Written by Rick Veitch
Art by Rick Veitch; Gary Erskine; Brian Miller; & Travis Lanham
Cover Art by (Uncredited: presumably Rick Veitch & Gary Erskine)
SUMMARY:
Published by Vertigo Comics (a DC Comics imprint) for August 2007, this issue is entitled “Truth and Dare.” In their resort hotel room in the Gulf of Amhen, the married Col. Healey and his female assistant, Woyner, conduct a game of extramarital Kama Sutra. At Afbaghistan’s local airport, elderly Secretary Stelaphane arrives with his female assistant, Major Frick; a soldier named Flabbergast; and, restrained to a stretcher, Allie (Healey’s sedated wife), who is evidently suffering from the effects of attempted suicide.
In Edgefield, New Jersey, a married couple reveals their various indiscretions to each other in multiple scenes. Stelaphane sends Woyner to watch over a teary-eyed Allie’s hospitalization. Healey submits to Stelaphane’s panic-driven polygraph test (the torture device resembles a recumbent exercise bike).
In Afbaghistan, Flabbergast’s tank unit needs a corporal’s mother to help a fast food restaurant’s hostage crisis. While Healey suffers during his interrogation, Woyner (in local attire) ominously discusses with two Afbaghi female conspirators about selling his confidential cell phone to North Koreenia.
REVIEW:
Aside from gratuitous nudity, sex, and a f-bomb festival, what exactly writer Rick Veitch accomplishes through this wretched satire is anybody’s guess. Calling it a military soap opera parody is no excuse for Vertigo Comics’ sleaze-peddling. All that’s readily apparent re: Veitch’s tawdry ‘for mature readers’ storyline is the waste of a talented art team. Including the issue’s sardonic cover, the decent art quality is the sole reason this vulgar comic doesn’t receive a complete zero rating.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
There’s David Lapham’s single-page “On the Edge” news-and-notes column.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 1 Star
