Illustrations of the first and final parts are too cartoony for the tone of the storyline. Characters have devolved into two main types: badass major players with big talk and background cannon fodder cardboard cutouts. The overall story has promise, but the execution in each volume leaves a lot to be desired.

After the controversial election in the previous volume, Matty finds himself once again investigation life in the DMZ. From a Christmas Day like Armistice between the United States military and the Free States militia that takes an ugly turn, to the urban myth of China Gold in the city and what it can buy, to a solo story and Zee making her way in this new city, it is balls to the wall crazy in this latest collection.

I suspect this is so well rated because only people who are genuinely enjoying this would be seven volumes deep in it, everyone else having abandoned ship long ago. Luckily, I'm an idiot with access to her local library, so here I am. Nothing makes sense at this point - not the players, not Matty's choices, not his relationship that he's let curdle to dust over the last several volumes, not even Wood's choice to never reveal the name of the leader of the Free States outpost. But hey, someone fou...

So, political intrigue... Yeah, this arc hasn't enthused me so far. But it seems necessary to get us to the next place.

Very intrigued by these developments. Matty seems to be losing his objectivity and plunging into some questionable dealings. I enjoyed the political gamesmanship of V.6, and the window back into the neighborhoods of the DMZ in V.7. Looking forward to more.

The IslandMatty Roth visits Staten Island, where the USA and FSA contingents have reached an open-ended Joyeux Noël détente, to the extent that they trade drugs, weapons, and porn and party together regularly. Until the incompetent US commander loses the vial of ricin he'd been keeping as a trophy. At which point détente devolves into detention, camaraderie into torture and murder.Another indictment of the stupidity and waste of war, while Wood wraps up the geographical loose end that is Staten

Matty becomes a less likable character as he gets more deeply involved in the politics of the DMZ. This was another issue that seemed it could have come right out of today's headlines.

The set up for the downfall.

The series gets back on track here, in my opinion, after the whole last issue was about politics, elections, and power. Not that those still aren't issues here, but...Matty has joined Delgado's camp/side, and in chosing a side, things have changed for him. He finds himself no longer close with some he was, and in bed metaphorically with people he wouldn't have ever thought he was.By the end of the issue, we see Matty has become just as calculating as some of the other personalities that he start...

This chapter didn't fully capture me. It's a lot of focus on Matty but he's dealing with mostly a military off base and it's kind of just okay. None of the character's really spoke to me or had anything interesting to say. The second half is Matty choosing what to do to get the upper-hand and the good graces of the "new" president. It also deals with Zee being on her own which is the best part of the book. Overall, this one was just decent. A 2.5-3 out of 5.

Another solid if fairly predictable volume. After all the buildup and hero worship Matty had for Parco Delgado in the previous volume, in this one we start to see some of that start to unravel here. It's further proof that you can't take anyone at face value in the DMZ, but that's kind of what I thought was going to happen from the very moment Parco was introduced. That said, I do respect Wood for not just flipping a switch and suddenly turning Parco into some kind of evil mastermind. He's still...

I enjoyed the shorter stories in this collection about Staten Island and Zee (although I don't care for the cleaner art style and much prefer Burchielli's deliberately ugly art in the War Powers arc). Like the "Blood in the Game" series, "War Powers" introduces interesting ideas - hidden Chinatown gold, nukes, Parco's agenda, Matty's evolution from journalist to big player in the DMZ - but the pacing and character development don't hit the mark. Most of the arc is just Matty shouting "What the f...

I guess I'm just reading this as a completionist. It never does anything for me but I used to like the series so I keep hoping something will click with me. I'm fully aware the low stars are because of me and not the book.

It's very hard to remain neutral and impartial.

DMZ ramps back into a storyline that makes up for the past transgressions of the last couple of shitty stories. Wood has obviously recognized the less-than-reputable behavior of his lead character and decided to face it head on.The first story contained herein is about Staten Island, and how it's become this one part of the DMZ where soldiers from both sides of the civil war pretty much just hang out and get high all day. It's a "Boystown" kinda vibe, but naturally, something happens to fuck it

The latest installment of Brian Wood's DMZ series continues to impress. The series as a whole deals with the personal side of war, focusing on those stuck in the demilitarized zone in between a speculatively fictional civil war in the united states in the near future. Wood excels at telling exceptionally human stories under exceptionally inhuman circumstances, and this volume is no exception to the high standards set by the previous six.The compelling war scenarios of DMZ are all consistently to...

I am here to just finish the series :/Volume 7, it begin with 2 meh issues at the beginning with different artwork style and meh :/ storythen the main story "War Powers" which was a bit O.K with Iraq plot style with the Gold and the nuclear Weapon, a bit of a shocking ending to the story and then the final issue without matty and again a different artwork style.Not that great but still not that bad!

War Powers may be my favorite storyline within DMZ. It’s the point when all of Matty’s flaws and mistakes reach critical mass, and the point of no return for his objectivity and morality is reached, and crossed.

So far "The Island" is the most impressive (read: harrowing) vignette to me in this series.

After a dip and reshuffling the cards by introducing the Delgado nation DMZ is back on track.