and Booga features prominently. At one point Sub-girl says “Memory can be a strange and bullshitty thing.” That is brilliant.


Thanks to Net Galley and Titan comics for the ARC.
2,147 reviews61 followers
October 4, 2022
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Titan Books for an advanced copy of the continuing adventures of a young lady and her tank.

Not many characters from the independent comic book scene of the 80's and 90's have continued to adventure into the twenty- first century. Nor has a character who had a movie that was so poorly received by critics and audiences keep a sense of adventure and strong message alive. That's our Tank Girl. In Tank Girl: King Tank Girl co- creator and writer Alan C. Martin and artist Brett Parson offers us an adventure that takes place early in the career from this destructive young woman, her posse, and her armoured chariot.

The adventure begins with Tank Girl pining for a lost toy, one that was known more as choking hazard for children, than as something people wanted to play with. A quest is started when her boyfriend Booga, remembers that he had a toy just like that when he was on vacation in a small town in England, one that he buried in the front yard of their cottage. Soon the crew is sailing for Merry Olde England with dreams to toy treasures to be unburied. Arriving in England they come across a stone with a very large sword in the center of it. One High Explosive round later the sword is free from the rock, and Tank Girl is made King. High jinks ensue. The book also has a second story, featuring the Kook Patrol, a group of 1960's surfers looking for the perfect wave and perfect day at the beach. The crew from Tank Girl come across these surfing nomads in a time travel adventure trying to escape from enemies, hiding in giant sandcastles, learning to surf. Again hilarity ensues.

The stories are good, very reminiscent of the earlier stories, maybe not as anarchic as past adventures but still good. I reminder about who the character was or a summation of what has happened might have helped. I'm not up on her current stories, nor even Tank Girl's publishing history. The book was funny, and breezy easy to understand and fun. The art was very good, the lines clear, the characters distinctive but with a look that holds together throughout the story, and through various outfit changes. I liked the background graphics too. Those really stood out to me for some reason.

Recommended for past fans and for new fans who like a little chaos in their storytelling. Also watch the movie, it is not as bad as some people say. In fact it holds up pretty darn well.
9,883 reviews140 followers
November 19, 2022
Just when you thought the title of this was missing at least an apostrophe to hide the three letters at the beginning of King, you find the title is to be taken literally. For the f**king Tank Girl character has found a risible reason to come to Cornwall, taken the sword out of the stone and become the rightful King Tank Girl of the title. Mind you, I don't know why I bothered with that much detail, because it hardly matters what is on these pages – Tank Girl being more or less review-proof, and the book packed with so much else besides – car races, surfing scenes, chess-playing scenes, bare naked arses and a lot of teenagerish swearing. In fact the title story seems to just be chosen for the potential pun – the few issues that were put out containing as they were a majority of King-free strips. A lot of it is more for the fan than I – I never really found anything from Deadline that I liked – so despite the quote on the back saying this is a wonderful jumping-on point, this will be one more TG book that the fans need yesterday, and the rest of us will remain quite bemused by.
Profile Image for RP Madison.
63 reviews12 followers
January 30, 2023
Off the top I need to say I have loved this rotten group of bastards since before I had pubes. The original spirit of Tank Girl gives me some very real and very inappropriate feelings. I hadn't read any of the books in a long time, maybe since Dayglo left the series and I was excited at the description which promised a return to the early days. Acknowledging that, I have to admit, this wasn't for me.

Did you ever hear a scuzzy punk rock album that had been remastered and reissued? Maybe it seemed like an unnecessary and misguided way to reconnect with an audience? That's what this felt like. I really tried here too.

The teeth and libido have been removed. The art, while beautiful and consistent is missing the grit and tit these criminals deserve. There were some laughs but no surprises or visual chaos that once defined TG.

3 stars for some genuine chuckles in the first few pages, the inclusion of Camp Koala and Mr. Precocious even though they seemed to have lost their identities.

You really can't go home again.
Profile Image for Amy Walker  - Trans-Scribe Reviews.
924 reviews17 followers
December 10, 2022
Tank Girl is one of those characters that can be used for pretty much anything, where any kind of story works with her. Want to tell a weird story where she goes to space and fights alien bug creatures? Sure, that’ll work. Want her to stop a robot uprising that’s using pop music to infiltrate society? I can see that. Want her to travel to England in search of a rare action figure and accidentally become king? Well, that you can actually read right now.

The latest Tank Girl graphic novel release from Titan Comics begins with that whacky premise, as Tank Girl laments her inability to finish her Rangers of the Universe (a nice Masters of the Universe knock off) range of toys because the rare Groil Seeker figure was recalled and destroyed after just a single day of sales when the spring loaded head caused injuries to children. Luckily for her, Booga used to have one, having bought it on holiday in Cornwall years ago, burying it in the garden of the house he was staying at. Determined to complete her collection, Tank Girl and her crew head off to England.

However, when she arrives in town she finds a tourist spot showing off the fabled Sword in the Stone (misnamed Excalibur in this book when they’re actually two different swords). Using her skills with a tank, she manages to free it from the stone by blowing the stone apart. This loophole technically makes her the King of England, and she ends up on the throne. But it turns out that running the country is a lot of work, and Tank Girl ends up having to deal with peasant revolts, as well as a rival for the throne.

The book doesn’t just contain this story though, as there are also some shorts, and a couple of other stories scattered throughout. Readers also get an adventure where Tank Girl and her friends are being chased by a hitman and his team, and use a magical talisman to escape him by wishing themselves to 1960s Califormia surfer territory. There’s also a story about how Tank Girl, Sub Girl, and Jet Girl met, and got their nickname of Third Day Commandos.

As you’d expect from a Tank Girl graphic novel the stories here are silly and weird, and the book never once really takes itself too seriously. One of the things that isn’t so good about it though is the fact that the humour in the book just doesn’t feel as good as the original stories. The recently released Tank Girl: Colour Classics Trilogy showed the series at its best, with some twisted and weirdly surreal humour. Whilst this book tries to continue that tradition, and certainly throws the characters into some odd situations, it just doesn’t seem to land as well. There’s a heavy reliance on pun names and silly one-liners that start to grate after a while.

It also doesn’t help that the multiple stories in the book are split apart. It looks like the graphic novel collects the individual comics how they were originally printed, with the stores in parts spread throughout the book, rather than presenting each story all together. One part of the King Tank Girl story is followed by a silly couple of pages, with the part of the time travel story, then another King Tank Girl chapter, and so on. It makes the book a bit more of a slog to read, as you’re jumping from story to story, rather than just enjoying it tale by tale. Presenting the stories together, with the small interludes between them would have helped the book flow a lot better, and would have increased the overall enjoyment a lot.

The artwork on the book is by Brett Parson, and it might be some of the better artwork on a Tank Girl comic that I’ve seen. I found his art style really enjoyable and very pretty to look at. Everything was clear and concise, and even though they were able to capture the dirtiness of the characters, Tank Girl, Barney, Sub Girl, and Jet Girl all looked really cute, and there were moments when they’re acting like kids that the art style really makes them seem more adorable than anything else, and you kind of want to let them get away with their wild shit.

Tank Girl: King Tank Girl is an enjoyable series of adventures that take our titular star and her friends across time, around the world, and to some bizarre places. Whilst the format of the book does lessen the enjoyment somewhat it’s still a fun read, and one that I’m sure Tank Girl fans will love.

Profile Image for April Gray.
1,390 reviews10 followers
January 27, 2023
This was silly and fun, and fits in with my "I've only seen the movie" vision of Tank Girl pretty well. There's action aplenty, lots of cartoony violence, an Arthurian tale (side note: I know it was probably part of the jokey-joke stuff here, but please people, will you STOP confusing the sword in the stone with Excalibur?!? They are two different swords!), a time travel adventure to the California coast in the 1960's, a race to see who has to make the tea, and we get the "true story" of how Tank Girl, Jet Girl, and Sub Girl met, plus the art is great and we get a fabulous cover gallery. What more could you want? Just read this, it's good!

#TankGirlKingTankGirl #NetGalley
Profile Image for Chad Cunningham.
500 reviews5 followers
October 6, 2022
I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for a review!

I haven't read Tank Girl in years and years. Back in the day Tank Girl was one of my favorite comics. I loved the punky lunacy of the Tank Girl world.

This is not your father's Tank Girl. This a fun series of vignette's straight out of Tank Girl's subconscious. The stories are silly and full of late 60s/early 70s energy. The art is fun and has an Archie/National Lampoon hybrid style.

There's very little edge here, but there is lots of cheek and more than a little goofy fun.
Profile Image for Aman Reading.
186 reviews
February 15, 2026
This hodgepodge of a volume was the second volume I had read of the Tank Girl series. If you want a taste of the tasteless series that is Tank Girl, this one provides a good introduction because of its amalgam of unrelated stories provides a clear insight into its crude humour, its mild sexual content, its needless violence, and its unfunny vulgarity.

Read it so you can understand the Tank Girl series and learn to avoid it.
Profile Image for Saffron.
75 reviews
September 8, 2026
despite having a 'wank girl' mention and swearing, I can't shake the feeling that this is the pg version of tank girl for younger teens. although the art is technically good, I don't think this style suits a series like tank girl, which I've come to expect a certain grit from. the polished lettering and digital rendering robs the comic from its inherent punk nature by no longer appearing 'diy-ed' like a zine
Profile Image for Chad.
11.1k reviews1,107 followers
April 3, 2023
This is one of those things where if you'd always enjoyed Tank GIrl, you'll probably like this. If you haven't, you probably won't get this at all. I fall in the latter category. This is a bunch of unconnected short stories. None of the relationships are explained. This is built for long-term readers only.
Profile Image for Kat.
122 reviews5 followers
December 15, 2022
Just delightful. Fun for existing Tank Girl fans and people looking to get into the character. This volume is a combination of two short run stories featuring quick little one-shots throughout. Already on the list to be ordered for the libraries.
Profile Image for Jill.
1,412 reviews26 followers
October 1, 2024
God this was so boring.
Profile Image for Psylocke.
165 reviews12 followers
November 10, 2024
Tank girl is one of my favorite movies. It blew my mind back in the day. Tank Girl as a king was all over the place and not in a good way. I got frustrated and lost interest many times.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews