Army @ Love: Moonshots & Tsunamis Battallion

Via Boingboing comes Sergeant Rock: for the Hyperreal Age.

Amazon customer reviewer Joshua Koppel gives us the sit-rep:

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.

Social Theory gets it on with Disaster Capitalism and 4th Gen Warfare and births, what, a fiction? We-eeell, the dictionary says that a Chimera is "an illusion or mental fabrication; a grotesque product of the imagination." Some might say that about Army @ Love.

Me? I prefer the original, courtesy of Homer (not Simpson): "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire."

A thing of immortal make. A mythical something that won't die. Gotta love that; gonna have to get this.