The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin "Tank Girl: Vol. 1"

Started October 29 - Finished October 29, 2004; 128 pages. Posted 02 December 2004

I have a friend named Sonee who had the best name I've ever seen for a fanzine: Even Tank Girls Get the Blues.

When she did the zine, I hadn't read either title she had pilfered from. Now I've read both, and it fits. She has the absurd humor and sexuality of Tom Robbins, along with the take-no-shit and drink four tons of beer attitude of the comic character.

And don't get me started on the movie version, which I never saw. She saw it on opening night, and nearly came home crying.

"She threw away a beer without finishing it!" she screamed when she burst in the door. "Who the hell is this person?"

Hell, she even has the haircut - and not the shaved head or the tiny mohawk that appears in most of the drawings. On occasion, the cartoon has what looks to be twinfins, or two mohawks, except it's more like having two pigtails coming out of your forehead.

Imagine this on a live person. That's Sonee.

Say what you want about my geeky Daredevil obsession, but I don't walk around in red tights carrying a combination walking cane/billy club.

For the three hundred or so people who have my book, you may have seen her name in the dedication page. Out of the friends I've made and lost, Sonee is one of the most important. It's not that we were lovers � we weren't � but I always admired how she could make the most of her surroundings and have fun with it.

So the first time I saw her zine, I was a little shocked. First, I was shocked by reading her forays into areas of a sexual nature. Not that I'm a prude, but we had spent so much time around each other as drinking buddies without that area ever coming up, that to me, she just seemed asexual. For me, it was akin to walking in on your parents while they're bumping uglies, you figured it happened, but intentionally tried to not dwell on it.

But after that initial shock, I was more surprised to find that she was actually very sad about her situation in life. This was the girl who seemed to love life and all about it, and made other people prone to bouts of sadness (read: me) drop their own issues and dance around acting retarded.

I can see how it would happen. San Jose, being the cultural wasteland that it is, has the tendency to suck the fun out of anybody. And to be honest, she saw this much before I realized it. We were friends for close to 10 years, but within six she saw how our group dynamic of the punks in SJ was changing � people were getting their own places to live, and that started making them complacent. Where people used to come over simply because there was nothing else to do, they soon found that they could sit home and watch television, which didn't take any effort.

It was that sense of lethargy in others that I think she hated. Instead of bitching about it, she decided to up and leave.

I was against it. I had the notion that people would snap out of it. I thought our circle of friends was too tight.

I was wrong. It's taken almost five years to figure that out.

So this preparation for me and my move out of state is for you, Sonee. On your next expedition to travel around the country on no money and with no destination in mind, I hope you can figure out a scheme to get across the Pacific and visit when I'm there. Because I think you and I know, neither of us will throw away a half-full beer.


Rating: Worth used.

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