This is the most interesting volume of DMZ so far, because the structure of the story forces Wood out of his standard voice. By choosing to do a Rashomon story (or a Jose Chung's, depending on your specialty), Wood ensures that each character in the story has a different view and different voice, because the whole story is based on the idea that everyone sees events in different ways.I only wish that he had been differentiating his characters and their points-of-view this much right from the beg...

DMZ volume 4 is the best of the series so far by a mile. In this volume, the young journalist from the first three volumes, Matt Roth, lands an interview with an enlisted US soldier who was involved in a massacre within the DMZ. This allows Brian Wood to tell the story of how the DMZ came to be and also the story of a young kid from the Midwest who ends up in this nightmare. Wood does a great job showing the different viewpoints of this conflict and portrays the difficulty with deciding who is r...

This volume was really good. I think Wood found his stride now. So this is a single story of a terrible event. When the Military was trying to deesclate a situation with a crowd of people in trench-like coats and when one looked like he pulled out a weapon they began shooting. Nearly everyone died in the massive group. Years later one of those shooters claims it was not justified and tries to stand up to the military. Matty decides to report on this story but as he begins to get the story from m...

This volume was just fantastic.

Buy. Borrow. Steal (well don't, but you know what I mean).This is absolutely brilliant. I can't recommend it enough.

This is Brian Wood's Courage Under Fire/Rashomon volume, as Matty tries to uncover the story behind the events of Day 204, a sea change moment in the conflict between the US and the FSA. It pulls no punches, painting everyone as victims, no matter where they were in the events, and letting no one off easily, especially with its brutal ending. Matty's a bystander here more than anything else, allowing the different character's perspectives on the events to carry through, and I love how the book i...

Portrait of a complex tragedy and how to apportion blame when chains of command are involved and powerful leaders sit in judgment on themselves. In the runup to a massive, public court-martial, Matty investigates Day 204. That's the colloquial name for a mass casualty event in which amped-up, twitchy American soldiers gunned down 198 peace protesters marching silently across Manhattan. Three years later the Army has finally put someone on trial but it's no one with clout. Just a bloodthirsty ser...

As you may recall, protagonist Matty generally looks excellent amidst the ruins of New York City. He’s the cool, tough, handsome type, you see, though not necessarily the brightest bulb on the porch. Which is unfortunate, as it's Matty’s smarts the reader ultimately relies on when it comes to making sense of the story.Coming into this fourth volume, the only thing journalist Matty has been able to figure out is that “this is a war of extremes pushing against each other”--whatever the hell that m...

My favorite DMZ volume to date.The story depicts the ugly side of war and how the innocent are the ultimate victims regardless of the consequences.This story moved me.Now to Volume 5...

This volume is a far better story that the Sh*t that was in the previous volume!Very interesting questions were asked, different point of views and with a shocking put somehow fitting ending to the whole situation.I think this volume in the top 2 so far!3.5/5

Enjoyed this a lot, more than #3. I thought it dealt with really interesting issues from some objective viewpoints, raised more questions than answers and I think that was the goal, and they did it really well. Provocative and artistic.

Continuing it’s middling level of quality a particularly shadowy plot drives this 4th volume of DMZ. Flexing his Leftie credentials yet again, Woods here reduplicates the Kent State Shootings unto a midrash for our modern era. Citizens this, armed soldiers that, innocents mowed down, you know your history. Yet, once against (and this was a surprise to yours truly) the exact same event was redone in TransMet too. And if you’ve read my last DMZ review I’ll let you guess which one is superior.Of co...

DMZ is a book of real highs and lows for me.The lows come in because sometimes I'm straight-up lost in the plot. Which I think is common. Because a lot of the plots revolve around big conspiracies with double-crosses and unknown entities, how is a person ever going to keep it all straight?The highs are situations like the end of this volume. In essence, a lot of bullshit is blamed on the wrong guy, a soldier in this case. And I think that's where DMZ speaks to something very real and true.The bi...

Some interesting back story to "the War" in this volume. I've never been interested in the "history" leading up the the war in DMZ; I'm perfectly happy to accept the premise and see how Wood explores life in a warzone, but this was a really well done story about the muddy morality of warfare. Wood didn't provide a nice, pat answer where somebody is found to be guilty or innocent.Soldiers open fire on a crowd of peace protestors, and nobody knows who to blame, if anybody is to blame. Matty's tryi...

Structurally sound except Matty just keeps on white-knuckling through his privilege (yes, even in the DMZ) and is now sleeping with Zee. Because hey, sure, why not, she's never shown interest before, just slap two characters together because reasons. Oh, we also meet The Snoozer for two whole panels and don't get anything fun for it except knowing that a 9th issue of Snoozer exists. I hope to god someone writes this zine in one of the upcoming trades.

A story of a family secret, kept so long, that everyone has a different notion of the truth. Many strange, sometimes funny, somewhat heart-breaking, situations occur due to the secrets kept by Mica's grandmother when they return after generations to Warsaw, supposedly to reclaim their lost property.

So, this volume seems like a rollback and self contained. It is about the fall guy and the people complicit in creating a fall guy including those demanding justice. There is no truthful resolution to this arc but just a bit of a hands thrown up in the air. In some ways, it is a simpler statement of something like Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco. I'm not being dismissive here. I am not sure there is a good answer and none is offered. There are some facts such as number killed, the way a system fa...

Very nice Compelling story. Really makes you think about why insurgents in other countries where the IS fights wars do what they do. The varying artwork was cool too. I really hope they make this into a movie.

This is much better than the previous issue. A self contained story in which Matty interviews those involved in Day 204, a day in which the US military shot down unarmed protestors. These books feel more and more like prophecy rather than fiction. It portrays both sides of Day 204 as human beings, flawed, angry, righteous. I really enjoyed how self contained this story was, with fewer characters than Volume 3, and more about those Matt Roth is interviewing rather than about Roth himself.

Friendly Fire is another great storyline, dealing smartly, if rather superficially at times, with the confusion and chaos of modern warfare, and the question of who should be responsible when things go horribly wrong.