DMZ Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli

DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From Goodreads...
From indie comics icon Brian Wood (Demo, Channel Zero, GLOBAL FREQUENCY) and up-and-coming Italian artist Riccardo Burchielli (John Doe) comes the first volume of DMZ, collecting the first 5 issues of the series about the ultimate embedded war journalist trapped in a most unlikely war zone: the streets of New York City. 

In the near future, America's worst nightmare has come true. With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand — Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ. 

Matty Roth, a naïve young man and aspiring photojournalist, lands a dream gig following a veteran war journalist into the heart of the DMZ. Things soon go terribly wrong, and Matty finds himself lost and alone in a world he's only seen on television. There, he is faced with a choice: try to find a way off the island, or make his career with an assignment most journalists would kill for. But can he survive in a war zone long enough to report the truth? 

Collects issues 1-5.

This is the first time I have read any of Brian Wood's work. It won't be the last.

Wood has mastered how to set up a new series. The reader is introduced to the new status quote in short order. Wood is able to pull you into this new world and make it seem very realistic. In addition to establishing the environment, he does a very good job with the characterization. The various characters seem like people you know. They might act differently than the average person in our world but that is only because of the situation. Living in a war zone forces the inhabitants to make choices. Wood is a writer I will be looking out for in the future. First up for me will be picking up the rest of the collections in this series.

Burchielli's art is a perfect fit for this type of story. He is good at drawing the various equipment and backgrounds. His helicopters are especially good. The people in the story do not look like carbon copies of each other. He manages to give each person a distinctive look.

Highly recommended.

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