In the first arc (#1-5, On the Ground), Matty Roth has been sent by Liberty News to report about the DMZ conditions, but he finds himself stuck there, and actually becoming one of them. He learns how people in DMZ deal with the situation, how they survive and what they think about the war.

In the second arc (#6-10) Matty learns that everything theyve been told about the war, and about Manhattan is false. America does not care about the people in DMZ, so they create misinformation for the public to see.

This series is obviously political, and inspired by events in the last few years. Reading it, I feel like I was watching news channels reporting on a war, but this time I get the truth, I can see what really happens. And I wonder how much of what we see on TV is real, and how much is fabricated.
Brian Wood analyzed media in Channel Zero, in DMZ it is media in the context of a war. For this he needed the art to be realitic, and he found the perfect match in Riccardo Burchielli. This italian artist delivers a high level of realism, which helps identify with the characters and the environment they live in. In particular he made Manhattan a character by itself. Even though he’s never been to US, with the help of Wood he creates a believable and realistic Manhattan.

I am not very interested in politics, but this story is more than that. This is about a boy growing up and becoming a man, this is about the people living in the middle of a war that they didn’t start. This is a very human story. Get it.