Book Review - DMZ: On The Ground

Books I Always Wanted To Read But Never Got Around To Reading… ’till Now.

DMZ: On The Ground by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli (2006)

“… Today marks the fifth anniversary of the initial outbreak of hostilities between the United States of America and the so-called “Free States.” It is also the third day of a tentative ceasefire, and despite all predictions, it appear to be holding.”

That’s the backdrop for DMZ. Civil War II. What a concept. I stumbled upon a review of this book several years ago and was intrigued enough to add it to my “Gotta Read!” list. I finally got our warehouse guys to get me a copy of it and I just finished it last night. It did not disappoint.

Brian Wood sets the scene on Manhattan Island where the actual “DMZ” or demilitarized zone exists between the “Free States” and the US. In case you’re wondering, a DMZ is an area or boundary between military powers, that are or have been in conflict with each other, where military activity is generally “not permitted,” brought about through some sort of bilateral mutual agreement. A real life example would be the 2.5 mile wide, 155 mile long Korean DMZ that is a serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.

A map depicts an image over Manhattan showing the “Free States” comprising of the territory of “New Jersey & Inland,” where the reader is left wondering as to exactly how far inland the Free States covers. The USA zone covers Brooklyn/Queens and long Island, again, begging the question of how much of our country is Free State and how much is US? The Demarcation Line goes up the Hudson Bay, encompassing Manhattan which still has a civilian resident population trying to eke out a living .

For the few remaining residents of the beleaguered island of Manhattan, a formal ceasefire is of little consolation when faced with the realities of the war zone they live in: looters, roving gangs of neighborhood militia, insurgents, car bombers, contract killers… this is daily life in the city.”

The story follows Matt Roth, a young photo tech intern who lands an accompanying photo-op with a Nobel Prizewinning news journalist from Liberty News into the Manhattan DMZ where “life over there remains largely a mystery.”

With NYPD escort, they Black Hawk in to a smoldering city in ruins, that eerily, instantly brings to mind 9/11 and the Twin Towers. In fact, imagery of 9/11 blatantly permeates the first part of book, not as a contrived pandering but as an opportunity to tap into the reader’s feelings and emotions entrenched there, from watching the footage of the Twin Towers falling, in order to convey what Matt Roth is most likely feeling as he’s flying into Manhattan… where 9/11 actually really did happened.

As I read DMZ, I imagined Brian Wood saying,

“Ok, remember the feelings you had when the towers fell? Well, Imagine, … just try to fathom what the hell it looked like after the they fell, not from a boob-tube, but on the ground, at ‘Ground Zero.’ Now imagine, not just the destruction, but the implications of what happened… no water, no power, no nothin’… and now spread that same reality throughout the entire Manhattan island. THAT’s what Matt Roth, and you the reader are entering into.”

Of course… Brian Wood didn’t say that, but that’s what came to mind when reading it. The 9/11 imagery consists of the destroyed buildings exposing their skeletal frames giving off smoldering black ash and smoke that rises into the sky at just-the-right-angle and just in case you’re a little too dense to pick up queues from good writing causing you to miss the not-so-subtle subtlety, there’s a bit of graffiti right over Matt Roth’s head, as he awaits his assignment in the hallway, under a paper print out of safety procedures describing what to do in the event of a mortar attack, that reads, “Every Day is 9/11!”

This was one book I didn’t want to put down. The art is good, the writing is plausible and well thought out to easily let me suspend my disbelief and the violence and language were properly laced throughout the story being neither gratuitous nor apologetic or padded.

Writer and cover artist Brian Wood has earned multiple Eisner Award nominations and is currently under exclusive contract for DC/Vertigo. Vertigo, the comic company that’s responsible for some hot-shit stories such as; Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Garth Ennis’ Preacher, (Tangent: Garth Ennis is responsible for giving the Punisher CPR with his ultra-violent stories in the Punisher Max story lines. If you want to see Frank Castle doing what Frank Castle was meant to do, stop what you’re doing right now and go get yourself every single Punisher Max book you can get your hands on. Garth sets the tone, and bar, for the ultra-violent.) Vertigo also brought you; Y: The Last Man and V For Vendetta. Check out what IGN babe, Hilary Goldstein, had to say in her The 25 Best Vertigo Books.

Brian Wood continues to write his unique brand of iconoclastic creator-owned work with DMZ, Northlanders, Demo and The New York Four and currently lives with his wife and daughter in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

Riccardo Burchielli is an Italian artist for Vertigo who did the artwork for DMZ, his first series here in the US.

I look forward to getting the warehouse to send me the next two volumes of DMZ! Here are some of the first pages of volume one.