Brian Wood/Riccardo Burchielli
DC/Vertigo
what do you mean its not a civil war? it IS a fuckin' civil war!!!
ok, forgive the bluntness. that's what the Bush administration kept denying for awhile now, until the GOP got bitchslapped in the recent elections and media outlets started getting balls to call it what it is. Wood and Burchielli's DMZ, written well before the administration finally (grudgingly) admitted that Iraq had deteriorated into sectarian warfare, transposes that situation into a re-imagined America.
this new America is a fractured entity, echoing the past Civil War (no, not that recent Marvel Comics series, idiot). it looks like the redneck, i mean, red states seceded from the "Union" and call themselves the Free States (New Jersey's reputation is crap. wait, what reputation??), pitting themselves against the "lying" government and whatever remains of the good ol' US of A. here's a scorecard:
the title, which echoes another past war (yes, the principals of that war now in the real world own a bunch of delis in the city and they practically run the 7 train and Flushing in Queens), describes the current state of Manhattan, where both sides use as their shooting gallery. the whole thing is seen from embedded photojournalist (terminology courtesy of the second Iraq War) Matthew Roth's eyes, who ends up stranded in Manhattan after his news crew gets shot out of the sky. actually, the story's a bit more complicated than that: Roth is just an intern, on his first job for decorated newsman Viktor Ferguson. after getting on the ground in Midtown, heavy fire forces the chopper to take off again, leaving Roth behind. which certainly extends his lifespan and launches the storyline.
after he faces up to his situation, holds the equipment hostage and jump-starts his career, Roth, a slacker from the Hamptons (the south anyway), wakes up to the reality of what Manhattan has become and what the war has caused. Wood shows a good grasp of his chosen material, and to his credit, he tries to fashion good stories with the multiple story angles you can have with this kind of situation - especially with the denizens of a city caught in the middle of a shooting war. it could be transposed back to Iraq, minus the religious element. the reasons for the whole war has not been disclosed yet (i need to read more obviously), but presumably it started after 9/11.
one thing i like is looking at locales where Wood and Burchielli imagines where stuff could happen. 34th St beside Macy's tripwired with explosives, the Holland tunnel as the entrance to the Free States, the South St Seaport as a landing point for an invasion force ... it keeps reinforcing New Yorkers' belief that Manhattan is the center of the universe.
damn, my office area became a killzone!
so far, it is an interesting series, although the depressing surroundings (hello, semi-apocalyptic storyline?) brought to grim life by Burchielli (a more detail-oriented, dirtier Jock), can get too much at times. but since this is a Vertigo series, it still merits a read and a diversion when you need a break from your spandex heroes and your manga. its closer to the real world than you think.
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issues read: #1-6
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