joeam's review against another edition
5.0
“DMZ is the most relevant political allegory in early 21st century fiction. It captures a defining moment in the history of our generation, by the writer of our generation.”
Truly spectacular series. Can’t believe I waited this long to read it. This, along with Transmetropolitan, form some of the best stuff I’ve EVER read about journalism, politics and life in a city.
Truly spectacular series. Can’t believe I waited this long to read it. This, along with Transmetropolitan, form some of the best stuff I’ve EVER read about journalism, politics and life in a city.
elturko64's review against another edition
3.0
After taking a long break on the DMZ series I finally decided to get back into it and finish it. I stopped a long time ago because I was disappointed in where the story was going. Now that I finished it I do think it ended better than I expected but it was still a downbeat affair. The ending delivered here wasn't what I would have wanted, but it’s consistent with the main character Matty Roth and what he became along with the guilt that burdens him. The biggest problem though with this finale is that it drags on. It opens up great with political commentary but plot elements from previous volumes sort of abruptly end here.
I have to mention that Riccardo Buchielli's art is amazing in this book. His gritty urban squalor of NYC and the transformation of a shiny new Manhattan was wild. His art in this series always made me feel like I'm was back in Manhattan and the coloring in the book is just as awesome.
DMZ as a whole body of work is patchy. There were too many basic stories or interludes. Yet the imagery and some of the political statements in some of the better story arcs lingered with me for a long time. I do believe DMZ is worth reading and its story is very relevant for today.
I have to mention that Riccardo Buchielli's art is amazing in this book. His gritty urban squalor of NYC and the transformation of a shiny new Manhattan was wild. His art in this series always made me feel like I'm was back in Manhattan and the coloring in the book is just as awesome.
DMZ as a whole body of work is patchy. There were too many basic stories or interludes. Yet the imagery and some of the political statements in some of the better story arcs lingered with me for a long time. I do believe DMZ is worth reading and its story is very relevant for today.
lukeisthename34's review against another edition
5.0
Our world is changing, and so part of it more than America. As we see unrest like we've never known, many people worry that a situation of 'civil war' is on the horizon, if not already being fought in a virtual way online and through ideals. Many wonder what a war within the US would look like. What would start it? What would it mean? Who would fight for what?
In the twelve volumes of DMZ, the questions are answered and the path is so clearly laid out for us to observe that we only ignore it at our own risks.
The truth is in war, there are no winners. There are no American ideals worthy of killing each other over. There are no clean hands and unbridled souls should it ever come to this. Wood makes this clear. There are no happy endings to be had. There is only blood, guilt and confusion.
From the start we rooted for Matt Roth as he became that rarest of journalist. One that wanted to tell a story, even if it cost them their lives. One braver than those of us who sit back and read and watch and tut-tut over what we partake from the media at large. But for Matty he became more than a reporter. He became part of the story, part of the war, part of the heartache and then, its greatest causality and saddest martyr.
But, and this is where Wood really speaks truth, Matty ends up deserving every bit of what comes to him. Matty, becoming something more, something dishonest to himself, changes his own being and the outcome of the war.
There is a scene in an earlier volume where Matty orders an attack that accidentally kills a group of innocent people. In my mind, everything that lead up to that moment, and everything after, no matter how good or bad, sums up why Matty could never be the 'hero' again.
This is the truth Wood conveys. There are very few 'observers' in a war. There are profiteers, there are schemers, there are those thirsty for money or blood (you decide which is worse)and those that think they are none of these but are secretly all.
Matty learns this at the end, that there are moments that change us beyond a point of no return. It's the moment that we are all in now. As someone else said, this series was a love letter to New York, but I also view it as a cautionary tale to us all.
Everyday we throw a jab at someone else about a topic; abortion, gun rights, gay marriage, food processing. Whatever it is, we don't listen. We speak in memes and threats and all knowing declarations of what the future will hold if 'we don't act now' or 'we don't delay action'. We're pulling ourselves apart over nothing and eventually, we'll pull so far apart we'll never rebound.
DMZ gives us a peak at what a war inside America will look like. Dark. Ugly. Unrecoverable and tragic. But it also gives us a peak at what we can be. Zee. A woman that never stops fighting for the health and well being of others that she barely knows.
For all that Matty could have been in the story, Zee is. This is what we must make a choice as Americans. Do we want to pretend to have high ideals that we are willing to die (but more willing to kill) for? Only to have those ideals change and morph as it benefits us?
Or do we want to do everything we can to protect those around us? Even if that means laying down our own lives?
We have three choices before us and Brian Wood lays them out so perfectly I can't imagine a better way to summarize all of this.
1) Pick up a 'pen' Document the world as it goes around us with a camera, a blog, a Facebook page. Tell the story as impartially as we can, which is perhaps impossible since there is a school of thought that even being impartial is being partial. Matty found this out in every corner of NYC.
2) Pick up a 'gun'. A gun can be a real gun, or a gun can simply be harsh words that seem so absolute that they might as well be carved on our tombstone. A gun can be a lack of communication with those we disagree with. So you may pick up that gun (or by your deeds force another to do so) and see where that takes you. Matty found this out with thousands of deaths on his head.
3) Pick up 'another'. Find those that need it, and help them rise. Speak to the rival. Hear out the opposing viewpoint and concede where possible. More than that, put yourself in harm's way. Stand between the proverbial 'sniper' and the downed 'target'. Bandage the wounds that need healing, and never leave your bag behind.
DMZ ends in a way that is both noble and heartbreaking. We know the wages of war and what they can cost us. Will we accept the gift that Brian Wood has given us with the foresight of what war in a city in the US would look like? Or will we close the book and just move on back to Twitter to yell at someone about some minor difference of opinion?
That's up to you.
Long live the DMZ.
In the twelve volumes of DMZ, the questions are answered and the path is so clearly laid out for us to observe that we only ignore it at our own risks.
The truth is in war, there are no winners. There are no American ideals worthy of killing each other over. There are no clean hands and unbridled souls should it ever come to this. Wood makes this clear. There are no happy endings to be had. There is only blood, guilt and confusion.
From the start we rooted for Matt Roth as he became that rarest of journalist. One that wanted to tell a story, even if it cost them their lives. One braver than those of us who sit back and read and watch and tut-tut over what we partake from the media at large. But for Matty he became more than a reporter. He became part of the story, part of the war, part of the heartache and then, its greatest causality and saddest martyr.
But, and this is where Wood really speaks truth, Matty ends up deserving every bit of what comes to him. Matty, becoming something more, something dishonest to himself, changes his own being and the outcome of the war.
There is a scene in an earlier volume where Matty orders an attack that accidentally kills a group of innocent people. In my mind, everything that lead up to that moment, and everything after, no matter how good or bad, sums up why Matty could never be the 'hero' again.
This is the truth Wood conveys. There are very few 'observers' in a war. There are profiteers, there are schemers, there are those thirsty for money or blood (you decide which is worse)and those that think they are none of these but are secretly all.
Matty learns this at the end, that there are moments that change us beyond a point of no return. It's the moment that we are all in now. As someone else said, this series was a love letter to New York, but I also view it as a cautionary tale to us all.
Everyday we throw a jab at someone else about a topic; abortion, gun rights, gay marriage, food processing. Whatever it is, we don't listen. We speak in memes and threats and all knowing declarations of what the future will hold if 'we don't act now' or 'we don't delay action'. We're pulling ourselves apart over nothing and eventually, we'll pull so far apart we'll never rebound.
DMZ gives us a peak at what a war inside America will look like. Dark. Ugly. Unrecoverable and tragic. But it also gives us a peak at what we can be. Zee. A woman that never stops fighting for the health and well being of others that she barely knows.
For all that Matty could have been in the story, Zee is. This is what we must make a choice as Americans. Do we want to pretend to have high ideals that we are willing to die (but more willing to kill) for? Only to have those ideals change and morph as it benefits us?
Or do we want to do everything we can to protect those around us? Even if that means laying down our own lives?
We have three choices before us and Brian Wood lays them out so perfectly I can't imagine a better way to summarize all of this.
1) Pick up a 'pen' Document the world as it goes around us with a camera, a blog, a Facebook page. Tell the story as impartially as we can, which is perhaps impossible since there is a school of thought that even being impartial is being partial. Matty found this out in every corner of NYC.
2) Pick up a 'gun'. A gun can be a real gun, or a gun can simply be harsh words that seem so absolute that they might as well be carved on our tombstone. A gun can be a lack of communication with those we disagree with. So you may pick up that gun (or by your deeds force another to do so) and see where that takes you. Matty found this out with thousands of deaths on his head.
3) Pick up 'another'. Find those that need it, and help them rise. Speak to the rival. Hear out the opposing viewpoint and concede where possible. More than that, put yourself in harm's way. Stand between the proverbial 'sniper' and the downed 'target'. Bandage the wounds that need healing, and never leave your bag behind.
DMZ ends in a way that is both noble and heartbreaking. We know the wages of war and what they can cost us. Will we accept the gift that Brian Wood has given us with the foresight of what war in a city in the US would look like? Or will we close the book and just move on back to Twitter to yell at someone about some minor difference of opinion?
That's up to you.
Long live the DMZ.
house_of_scatha's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent finale to an excellent series. Still some shocks in there. Few writers are ballsy enough to dish out the fate to their protagonist that Brian Wood dishes out to Matty Roth. Also, this is the second comic book series that I have seen end with a vision of a city in the 15 to 20 year future, all glittering glass and steel, mixed in with the old and the urban parklands, the other being Paris at the end of Y: the Last Man.
I am going to miss DMZ and will certainly be rereading the whole series from start to finish.
I am going to miss DMZ and will certainly be rereading the whole series from start to finish.
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