DMZ #51

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli

After all the cool things in the DMZ on display last issue, this month feels extra drab, as Matty hides out from the political, emotional, and nuclear fall-out of his actions in issue 49 in the Washington Heights area, a veritable no-mans' land, sparsely inhabited by other loners.

The nuclear explosion that happened at Indian Point has been portrayed by Liberty News as a terrorist act by the Delgado Nation, and now everyone seems to be in hiding. Matty's feeling more than a little sorry for himself, and his mood is not lifted when he watches a confrontation in the street outside the building where he has been squatting.

Instead of viewing New York as a resilient, living entity, he is now seeing it as a corpse in its death-throes. This is a pretty morose issue of DMZ, but it is, as always, well-written and well-drawn. I've given up on trying to predict where this title is going, and am just enjoying following along. I don't much like Matty when he gets into these moods, but I think it is definitely time for him to enter into some serious self-reflection.

As usual, John Paul Leon's cover is stunning too.