DMZ Vol 1: On The Ground
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2006
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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DMZ Vol 2: Body of a Journalist
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
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DMZ Vol 3: Public Works
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
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DMZ Vol 4: Friendly Fire
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2008
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DMZ Vol 5: The Hidden War
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2008
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DMZ Vol 6: Blood in the Game
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2009
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DMZ Vol 7: War Powers
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2009
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DMZ Vol 8: Hearts and Minds
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli and Brian Wood
2010
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DMZ Vol 9: M.I.A.
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli
2011
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DMZ Vol 10: Collective Punishment
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli
2011
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Vol 11: Free States Rising
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli
2012
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Vol 12: The Five Nations Of New York
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
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I mean - everyone has an active imagination when they're a kid right? (Yeah? Yeah). So hopefully you won't think me too strange (hell - maybe everyone was like this - I don't know) but I always used to like walking (and - yeah - sometimes running) down the streets acting out cool scenarios in my head. James Bond was always on heavy rotation: pretending that I was a secret agent being sent out on crazy missions and fighting bad guys and staging impossible escapes and all that kind of stuff - whatever: mostly I guess it was an excuse to fling myself through a hedge or jump over boxes or whathaveyou. And then growing up just a little more: it was the prospect of nuclear war and stuff like that (having graduated from James Bond to things like Akira and Dr Strangelove and etc) and playing through images of troops fighting in the streets, tanks rolling down the road and planes dropping bombs from overhead (I'd never seen Red Dawn - in fact: I still haven't - but I imagine that if I had it would have left me grinning from ear to ear and added to my mental jukebox of greatest hits).
DMZ is all about taking that - well - thrill (that's the right word right?) of imagining the city as a war zone and spreading it across several volumes worth of comic book: part science-fiction / part (half-baked) political commentary / part political intrigue and all New York: it's like my childish fantasy all mapped out into it's own self sufficient and (pretty much) consistent little world [1]. That's the premise of DMZ that imagines New York as a bombed out shell caught in the crossfire between hostile forces (Like it says: "Looters, roving gangs of neighborhood milita, insurgents, car bombers, contract killers... this is daily life in the city"). Young naive Matty Roth is about to be dropped in at the deep end and has to learn quick how to deal with a life full of violence and compromise. (And also maybe how to be less of a dick). Think equal parts Escape from New York, Fallujah, and New Orleans right after Katrina. Spiced with political intrigue, tribal fighting, private military contractors and loyalties forged and betrayed. Bonfire of the Vanities graffitied over with Anti-War slogans and M.I.A. on the soundtrack [2]: and how you take that will vary according to taste.
At the start of it - I must say I was pretty much convinced. You know: it seemed kinda edgy and cool [3] when I first started reading it - because - hey: war is always fun and exciting right? [4]. But then I started to get a little but side-tracked by some of the - well - issues that it raises. It's like the whole point of DMZ is to show you how the other half live: you know - capturing the gritty realism of life in a war zone - or (sorry) next to a war zone (did you know that DMZ stands for "Demilitarized Zone"? Nope - me neither) which is why characters saying stuff like: "I didn't know so many civilians still lived here... all we hear about is insurgents and stuff." I mean obviously the best way to do this stuff would be to set it somewhere that existed in the real world (Iraq and Afghanistan are the two examples which leap to mind - but (unfortunately) it's not like the world is lacking in war zones) but (if we're going to be honest here [5]) then who would want to read a comic book about life in Iraq? (Well - yeah - Not me. I do read some Joe Sacco now and again - but I do find it a bit of a chore - sorry Joe): only thing is by making things more accessible to a Western audience (that would be me) it white-washes everything and - well - instead of setting it in some far-flung foreign country - it bases the action in New York. Because - hey - we want to see what life is like for people who aren't us - but the only way we're going to want to read about it: is by making it about people who are just like us - yeah? And that's the bit that I kinda found a little hard to swallow.
Viva!
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[1] And - hey - it's almost believable - although (if you asked me) it would be Texas rather than New York that would be the first place in America to secede from the union.... (although that makes it sound like I know what I'm talking about when (and let's be clear here) I really don't).
[2] And I would just like to point out - for the record - that I wrote that sentence before Vol 9 M.I.A. actually came out. Am I surprised that they used M.I.A. as a title? Hell no - I'm just surprised that it took until Vol 9 for them to do it.
[3] "So I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool."
"Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool."
"You know what the song says: "It's hip to be square.""
"That song is so lame."
"So lame that it's... cool?"
"No."
"Am I cool, kids?"
"No."
"Good. I'm glad. And that's what makes me cool - not caring, right?"
"No."
"Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried everything here."
"Wait, Marge. Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to be told you're cool."
"Well, sure you do."
"How else would you know?"
[4] Best example of this would be in that Jake Gyllenhaal, film Jarhead where a whole bunch of army guys start watching Apocalypse Now (that famous anti-war screed) and start cheering and whooping when the Ride of the Valkyries scene starts playing: which just goes to show that - you know: if you want to be anti-war then it's not going to be a good idea to actually show it: because people will end up getting a kick out of (but then - hey - who can blame them? It is a very kick-ass scene): it's like saying you're anti-porn and then showing people pornography - no matter how you sell it: the message is going to be lost.
[5] And yeah - I realise that this whole argument kinda makes me into a massive hypocrite - but - hey - what can you do? (And at least I'm being up front about it - so I get points for that - right?).
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Links: NY Times Interview with Brian Wood, Warren Peace Sings The Blues Vol 5 Review, IGN Feature, Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader Review of DMZ #41.
Further reading: The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century, Ex Machina, Demo, Scalped, Northlanders, Footnotes in Gaza, The New York Four.
All comments welcome.
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