With the economic downturn over the last several years, there are probably quite a few fathers who can relate to caveman Grug Crood in some small way.  Just keep your head down, nose to the grindstone, keep doing things the way you’ve been doing them for the last 20 years, and you’ll somehow keep the family going.  But then, disaster strikes, and there’s no choice but to venture outside your comfortable confines in order to survive.  For the Croods, the disaster is a lot worse than a layoff or a defaulted mortgage; their home is destroyed as their entire world quite literally comes crashing down around them.  The only thing Grug, wife Ugga, mother-in-law Gran, eldest sister Eep, middle son Thunk, and feral toddler Sandy can do is run into the great unknown of a jungle they never even knew existed.

While there, they meet Guy, an idea man with a slightly more rounded forehead who has survived alone by his wits, cunning, and a little help from his sloth pants-holder-upper/comic relief sidekick, Belt.  Guy creates fire to keep predators away at night, he understands the concept of shoes, and can set elaborate traps to snare food.  He also has a plan: to get to the high ground before this thing he’s calling “the end” catches up with all of them.  But Grug doesn’t like change…and he doesn’t like the way his teenage daughter is so enamored with this new Guy, either.
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It’s the spring of 1954, and comic books are king.  Four-colored panels tell tales of masked crusaders, gun-blazing mobsters, hatchet-swinging madmen, and barely dressed damsels in distress, sold for a dime at the corner drugstore to kids of all ages.  One of the leading publishers of these not-so-funny funnybooks is Starr Syndication, run by Maggie and Jack Starr a step-mother and son duo with street smarts and style to spare.
But their cartoon empire is threatened when Dr. Werner Frederick, a noted psychologist, releases his controversial new book, Ravage the Lambs.  Lambs accuses comics of being the instigator of youth crimes, that those spandex-clad heroes are homosexual influences, and that they might be making our kids dumber to boot.  His words stir up the pot, and Congress calls for public hearings, threatening to do something about this “ten-cent plague” in our midst.

When Dr. Frederick winds up dead thanks to a scheme ripped directly from the pages of a best-selling comic book, there are too many suspects to count.  Hoping to protect his industry and his cronies, Jack Starr takes on the investigation and follows a path that leads him to the seediest parts of the four-color publishing racket.
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On the last episode of Tank Girl…Rob didn’t especially like the titular, heavily-armed, cigarette-smoking female’s graphic novel, Carioca.  The story was a little light on everything: violence, character, and story.  It was an unusual, not entirely unwelcome sidestep from co-creator Alan C. Martin’s usual run with the character, but something was missing.

I’m happy to report that the Tank Girl of old is back in this latest outing from Titan Books, Everybody Loves Tank Girl.  Written by Martin with artwork by Jim Mahfood (Clerks, Grrl Scouts), ELTG is a return to the chaotic, cursing, non sequitur style of yore…kind of.
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