Alan C. Martin (born 4 August 1966) is a British

comics writer A script is a document describing the narrative and dialogue of a comic book in detail. It is the comic book equivalent of a television program teleplay or a film screenplay. In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost al ...

best known as author of the comic strip '' Tank Girl''.

Hewlett and Martin

Martin first met Tank Girl co-creator Jamie Hewlett in 1986 at Worthing Art College. With fellow student

Philip Bond Philip J. Bond (born 11 July 1966, in Lancashire) is a British comic book artist, who first came to prominence in the late 1980s on '' Deadline'' magazine, and later through a number of collaborations with British writers for the DC Comics impr ...

they began collaborating on a comic/

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...

called ''Atomtan''. The ''Tank Girl'' series first appeared in the debut issue of ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...

'' (

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

), a UK magazine intended as a forum for new

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

talent, or as its publishers

Brett Ewins Brett Ewins (1955 – 16 February 2015) was a British comic book artist best known for his work on ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper'' in the weekly anthology comic '' 2000 AD''. Biography Ewins studied Conceptual Art at Goldsmiths College, w ...

and Tom Astor put it, "a forum for the wild, wacky and hitherto unpublishable," and it continued until the end of the magazine in 1995.

''Tank Girl'' film

In 1995, the comic was also adapted into a critically and financially unsuccessful film. The film featured Lori Petty as Tank Girl and

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...

as Jet Girl. Martin and Hewlett spoke poorly of the experience, with Martin calling it "a bit of a sore point" for them. After ''Deadline'' folded, Martin and Hewlett attempted to create another strip together called ''The 16s'', which he described as a across between ''Tank Girl'' and ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and inf ...

''. The strip was not published, and marked the end of their partnership.

Since 1995

After the film, Martin wandered around for a bit, staying at

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

with

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

friends, looking for

stone circles A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The b ...

and ancient sites before settling in

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census re ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

with his wife Lou and two children Wynne and Rufus Bodie (named after

Lewis Collins Lewis Collins (27 May 1946 – 27 November 2013)"Happy Birthday Richard Hastilow, 65", ''The Times'', 26 May 2010 was an English actor, best known for his career-defining role playing 'Bodie' in the late 1970s – early 1980s British television ...

' character in '' The Professionals''). Martin has played in various bands, written a Tank Girl novel (''Armadillo'') published in March 2008 by

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and c ...

, as well as various screenplays and scripts. He wrote the first new Tank Girl

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

in over ten years: ''Tank Girl: The Gifting'' with award-winning Australian artist

Ashley Wood Ashley Wood (born 1971) is Australian comic book artist and award-winning illustrator"2002 ...

. Published by American publishers IDW, the first issue was released in June

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

We went to the comics graveyard and dug her up. She's smelling pretty bad, but we're gonna put her in a wheelbarrow and parade her around for all to see, anyway.

Since 2007, Martin has dedicated his time exclusively to the Tank Girl franchise, writing over a dozen graphic novels, and designing several art books. In 2014, Martin, along with original artist Hewlett, and old school friend Bond, launched ''21st century Tank Girl'' as a Kickstarter, which was funded in less than 48 hours, the ensuing comic series went on to become the best selling Tank Girl series ever. This was followed by the mini-series ''Two Girls One Tank'' which also proved to be enormously successful. Since 2015, Martin has worked on Tank Girl projects exclusively with self-trained American artist Brett Parson.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official Tank Girl websiteTumblr account

Interviews

Suicide Girls Interview
- With Alan Martin about the Tank Girl relaunch

- about the 2007 relaunch from IDW comics. {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Alan Living people British comics writers 1966 births