The first three issues of DMZ really never lets Matty stop and rest. If he's not avoiding getting shot, he's being dragged from one part of the city to another by Zee, who is busy telling him that everyone outside the DMZ has wrong ideas about what goes on inside it. A byproduct of this pacing is that the reader really never gets to catch their breath--never really gets to think about what's going on. The counterpoint of issues four and five, then, are a welcome shift.
The following will contain spoilers for DMZ 4-5.
Issue 4, "Ghosts", opens with Matty in a snow covered Central Park. Or at least a snow covered expanse where Central Park used to be. The would-be reporter has traveled several miles up from the Lower East Side searching for the Ghosts, a rumored special ops team that wanders the DMZ and that Matty believes is likely made up of AWOL soldiers who are, according to rumors, based around Central Park.
What Matty does find is a group of somewhat militarized environmentalists. Their goal has been to preserve what Central Park still offers. To protect themselves and the animals in the zoo they buried the buildings. They have their own power generators and their own heating, waste disposal, and recycling systems. The group also grows a large amount of bamboo that they'd like to trade with other factions in place of those factions cutting down the park's remaining trees. They'd even be willing to give the bamboo away. In support of this agenda the group leader, Soames, doesn't so much want to do an interview with Matty but have him put out the equivalent of a commercial for them, their eco goals, and their efforts with bamboo.
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| DMZ 4 |
The issue ends with Matty going out on a patrol with the group which quickly turns violent as a rival faction attacks. One of the group is injured and, as he's dying, admits to Matty that they are the Ghosts. He also offers gives Matty a key to an apartment in Stuy Town that Matty can movie into.
The next issue, "Crosstown", is very straightforward. Someone breaks into Matty's new apartment in Stuy Town and, while Matty is hiding, steals the lanyard with Matty's press credentials. While Matty's homemade PRESS jacket might keep people from attacking him at first glance, it's the press credentials that keep him safe and give him access to areas of the city that would likely get him killed otherwise.
The story that unfolds sees Matty chase the thief through a a number of neighborhoods until it concludes at the Lincoln Tunnel which is the border to Free States occupied territory. Recognizing Matty, the Free States guards threaten the thief until he returns Matty's credentials.
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| DMZ 5 |
"Ghosts" and "Crosstown" are pretty quiet compared to "On the Ground". It's a welcome change that lets the world open up and gives space for Matty to develop more than he did in the previous arc. If the premise of DMZ is a war torn city outsider trying to assume the role of a reporter with mixed results, the opening arc does accomplish that. However, the decision to be a reporter wasn't really Matty's idea so it's an open question as to whether he can really fill that role adequately. If the journey is going to be whether Matty can live up to the responsibilities of that role, or if he even wants to, it makes sense to start with him jumping into it with both feet.
Matty's search for the Ghosts in issue 4 sees him take a risk purely to learn something about the city and get a story that no one else has. Matty's on his own for the whole thing. "On the Ground" saw Matty supported by Zee for much of the story. In "Ghosts" Matty has no help. If someone kills him on his journey across the city no one in the DMZ will mourn him or, for that matter, even notice. And when he is surrounded by the Ghosts who he already knows don't have a problem with violence and are very protective of their part of Central Park, Matty pushes back on their idea that he basically advertise for them. Matty embraces the idea of reporting rather that influencing. While we don't immediately see the aftermath of this experience (thought it will eventually be revealed that Matty did write the story), we do watch Matty try to live up to the lofty ideals of an objective journalist.
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| DMZ 5 |
"Crosstown" is an interesting follow-up to "Ghosts". While the issue seems to exist primarily to add flavor to the world surrounding Matty (and introduce the Free States who we haven't seen yet), it's also a good metaphor for where Matty is at this point. The need for Matty to recover his credentials is straightforward--a life and death necessity instead of a lofty intellectual challenge. On the heels of "Ghosts", though, this can be read as a metaphor for Matty trying to keep hold of the reporter identity he's assumed. At the end of "On the Ground" Matty chose to remain in the DMZ and these two issues very much justify why he did.
Something introduced in "On the Ground" that is indirectly followed up in "Ghosts" is the idea of self-sufficiency via alternative means. In the first arc it was in minor ways with the rooftop restaurants serving food grown in the DMZ. In the case of the Ghosts, they are fully self-sufficient with alternative, renewable resources. This of course is a small scale presentation of debates that have gone on for decades now: changing the resources on which modern society is based. Unfortunately, the attention paid to this aspect of the Ghosts' compound does invite some questions about the story.
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| DMZ 4 |
Something that's never really addressed is the logistics of living in the DMZ, and these two issues shine a light on that very aspect of the story. When Soames talks about the Ghosts being essentially off the grid, we're invited to wonder how there's power and sanitation in this completely ungoverned city. When Miller gives Matty his mother's apartment in Stuy Town, we're left wondering just where Matty has been living in whatever time gap there's been between issues three and four. The series never addresses logistics questions like these when they arise. It doesn't even lampshade them. It simply proceeds along hoping the reader gives them no thought. But as I've said before and will say again, DMZ as a series is far less concerned with the details of the world than it is with the characters that live in it.
"Crosstown" also puts a spotlight on a storytelling device that was used in "On the Ground" and "Ghosts" but really only to a small degree: Matty's narration. Just about all of "Crosstown" is devoid of dialogue and is instead narrated by Matty as he chases the thief through the city. While the series is not told exclusively through Matty's eyes, all of the major events that happen after his arrival are. His narration is at times straight communication but more often editorializing. There's a lot of internal justification which is sometimes at odds with his actions or dialogue. You find yourself wondering if he's speaking for himself or making sweeping statements that he thinks encompass the whole world of the DMZ. The use of Matty's narration lets him stay isolated which he often is--whether by choice or circumstances that he's set in motion.
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| Top: DMZ 4; Bottom: DMZ 6 |
There's also an interesting visual style at work in "Ghosts" and "Crosstown"--or perhaps I should say was at work in "On the Ground". Every page in the first three issues was bordered by black. The color fills in every space between panels. That darkness creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, making it feel like Matty is isolated even when he's around Zee. It's something very minor that is effective at communicating what it's like for Matty to be dropped into this hostile place he knows nothing about. The subsequent two issues move to wide borders which is what the series will principally use going forward, and it's surprising how immediately vibrant it makes "Ghosts" feel.
I said in my look at "On the Ground" that Matty's character development was somewhat limited. He's a fish out of water, but we don't get learn more about him than that. While not looking deeply at the main character might seem counterintuitive for an initial story arc, it actually works very well here by laying a foundation upon which to build Matty up and possibly tear him back down. That choice means that we always have reason to doubt whether the Matty we see at any given moment will last. "Ghosts" and "Crosstown" give as a Matty that's an aspiring reporter, but we know that was never really a goal of his. So we're left wondering whether Matty the reporter will always be the Matty we get or whether that somewhat blank foundation will give rise to something else.
Next time: Matty as hostage negotiator.
For an index of all Close Look at DMZ commentary, jump back to the landing page here, and for short issue-by-issue commentary check out Twitter @theronscomics #BWRBDMZ.
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