I would recommend this to anyone who likes that kind of stuff, non conformist and all that, or into graphics. I first read tank girl when I was twelve and it didn't do me too much harm, although kangaroo lovers(no not in that way, you've been reading too much tank girl!) or comic book purists might want to give this a miss, it seems to break most conventions which i guess is interesting or something.......go tanks!

Tank Girl turns this rule on its head, presenting us with a tough, no-nonsense, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, kangaroo-shagging, tank-driving take-no-s**t b**ch. She's shaven-headed and doesn't wear that many clothes either. All in all, not your average female hero. That's what makes her so charming.

However, the comic strip itself is a tougher proposition than you might imagine. This first volume is definitely essential for any British comic fan, but having read it (and you must) you may be left thinking: 'do I want to get them all?'

While the stories are bright, brash and gleefully stick two fingers up at the establishment, they can become a mite tiresome. While the stories are inter-connected, the narravtive of them collected together meanders more than Tank Girl when she's drunk as a skunk. The artwork, too, is often brilliant but feels overstuffed, like the writing.

This is why Tank Girl is so great in some respects: it's dynamic, off-the-cuff, brash and entertaining. But only in sporadic bursts. Taken in small doses, it's out of this world but Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett have freely admitted they made it up as they went along and in a couple of hours. What we are left with is a pretty odd beast, not just in terms of story and character, but in form also. It's all over the place.

In the end, it's a wonderful mess, that doesn't know what it wants to be and is glad about it. But it's all style in the end and not for kiddies either. Still, you simply cannot go without experiencing it: it's a taste of the brillantly disorganised, going against the grain of controlled, precise, structured narratives and characterisation, and altough very, very funny, tough stuff with it.

Whether this comic floats your boat or not depends on your preferences. If you want a generic story, with weak girls acting as photogenic sidekicks, then you won't like this. But if you want something different, a riotous anti-heroine who wears clothes like a psycho fancy dress alien and has some kind of gun fetish, buybuybuy!