Review: DMZ #72

Yesterday brought the end of Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli’s Vertigo Comics series DMZ, and to wrap that series up, MC EIC Matt Meylikhov and I are going to review the final issue together.

So, after the jump, you can find Matt and I talking through the 72nd and final issue of this highly renowned series. Was it a stellar wrap up to a great series, or did it fall below expectations?

You can find out after the jump.

David: Alright Matt, this is the end. DMZ #72 is here, and Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli don’t so much as close the door on Matty’s story as send us off with a coda to his – and NYC’s – story. I know in the past some Vertigo finishes didn’t do it for you. Did this one?

Matt: Very much so. I think I generally have a love/hate relationship with a lot of Vertigo titles, but this is exactly the ending I always wanted to see.

Er — Vertigo title finales, that is.

David: And why is that? Were you looking for something in specific from this issue?

Matt: Well, Matty’s story very much ended in the previous issue. Him on trial and being put in jail was the end of “his” story. But, as you noted, DMZ isn’t just about Matty, the central character; it’s about NYC. And what better way to send the series off than give it an epilogue starring the city as seen through the eyes of a brand new citizen?

David: Yeah, I really loved that. And I have to admit, I got a little – A LITTLE – emotional at the end as Matty shared his final message. How the book was “the total sum of the purpose of (his) life.” That was heartbreaking, but beautiful in a lot of ways.

Matt: Especially with that final shot of the rebuilt NYC? Man. Absolutely wonderful. Wood and Burchielli are absolutely fantastic at matching up their two mediums, and I would dare say that this is not just a perfect ending for the series, but one of the most perfect endings any Vertigo book has ever received.

David: I’d say it was a very fitting ending for sure. I really, really enjoyed it, but I’m not ready to put it on my Mount Rushmore quite yet.

But yeah, I have to give credit where credit is due: Riccardo Burchielli lit this issue up.

Matt: Why no Mount Rushmore status for you? Was there anything specific you were looking for in the finale that you didn’t find?

David: Well, this ties back to an eternal debate we’ve always had. While DMZ has always been your favorite current Vertigo book, I’ve always loved it but appreciated it at a less emotional level and more technical level. I love the ideas, I love the execution, but for me, things like Y or Preacher or others just resonate with me more because I have the personal grounding there. That’s not to say anything is wrong with DMZ – it’s fantastic. I just appreciate it in a different way.

Matt: That seems fair. To be quite frank, a lot of what made DMZ great was how personally attached I always felt to it while reading it due to the various resonation it had in my own life. However, this last issue sort of brings the underlying element of DMZ to the forefront with its city-centric issue, in that the entire book was a personal endeavor. New York’s ability to rebuild itself, and our ability as people to deal with tragedy of this magnitude and soldier on — it’s ALL personal. That what makes the ending so beautiful, I think; it takes a story about a city to really show off how human in nature DMZ always was.

David: Yeah, I agree with that. The ending really does highlight the legacy of everything Matty – and even more so, the city – went through. But I guess that’s the difference for me, it’s more a legacy, sprawling idea rather than a character specific one. But let’s get off this because it’s making it seem like I’m downplaying it! I loved it, and like I said, Burchielli was flat out amazing in this issue. That last splash page was beautiful, especially in concert with Wood’s final words for Matty.

Matt: Oh, most definitely. Burchielli has always done a great job with the series, and the overlying narration of a character that never actually appears in the book really highlights that as Wood and Burchielli lead us through this path that is sort of like “Matty’s Greatest Hits.” The entire section that was just photographs from Matty’s book, all done by Burchielli, was absolutely astounding.

David: I was totally going to jump there next. I thought that was a really moving section, especially when we got to Wilson and PFC. Stevens.

Matt: The “Friendly Fire” story always gets me. Looking at it again last night while we were doing the “Top 5” article, looking at this issue today…man. Such a heartbreaking story. And being able to see old faces like Wilson and Kelly again, characters who have been gone for quite some time? It really hadn’t HIT me that this had been six years.

Granted, I didn’t start reading the series at issue 1 as I caught up in trade, but still. That number still hits you when it is displayed.

David: Yeah, that was something that didn’t really work in my head until I saw the time stamping of those images.

One thing that stemmed off of that was Matty’s narration about Wilson, and about how he was a true martyr really resonated with me and fits into your point about how it was all personal. Matty expresses that Wilson was someone he mourns and misses but they sacrificed everything for the city, but how everyone likely has someone like that. I thought that was a powerful message, and it speaks volumes of the interconnectivity of the world Wood created in this series.

Matt: I liked how there was time taken out to return to that idea, about the various smaller characters that may not have had a grand effect on the “big picture” (all things considered), yet still had powerful resonance within the environment of the story. Wilson is the perfect example of that, although to be honest I thought that we were about to get a return of characters like DJ Random Fire and Decade Later for a second or two!

David: I know you were going to want something like that, but they never factored into the story to the same level that good ol’ Wilson did. Plus, it was only so long!

Matt: Right, of course. I’m not taking any points away from the book for not throwing me that bone.

David: I really loved what Wood did to deliver the story. Tying everything to someone reading his book and experiencing New York City through his eyes and trying to imagine what had been. It was a clever idea, and something that worked really well, especially with the unnamed character leaving the book behind for someone else to experience.

Matt: I loved that. That was basically the core of the central idea about New York and how we experience it both ourselves and through Wood’s story taken from subtext and given a literal and quite visceral form. The unnamed final character (who I personally thought might have been Megan from Local, but whatever) makes for a wonderful endcap to the reflection on the city. With all the war stuff out of the way… I mean, she is basically us in fifteen years looking back on the current political climate. It’s just perfect. I remember thinking before reading if we would see Matty or Zee one last time, sort of like the finale to Y the Last Man with the older Yorick? But now that I’ve finished reading the issue, I’m glad they never appeared, because this was a much better way to close everything off.

David: Yeah, I don’t think it would have made sense any other way. It was a very fitting coda to the story.

But I think there is a better chance of me becoming Mayor of New York than that being Megan.

One quick note then wrap up: I loved the notes on the bench in Central Park when the story closed. “Ghosts were right!” Their legacy carries on.

Matt: I miss the Ghosts. I miss everyone, really.

David: So Matt, final thoughts and rating out of ten? Whattaya got?

Matt: As far as final thoughts go, DMZ began with a bang and immediately found me as a captivated reader. Since then, through reading in trade and then catching up in single issues, the book has been one of my absolute favorite offerings from Vertigo, or even Brian Wood’s various body of work. I am both very much an absolute lifelong fan of him and Burchielli, and as far as monumental achievements go in the world of non-super comics, I really hope that DMZ will one day be the equivalent of books like Y and Preacher when people discuss “the Vertigo greats,” because to me it is definitely in the Top 5.

For a final issue rating, I will give it a 9.8, if only because of the lack of Decade Later!

David: haha I like it. Very fitting.

I thought it was a very, very good conclusion to a series that has been a favorite of mine for a long while. Great work by Wood and Burchielli, and it’s great to see creators stick the landing to the finish. So for that, I’ll give them a 9.5.