A few weeks ago, I was in Borders and decided to do something I do every so often and had been meaning to do for quite some time. I picked up the first volume of a few comics that I’d heard good things about – 100 Bullets, Scalped, and DMZ. I knew very little about 100 Bullets and Scalped and, as for DMZ, I only knew that it was written by Brian Wood and that I liked Northlanders, which he’d written and that it seemed like a pretty cool concept.
I’ll start off by quickly saying that Bullets and Scalped are good. I didn’t dislike either of them and they certainly kept me entertained. But when I went back to the bookstore after finishing the first volume of each, it was DMZ that I picked up more of. As of this morning, I’ve finished every TPB available for it and plan on trying to catch up on as much as possible by finding myself some back issues for what’s currently going on.
Without a doubt, it’s the best comic I’ve read in quite some time – probably since I first found Fables. It’s an incredible premise – in the wake of our wars overseas, a civil war sprang up right here in the US and Manhattan became the DMZ – demilitarized zone – property of neither the United States nor the Free States (ie. the guys who rose up against the US).
The main character is Matty Roth, a rookie photojournalist thrown into the middle of the DMZ and forced to adapt. As interesting as the way the DMZ changes is the way it changes Roth.
The commentary on our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the way we view the civilians in those areas, on the choices that everybody is forced to make in a time of war, on the ignorance of anyone looking from afar, on the layers of grey area in between the stark black and white perspectives on these situations; all of these are (literally) brought home by Wood in DMZ.
From the introduction of Volume 4, Friendly Fire, by Sgt. John G. Ford, US Army:
When I first picked up an issue of DMZ I was mesmerized. I was thinking, “Finally, someone out there gets it. At last, someone had the stones to put something on the market that resonated with me and the other grunts, something real and hard and ugly.” DMZ is Black Hawk Down meets Black Flag, and nothing is sugar coated. This is war and all bets are off…
Now comes damage control. Those in charge have “careers” to think about, promotions to deserve, asses to cover. Coming forward and admitting the system is broken or that the military is hurting is not an option. There’s too much at stake for those in charge. This is timeless, this is historic, and it could happen to anybody, military or not.
So check it out. It’s very worth it.
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