Customer Reviews

DMZ Vol. 3: Public Works

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Concept, plot, layout, art, writing: the five good ingredients of a great comic. Volume 3 fails, or at least lags, with layout and writing. I had to reread several pages because it was unclear if something was being put INTO a bag or being taken out of it, and the sequence of certain scenes was off. It was just hard to get a read of a play-by-play between panels. The overall effect was spot-on and easy to grasp, even stunning in some places thanks to the art. But the devil is in the details. Including the writing. The whole book is spread out with Trustwell vs. the U.N. vs. remnants of the U.S. government vs. the Free States vs. the locals of the DMZ. Fine. Awesome. Got it. But Matty spends his time (two years now in the DMZ and he's still making rookie mistakes, he was warned about his phone before!) bouncing around but not really thinking. It basically works, up until the end when he throws a major power struggle and bargaining chip away for... a beautiful woman. That is seriously the only point of her character. She says only seven words to him before sleeping with him, then they head off on a kamikaze mission. And yet he risks his neck, his friends' secure locations, endangers everybody, and even pulls it off (amazingly), but then cashes in a mega political favor for her "freedom" which she nicely analyzes as worthless. It's like the first two volumes of his interactions within the DMZ never happened.

Plus, people try to give him credit for being selfless but he wasn't. Even as the climax is unfolding it's all "a story" to him. That's why he states he does what he does. Not to altruistically help anyone, although that is the effect, but because it's his story and he doesn't want it stole out from under him. (This is nicely thrown in his face in the best part of the whole arc by the commander of the FSA.)

I have one final gripe and it covers the whole series to date. I don't like a major plot point only being described instead of clearly shown to us. The FSA build-up within the U.S. that lead up to the DMZ was talked about but never put into its own story. It really needs to be. I love this concept but I'm not taking it just on faith that a major interior war just happens in the near future without some background a little more in depth than a 3-page spread in Volume 2. (The same problem Walking Dead has had for years, actually--hopefully it's not a trend.) So, all in all, concept:A, plot:A-, layout:C, art: B+, writing:C+.

Finally, Matty is becoming a muckraker instead of just playing the accidental journalist. I was starting to wonder when he was going to start digging instead of happening into a story.

What else can I say, great story, great art, characters are getting deeper (is there going to be some jealous lover syndrome sometime soon?). My only regret is that I read it too fast.

i'm not really into comics, but this is a good purchase. it is thought provoking & in my opinion America is on this path if we are not careful.

One good thing about this one is that the main character, the journalist Matty, gets more meat on his bones - he's not the one-dimensional character who only guides the reader along images expressing the tragedy of war. He now becomes the journalist HERO (he should've become that two volumes ago), something that american readers would appreciate. Another element loved by the american audience is the emphasis on a terrorist cell and a lovely lady who acts as a suicide bomber.

Getting closer to present day political issue, Brian Wood's story becomes a little more relevant. Still, his characters are far from developed and almost everything i complained about in my first volume review is still here.

I you have enjoyed Brian Wood's DMZ to date this volume will be no different. Riccardo Burchielli's art continues to be strong with its gritty landscapes and strong emotion. Wood has effectivly created the landscape of post-secession New York City and is now digging into the details of this environment he has deftly crafted.

If you are a fan of stories about the "not so distant future" you will enjoy this story.

The first two volumes were brilliant with all the details, characters and a true sense of place for the DMZ. But this loses it. Motivations are weak and all it seem to want to say is the contractors are bad guys. I could care less about the 'cell" and the people in it. They never came alive as people. The DMZ has lost it's direction with this one.

If Vol. 4 isn't better, it won't get any more of my coin...