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''DMZ'' is an
American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...
series written by Brian Wood, with artwork by Wood and
Riccardo Burchielli Riccardo Burchielli (born 27 February 1975) is an Italian artist known for his work on the DC/Vertigo comic book series '' DMZ'', his first work in the United States. Early life Burchielli was born in Peccioli, near Pisa, Tuscany.
. The series is set in the near future, where a Second American Civil War has turned the island of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
into a
demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...
(DMZ), caught between forces of the
United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...
and secessionist Free States of America. ''DMZ'' is published by
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
under their
Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
imprint. It ran from November 2005 to February 2012, covering 72 issues that have also been collected in 12 trade paperback volumes. The series was adapted into a streaming television miniseries of the same name for
HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...
.


Development history

After garnering increasing recognition for a string of creator-owned comics and runs on major commercial series, writer/illustrator Brian Wood enjoyed a breakout success with his acclaimed yearlong series '' Demo'' (2003–2004), opening up the possibility of achieving a career goal of working with
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
' independent imprint
Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
. Wood pitched more than a half a dozen scripts to no avail to admiring editor Will Dennis – who had worked on long-running heavyweight Vertigo titles such as ''
100 Bullets ''100 Bullets'' is an American comic book published by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint. Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso, the comic book ran for 100 issues and won the Eisner Award and Harvey Award. Style Both th ...
'' and '' Y: The Last Man'' – before finally his last idea, a tale of war-torn Manhattan, won the editor's instant approval. The inspiration for the comic had initially come to Wood in early 2003, at a time when the
9-11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
incident in New York City and the
invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...
dominated the U.S. national psyche. Wood had recently moved to San Francisco from New York City, and the experience of reflecting on the memories and story ideas he had gathered over a decade in the city, amidst its political atmosphere, sparked the creation of the artwork that would later become the foundation of ''DMZ''. Initially developed as ''Wartime'', a five issue black-and-white miniseries, the comic was consciously a project of importance to Wood, representing a return to the perspective of his breakthrough work '' Channel Zero'' (1997), a bleak portrayal of youth culture and anti-authoritarian expression in the repressive environment of Giuliani-era New York City. After "''Wartime''" had been disqualified as too close a title to that of a contemporary Vertigo release, Wood and Dennis considered a host of alternatives including "''Embedded''", "''No Man's Land''" and "''The War for New York''" before settling on "''DMZ"''. Wood first discovered the work of artist
Riccardo Burchielli Riccardo Burchielli (born 27 February 1975) is an Italian artist known for his work on the DC/Vertigo comic book series '' DMZ'', his first work in the United States. Early life Burchielli was born in Peccioli, near Pisa, Tuscany.
in a stack of portfolios on Dennis' desk, the editor having collected a sample of the Italian's illustrations after encountering him at a comics fair in Naples in March 2003. Burchielli had never drawn for an American comic book before but his detailed approach to storytelling, intensity in conveying action, and conviction for the work impressed Wood enough to pursue a collaboration. Narrative direction was the sole purview of the writer, with character design left to the artist. The co-creators' trial met with the approval of Vertigo executive editor
Karen Berger Karen Berger (; born February 26, 1958) is an American comic book editor. She is best known for her role in helping create DC Comics' Vertigo imprint in 1993 and serving as the line's Executive Editor until 2013. She currently oversees Berger ...
, and so ''DMZ'' was set in motion; the first issue, featuring concept artwork from ''Wartime'', hit the shelves on November 9, 2005. When asked about the length of the series in March 2008, Wood stated: "I haven't locked it in 100%, but I'd be happy to see ''DMZ'' run 60 issues". The series ended with the publication of issue #72 on December 28, 2011 and was collected in 12 trade paperback volumes.


Synopsis

The series is set in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, sometime in the near future and in the midst of a civil war that has turned the island of Manhattan into a
demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...
. The conflict concerns two primary forces: the federal government of the United States of America and the Free States armies. In issue #2, its explained that the Free States are less a geographical entity than "an idea", and that the movement began with an uprising of secessionist groups that formed a separate government in
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
before spreading across the country. The Free Armies and the U.S. military first met in combat at
Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...
where the Free Armies won, after which the Free Armies descended on New York. The planned evacuation of Manhattan went disastrously wrong, but despite that the U.S. Army was finally able to halt the advance of the Free States forces. There was even a sense among troops that the U.S. forces were ready to start reclaiming territory from and pushing back the Free States army, until the calamity of Day 204, when a squad of U.S. soldiers mistakenly gunned down nearly 200 peace protesters. With the U.S. robbed of all momentum and public support for an advance, the two sides settled into an uneasy stalemate, where
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
is the location of the DMZ between the two warring parties, with the FSA occupying territory including
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
and inland, and the United States holding Brooklyn, Long Island, and other parts unknown. The U.S. government still holds at least part of New York State, and presumably other territories further northeast. In an interview, Brian Wood described the back-history as the citizens of Middle America having risen up against the pre-emptive war policies of the U.S. government, causing a Second American Civil War. He expanded on this in a later interview: Manhattan is mainly empty, with only 400,000 people still on the island (compared with 1.5 million in the 2000 census), populated only by the poor who were not evacuated, snipers and holdouts. Wood has described the setting as: "Think equal parts ''
Escape from New York ''Escape from New York'' is a 1981 American Independent film, independent science fiction film, science fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald ...
'',
Fallujah Fallujah ( ) is a city in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. Situated on the Euphrates, Euphrates River, it is located roughly to the west of the capital city of Baghdad and from the neighboring city of Ramadi. The city is located in the region ...
, and New Orleans right after Katrina". The comic series begins when reporter Matty Roth arrives in Manhattan, five years after the outbreak of the war. Through the series' first 22 issues, ''DMZ'' followed Matty Roth through various crises in his first year and a half around the DMZ and the surrounding areas, such as military bases of the Free Armies and of the United States. In issue #23, however, Brian Wood started several tangents from the main storyline and devoted single issues to the stories of several other characters from the DMZ; a street artist, a young girl living rough, the triad leader Wilson, Matty's love interest Kelly, a local DJ, and the commander of the Central Park "Ghosts" – Soames, respectively. The story returned to primarily following Matty Roth in issue #29.


Impact and reception

The series had an immediate impact, attracting critical recognition from the American national media with the release of the first trade paperback, ''DMZ Vol. 1: On The Ground''. Paul Katz of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' accorded the volume an "A−" rating in a July 2006 assessment, while
Jessa Crispin Jessa Crispin (born in Lincoln, Kansas) is a critic, author, feminist, and the editor-in-chief of ''Bookslut'', a litblog and webzine founded in 2002. She has published four books, most recently ''My Three Dads'' (2022). Early life Crispin is f ...
soon followed with a confident prediction in the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' that the series would fill the void being left by Vertigo blockbuster '' Y: The Last Man'', writing "''DMZ'' is incredible. It is addictive and brutal, and a perfect antidote to the flag-waving Fox News broadcasts of the War on Terror. Wood and Burchielli have created something special, something that gets beyond the body counts and the headlines of setbacks and failures". The ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
''s Peter Hartlaub hailed the comic as an "excellent series ... equal parts compelling drama and cautionary tale, filled with inspired little touches", and commended in particular the evoking of both Iraq War-era Baghdad and Katrina-era New Orleans in the city's portrayal as "Wood's most brilliant move". In a review for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' in December of that year, Douglas Wolk characterised the volume as a "love letter to the city", describing Wood's writing as "full of acidic metaphors for American flag-waving and embedded reportage", Burchielli's "messy, deliberately ugly artwork" as effective in illustrating the apocalyptic subject matter, and the characters as "gloriously resilient". Wolk's colleague at the newspaper George Gene Gustines declared following the release later that month of issue #14 that ''DMZ'' had reached the ranks of top tier Vertigo titles, and that the imprint's decision to press ahead with collected editions of the comic in spite of its comparably low sales figures (15,000 copies per issue) was a notable sign of confidence. Gustines added: " e series is at its best, in the smaller moments showing how life is different in the war-torn city".


Television

In 2014, Syfy was planning on making a TV series adaptation of the comic with former ''
Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...
'' writers and executive producers Andre and
Maria Jacquemetton Maria Jacquemetton ( Mastras) is an American television writer and producer. She graduated from Lehigh University in 1983. She served as a producer for the first season of '' Mad Men'' and co-wrote, with her husband, Andre, three episodes of th ...
. Executive producer for the pilot was
David Heyman David Jonathan Heyman (born 26 July 1961) is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. Heyman is best known as the producer of all eight installments of the ''Harry Potter'' film series, which are based on a series of popular ...
, who previously worked on ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'', ''Gravity'', ''
Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...
'', ''
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica, and distributed by Sony Pict ...
'', ''
Marriage Story ''Marriage Story'' is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who also produced the film with David Heyman. It stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as a couple going through a bi-coastal divorce complicated by custody is ...
'' and was working on the movie adaptation of the Vertigo comic series ''
Fables Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that ...
''. The series was adapted for
HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...
and was released in March 2022.


Collected editions

The series has been collected in standard
trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboar ...
. Starting in 2020, the series was collected as two Compendium
trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboar ...
. Starting in 2014, the series was re-released as deluxe
hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...
editions.


Footnotes

I. The series concluded with issue #72, "Epilogue", which was published on December 28, 2011 but whose
cover date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
was February 2012.
II. A lot of information about the New York City of ''DMZ'' can be found in issue #12, which was a '' Time Out''-style guide to the DMZ.


References


External links


''Live From the DMZ''
– canonical companion site curated by Justin Giampaoli

at
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

''DMZ'' cover art
at ComicArtCommunity.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dmz 2005 comics debuts 2012 comics endings Action-adventure comics Alternate history comics Dystopian comics Comics by Brian Wood (comics) Comics set in New York City Comics about politics Post-apocalyptic comics Satirical comics American political satire Political satire comics Works about triad (organized crime) Vertigo Comics titles War comics Second American Civil War speculative fiction