What do you think?
Rate this book
DMZ Compendium One
In the near future, the United States has been plunged into a second civil war -- Manhattan, or as it's now known, the DMZ, has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world, making it the perfect place for aspiring photojournalist Matty Roth to be.
With an opportunity to follow a veteran war journalist through the heart of the DMZ, Matty Roth moves to a new and terrifying place with the hopes of making a name for himself.
But things quickly go terribly wrong, leaving Matty alone in a world he'd only seen on TV.
Can Matty survive in a war zone long enough to report the truth?
Will he even know what the truth is...if he finds it?
Collects DMZ #1-36.
With an opportunity to follow a veteran war journalist through the heart of the DMZ, Matty Roth moves to a new and terrifying place with the hopes of making a name for himself.
But things quickly go terribly wrong, leaving Matty alone in a world he'd only seen on TV.
Can Matty survive in a war zone long enough to report the truth?
Will he even know what the truth is...if he finds it?
Collects DMZ #1-36.
840 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2020
6 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Brian Wood
1,174 books961 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 28, 2022
This was decent I suppose. We have a war where the people of the Midwest and what not, have gathered together and formed an army calling themselves the Free States of America I believe. Or FSA. They have brought this fight to the USA which has lead to the Jersey shore while the U.S. is on the Brooklyn side leaving the people in Manhattan stuck in the middle. Manhattan is now the DMZ. Matty, a photographer intern boards a helicopter with this world renown journalist to go to the DMZ to get the story of how life is there since no one on the outside knows. The chopper gets shot down leaving Matty there by himself. So he is going to be the one to carry out the mission of reporting the story from the DMZ. Pretty cool concept. The first 3-4 story arcs were the best. They all start off slow and then build up to a crazy ending. If this whole book rolled along like that, this could have got 3.5 to 4 stars. But the last few arcs stopped moving the story forward. Instead each issue took a select character and gave their backstory on how they got the where they are in the story. They were pretty random as there was nothing going on in the main story where I felt like we needed that. Some of the characters I didn’t even remember from the main story. The final arc did get back to the main stage with an interesting story beat about getting the cease fire back in play while they U.S. tried to get some sort of democracy in place and Matty helping push for someone from the DMZ to part of the representatives. Another thing that I felt hurt the book was the lack of the story feeling fluid. Each 5 to 6 issue story arc felt like a big one shot showing different scenarios playing out in the DMZ. In my opinion, this made the story feel a bit broken at times. Plus I would have liked to know how did the FSA get all the way to Jersey. Is the USA only New York and the states above it? Did the FSA take over the entire rest of the country? That part was never broken down. All in all, this was just decent enough and we will see what volume 2 has to offer.
October 31, 2022
Good stuff
February 15, 2022
Still my G.O.A.T. (Graphics) 5++⭐️
August 14, 2021
America is in a new Civil War between the Free States and the establishment and New York is in between both parties.
This is a book about how hard it is to be a journalist in a war zone, it's about the different Americas and it's about the cost of war.
Well written and drawn.
This is a book about how hard it is to be a journalist in a war zone, it's about the different Americas and it's about the cost of war.
Well written and drawn.
December 12, 2020
To give you a short background on the type of comic collector I am, I have only this year, 2020, begun to read and collect comics, although in the first few months of my love affair with the medium, I borrowed library books, whilst quickly amassing a large collection myself. Then, when I had quickly exhausted all the books the library had that interested me (although was nowhere near the amount available to me that I wanted to collect and read) I got started on my own collection. But I wanted to come up with a way so that Ii wouldn't read all of the ones I was looking forward to the most, and leave those maybe not so high on my priorities list till the end. So I basically created a lottery system, putting hundreds of titles into a draw, and drawing them out at random. As an aside, I love this system, it makes every potential new read an intriguing mystery. Although it could be years before I get to some of my most wanted reads, but anyway. DMZ was the second book I pulled out.
I was really interested to get lost in this world. the idea of New York being a modern war zone, shut off from the rest of society was great. I was told there were many parallels to our modern political system, issues with the military industrial complex, governmental corruption and geo political issues. It sounded gat, and I was glad to have pulled it out. Sadly though, as is often the issue I have with the medium itself, ideas are never as well realised as they could have been. Brian Wood is perhaps not regarded in the upper echelon of comic book writers, despite having a long career in the industry, but I really did expect better from the title.
The main character is fairly bog standard, with little in the way of nuance or creativity used to flesh him out. The idea of being a photo journalist behind enemy lines in a dangerous and foreign world is enough to have most young men, and probably some women as well, imagining themselves in that scenario. the danger, the intrigue, the subterfuge, the chance to stand up and make a different against a fascist regime. Sadly, the character is mostly flaccid and comes across as foolish and naïve more often than not. The list of female side characters are far more interesting, although endured runs far shorter than I would have liked. The story lines are interesting enough, although needed to be handled better. There is a gritty, disturbing realism that is sorely lacking, with the story frequently settling for tropey action and predictable outcomes over the harsh, brutal reality of what this situation would actually be like. Dialogue is usually rather inane, making the main character even more unlikeable as the majority of the story is told through his eyes.
The DMZ itself is fluid, and needed some stronger writing and conviction to keep it real and honest. One minute, no one has electricity or food, the next minute, people have access to all manner of technology and food is plentiful. One minute, the main character is being shot at walking down a street, the next minute, he can go anywhere without even a second thought to his safety. There were organic ways to build towards these outcomes, although the world changes as the plot needs it to, which is a major sore point for this particular reader.
I desperately wanted to like this more than I did, and at times, it succeeded in sucking me into its world, although these little moments were sadly short lived, and it wasn't too long before some mundane dialogue, tropey story development or immersion breaking moment would pull me out again.
I will pick up the next compendium when it comes out (how about some hardcovers instead DC, you twats) although my expectations will be firmly planted on the ground for the next arc of the story. Here's hoping it subverts my expectations and gets a lot better. I would love to be at the helm of a story like this. Hopefully Mr. Wood finds his mojo 800 pages in. 3/5
OmniBen.
I was really interested to get lost in this world. the idea of New York being a modern war zone, shut off from the rest of society was great. I was told there were many parallels to our modern political system, issues with the military industrial complex, governmental corruption and geo political issues. It sounded gat, and I was glad to have pulled it out. Sadly though, as is often the issue I have with the medium itself, ideas are never as well realised as they could have been. Brian Wood is perhaps not regarded in the upper echelon of comic book writers, despite having a long career in the industry, but I really did expect better from the title.
The main character is fairly bog standard, with little in the way of nuance or creativity used to flesh him out. The idea of being a photo journalist behind enemy lines in a dangerous and foreign world is enough to have most young men, and probably some women as well, imagining themselves in that scenario. the danger, the intrigue, the subterfuge, the chance to stand up and make a different against a fascist regime. Sadly, the character is mostly flaccid and comes across as foolish and naïve more often than not. The list of female side characters are far more interesting, although endured runs far shorter than I would have liked. The story lines are interesting enough, although needed to be handled better. There is a gritty, disturbing realism that is sorely lacking, with the story frequently settling for tropey action and predictable outcomes over the harsh, brutal reality of what this situation would actually be like. Dialogue is usually rather inane, making the main character even more unlikeable as the majority of the story is told through his eyes.
The DMZ itself is fluid, and needed some stronger writing and conviction to keep it real and honest. One minute, no one has electricity or food, the next minute, people have access to all manner of technology and food is plentiful. One minute, the main character is being shot at walking down a street, the next minute, he can go anywhere without even a second thought to his safety. There were organic ways to build towards these outcomes, although the world changes as the plot needs it to, which is a major sore point for this particular reader.
I desperately wanted to like this more than I did, and at times, it succeeded in sucking me into its world, although these little moments were sadly short lived, and it wasn't too long before some mundane dialogue, tropey story development or immersion breaking moment would pull me out again.
I will pick up the next compendium when it comes out (how about some hardcovers instead DC, you twats) although my expectations will be firmly planted on the ground for the next arc of the story. Here's hoping it subverts my expectations and gets a lot better. I would love to be at the helm of a story like this. Hopefully Mr. Wood finds his mojo 800 pages in. 3/5
OmniBen.
November 27, 2024
It would appear that Alex Garland has A LOT to answer for. Well before CIVIL WAR, writer and cover artist Brian Wood was there first, creating an incredibly compelling comic about a now quite plausible near future in which America is in a civil war, with the FSA just on the other side of the Hudson and Manhattan is in a permanent demilitarized zone, where bombs and explosions are the regular order of the day. And yet life continues, as it often does even in the wartorn territories. The anchor character for this story is a young journalist named Matty Roth and Wood is especially good at doling new details about him. He's not sure what he's doing. We learn about the past people in his life. We eventually meet his mother. He's both willing to rebel against the media control instituted by the Liberty News Network, but he is also very aware when he is being used. I think Wood gets a lot of mileage here because he seems to always be aware that the drive for human connection doesn't die even in the worst circumstances. I liked that Matty was rather nonchalant about his rising celebrity and more willing to cast doubt upon his role as a journalist than give into the easy solipsism that lesser writers than Wood would channel. Also to be commended is Riccardo Burchielli's terrific artwork. We see a dystopian Manhattan of familiar landmarks and muddy colors. And his great eye for tendering just the right blemish is invaluable, allowing us greater verisimilitude into this compelling yet unsettling world. I'm deeply disappointed that I can't seem to find a copy of the second compendium. But I'll get it somehow. DMZ is one of those vital comics that warrants a deep dive into the complete run.
June 16, 2021
The DMZ premise is very interesting and has only become more compelling in an increasingly polarized political environment. The notion of a second American civil war grinding to a stalemate at Manhattan is a wonderful high-concept idea that I cannot resist. In fact, I've attempted to get through this series three times and continue to forget why I stop.
There are a few reasons:
- The stories at the beginning: Matty being stranded in the DMZ. His resolve to do the job of reporting where (somehow) no one else was willing or able to. The human stories of endless urban warfare. THAT stuff is interesting. But it gets bogged down so quickly in uninteresting and unbelievable detours that it beggars believe. Why would a PMC be hired to rebuild Manhattan when it was still at the frontlines of a warzone? Why would Matty fall under the sway of some uptown populist? The premise is stretched to its limits and pushed forward by an unlikable protagonist who comes across as a rebel without a cause -- prone to angry outbursts. The comic is at its best when Matty is no where to be seen.
- The graphic novel itself is such a product of the Bush era that it almost feels quaint. Both sides of the conflict are presented as villains while the real heroes are the proud New Yorkers who refused to give up their homes. It all just comes across as facile and not terribly nuanced.
I have to wonder what DMZ would be like if it had been written after the Capitol Hill Riots or really at any point in the Trump era. I have to imagine it would be a more interesting narrative where the two forces pinning NYC down are rooted in what reality has shown us in the past four or five years.
There are a few reasons:
- The stories at the beginning: Matty being stranded in the DMZ. His resolve to do the job of reporting where (somehow) no one else was willing or able to. The human stories of endless urban warfare. THAT stuff is interesting. But it gets bogged down so quickly in uninteresting and unbelievable detours that it beggars believe. Why would a PMC be hired to rebuild Manhattan when it was still at the frontlines of a warzone? Why would Matty fall under the sway of some uptown populist? The premise is stretched to its limits and pushed forward by an unlikable protagonist who comes across as a rebel without a cause -- prone to angry outbursts. The comic is at its best when Matty is no where to be seen.
- The graphic novel itself is such a product of the Bush era that it almost feels quaint. Both sides of the conflict are presented as villains while the real heroes are the proud New Yorkers who refused to give up their homes. It all just comes across as facile and not terribly nuanced.
I have to wonder what DMZ would be like if it had been written after the Capitol Hill Riots or really at any point in the Trump era. I have to imagine it would be a more interesting narrative where the two forces pinning NYC down are rooted in what reality has shown us in the past four or five years.
February 16, 2021
Not as good at Channel Zero; but it feels more immediately topical.
July 31, 2022
it could definitely happen, its happened before. all in all it was entertaining.
October 7, 2025
This is interesting for the first chapters, then it gets repetitive and full of nonsense, I didn't like it
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews