A review by archytas
DMZ, Vol. 10: Collective Punishment by Danijel Žeželj, Nathan Fox, Cliff Chiang, Andrea Mutti, David Lapham, Brian Wood

5.0

This whole series was just brilliant, and the last part the most so. Wood's genius is in the way he captures ordinary human emotion and response, painted against extraordinary backdrops. DMZ is a savage condemnation of war, and the institutions that wage it like its a chess game, and at the same time a real celebration of humanity, from selfishness to empathy; courage to cowardice. Wood touches and plays with concepts like justice or ceasefire; individual vs institutional responsibility in arcs that cover war crimes; populist leaders; war profiteering companies, but doesn't ever feel compelled to tidy it up and present a cohesive view. He revels in the messyness of life, of survival in a war zone, and is one of the few who looks at the survival of identity, not just of physicality. The latter is the predominant theme of the vignettes which start this volume - the crime lord and civilian protector, who still sees himself as a rebel, confronted with bowing to an army; the artist whose community is long since gone; and most of the central protagonist, a journalist who no longer knows what that should be. Awesome stuff.

Plus, pretty. Very, very pretty.