Customer Reviews

Army @ Love Vol. 1: The Hot Zone Club

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What happens when an unpopular war goes on too long? How do you manage to enlist? Rick Veitch shows a possible future where these issues have to be dealt with. Simply put, the Army finds a way to dress combat in a way that will appeal to young folks. This is done with the creation of MOMO, or Motivation and Morale. Young folks have become addicted to adrenaline thanks to their usual entertainments. The Army can meet that need through combat. It also supplies top secret "retreats" which are really bacchanalian orgies of booze, drugs and sex.

The story is told in two parts. One part is that of the director of MOMO and how he keeps the product moving. The second part is told through a combat squad and some of their family members. How do married couples handle issues that could arise if word got out about what is really going on at the front? High-tech gadgetry keeps the troops mostly safe so that they can enjoy the post-combat parties.

Well-realized characters populate this view of the future that looks like it could be very possible. This is an excellent start to a good-looking series. This is a Vertigo title so consider it R-rated at the very least. Although billed as a combination of a war comic and a romance comic it does not suffer from the lack of dimensionality these two genres are often associated with. Instead this is a fresh new approach. I can't wait to read more.

Rick Veitch's Army@Love will very much appeal to fans of all stripes. This book is a scathing parody of our current military adventuring in the Middle East that is laugh-out-loud funny and sexy as hell. Think Chaykin's American Flagg transposed into our current reality (not much of a leap, actually). Veitch's imagineering is so endlessly inventive and frightfully credible he may find unwittingly himself drafted into service to re-remake the military for the 21st Century.

No one is unscathed by Rick Veitch's satirical look at a future gone wrong -or is it a present day cautionary tale? In this crazy fun book, young people are enticed to join the army in an never-ending "war" in Afbaghistan. The book is full of plenty of sex, violence, and ridicule spat upon the fat cat corrupt bureaucrats and corporations that create the ongoing war.

This collection of comics is over the top and could be dismissed as a silly romp if it weren't so darn smart!

Read at your own risk...

Rick Veitch scripts and illustrates a wonderfully enjoyable story about the possibilities of modern warfare over the next few years. The ideas he comes up with realistically aren't that far off, and only help to create a handful of deep characters that truly draw you in as a reader. There are a few story inconsistencies here and there, but nothing that distracts the audience to any great degree. And some of the inconsistencies even make sense as you get further into the comic (The character of Loman comes to mind).

On the art side of things, Veitch and collaborator Gary Erskine hit a few speed bumps in the first issue, but truly gel by the time you hit the end, only making you wish you had the second volume to dive into.

The best satire of war since MASH, Army @ Love is a hilarious blunt tale about how people handle the stress of a prolong war. The book fallows the exploits of co-ed New Jersey National Guard rifle squad in a war in the fictional country of Afbaghistan--hmmm, I wonder--with the war itself being finance by corporations, the chief sponsor being a nameless telecommunications company with a "Motivation and Morale" department that goes out of it's way to keep the soldiers happy, and therefore reenlisting, buy offering special "retreats".

Which are nothing more then Roman orgies in every sense of the word. Several days of sex and beer makes the soldiers of the Edgefield guard, and regular forces, eager to stay in the military and in the fight.

The story is that video of one of these retreats, which are very secretive, made it on to the web for a short time. The Secretary of War feels that if more footage of the orgies reach the public support for the war will fall like a rock. The head of MOMO, Col. Healey has to figural who penetrated the retreats, but at the same time he's starting to have to deal with his depressed wife back home. Else where a love triangle develops between riflewoman Switzer, who hasn't fired her gun since basic yet is a natural sharp shooter, her husband Loman, who been skimming his bosses, and another guardsmen and magician Flabbergast, who can remove underwear with out the wearer realize it. Switzer and Flabbergast create a new fad called the "Hot Zone" where a couple gets their freak on in the middle of a firefight. Mean while Loman has gotten into a little bit of trouble with a crooked car dealer....

A tale of steamy romance, thrills, battles and non-stop adrenaline; no, this isn't "Desperate Housewives." It's "Army@Love," the monthly series from comic icon Rick Veitch and Vertigo/DC, pairing the hilarity and irony of U.S. war politics with fiery soap opera-esque dramatics.

Set in the not-so-distant future where war continues to thrive in the Middle Eastern region of "Afbaghistan," "Army@Love" spins the satirical tale of an American government roping in recruits with the marketing of a perpetual `Spring Break'-style army, where the booze flows, the sex is wild and cell phones still get service, even in the midst of battle.

The first six issues, condensed in "Army@Love Vol. 1: The Hot Zone Club," introduces us to the outrageous cast of characters, and continues their stories in the following collection, Army @ Love VOL 02; Generation Pwned (Army@love).

Among heated extramarital affairs, hypnotist magicians, malevolent Wiccan charms and gun-toting robots, "Army@Love" offers a mix of the ridiculous amongst potent social commentary - and it's a veritable M16 blast to read.

This graphic novel offers a fantasy perspective on war that I am sure many soldiers wish was a reality. Follows the lives of a select military unit, with high-tech equipment, and the many entanglements they find themselves in, also has a freaky side.
Enjoyed, and will read the rest of the series.

I have been a huge fan of Rick Veitch for many years, and this comic gives me NO reason to change!

Many who know his more surreal work (Abraxxas and the Earthman, Can't Get No, etc.) might not be aware that he is equally skilled at more linear stories. Those that know his TMNT, Greyshadow, etc. stuff will not be surprised at all. Do yourself a favor and, if you belong to one camp, check out the other material. In fact, if you see his name on something just pick it up. In my experience, Rick Veitch's work is unfailingly rewarding. Multi-layered, beautifully executed and a hell of a lot of fun. A real "thinking man's" comic author!

Veitch is not a horrible writer, but the concept is better than the execution. The writing is a bit bland, pretty predictable, and not nearly clever enough to be considered "good" satire. Sorry Rick, but I've seen better.

Erskine's not much better - a good artist, but not terribly imaginative. Tends to stick with the conventional framing & angles, and doesn't stray far from telling the narrative-as-written.

As I said, the concept is interesting - in the hands of better authors and/or artists, it could have been a mind-blower.