Wednesday, July 14, 2010

DMZ - have we done this dance before?

So I thought I was done writing for the day.

I went out on the back deck and pulled up a chair to enjoy the nice, warm summer evening, and I brought along another one of those graphic novels I grabbed from my small local library.  This time it was Brian Wood's DMZ: On The Ground. I can't remember if I've told anyone this story before (although I have a sneaking suspicion that I have,) and I'm too lazy to go back and take a look, so I'm going to have another kick at the can and share the love.  Tonight I'll be downloading this series from start through present if I can find it.

It's that cool.

It opens with an interesting situation; an American civil war. On one side are the Free States of America, while on the other side are the United States of America.  Stuck right in the middle is the demilitarized zone; Manhattan.  A rookie intern gets the chance of a lifetime to go into the DMZ with a famed journalist, and from that point on, everything goes wrong.

This story is a very gripping look at life in a war zone.

Now admittedly I've only read this first graphic novel, but I found the characters engaging and deep.  They weren't just ideas, and they weren't static (like they often are in Super Hero comics.) These were living breathing people, trapped in situations beyond their control and reacting with the same courage, fear, intelligence and stupidity that any one of us would use.  I became a Brian Wood fan while reading Northlanders, and now I find myself looking for his name on projects.

If you get a chance to pick this up and read it, I highly recommend it.

It's a very different read.

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