DMZ #66

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli

It's been a while since we've seen what's going on with Zee, the character who has more or less functioned as the conscience of this series since we, and main character Matty Roth, first met her back at the beginning of Matty's time in the DMZ.

Since splitting with Matty, Zee has been living with Martel, the girl Matty rescued from Trustwell, the Halliburton stand-in that was one of the plagues the people in he DMZ have had to endure.  As this issue opens, Martel leaves, and Zee finds herself examining her stubborn persistence in the city.  It's true that she comes from New York, and so can't go home, but still she struggles with the notion of abandoning her medical work, and leaving the city to its fate.

While she goes through this conversation with herself, the reader is treated to a number of flashbacks to different moments over the last five years as she revisits her relationship with Matty.  I like that DMZ has run in real time, covering such a long stretch of time in the life of the city and its inhabitants.  There is only one arc left before this series ends, and so it's fitting that Brian Wood take a moment to look in on one of the most important characters in the book.

Before finishing here, I want to comment on how wonderful John Paul Leon's covers have been for this book, since he took over from Wood.  This issue's cover is among the best he's done.