“In pop culture, poli-sci and sci-fi are commonly used, but ‘poli-fi’ is a term rarely heard. The hybrid genre of political fiction is an underutilized storytelling engine, particularly when the speculative scenarios provoke, entertain, and resonate as strongly as DMZ.”
— Writer and critic Justin Giampaoli in DMZ Volume 12: The Five Nations of New York (Vertigo), available in trade paperback now.
Brian Wood’s DMZ, one of the longest-running comic series in Vertigo’s publishing history, has formally come to a close with the publication of the final collected volume.
San Diego-based writer and critic Justin Giampaoli has chronicled DMZ’s vast, powerfully topical commentary on our post-9/11 “security state” for years through an online archive of interviews, commentary, original artwork from series artist Kristian Donaldson, and more called Live from the DMZ. He contributed an affecting introductory essay for Volume 12 (order at Midtown Comics) that does the books a great justice, touching on Wood’s unparalleled vision in a manner that few have been able to capture elsewhere. I strongly recommend Brian Wood’s work as well as Justin Giampaoli’s rich resource, too.
I wrote about the characterization of Bush’s torture program in DMZ for PopMatters earlier this year.
