Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
DMZ #71
Vertigo Comics (DC)
Wood & Burchielli
This issue is the trial of Matty Roth. This is basically the end of the series as the next issue is the epilogue. This comic book is excellent for a number of reasons but the most important one is how Wood ties everything up with a single issue. Roth has become such an unlikable character over the past twenty or so issues but he manages to save a little face in this issue. No, he doesn't redeem himself but at least he agrees to be held accountable for much of what he's done and a little extra. This is the issue I have been curious about since the book's ending was announced and it didn't disappoint.
Roth is put before a tribunal. While he has representation he barely uses it. Roth allows the judges to rush through all of the charges as Roth pleads guilty to every single one of them. Each one has some connection to events that played out in the book but not necessarily to the letter. This is an interesting exercise that Wood undertakes here as he essentially plays the game of telephone with the series. Events played out and over time and through various characters, the information makes its way into the courtroom barely resembling the actual truth. The truth no longer matters to Roth.
As Roth notes in the back of the issue it doesn't matter what he is pleading guilty to or not. He's had a hand in some terrible things and he managed to live through everything. He's as guilty as anyone and he owes an awful lot of people, some of which are dead, for many things including simply being alive.
Wood has played with the series and characters in interesting ways throughout the series but he clearly had a moment of truth for Matty Roth. There is no happy ending for the character and there probably shouldn't be. However, fans of the character will find his actions honorable in this issue.
The artwork does something I enjoyed in this book. As each charge is laid out the page have five wide-screen panels stretching across each page. Generally, there is one or two in the courtroom and two or three in flashbacks. The flashbacks show some of the contradictions in the charges brought against Roth versus the actual events. Overall, I thought the artwork in the book was simple but extremely effective.
Wood is closing out a long running series that has had a lot of terrible things occur in it. This issue doesn't dismiss any of it and it certainly doesn't clear one of the main players in the middle of it all. Roth may not have fought on either side of the war but he certainly had a hand in a lot of death and he takes the blame for it in this issue. This is a powerful comic book to read.
5 out of 5 geek goggles
