You may know Constantine from the 2005 movie Constantine, which inexplicably starred Keanu Reeves, even though the comic book character is a blond Englishman whose original design was based on Sting.

New writer Andy Diggle’s initial story, “In at the Deep End,” is interesting in that Constantine spends the entire issue kneeling in a rising tide, with his hands shackled to a dock and a gun pointed at his face. Despite this very precarious position, he seems to have the upper hand by the final page.

It may be unfair to judge after only one issue, but Diggle doesn’t really break any new ground here. Constantine is still the chain-smoking, foul-mouthed bloke who’s been getting into all kinds of supernatural trouble ever since Alan Moore introduced him in the pages of Swamp Thing in the mid-’80s.

But for breaking new ground, we turn to Rick Veitch, the artist for many issues of Moore’s Swamp Thing run. You may remember that last June, I wrote about Veitch’s Vertigo graphic novel, Can’t Get No. The dialogue-free story is about a pill-popping pencil-pusher who wakes up one morning to find himself covered in permanent marker tattoos. That one morning was Sept. 11, 2001.

Veitch is again commenting on current events in Army@Love. Set in “the not too distant future,” it speculates how the U.S. Army will attract new recruits after several years of fighting in the Middle East. This goal is accomplished through a new division of the military, Motivation and Morale.

MoMo allows soldiers certain perks, such as carrying cellphones into combat so they can talk to their loved ones back home. But MoMo also arranges secret “retreats” where troops blow off steam by participating in wild orgies.

The book is thought provoking to say the least. In an introductory column, Veitch quotes comedian Lenny Bruce as saying, “Satire is tragedy plus time.” Veitch goes on to explain that he’s simply fast-forwarding from the tragedies in Iraq and Afghanistan and skipping straight to the satire, such as the Hot Zone Club, which is to battlefields what the Mile High Club is to airplanes.

The first issue ends with MoMo officials worried about the general public finding out about the retreats. I imagine Veitch will have something to worry about once certain members of the general public –right-wing bloggers, Fox News pundits, soccer moms who live near comic book stores – find out about Army@Love.