Continuing with my Comic Con 2011 look back, and thanks to my friend Christine who was helping me, I met Rufus Dayglo, the author of Tank Girl. Christine struck up a conversation with the London-based Rufus Dayglo at one side of the IDW Publications booth, while I was interviewing Ben Wagner about his new novel and multiplaform work called BAJA, and asked me to come over and meet the legendary writer. The result was a massively cool and funny interview on video.
Tank Girl was created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin, and Dayglo came on to work with them “about 2005, 2006” as artist and has produceed six series with the pair. As a character, Tank Girl’s name is Rebecca Buck, and according to Wikipedia is prone to “random acts of sex and violence, hair dyeing, flatulence, nose-picking, vomiting, spitting, and more than occasional drunkenness.” Take out the flatulence, nose-picking, vomiting and spitting, and Buck would be just north of datable. But the World’s full of people, and so there are guys who want that whole package. “She’s got a kind of punk rock thing,” Dayglo said.
Prior to Mr. Dayglo’s arrival, Tank Girl was made into a 1995 movie starring Lori Petty, Ice-T, and Naomi Watts, with Malcolm McDowell playing the villain Kesslee. The film cost $25 million to make, but only generated $4 million in theater ticket sales. And given what’s written about the bad experience Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin had in making the film, Tank Girl seems to be ripe for a remake, under the right circumstances. Meanwhile Rufus Dayglo pushes on.
He’s starting work with 3A Toys and is working on his own comic book or graphic novel featuring a female character.
Aside from that, Dayglo loves beer and is not shy about his feeling on the Royal family, saying he wished that we could get “a mini-bus and drive them off a cliff. I’d even be willing to drive it myself. I’d make the sacrifice.” As far as drinks, Rufus like “basically anything that’s put in front of me. I’m a cheap date.”
The website is http://tank-girl.com, and Rufus says that someone took TankGirl.com, then tried to sell it back them so he “hopes they die.”
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll