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DMZ #4
DMZ, Vol. 4: Friendly Fire
Presents the adventures of aspiring photojournalist, Matty Roth, as he lands his dream job following a veteran war correspondant covering the second American civil war as they go into Manhattan, the heart of the DMZ.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2008
About the author
Brian Wood
1,139 books952 followersBrian Wood's history of published work includes over fifty volumes of genre-spanning original material.
From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.
His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.
He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.
From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.
His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.
He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
September 20, 2016
As you may recall, protagonist Matty generally looks excellent amidst the ruins of New York City. He’s the cool, tough, handsome type, you see, though not necessarily the brightest bulb on the porch. Which is unfortunate, as it's Matty’s smarts the reader ultimately relies on when it comes to making sense of the story.
Coming into this fourth volume, the only thing journalist Matty has been able to figure out is that “this is a war of extremes pushing against each other”--whatever the hell that means. And by the end of the volume, he hasn’t exactly made a lot of progress: “I don’t know a single fucking thing more than I did yesterday. Except that everything about this is still shit.”
Yep, same here, Matty. Four volumes in, and the only thing I know for sure is “that everything about this is still shit.” Which isn’t really all that surprising, considering we’re still looking at war through the eyes of a hipster who “never paid attention to politics.” Wait a minute, thinks Matty, “or is this war just so fucked up that no one has a handle on what they’re doing anymore?” Whoa, that’s deep, Matty, that must be it...
Coming into this fourth volume, the only thing journalist Matty has been able to figure out is that “this is a war of extremes pushing against each other”--whatever the hell that means. And by the end of the volume, he hasn’t exactly made a lot of progress: “I don’t know a single fucking thing more than I did yesterday. Except that everything about this is still shit.”
Yep, same here, Matty. Four volumes in, and the only thing I know for sure is “that everything about this is still shit.” Which isn’t really all that surprising, considering we’re still looking at war through the eyes of a hipster who “never paid attention to politics.” Wait a minute, thinks Matty, “or is this war just so fucked up that no one has a handle on what they’re doing anymore?” Whoa, that’s deep, Matty, that must be it...
September 6, 2010
Enjoyed this a lot, more than #3. I thought it dealt with really interesting issues from some objective viewpoints, raised more questions than answers and I think that was the goal, and they did it really well. Provocative and artistic.
January 9, 2022
Un altro bel volume.
In questa storia Matty si ritrova a cercare di scoprire la verità su un evento che ha segnato la guerra civile e l'esistenza stessa della DMZ: il giorno 204.
Il giorno in cui un manipolo di soldati americani aprì il fuoco contro una folla di civili, facendoli fuori quasi tutti.
Un massacro indiscriminato? Un errore dovuto alla paura e allo stress della situazione? Un'azione legittima, contro terroristi infiltrati tra i civili?
C'erano armi tra i manifestanti per la pace, o era stato un errore di valutazione?
E ancora, di chi era la colpa di quanto successo?
Di chi aveva premuto il grilletto, di chi sul campo aveva ordinato il fuoco, di chi aveva spedito là quei soldati con le loro regole d'ingaggio, di chi aveva iniziato la guerra asimmetrica sparando nascosto tra la gente? Di tutti, di qualcuno?
Il tentativo di Matty di capire cosa sia successo veramente e di trovare il responsabile si scontra con l'impossibilità di estrarre una verità univoca dalle tante storie incrociate che raccoglie.
La storia di Stevens, il ragazzo del Midwest arruolatosi quasi per caso e scagliato in una guerra civile che non voleva combattere, e che non riesce nemmeno a sparare nel giorno 204; la storia di Nunez, soldato esperto che dopo aver combattuto in giro per il mondo finisce a lottare nella "sua" guerra, la nuova guerra civile americana; la storia dei vertici militari, consapevoli degli errori inevitabili in guerra ma che guardano al risultato complessivo scrollandosi di dosso con indifferenza gli "errori di percorso" limitandosi a maledirne i risvolti mediatici e i contraccolpi etici; la storia di chi al giorno 204 era sopravvissuto, la storia di chi quel giorno aveva perso amici o famigliari.
Una storia che mostra molte sfaccettature di una guerra diventata guerriglia, e l'impossibilità di stabilire una sola verità in un caos di questo tipo. Tranne che tutti perdono, sia chi spara che chi muore, che chi rimane per anni a nutrire l'odio e il lutto per quelle perdite diventando poi una bestia famelica come nel finale dell'albo.
In questa storia Matty si ritrova a cercare di scoprire la verità su un evento che ha segnato la guerra civile e l'esistenza stessa della DMZ: il giorno 204.
Il giorno in cui un manipolo di soldati americani aprì il fuoco contro una folla di civili, facendoli fuori quasi tutti.
Un massacro indiscriminato? Un errore dovuto alla paura e allo stress della situazione? Un'azione legittima, contro terroristi infiltrati tra i civili?
C'erano armi tra i manifestanti per la pace, o era stato un errore di valutazione?
E ancora, di chi era la colpa di quanto successo?
Di chi aveva premuto il grilletto, di chi sul campo aveva ordinato il fuoco, di chi aveva spedito là quei soldati con le loro regole d'ingaggio, di chi aveva iniziato la guerra asimmetrica sparando nascosto tra la gente? Di tutti, di qualcuno?
Il tentativo di Matty di capire cosa sia successo veramente e di trovare il responsabile si scontra con l'impossibilità di estrarre una verità univoca dalle tante storie incrociate che raccoglie.
La storia di Stevens, il ragazzo del Midwest arruolatosi quasi per caso e scagliato in una guerra civile che non voleva combattere, e che non riesce nemmeno a sparare nel giorno 204; la storia di Nunez, soldato esperto che dopo aver combattuto in giro per il mondo finisce a lottare nella "sua" guerra, la nuova guerra civile americana; la storia dei vertici militari, consapevoli degli errori inevitabili in guerra ma che guardano al risultato complessivo scrollandosi di dosso con indifferenza gli "errori di percorso" limitandosi a maledirne i risvolti mediatici e i contraccolpi etici; la storia di chi al giorno 204 era sopravvissuto, la storia di chi quel giorno aveva perso amici o famigliari.
Una storia che mostra molte sfaccettature di una guerra diventata guerriglia, e l'impossibilità di stabilire una sola verità in un caos di questo tipo. Tranne che tutti perdono, sia chi spara che chi muore, che chi rimane per anni a nutrire l'odio e il lutto per quelle perdite diventando poi una bestia famelica come nel finale dell'albo.
June 3, 2019
This volume was really good. I think Wood found his stride now.
So this is a single story of a terrible event. When the Military was trying to deesclate a situation with a crowd of people in trench-like coats and when one looked like he pulled out a weapon they began shooting. Nearly everyone died in the massive group. Years later one of those shooters claims it was not justified and tries to stand up to the military. Matty decides to report on this story but as he begins to get the story from multiple sources, things get worse and worse.
Overall, this is really fast paced for the story it is telling. It's a slowburn at first, and maybe not that interested, but quickly because a perspective sort of story. Where everyone viewed that day as something different. Who do you believe? Who shot first? Why did they shoot? All these questions build but the final answer is the real hard hitting moment. The last few pages are so fucked up but well done that I loved it. The retelling might have gotten a bit boring at times but the final issue made up for it and landed.
A for sure 4 out of 5 story.
So this is a single story of a terrible event. When the Military was trying to deesclate a situation with a crowd of people in trench-like coats and when one looked like he pulled out a weapon they began shooting. Nearly everyone died in the massive group. Years later one of those shooters claims it was not justified and tries to stand up to the military. Matty decides to report on this story but as he begins to get the story from multiple sources, things get worse and worse.
Overall, this is really fast paced for the story it is telling. It's a slowburn at first, and maybe not that interested, but quickly because a perspective sort of story. Where everyone viewed that day as something different. Who do you believe? Who shot first? Why did they shoot? All these questions build but the final answer is the real hard hitting moment. The last few pages are so fucked up but well done that I loved it. The retelling might have gotten a bit boring at times but the final issue made up for it and landed.
A for sure 4 out of 5 story.
July 8, 2012
This is the most interesting volume of DMZ so far, because the structure of the story forces Wood out of his standard voice. By choosing to do a Rashomon story (or a Jose Chung's, depending on your specialty), Wood ensures that each character in the story has a different view and different voice, because the whole story is based on the idea that everyone sees events in different ways.
I only wish that he had been differentiating his characters and their points-of-view this much right from the beginning. Even in this story, we only really get differences in tone from the characters our protagonist interviews, not from the rest of the familiar cast, so it makes me worry that once this arc is over, we'll go back to the same flat characters as before: the saintly local nurse, the thug soldiers, the slimy politicians, and other such lackluster depictions.
The fact that wood is trying to depict a conflicted, many-sided issue with no single, easy answer also means that this story has the most conceptual depth in the series. There are some moments here that approach real profundity, though there are also some trite simplifications that undercut the message.
In all, this is the first arc in DMZ that feels like a Vertigo title to me, with nods to complexity and depth, even if things don't quite reach the level of climax earlier authors managed. But then, the early, pioneering authors who transformed comics into a modern, sophisticated art form were coming from a very different place.
Gerber, Moore, Milligan, and Gaiman couldn't look back at a group of proven greats in comics to learn their trade, there was no blueprint for what modern comics could be. They were inventive and revolutionary because they had to be, they had to make things up as they went along.
The new generation of comics authors live in a different world, in a world where comics are already proven as art, and they can search out and see what good comics are supposed to look like. However, I'm not sure this is a good thing, in terms of creativity, because instead of being forced to create something new, to prove themselves, they can just write in imitation of previously successful styles.
I have often said that in order to do something well--to develop a voice in art--requires many varied sources of inspiration. To write like Tolkien, you don't read Tolkien, you have to read and understand what influenced him. To play like Zeppelin, it's not enough to listen to Zeppelin, you have to understand the music they were listening to. If you take one artistic vision and try to recreate it, all you're going to do is dumb it down, because you're not adding anything new into the mix.
Again and again, reading these new authors, I feel this sense that they are taking an easier path, copying the forms of the comic writers who came before them, and it's no wonder that their stories come out lackluster, because they haven't added anything new into the mix to make it their own.
However, if Wood can continue this upswing, continue diversifying characters and viewpoints, working hard to make a plot that is deep instead of one which is straightforward, and learns how to communicate his story and ideas through character action, not talking heads, narration, and 'news stories', then this comic might actually get somewhere.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
I only wish that he had been differentiating his characters and their points-of-view this much right from the beginning. Even in this story, we only really get differences in tone from the characters our protagonist interviews, not from the rest of the familiar cast, so it makes me worry that once this arc is over, we'll go back to the same flat characters as before: the saintly local nurse, the thug soldiers, the slimy politicians, and other such lackluster depictions.
The fact that wood is trying to depict a conflicted, many-sided issue with no single, easy answer also means that this story has the most conceptual depth in the series. There are some moments here that approach real profundity, though there are also some trite simplifications that undercut the message.
In all, this is the first arc in DMZ that feels like a Vertigo title to me, with nods to complexity and depth, even if things don't quite reach the level of climax earlier authors managed. But then, the early, pioneering authors who transformed comics into a modern, sophisticated art form were coming from a very different place.
Gerber, Moore, Milligan, and Gaiman couldn't look back at a group of proven greats in comics to learn their trade, there was no blueprint for what modern comics could be. They were inventive and revolutionary because they had to be, they had to make things up as they went along.
The new generation of comics authors live in a different world, in a world where comics are already proven as art, and they can search out and see what good comics are supposed to look like. However, I'm not sure this is a good thing, in terms of creativity, because instead of being forced to create something new, to prove themselves, they can just write in imitation of previously successful styles.
I have often said that in order to do something well--to develop a voice in art--requires many varied sources of inspiration. To write like Tolkien, you don't read Tolkien, you have to read and understand what influenced him. To play like Zeppelin, it's not enough to listen to Zeppelin, you have to understand the music they were listening to. If you take one artistic vision and try to recreate it, all you're going to do is dumb it down, because you're not adding anything new into the mix.
Again and again, reading these new authors, I feel this sense that they are taking an easier path, copying the forms of the comic writers who came before them, and it's no wonder that their stories come out lackluster, because they haven't added anything new into the mix to make it their own.
However, if Wood can continue this upswing, continue diversifying characters and viewpoints, working hard to make a plot that is deep instead of one which is straightforward, and learns how to communicate his story and ideas through character action, not talking heads, narration, and 'news stories', then this comic might actually get somewhere.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
July 6, 2020
Continuing it’s middling level of quality a particularly shadowy plot drives this 4th volume of DMZ. Flexing his Leftie credentials yet again, Woods here reduplicates the Kent State Shootings unto a midrash for our modern era. Citizens this, armed soldiers that, innocents mowed down, you know your history. Yet, once against (and this was a surprise to yours truly) the exact same event was redone in TransMet too. And if you’ve read my last DMZ review I’ll let you guess which one is superior.
Of course, devoid of well thought-out quality, there’s no complexity here on any level. Woods explicitly illustrates who is in the right here and who is utterly in the wrong here. We have no chance to make up our minds about this one. No presentation of further evidence. No cross-examination.
For Brian Woods, the arbiter of truth is the the selfsame judge, jury and executioner of the series, the author.
Of course, devoid of well thought-out quality, there’s no complexity here on any level. Woods explicitly illustrates who is in the right here and who is utterly in the wrong here. We have no chance to make up our minds about this one. No presentation of further evidence. No cross-examination.
For Brian Woods, the arbiter of truth is the the selfsame judge, jury and executioner of the series, the author.
May 26, 2017
This volume was just fantastic.
June 10, 2019
Nějak podobně jsem doufal, že ty díly budou vypadat - ukazovat celkovou nejednoznačnou situaci života v DMZ a ne hledat neuvěřitelná spiknutí.
June 13, 2021
Portrait of a complex tragedy and how to apportion blame when chains of command are involved and powerful leaders sit in judgment on themselves.
In the runup to a massive, public court-martial, Matty investigates Day 204. That's the colloquial name for a mass casualty event in which amped-up, twitchy American soldiers gunned down 198 peace protesters marching silently across Manhattan. Three years later the Army has finally put someone on trial but it's no one with clout. Just a bloodthirsty sergeant and the only private who refused to fire a shot that day.
Matty interviews the innocent private (physically abused by his prison guards, who also urinate in his drinking water), the defiant sergeant, a protester who survived being shot in the head, the medic who was first on scene, several members of the Army brass. He covers the explosion of rage when the perpetrators get off with a dishonorable discharge (or "a ticket out of the Army and a free ride home" as one commentator puts it. And he's there when the Army literally drops the private who refused to shoot into the middle of a protest to be kicked to death by the furious mob.
This is a depiction of an American war crime's aftermath and its failure of a reckoning, and I hated how much sense it made to me. Ironically, that's also why I love this series so much.
In the runup to a massive, public court-martial, Matty investigates Day 204. That's the colloquial name for a mass casualty event in which amped-up, twitchy American soldiers gunned down 198 peace protesters marching silently across Manhattan. Three years later the Army has finally put someone on trial but it's no one with clout. Just a bloodthirsty sergeant and the only private who refused to fire a shot that day.
Matty interviews the innocent private (physically abused by his prison guards, who also urinate in his drinking water), the defiant sergeant, a protester who survived being shot in the head, the medic who was first on scene, several members of the Army brass. He covers the explosion of rage when the perpetrators get off with a dishonorable discharge (or "a ticket out of the Army and a free ride home" as one commentator puts it. And he's there when the Army literally drops the private who refused to shoot into the middle of a protest to be kicked to death by the furious mob.
This is a depiction of an American war crime's aftermath and its failure of a reckoning, and I hated how much sense it made to me. Ironically, that's also why I love this series so much.
July 31, 2013
DMZ is a book of real highs and lows for me.
The lows come in because sometimes I'm straight-up lost in the plot. Which I think is common. Because a lot of the plots revolve around big conspiracies with double-crosses and unknown entities, how is a person ever going to keep it all straight?
The highs are situations like the end of this volume. In essence, a lot of bullshit is blamed on the wrong guy, a soldier in this case. And I think that's where DMZ speaks to something very real and true.
The big, over-arching ideas in DMZ that mirror our own, the ones about corporations being in bed with government and essentially profiting from war and violence is just old news. It's sickening news, it's the oldest story in the book (I'm sure some asshole made a shitload of money selling armor to knights and shit too), which is why it doesn't do a whole lot for me.
But the ideas that get smaller, when the book focuses in on individuals, I think that's where it finds its footing.
This book in particular sends a couple messages in a very effective way.
1. It really IS easier to write off victims of war violence who are categorized as collateral damage when they speak a different language, wear different clothes, and live in places that just look so Other. I'm sorry, I have a bad brain, but it's much easier for me to not imagine someone as having a life when that life is so different from my own, and when all you really see is quick flashes of streets filled with rubble. Setting the book in Manhattan, the America-est of American cities, flips that whole idea.
2. People really talk a lot about supporting the troops, but I think that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the military works. I'm not going to get into it on a big scale here, but here's what I want to say: You do not support troops by giving the people who boss them around carte blanche. Underequipped, undertrained, outnumbered, young men are not done any favors by you not questioning the people who send them to fight. As an American citizen, the government is your employee. If you owned a McDonald's and saw a manager assigning one of the cashiers a useless, pointlessly dangerous task, you would not just let that happen for the sake of maintaining harmony at that McDonald's.
Anyway, that's enough of that.
The lows come in because sometimes I'm straight-up lost in the plot. Which I think is common. Because a lot of the plots revolve around big conspiracies with double-crosses and unknown entities, how is a person ever going to keep it all straight?
The highs are situations like the end of this volume. In essence, a lot of bullshit is blamed on the wrong guy, a soldier in this case. And I think that's where DMZ speaks to something very real and true.
The big, over-arching ideas in DMZ that mirror our own, the ones about corporations being in bed with government and essentially profiting from war and violence is just old news. It's sickening news, it's the oldest story in the book (I'm sure some asshole made a shitload of money selling armor to knights and shit too), which is why it doesn't do a whole lot for me.
But the ideas that get smaller, when the book focuses in on individuals, I think that's where it finds its footing.
This book in particular sends a couple messages in a very effective way.
1. It really IS easier to write off victims of war violence who are categorized as collateral damage when they speak a different language, wear different clothes, and live in places that just look so Other. I'm sorry, I have a bad brain, but it's much easier for me to not imagine someone as having a life when that life is so different from my own, and when all you really see is quick flashes of streets filled with rubble. Setting the book in Manhattan, the America-est of American cities, flips that whole idea.
2. People really talk a lot about supporting the troops, but I think that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the military works. I'm not going to get into it on a big scale here, but here's what I want to say: You do not support troops by giving the people who boss them around carte blanche. Underequipped, undertrained, outnumbered, young men are not done any favors by you not questioning the people who send them to fight. As an American citizen, the government is your employee. If you owned a McDonald's and saw a manager assigning one of the cashiers a useless, pointlessly dangerous task, you would not just let that happen for the sake of maintaining harmony at that McDonald's.
Anyway, that's enough of that.
November 8, 2018
Todo el tomo está centrado en un evento conocido como Día 204 donde 198 pacifistas marchando son masacrados por el ejército y las consecuencias, el juicio, las distintas voces. Tiene un nivel de abstracción tal que se puede leer por separado apenas comprendiendo el contexto de la historia.
Otra vez se apunta a los manejos políticos con un final de veras espeluznante.
Otra vez se apunta a los manejos políticos con un final de veras espeluznante.
February 1, 2013
Buy. Borrow. Steal (well don't, but you know what I mean).
This is absolutely brilliant.
I can't recommend it enough.
This is absolutely brilliant.
I can't recommend it enough.
October 18, 2014
My favorite DMZ volume to date.
The story depicts the ugly side of war and how the innocent are the ultimate victims regardless of the consequences.
This story moved me.
Now to Volume 5...
The story depicts the ugly side of war and how the innocent are the ultimate victims regardless of the consequences.
This story moved me.
Now to Volume 5...
March 28, 2018
Some interesting back story to "the War" in this volume. I've never been interested in the "history" leading up the the war in DMZ; I'm perfectly happy to accept the premise and see how Wood explores life in a warzone, but this was a really well done story about the muddy morality of warfare. Wood didn't provide a nice, pat answer where somebody is found to be guilty or innocent.
Soldiers open fire on a crowd of peace protestors, and nobody knows who to blame, if anybody is to blame. Matty's trying to find out what happened, and he finds that in a highly stressful, confusing, uncoordinated setting, with unprepared troops who are out of touch with command, anything can happen. That doesn't excuse the soldiers for the murder of hundreds of civilians, but it doesn't justify the execution of a young, stupid kid who was in a terrible situation out of his control.
I wish that Vertigo would skip a month occasionally in publishing this series, however, so that Burchielli could draw every issue. Kristian Donaldson's fill-in art was solid on its own terms, but it doesn't flow well with Burchielli's art.
Soldiers open fire on a crowd of peace protestors, and nobody knows who to blame, if anybody is to blame. Matty's trying to find out what happened, and he finds that in a highly stressful, confusing, uncoordinated setting, with unprepared troops who are out of touch with command, anything can happen. That doesn't excuse the soldiers for the murder of hundreds of civilians, but it doesn't justify the execution of a young, stupid kid who was in a terrible situation out of his control.
I wish that Vertigo would skip a month occasionally in publishing this series, however, so that Burchielli could draw every issue. Kristian Donaldson's fill-in art was solid on its own terms, but it doesn't flow well with Burchielli's art.
September 17, 2017
DMZ volume 4 is the best of the series so far by a mile. In this volume, the young journalist from the first three volumes, Matt Roth, lands an interview with an enlisted US soldier who was involved in a massacre within the DMZ. This allows Brian Wood to tell the story of how the DMZ came to be and also the story of a young kid from the Midwest who ends up in this nightmare. Wood does a great job showing the different viewpoints of this conflict and portrays the difficulty with deciding who is right in these situations. It's interesting that the best volume of this series is the one which focuses on the individuals in the conflict rather than the bigger condors of companies profiting from the war. Five stars from me ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
October 10, 2019
This is Brian Wood's Courage Under Fire/Rashomon volume, as Matty tries to uncover the story behind the events of Day 204, a sea change moment in the conflict between the US and the FSA. It pulls no punches, painting everyone as victims, no matter where they were in the events, and letting no one off easily, especially with its brutal ending. Matty's a bystander here more than anything else, allowing the different character's perspectives on the events to carry through, and I love how the book includes even those who weren't directly affected by the action to better paint the wider range of the impact. It's a slightly shorter volume than the previous ones, but that doesn't make it any weaker.
November 6, 2019
So, this volume seems like a rollback and self contained. It is about the fall guy and the people complicit in creating a fall guy including those demanding justice. There is no truthful resolution to this arc but just a bit of a hands thrown up in the air. In some ways, it is a simpler statement of something like Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco.
I'm not being dismissive here. I am not sure there is a good answer and none is offered. There are some facts such as number killed, the way a system fails, and the visceral need for accountability. Unfortunately, reality or representation of reality isn't always satisfying. That's okay.
I'm not being dismissive here. I am not sure there is a good answer and none is offered. There are some facts such as number killed, the way a system fails, and the visceral need for accountability. Unfortunately, reality or representation of reality isn't always satisfying. That's okay.
March 4, 2018
Le plus intéressant de la série jusqu'ici (le seul qui m'a convaincue d'emprunter la suite à la bibliothèque). "Matty" mène l'enquête sur le "Day 204", bavure de l'armée américaine ayant conduit à la mort de 198 civils désarmés afin de déterminer qui est coupable, amenant à un final un peu prévisible mais ne manquant pas pour autant de subtilité.
On y retrouve les défauts des arcs précédents (background manquant cruellement de profondeur et péripéties frôlant l'ubuesque), mais ce revirement laisse espérer une évolution positive pour la suite.
On y retrouve les défauts des arcs précédents (background manquant cruellement de profondeur et péripéties frôlant l'ubuesque), mais ce revirement laisse espérer une évolution positive pour la suite.
April 8, 2023
This volume got the story back on track. This Rashomon style story unfolds out of sequence brilliantly. The artwork is back to being top notch, and the story is great. The only real downside is that this is an obvious plot used in every war story from Star Wars (Marvel comics November 1981 introduction of Shira Brie, and her entire story arc) to MASH (there were several episodes, including the finale with Hawkeye remembering his story differently with each telling). This was as good as any issue so far.
August 31, 2018
Structurally sound except Matty just keeps on white-knuckling through his privilege (yes, even in the DMZ) and is now sleeping with Zee. Because hey, sure, why not, she's never shown interest before, just slap two characters together because reasons. Oh, we also meet The Snoozer for two whole panels and don't get anything fun for it except knowing that a 9th issue of Snoozer exists. I hope to god someone writes this zine in one of the upcoming trades.
April 26, 2022
This is much better than the previous issue. A self contained story in which Matty interviews those involved in Day 204, a day in which the US military shot down unarmed protestors.
These books feel more and more like prophecy rather than fiction. It portrays both sides of Day 204 as human beings, flawed, angry, righteous. I really enjoyed how self contained this story was, with fewer characters than Volume 3, and more about those Matt Roth is interviewing rather than about Roth himself.
These books feel more and more like prophecy rather than fiction. It portrays both sides of Day 204 as human beings, flawed, angry, righteous. I really enjoyed how self contained this story was, with fewer characters than Volume 3, and more about those Matt Roth is interviewing rather than about Roth himself.
July 10, 2022
This volume of DMZ was an excellent return to the former glory of the series. The first volume of this series was excellent, but the story began weaning seemingly random interactions with mercenaries turned zoo keepers or terrorist turn workers, but in this volume we get back to our hero doing what he was sent to do in the DMZ. This was a heartfelt focus on what truly matters in a war. The people and their stories. And how incidents affect both sides.
February 18, 2017
A story of a family secret, kept so long, that everyone has a different notion of the truth. Many strange, sometimes funny, somewhat heart-breaking, situations occur due to the secrets kept by Mica's grandmother when they return after generations to Warsaw, supposedly to reclaim their lost property.
May 22, 2019
Very nice
Compelling story. Really makes you think about why insurgents in other countries where the IS fights wars do what they do. The varying artwork was cool too. I really hope they make this into a movie.
Compelling story. Really makes you think about why insurgents in other countries where the IS fights wars do what they do. The varying artwork was cool too. I really hope they make this into a movie.
May 31, 2019
This volume is a far better story that the Sh*t that was in the previous volume!
Very interesting questions were asked, different point of views and with a shocking put somehow fitting ending to the whole situation.
I think this volume in the top 2 so far!
3.5/5
Very interesting questions were asked, different point of views and with a shocking put somehow fitting ending to the whole situation.
I think this volume in the top 2 so far!
3.5/5
September 19, 2019
Friendly Fire is another great storyline, dealing smartly, if rather superficially at times, with the confusion and chaos of modern warfare, and the question of who should be responsible when things go horribly wrong.
April 8, 2020
Volume 4 explores how Manhattan ended up being the DMZ - a miscommunication, a trigger happy leader and a nervous & scared Midwest kid cause an slaughter that would highlight the problems with this civil war and make people question the motives of those who are fighting the war....
July 4, 2020
Los ataques de militares sobre población civil y la asunción de responsabilidades son la clave de este arco construido sobre varios testimonios enfrentados. El guión no está mal pero el baile de dibujantes no ayuda a que luzca.
May 10, 2017
This did just vault onto the "Required Reading" list.
August 24, 2017
Somebody always pays for a mistake.
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