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

When my husband set this on my nightstand for me to read, I put off reading it for a while. Honestly, war stories - even funny ones - are not usually my thing. But I finished a long non-fiction book and decided to read comics for a few days to clear my mind, and I got down to this. And I couldn't put it down. This is a satire of war and the military (but not necessarily in an unkind way), of corporate influence, of high-level political corruption, of our overly-PC society - and it's side-achingl...

Smart, funny and over the top - I'm enjoying Veitch's new series, and I hope its hiatus is brief. The whole high concept of the army promoting war as "spring break on steroids" is terrific, and Veitch is smart enough to make it titillating and still understand the nuances of the circumstances and human behavior. I appreciate that basically every character has their price and motivations, some of which aren't entirely wrong but are easily askew.Plus, Veitch and Erskine complement each other. Nice...

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 shatt...

In Army @ Love, Rick Veitch and Gary Erskine take a look at a very possible future where the U.S. military has begun hiring corporate professionals as officers and advertising agents to snare new recruits. It’s good satire that works well, both because Veitch is a pretty solid writer (his work on Swamp Thing was cool) and because, let’s face it, there’s no end of things to satirize when it comes to military, business, politics, government, etc. What didn’t interest me so much was the soap opera

A high concept, low-brow satire.The comic looks at the way our lifestyles are hypersaturated with technology (i.e. omnipresent cell phone and wi-fi service), and how that might apply to warfare. It also considers an interesting method of inspiring enlistment: advertising the army as a bacchanalia fueled adrenaline rush. Interesting concept, but bogged down by unnecessarily soapy melodrama.My major problem with the book was this:A lot of the character quirks came off as just that... quirks for th...

An interesting premise, the USA fighting in another "Islamic" country as part of the ongoing war on terror franchise but are running low on recruits. The military and war are rebranded with overt commercial sponsorship and hip marketing to the key demographic that will make up the enlisted."i.e. its spring break on Steriods".Its an interesting piece of satire. A grphic Catch 22 for this age but lacks the darkest of humour to be really hard satire.

A surprisingly enjoyable read that I only happened on thanks to Res!While it is certainly not perfect, I have decided to start with the things I really liked about Army@Love before moving on to some of my criticisms. First off I was really hit over the head by how great Veitch's female characters really are. Not many guys I read pull off sexually and morally liberated women without coming across as judgmental in some way. And while you aren't necessarily supposed to really like any of these peop...

I think some of the satiric elements have potential. The fetishization of technology and the sexualization of warfare; the corruption; the infiltration of corporate culture and marketing into just about everything; and the absurdity of it all--it works. However, it never quite came together for me. It was all a bit too broad, too easy, and it hit the same notes a few too many times. It didn't make me think all that much. Or rather, it made me think that I would have responded to it better as a n...

The US is at war with a country much like Iraq. Combat troops have little reason to stay at the end of their tours, unless the government and corporations running the war make R&R too much fun to go home. It is a good premise for a story, especially if part of the incentive is sexual with all the repercussions that has for the characters in the military and their families at home. At least in the first several issues, reprinted here, that is not enough to make compelling reading. While mildly in...

Got this the same time as 100 Bullets. Another brilliant graphic novel. I've been seeing Rick Veitch's work for years now. First came across him in Epic Magazine (in the 80's?). This mash-up of romance and war stories really mixed well. War stories are always open to intrigue (both political and moral) which compliments the intrigue of romance (both political and moral). Can't wait to get my hands on another volume.

you know, i didn't want to like this as much as i did. but it is well written, fast paced, and above all, an excellent satire. i was a bit worried about it being overtly disrespectful of the wrong people, but though it does strp on some toes, i think its overall point is loud and clear. recommended.

A sterling example of the American "War on Terror" satire genre, if such a genre actually exists. Funny, imaginative and often seeped in well-chosen bad taste.It did feel a bit short, probably because I was enjoying it, and characters had a habit of being drawn into the war zone, de-populating characters the states-side part of the story.

A bizarre commentary on - well, something? THe direction modern war is taking? The insane influence the media has on how war is fought these days? The sheer ridiculousness of modern politics and society? Yup, sure, all the above, and more, and if you can get over quite how daft the whole thing is this is a hilarious poke in the eye at the way the modern world behaves itself, and how the really big decisions are often made by people who should never be making them, and indeed don't realise that t...

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...

There were numerous clever elements in this tale of the US Army of the future. It's really not hard to imagine military equipment emblazoned with corporate sponsor logos, soldiers chatting on cell phones in the middle of firefights, or pushy, overprotective moms chewing out military brass for being too harsh on their sons and daughters.

Guns, Sex, and the Military....

This started out nicely, but by the 3rd issue I couldn't tell what people's motivations were or who was who anymore. Maybe later...

A cheeky satirical painting of a possible future in a capitalist, post-industrial nation's military service. The socio-political commentary in ARMY@LOVE is very interesting, however it does seem to play second fiddle to the dramatic main storyline which is focused on the relationships of the main characters.

Good premise, but none of the characters really grabbed me. Still, I'll read onto the next one-sometimes I can still be undecided about a series judging just from the first volume.