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Army@Love #2
Army@Love, Vol. 2: Generation Pwned
Collecting issues #6-12 of the incisive ARMY@LOVE, a series writer Rick Veitch describes as Desperate Housewives meets the war. This volume, leading into the upcoming ARMY@LOVE SEASON 2, follows the exploits of rivals Loman and Flabbergast, as well as Switzer, the woman they both love.
168 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2008
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34 people want to read
About the author
Rick Veitch
425 books82 followersRichard "Rick" Veitch is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 23, 2015
The famous playwright, George S. Kaufman once said “Satire is what closes on Saturday night”. Well, comic book satire is what gets returned to the library half-read.
Here you have the second volume (!?!) of a war time satire taking place in the Middle East sometime in the not too distant future. There are tons of characters you won’t care about already in play; they’re listed ad infinitum on the second page of this book. Not even copious amounts of sex and nudity could make me turn the pages on this one.
One more damning thing about this volume: As I was trying to read this, I was actually drawn towards my wife’s requests to make a shopping list, do a budget and help her clean the bathrooms.
Here you have the second volume (!?!) of a war time satire taking place in the Middle East sometime in the not too distant future. There are tons of characters you won’t care about already in play; they’re listed ad infinitum on the second page of this book. Not even copious amounts of sex and nudity could make me turn the pages on this one.
One more damning thing about this volume: As I was trying to read this, I was actually drawn towards my wife’s requests to make a shopping list, do a budget and help her clean the bathrooms.
June 8, 2020
Part one of Rick Veitch's outrageous satire on a never ending war in fictional 'Agbahnistan', being maintained by the military-industrial complex using marketing, branding, PR, corporate sponsorship etc… also with numerous character driven sub-plots and adventures. Very good. 8 out of 12
November 12, 2012
More interesting than the first volume, in my opinion, but still nothing I would pay full price to read more. I did look to put the next volume on my paperbackswap wishlist, but, it looks like they never made a 3rd volume. So much for that, not any heart breaks coming from me on that one, though.
The poking fun and satire was entertaining, and so was some of the character development shifts (the "sexy" woman who always used looks to sell cars feeling liberated to be in a burqa, etc.). The idea of selling the war to young adults as a thrill ride, sex party-well, you have to dress up signing up to die someway, right? When honor fails, use sex...
The poking fun and satire was entertaining, and so was some of the character development shifts (the "sexy" woman who always used looks to sell cars feeling liberated to be in a burqa, etc.). The idea of selling the war to young adults as a thrill ride, sex party-well, you have to dress up signing up to die someway, right? When honor fails, use sex...
September 28, 2008
Called Generation PWND, this is the continuation of the story in Volume 1. Things take a turn for the bizarre when the head of MoMo's wife is dumped by his superior in outer Mongrolia, and the Down's Syndrome soldier in the unit gets a telephone girlfriend. I enjoyed the story just as much as, if not more than, the first book. I love the combination of satire and weird sci-fi/monster story!
March 29, 2018
Sharp stuff. Less combat this time around, a lot more satire about marketing the war, sex as a weapon, and women's role in society, plus lots of complicated, under-handed deals going down between various factions (just on our side!) The book's rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but it's still quite witty - I love when Healy talks about the potential ring-tone sales of his latest marketing ditty! Every single character is almost completely unlikeable, but their motivations are consistent. The art's terrific throughout. Good work.
December 12, 2021
Decided to read the last 2 issues in one day cause fuck it. Also found it a little odd that the author decided to base a Central Asian country off of Mongolia (even giving it a similar name) I didn't love or hate it just found it odd
December 25, 2020
4.5 really
May 11, 2014
This review originally appeared on my blog, Shared Universe Reviews.
Rick Veitch has made a career out of writing satire comics. I find most of these satires are actually some of his best comics. What makes them so good is that Veitch understands and often loves his subject and that’s what enables him to write a successful comic that also serves as poignant satire. That dual relationship of love and hate is what fuels powerful criticism. I remember the first time reading Brat Pack, Veitch shattered an important part of superhero comics. He was able to do so effectively because he understood superhero comics so well. It’s with that realization, that he knows his subject; you can really understand the satire for what it is. It’s too bad that Veitch doesn’t seem to understand love and war as much as he does superheroes and Army@Love suffers because of it.
The first volume, collection issues #1-5 is actually a pretty good start to a series. The problem is that the seven remaining issues, collected in volume 2, can’t keep up with what came previously. Veitch can’t follow his own act and its damn shame because, for a while at least, he had something interesting to say about the American military, modern warfare and the media. What began as the exploration of our near future devolved into a shock and awe tactic that only left the narrative (and the reader) feeling hollow and spent.
The first volume begins with a woman fighting somewhere in the Middle East. She’s in the middle of combat talking to her husband in America on her cellphone. In the next few pages we see her join the Hot Zone Club. It’s a spin on the Mile High Club in which active soldiers have sex in the middle of combat, combining the adrenaline of combat with the pleasures of sex for the ultimate high.
The Hot Zone Club is the product of one man, Colonel Haley. Colonel Haley used to be a corporate man, working in marketing and specializing in consumer profiling. Haley ended up in the military after congress passed a corporate level draft. They began enlisting older men with job market skills and work experience in an effort to revitalize their military. People like Haley, having a specific set of skills, were able to apply them directly to certain areas of the military. After doing a deep-psyche consumer profile, Haley discovered that young Americans who indulged in movies and video games have developed an addiction to low levels of adrenaline. Based on his research and analysis, Haley has coined the phrase "peak life experience". He recruits huge numbers of young Americans by selling them peak life experience which they can find in the combat hot zone in the Middle Eastern theatre.
Colonel Haley's Motivation and Morale (or MoMo as the soldier's call it) has combined the adrenaline inducing experience of military combat with other experiences, most notably soldiers have sex while under fire. Soldiers are also allowed cell phones in combat and female recruitment has been increase to further exploit sexual tension in military settings. If that wasn't enough, MoMo organizes regular Retreats, which are essentially orgies that take place in controlled environments.
Army@Love did have some fun covers.
Veitch based his covers on
magazine advertisements.
Army@Love outgrows its premise early on. Outgrows might be the wrong word. It's more of an issue that Veitch reveals too much too soon and it affects the potential growth of the story. In very little time the comic becomes a satire and a mockery of religion, witchcraft, romance, corporate America, magazine ads, various cultures as well as future technologies both near and far. The military satire stops developing in the third or fourth issue. The satire is still present but its repeated ad nauseum. It doesn’t change. The story doesn’t really evolve either. Veitch should have put sex somewhere in the title because we get far more of that than we get love. Quite a few issues revolve around discovering who’s sleeping with who and I stopped caring before the end of the first volume.
Army@Love could have benefitted from a shorter length and tighter focus. Like the Middle Eastern war it's commenting on, it's grown into a self-parody. I don't think Veitch pulled any punches in his commentary but he did run out of breath. Still, I enjoyed Army@Love but not in the form it was originally intended. I really liked it because of the funny melodrama and for seeing the artistic collaboration between Veitch and inner Gary Erskine. I don't think Veitch's art has ever looked better. It's too bad the story only required they draw the same small core of characters and military vehicles over and over. As much as I enjoyed it, it seems the art just like the story was destined to repeat itself without really adding anything new to the mix.
Rick Veitch has made a career out of writing satire comics. I find most of these satires are actually some of his best comics. What makes them so good is that Veitch understands and often loves his subject and that’s what enables him to write a successful comic that also serves as poignant satire. That dual relationship of love and hate is what fuels powerful criticism. I remember the first time reading Brat Pack, Veitch shattered an important part of superhero comics. He was able to do so effectively because he understood superhero comics so well. It’s with that realization, that he knows his subject; you can really understand the satire for what it is. It’s too bad that Veitch doesn’t seem to understand love and war as much as he does superheroes and Army@Love suffers because of it.
The first volume, collection issues #1-5 is actually a pretty good start to a series. The problem is that the seven remaining issues, collected in volume 2, can’t keep up with what came previously. Veitch can’t follow his own act and its damn shame because, for a while at least, he had something interesting to say about the American military, modern warfare and the media. What began as the exploration of our near future devolved into a shock and awe tactic that only left the narrative (and the reader) feeling hollow and spent.
The first volume begins with a woman fighting somewhere in the Middle East. She’s in the middle of combat talking to her husband in America on her cellphone. In the next few pages we see her join the Hot Zone Club. It’s a spin on the Mile High Club in which active soldiers have sex in the middle of combat, combining the adrenaline of combat with the pleasures of sex for the ultimate high.
The Hot Zone Club is the product of one man, Colonel Haley. Colonel Haley used to be a corporate man, working in marketing and specializing in consumer profiling. Haley ended up in the military after congress passed a corporate level draft. They began enlisting older men with job market skills and work experience in an effort to revitalize their military. People like Haley, having a specific set of skills, were able to apply them directly to certain areas of the military. After doing a deep-psyche consumer profile, Haley discovered that young Americans who indulged in movies and video games have developed an addiction to low levels of adrenaline. Based on his research and analysis, Haley has coined the phrase "peak life experience". He recruits huge numbers of young Americans by selling them peak life experience which they can find in the combat hot zone in the Middle Eastern theatre.
Colonel Haley's Motivation and Morale (or MoMo as the soldier's call it) has combined the adrenaline inducing experience of military combat with other experiences, most notably soldiers have sex while under fire. Soldiers are also allowed cell phones in combat and female recruitment has been increase to further exploit sexual tension in military settings. If that wasn't enough, MoMo organizes regular Retreats, which are essentially orgies that take place in controlled environments.
Army@Love did have some fun covers.
Veitch based his covers on
magazine advertisements.
Army@Love outgrows its premise early on. Outgrows might be the wrong word. It's more of an issue that Veitch reveals too much too soon and it affects the potential growth of the story. In very little time the comic becomes a satire and a mockery of religion, witchcraft, romance, corporate America, magazine ads, various cultures as well as future technologies both near and far. The military satire stops developing in the third or fourth issue. The satire is still present but its repeated ad nauseum. It doesn’t change. The story doesn’t really evolve either. Veitch should have put sex somewhere in the title because we get far more of that than we get love. Quite a few issues revolve around discovering who’s sleeping with who and I stopped caring before the end of the first volume.
Army@Love could have benefitted from a shorter length and tighter focus. Like the Middle Eastern war it's commenting on, it's grown into a self-parody. I don't think Veitch pulled any punches in his commentary but he did run out of breath. Still, I enjoyed Army@Love but not in the form it was originally intended. I really liked it because of the funny melodrama and for seeing the artistic collaboration between Veitch and inner Gary Erskine. I don't think Veitch's art has ever looked better. It's too bad the story only required they draw the same small core of characters and military vehicles over and over. As much as I enjoyed it, it seems the art just like the story was destined to repeat itself without really adding anything new to the mix.
December 22, 2022
my new favorite comic book series
August 19, 2009
This volume was a welcome improvement over the first. Characters finally became more than one dimensional and the story, oddly, grew a heart. Although that heart was a sickly and scabby one. Despite the unlikable characters, this series is still an interesting satire about the glorification of military violence and maybe it's absurdity reflects our reality too well.
August 14, 2016
meh. was expecting brilliance and got let down. Horrible, disgusting characters-- I mean I know it's satire but it got kinda tiresome, they're all sex-crazed, selfish, disgusting slime balls with no sense of empathy whatsoever... And I dunno if I feel like laughing too much about the war in Afghanistan right now. I figure alot of people might agree.
I did like the robot fly though.
I did like the robot fly though.
September 15, 2009
Well written, well executed, nutty characters, nice art, just not my thing.
May 26, 2011
Part noir, part war story, part buddy, part romance, part political thriller, but mostly biting social satire. And all wrapped up in intelligent writing. This is one fun book to read.
November 3, 2011
Meh. I did like the magic monkey, though.
February 28, 2011
Listen to my review on V for Vertigo, Episode 95 at http://vforvertigo.blogspot.com or on iTunes.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews