Broken Frontier

Cheap thrills such as heated sexual romps and rampant cell phone use are employed to motivate the troops at war in the Middle East.

You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Vertigo for having the stones to publish the demented work of guy like Rick Veitch. I’ve always found this writer/artist to be a truly original voice in a field mostly stagnating from the overabundance of superhero titles littering the stands. So in some ways it’s a real treat to find this little ditty sticking out like a sore thumb next to titles like Batman and Superman.

Even still, for Rick Veitch it’s a chance to make some inroads at Vertigo with his very own unique contribution called Army@Love, and it’s just overflowing with wicked humor. The first few pages alone spill over into tongue-in-cheek humor, as two members of a National Guard unit (Switzer & Flabbergast) engage in sexual activity while in the middle of heavy mortar fire. Before long, both are forced back into action and help the rest of the unit successfully stave off the enemy. Then about more than half way through, the story veers into an even weirder direction, when we realize the unit is guided by a group calling itself the Motivation and Morale, in which group sex is encouraged at their retreats. There’s indeed something not right here, but that’s the beauty of Rick Veitch’s demented vision.

He’s certainly a creator with a mind all his own, and I think it’s great to find his flavor of lacerating humor brandishing these pages. His script speaks volumes about the advent of consumer culture taking control of us all in the not-so-distant future, and that’s just for starters. Beyond that, his tongue is firmly planted in his cheek, as he takes pot shots at the war in the Middle East (naming the country Afbaghistan) and then concentrating on the sexual excesses that seem to obsess modern society. I can’t think of a more qualified creator than Rick Veitch to view the world with such an offbeat perspective, and he certainly knows how to lace dialogue with copious amount of wit to full effect.

Rick also pulled double duty by handling the art chores and also obtained the assistance of Gary Erskine to ink his work. So with that kind of consistency, every page bristled with a look to die for, allowing for a pleasurable reading experience from beginning to ending. As I was reading this, his work here reminded me of stuff I’ve seen in his creator owned book, Rare Bit Fiend, so I think the comparison is a fair one to make. To be perfectly honest with everyone, I am a big fan of the writer/artist so it doesn’t take much to appease me whenever I see new work from him.

So with that being said, Army@Love is such a treat to read through. Rick Veitch’s brand of humor is something that I find titillating and most certainly offbeat. There’s no one else in comics with an imagination as rife as his, and it’s fantastic that Vertigo has given him a platform to write an ongoing book for the line. I haven’t the faintest idea where he is going with this concept, but you can bet it will keep you entertained from month to month.