DMZ Book 9: M.I.A (#50-54) PART TWO

"Matty Roth, ex-press secretary, ex-journalist, ex-friend, ex-boyfriend, ex-kid from Long Island.  Ex-everything.  Ex-human being" - Matty Roth

Catch up time! In a noughties version of the USA a Second Civil War fought between the south-western Free States Army and the sitting U.S.Government came to a halt when mistakes made by U.S. soldiers during the occupation and battle for Manhattan caused the U.S government to negociate a ceasefire between them to the west and the FSA hanging round in New Jersey at the Lincoln Tunnel.  This ceasefire caused the Island of Manhattan to become a Demilitarised Zone and the people left trapped inside after a botched evacuation tried to carry on as best they could.  Reporter Matty Roth came to the DMZ by accident, but soon broke important stories about abuses going on in there. Then elections were held and helped along by a star struck Matty, the charismatic Parco Delgado was elected governor of Manhattan.  Almost immediately he bought a nuke which one group had hidden away, and when Matty annouced this to the world things turned bad fast.  Matty had jettisoned his journalistic ideals and was running a death squad.  Then Parco disappeared as the U.S.army invaded to look for the nuke.  Matty was beaten up by soldiers and his attempts to have them killed went badly wrong as fourteen civilians were murdered by his goons instead.  Left alone, with not one person willing to take his calls, he wandered out onto the streets only to see a mushroom cloud billowing up from where the U.S. had bombed the defunct nuclear powerstation the nuke was being hidden in.  This volume "M.I.A" contains the one-shot "Notes From The Underground" and the four-parter "M.I.A".  Now although I said it was my policy to only split volumes when they exceeded seven chapters, "Notes From The Underground's" unique construction means It's the longest I spent on one issue, I wanted to include a visual sample from every short in it and wrap things up in a conclusion seperately from the "M.I.A" arc. Having done so in my previous post, let's enjoy the "M.I.A" (Missing In Action) arc and Matty's attempt to atone for what he's done.

Stewing in misery.

Matty lies on a sofa in an empty house as Liberty News reports on the aftermath of the nuclear explosion at India Point.  What's important to note is that they are going with the official story that Parco set the bomb off, and not the reality which is the U.S. nuked the plant themselves. Apparently winds have blown the cloud of fallout away from the DMZ and onto the mainland. The global reaction has been to rally round the USA and the news asks could the "worst terrorist attack in human history" be what finally ends the war.

Liberty News: "And for all the vaunted rhetoric of the 'Delgado Nation' as a peaceful people's movement, in the end it was little more than thug tactics and mass murder".

There is a hunt for Parco Delgado still on-going and a demand to the Free States that if he seeks sanctuary with them they must hand him over has been made.  His followers have mostly discarded their uniforms and melted back into the general populace. The U.N has convened in support of the U.S. and for them not to contain the FSA but defeat them utterly.

We then join Matty's thoughts as he limps round the flat, he found the radio which is pre-tuned permantly to Liberty News (dropped in the DMZ as propoganda implements) and after two weeks of living alone it's become his only link to the outside world. He's in upper Manhattan, a no-man's land within the DMZ.  He sees maybe a couple of people a day, the nuke scared all the animals away.

He then wanders around outside on the deserted streets, foraging for food in garbage bins or rubbish piled on the pavements.  He is sitting eating up on some stairs on the side of a building when he is startled by a man holding a sign saying "Change". Then the man blows up, leaving a big bloodstain on the path, and Matty falls off into a pile of debris. A chubby guy walks over to it, then two kids armed with assault rifles ask if that was his bomb?  Unable to keep his journalistic impulses in check Matty starts photographing what unfolds.  The man kills the two kids, then tearfully apologises and blows his own head off.

Crippled by guilt.

This causes Matty to flash back to the bodies of the fourteen civilians he had killed and holds his head in anguish.  Then he stamps on the camera. He mooches off thinking the worst thing about being on his own was "... the self pity.  I struggle with it every day".

Matty: "I didn't want to come here in the first place. I shouldn't have to put up with this shit.  I shouldn't have to live like this, like a fucking animal."

Then he sees something like he just saw and realises how close to oblivion everyone is, whether by shotgun or nuke and you can either "stop feeling sorry for yourself... or crawl deeper into self-pity".

There is some more from Liberty News, the yield from the nuke was "surprisngly" low.   Foreign news reports are running with the true story that the U.S. nuked the plant themselves and the military are insisting that it was "impossible" and have offered up documentation as proof. The aircraft deployed only had a "bunker buster" bomb.

Matty ruminates more on the fact that the wind keeping the fallout away from the DMZ is somehow "divine".  Apparently a cult is forming round this idea. Matty thinks about whether God did spare them, "the delusion is preferable to the reality" that it's just random chance.

Matty: "I know something about delusions.  Not the supernatural sort.   More along the lines  of 'the things we tell each other'.  Or that we tell ourselves.  Or what we lie about.  Or the facts we choose to ignore.  But where did that ever get me?  Or any of us."

As he rummages around piles of trash and rubble he suddenly comes a cross a crashed U.S. army helicopter, inside are the long dead bodies of the pilot and co-pilot.  Matty realises they probably come from the start of the war and have spent all this time forgotten, untouched and undetected.

A lonely tomb.

He sits and mulls things over, thinking maybe this tomb should stay undisturbed.  But he decides to take their dog-tags and returns to the house he's been staying in.  Sadly he thinks about how this past two weeks has taught him Manhattan is a dead city, "it's terminal.  It's on life-support that should have quit years ago".  He has come to believe everytime he witnesses something awful and walks away he's "killing it all over again".  He realises he's losing the fight, he can feel the weight of the dead city pressing down on him, "it can make it hard to breathe".  He sits on the floor and stares at the pair of dog-tags in his hand.

The next chapter begins with a montage of images of U.S. helicopters fighting with what's left of Parco's militia on the streets of the DMZ as Liberty News report some more on the current situation. The goverment has declared some places "Special Zones of Aggression".  This means anyone living in the areas are automatically unlawful combatants, "not recognised by any law of the land, and not afforded any protection, federal or international."  Civilans are urged to flee the areas and turn themselves over to the U.S. government.

Although there is still international speculation at just what happened at the power plant, the "moral authority" of the aggressive action being taken is not being debated.  According to Liberty News tha U.S. government "continues to enjoy a 90% 'Sympathy Rating'" according to a worldwide web poll.

Liberty News: "The longstanding premptive war policy, commonly called 'The Bush Doctorine', while not originally designed to apply domestically is now the law of the land. 'To defeat them in the purest military sense of the term.' is the soundbite on every pundit's lips these days".

Matty meanwhile is making a large red cross out of bricks and sits waiting.  Night falls and he returns to his current home and sketches a map of Manhattan on the wall.  He's decided to head for the 59th Street U.S. army checkpoint and surrender himself, while returning the dogtags, flightbook and location of the helicopter crash site.  

All from memory, impressive.

He draws the map of the streets he needs to navigate on his arm and sets off on his journey. Ducking and running from block to block, he is doing well until a man armed with a rifle and several dogs spots him.  The dogs chase him and he manages to lose them by running upstairs and leaping from building to building those this exposes him to the man who fires at him.  He hits Matty in his backpack, Matty manages to keep going before crashing down through several floors of rotten wood and landing in a pool of stagnant water.  The rain then starts and this causes the man to call off his dogs and the chase as it's probably toxic now, "just another variation of death from above" Matty thinks as he huddles under a slab of rock.

There is a breaking news report from Liberty News that Parco's escape vehicle has been found half-submerged in the Hudson River.  There is no body and the proximity of this car to the New Jersey shore where the FSA is stationed has meant the army has been authorised to bomb the FSA coastal defences, they gave them thirty minutes warning. 

We return to Matty slumped asleep on a mattress. He is woken up by several hooded figures pointing guns at him.  They know who he is and drag him out to a car saying he sold them a "pussy nuke" and force his mouth up and open to catch the water.  A woman in the car they are taking him to tell them to knock it off, they are friends of Parco.  "Welcome back to the Delgado Nation" she says.

Matty's recent past catches up with him.

Torture time for Matty again, as the Delgado Nation remnants try and beat Parco's location out of him despite his denials that he knows where he is. Matty ends up standing in front of a firing squad blindfold and is given a last cigarette.  Finally the woman says she believes him and to have Matty untied and brought up to talk with her because he is "the best shot we have of finding my brother".

Elsewhere in the DMZ, Radio FreeDMZ is making a broadcast. Airstrikes have destroyed her main power source and she is running the station off a portable solar generator.

Radio Free DMZ: "How long ago was it we were all talking about the DMZ as a sovereign nation?  Or, rather how short a time ago was all that?  And now how many more will be killed, paying for the mistakes of the few?"

She goes onto say word on the streets is all kind of conspiracy theories about what's been happening.  That it was a Trustwell nuke, that Parco never had one and this is a U.S. coalition-busting stunt, that Parco did have it and it was his plan all along, "no Free States rumours, people?  I'm shocked."  She tells them things could get worse, and when the sun sets tonight "Just pray it comes up again in the morning".

Back with Matty, and he cleans up his battered and bruised body, Parco's sister Rose calls him ino her room saying she wants to talked to him about Parco, "Tell... me... he isn't what people say he is... a terrorist and a mass murderer... is he?"  Matty turns and thinks "how could I possibly answer that?"

We see images of them speaking but we don't hear what they say, we hear Matty's thoughts instead.  At first he thinks "where she got off" treating him like she did and then expecting an answer.  But he realises that it's about family and not wanting to believe the worst of someone you love.

Matty: "And, truth be told, I loved the guy too.  I spent the first couple of years in the DMZ being moved around like a chesspiece, never quite living up to what people believed I was capable of becoming.   But Parco? He had me over for beers and never once made me feel less than the coolest guy in the room.  Next to him of course.  So what do I tell her?"

He finally delivers an anwer to her question as to whether Parco was a criminal, traitor and mass-muderer, "Rose... listen... of course he wasn't".

Parco's sister Rose.

He sees the relief in her face, after hearing the worst for so long, "she just wanted to hear something she could choose to believe".  They spend the next hour reminicsing about him until she crashes out.  But she makes one last request of him, "when you write the official record of this war Matty.  Just make sure when it comes to my brother... it's the truthful one."  He comes to the realisation that all the time he's been here, through all the stories and events he covered, he never stopped writing things down.

Matty: "Was this always supposed to be MY role?  Merely to bear witness?"

He leaves the Delgado Nation, the DMZ is undergoing heavy punitive airstrikes, with daytime sorties to clear the designated zones of "terrorists" and "illegal combatants". Then a quick warning from Radio Free DMZ, bombers are heading north "when will it end?  When will it be enough".

Matty is close by where the massive airstrike hits, and the place it hits is Central Park as he takes cover under a bench.  He crawls out and can only think "They killed Central Park".   Now the place kept safe by the Ghosts are all dead, "their park sanctuary was the perfect example of hope and selflessness in this shitty fucking city."  It must have come out that they cut the deal for the bomb with Parco. "They fucked up.  I fucked up. And whatever's waiting for me at the 59th Street bridge checkpoint. I'll deserve it" he thinks as he sits despairingly amongst the wreckage.

The Central Park dream in ruins.

Walking through the wreckage Matty comes across a very high on painkillers Soames. He says that is he sure they're alive, beacuse they appear to be in hell right now, "and Christ knows we both deserve it".  He says Parco sold him the park and he believed that it could happen.  "You get a dream in your head and then you do a bunch of stupid shit to get there", he says it's the story of this war and what is Matty's next move.

Matty turns down Soames offer of coming to his bunker and tell him he's turning himself in, "because I'm guilty". Soames points his rifle saying they're linked and he is concerned Matty might give him up.  He says he aims to survive the war.  Matty tells him to look around, they took them out, the perception is that the "terrorists" who sold Parco the nuke have been eliminated, "you and me don't matter that much when they got a war to win".

Matty: "Remember when you first saw me?  Not far from here, falling on my ass in the snow.  I couldn't even tell which way was what.  But back then, at least I had a sense of who I was and what the hell I was doing. If they shoot me for being a traitor, at least I'll have my answer".

And Soames watches him walk off through the dust and debris. He arrives at the checkpoint expecting the worse, but "whatever I was expecting... this wasn't it".  He is escorted in to headquarters as an "honoured guest".

As he travels he ruminates over how he gets to travel accross one of the most tightly policed borders in the world, even though he is "not special". He hands over the helicopter pilots dog-tags, then goes to make himself presentable, shaving of his beard of woe and getting clean clothes.  Then his dad arrives.

Back in the U.S.

Matty is pissed with him about the whole disowning thing, Mr. Roth apologises and says "I think in those days, we were both saying things for other people that perhaps we didn't mean.  Or were proven to be false". He says their words are now part of history and they'll have to live with them for the rest of their lives, "so where do we go from here?"

He tells Matty he was escorted through the checkpoint because of politics, he is offering Matty an amnesty.  Matty says he doesn't want an amnesty, "do you know what I did, dad? There's shit you don't know..." Mr. Roth says they know about Parco, the militant activity and trasporting the nuke.  Matty tells him about the death of the wedding party that happened because he was "out of control and i gave a sloppy order to someone I knew would carry it out."  His dad starts to say that no one is innocent but Matty yells "don't say it! They were civilians!"

He sits down and laments that he's sick of seeing people with guns, after everything he'd been through in the DMZ causing the death of civilians "completely invalidates the good I did".  He says he's lost everything right down to his soul, how does he come back from that? Does he want to come back asks his dad? Matty pauses then says he honestly believed he'd be chucked in Gitmo the second he returned.

His dad spells out what he can offer Matty, "I'm here on behalf of Liberty News and the goverment to convince you to return to work".  He'll get a full amnesty for past offences and contract breaches, "to do what?" demands Matty. His dad says this is where he gets honest:

Mr. Roth: "The United States has a lot of leeway militarily and politically, at the moment... but that leeway is conditional and the U.S. can no longer afford to 'go it alone'."

The U.N. has demanded observers be put in place at military command centres, to avoid that "an alternative was suggested... which was you." Matty is somewhat surprised at this turn of events.

He asks how he can be neutral attached to Liberty News and the government. He says they'll provide logistical support and first broadcast rights but they'll be limits on any editorial inteference and he'll be the eyes and ears on the ground, he is a freelancer, "your client is the international news media". The U.S. has a narrow window to apply force and probably win the war, and they are prepared to accept Matty looking over their shoulders, "to use a cliche... you are at least the devil you know".

Matty's dad starts laying out terms of a deal.

Matty tells him he has no information to give them about Parco.  His dad tells him they are looking forward not back here, there are ugly questions about Parco the U.S, is hoping will go away.  The facy he wasn't vetted, the rampant electoral fraud, the voter intimidation by Trustwell, as well as the origin of the nuke and the mysteries surrounding its detonation.  Matty won't need to testify on any of that.

Matty accepts the deal and the five years of backpay he's accumulated while living in the DMZ.  He has some terms of his own, when they are accepted he takes the deal.

Matty: "They accepted my terms and I took the job.  The only terms I felt I could live with.  The only way I could show my face in the DMZ again.  The only chance I had of regaining and sense of credibility.  My dad asked me if I wanted to come back from my 'fall'.  This is the only way".

A chopper takes him into the DMZ, they suspend operations for two hours so he can get settled.  He gets a call patched in from his mother.  She says his father called her and said he specifically turned down the amnesty part of the deal.  He tells her he was responsible for a "bunch of shit and I can't weasel out of it while calling others on it".

He goes on to say when it's all over he needs to go on the stand, but he need to be able to speak about it, "even if it indites me". His mum says it's hard because he is her only child, but also she is calling to let him know his friend "the one with the hair" called her last week telling her she went to his old flat and saved all his notes and is keeping them safe.

Matty is overjoyed, it was everything he wrote since first arriving in the DMZ. He thought they had been lost forever.  As the chopper lands in the DMZ his mum tells him to "be safe, okay?"  After disembarking, Matty stand watching the chopper leave then thinks to himself, "all right Matty... let's get it right this time".

The journalist reborn.

So a lot to unpack here.  How "fortunate" it was that Parco's abandoned car has given them an excuse to take provocative action against the Free States  with the support they wouldn't have had if they had broken the ceasefire otherwise.  We haven't heard much from the Free States about all this yet, but we'll hear plenty and soon too.  Of course this is all a back-drop to Matty's lowest point on the heroes journey.  Exiled to a place that's full of bleak and random violence, lonely and in emotional and physical pain all he can do is stew in self pity until the discovery of the helicopter gives him a mission.  Give himself up and report their deaths as a shot at a small piece of redemption after his guilt over the fourteen civilian deaths starts crippling him.  He gets tortured again by what's left of the Delgado Nation but he's been through that before and seems almost bored by what he's going through.  And forced to confront his feelings about Parco he finds he can't actually condemn the man still. The destruction of the Central Park community with Soames as the only survivor is of course an absolute tragedy but Soames notes they have both paid for their sins in their involvement with the bomb.  Finally Matty's return to the U.S. is not what either him or the reader was expecting.  Making a deal with his father to return as a journalist again on the condition set by Matty that when everything is over he be put on trial for the deaths he caused and all the bad stuff he was involved in shows that events have made Matty grow and learn to take responsibilty for his actions. The saving of his notes by Zee shows that after everything that happened between them, she still cares about him is another cause for hope for him and our emotional investment in him.  He is no longer the angry, embittered, alienated soldier, he is a journalist reborn.  So what's next?  Find out in a few days time...

DMZ Book 9: M.I.A (#50-54) PART ONE

"If there is a Big Picture to be found here, I'm not seeing it.  Just a lot of smaller ones." - Matty Roth

Catch up time, in a noughties version of the USA a Second Civil War fought between the south-western Free States Army and the sitting U.S.Government came to a halt when mistakes made by U.S. soldiers during the occupation and battle for Manhattan caused the U.S government to negociate a ceasefire between them to the west and the FSA hanging round in New Jersey at the Lincoln Tunnel.  This ceasefire caused the Island of Manhattan to become a Demilitarised Zone and the people left trapped inside after a botched evacuation tried to carry on as best they could.  Reporter Matty Roth came to the DMZ by accident, but soon brok important stories about abuses going on in there. Then elections were held and helped along by a star struck Matty, the charismatic Parco Delgado was elected governor of Manhattan.  Immediately he bought a nuke which one group had hidden away, and when Matty broadcast this to the world things turned bad fast.  Matty had jettisoned his journalistic ideals and was running a death squad.  Then Parco disappeared as the U.S.army invaded to look for the nuke.  Matty was beaten up by soldiers and his attempts to have them killed want badly wrong as fourteen civilians were murdered by his goons instead.  Left alone, with not one person willing to take his calls, he wandered out onto the streets only to see a mushroom cloud billowing up from where the U.S. had bombed the defunct nuclear powerstation the nuke was being hidden in.  This volume "M.I.A" contains the one-shot "Notes From The Underground" and the four-parter "M.I.A".  Now although I said it was my policy to only split volumes when they exceeded seven chapters, "Notes From The Underground's" unique construction means It's the longest I have spent on one issue, I wanted to include a visual sample from every short in it and wrap things up in a conclusion seperately from the "M.I.A" arc.

Matty ponders his notes.

This was DMZ's 50th issue and to celebrate several artists illustrated some short stories and single-pagers all written by Wood.  The conceit is Matty, just before the tragic events of the end of the previous volume is sorting through his notes which cover all four years of his time in the DMZ, ones he hasn't for various reasons written publicly about.  So, enjoy some of Matty's unused stories in NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND.

NGO: Art by Rebekah Isaacs. In a taxi an excited man in the front finds Matty in the back.  He's off the clock, he sometimes comes for a ride with the driver because "sometimes shit just gets so fucking boring round here he comes and hangs out with me".  He has one rule in his taxi, "no jounalism".

The excited man fills Matty in on what he is there for, his investors see unlimited potential in providing progressive communication access to the citizens of the DMZ.  He hopes they can "liberate the masses through information technology".   Matty say their cellphones still work, "the telecoms saw to that.. no cost. It's not like they can send us the bill."

The excited man says his way would shine a light on the people and show them the world that's been passing them by all these years, "we can usher them back into the arms of society... we can free them.  Educate them." He wants to set up shop in New York for a new comms network and will donate free access to select Americans. The taxidriver asks "So wait... you hired me to drive you real estate shopping?"

Touring the DMZ.

The man says yes, many buildings are abandoned and can be purchased cheap.  The driver points out the buildings are under the control of militia and warlords.  The man says he's been authorised to buy the real estate from the squatters.  Matty says he hopes he bought lots of cash.  The man says he has vouchers.  Matty and the driver burst into laughter, the driver offers the man a beer then screeches to a halt.

They get out, the first stop on the man's real estate tour.  Right now Matty reckons they have less than a minute before a nasty guy calling his soldiers to the roof starts dropping grenades on them, "your future telecommunications HQ is a restricted area".   The driver tells him to hurry up with his beer, he has thirty seconds.  Then they return to the car and drive the hell away. Matty tells the man "Tell your investors you can't liberate us, educate us, or buy us.  You sad dumb tourist.  You don't know how lucky you are". End of short story.

MATTY+ZEE: Art by Jim Lee.  A single pager showing Matty taking shots of Zee searching through some rubble.  The text talks of their history although is dated to before she left him a couple of volumes ago.  Matty admits he has a hard time living up to her standards, "I cannot imagine living in this city without her, I cannot imagine this city existing without her".  Her leaving him can probably be said to have influenced his bitter spiral into violence in the previous book.

Zee remains the heart of the DMZ.

LITTLE PLASTIC TOY:  Art by Fabio Moon. A wordless story, a young boy finds a small cluster bomb and not realising what it is takes it home and sleeps with it under his pillow.  Next day he has wrapped a small red scarf round it, but one of the other kids recognises what it is and calls for help.  He doesn't want to hand it over until Zee intervenes and she is able to take it and hand it over for safe disposal.

He put a scarf on it! *sob*

LOOTED: Art by Ryan Kelly. We join Matty as a serious looking older man has him put gloves and booties on, then asks him "ready?"  Matty thinks about this story, a man scouring the city for works of art, paying the city warlords and mercnaries to help him and buy their silence.  He shows Matty his rooms full of artwork.  He then tells Matty he is dying "and I don't now what's going to happen to my babies when I'm gone".

He tells Matty that "patience and drive" amassed this collection, he loved money but loved art more.  Matty points at a Van Gogh and the man says has recovered 60% of MOMA's collection.  Matty thinks how there is billions worth here in tha townhouse.  The man says he's kept meticulous records "I claim no ownership, just the privilege of caretaker."  He needs Matty's help now.

An unsung hero.

He wants Matty to use his communications with the outside world and find the proper people to talk about this. His system of barters, payments, trusts, bribes and blackmail will breakdown once he is gone.  He leaves to Matty containing a list of the catalogue, missing pieces and repairs he made.  There are codes for the security system and secondary location as well as a Swiss bank account with money to help with restoring the museums after the war.  He tells Matty he is the first person he trusted, now he must go to the people he trusts. Matty can only leave in awe of what this man had done "something for humanity that I can barely wrap my mind around... much less put a price on".  And he leaves the man contemplating the art. End.

SNOOZER, THE GHOSTS: Art by Lee Bermejo.  It's a single pager about the ethos of the Ghosts of Central park and their mission to save trees and wildlife.  Soames told Matty one day that when the dust settles after the war, people will mourn the decimation o the parks and open spaces, the tainted water supplies, the poisoning of the air and destruction of historical spaces, "And, I firmly believe" said Soames "the first question we'll ask is 'Why didn't we do something when we had the chance?  Our excuses will ring hollow'".

Enviromental activism in the DMZ.

HEART OF NEW JERSEY.  Art by Riccardo Burcielli. This story starts with Matty being driven right out into a New Jersey forest to meet the Supreme Commander of the Free States of America.  When his blindfold is taken off, he is greeted by an unassuming man called Commander Townes standing outside a parked caravan.  They go inside and start to have a chat.

He tells him after some chit-chat that the first year of the war was hardest for them, the rise of the Free States wasn't just the rise of some predestined idea.  The second year was better:

Townes: "That was when we started buying mayors.  A couple of governors.  A couple of FBI field agents, too.... Okay I lied about the agents.  Some halfwit under my command shot them.  We just used their badges.  Opened a lot oof doors for us, literally.  Amouries, National Guard bases, banks even".

Matty asks more about the banks and Townes says the first secret is that the FSA is suprer rich like "own-the-country rich".  They are so rich they outright bought Chicago. They never made a move on it because the "famously neutral Chicago... is like a sleeper cell".  He makes a call and it goes hot, opening up a new front in the war.  They have no need for Texas, the power is in the East.  They'd love Florida, but in the end won't need Miami when they have New York.

The leader of the FSA in humble surroundings.

Another secret is they have four divisions coming down through Canada to assault New York from the north, straight down the Hudson valley. "Why are you telling me this?" asks Matty. First because the Federal army won't be able take on four divisions at least until New York State. And he is telling Matty because he knows he's conflicted and will take his time in sorting out "what's news and what's intelligence".

He tells Matty what he's going to take away from this interview, about the Redneck army who buy cities and governors, assissinate heads of state, field multiple divisions of troops and have brought the most powerful army to its knees.   He's had foreign heads of state sit where Matty is right now, "and knew they were looking at someone they can do business with".

Matty is left with much to mull over.

He tells Matty to hand over the tape recorder when he leaves, "I'm not going to make it that easy for you".  Next day Matty returns to the DMZ thinking they talked for ages more, got wasted and fired off some M-60's. It left a lot of stuff swirling in his head, and as he takes the memory card he had hidden in his mouth he thinks "Information that, even if I tried to bust it open, I'd not be able to verify.  Or so says that old hermit in the woods".  End story.

KELLY CONNOLLY:  Art by Philip Bond.  A one-pager of Matty's on-off girlfriend, a fellow reporter who helped him break a big story. Matty's "notes" on her here date to just before she committed suicide in the DMZ.

The late Kelly Connolly.

WILSON'S KITCHEN: Art John Paul Leon. Another early story for Matty, invited to the legendary kitchen of Wilson, the Triad boss who runs Chinatown now.  As he looks around he sees how the kitchen is two buildings basements worth.  He shows the bean curd fermenters at work and the fresh greens grown by hydroponics.  Matty watches in fascination, "He takes some of the bean curd and mashes it into peanut oil, chili, garlic, rice wine cut with a little water".

Wilson and Matty become friends.

The wok is heated and the mixture dumped in it, the greens are added and in thirty seconds cooking time he has a plate full of bean curd, soft not soggy greens and sauce.  As he eats with Wilson, he is told the make all the bean curd, "easy to make, down here". He says he'll show Matty the greenhouses after they finish.  The cooks hustle out, "It reminded me, quite pointedly, that this was Wilson's kitchen, and this was Wilson's Chinatown.  And it's the rest of the world's loss".  End story.

WILSON:  Art by Eduardo Risso. A one-pager that tells us under Wilson, Chinatown has not only kept its original character but more-or-less its original boundaries.  After a failed assassination attempt he became untouchable, "equal parts kind and cruel, and whatever power he uses to keep the glue of his dominion intact, it's practically invisible to outsiders".

Wilson, Kingpin of Chinatown.

DECADE LATER: Art by Dave Gibbons.  A final one-pager, Matty's notes tell us about the titular grafitti artist who had moved on into the realm of "Street Artist" working on fine and conceptual art. But also "he and others like him act as custodians of the soul of New York City, embodiments of hope against the forces arrayed against them. Their work should not just be preserved but celebrated".  And that brings this issue, "Notes From The Underground" to an end.

A respected street artist.

A great selection of shorts, we've got single-pagers whose out of date notes make for somewhat tragic reading when you compare what happened to them or how Matty's relationships imploded with them. "NGO" is a light-hearted story poking a little fun at the naivete of clueless outsiders who assume the DMZ's real estate is up for sale with reasonable people and which also shows how native Matty has gone by this point.  There might not be any words in "LITTLE PLASTIC TOY" but it paints a heart-breaking story of being a kid in a warzone, not only does he take a bomb home, he ties a little scarf round it as well, that detail just kills me everytime.  Says so much about the resilience of children even in a place like the DMZ.

"LOOTED" answers the question of what happened to the cultural treasures of the city.  One man who could have lived comfortably elsewhere risked life, limb and spent enormous amounts of cash to preserve as much as he could, for no other reason than because he loved art. Matty is suitably awed by him as am I. He reminds me of a man in the game Fallout 3 (game about people surviving a nuclear bomb ravanged Washington) who wants to keep history alive for the people in his free museum in one of the most successful communities in the Capitol Wasteland.  He uses his money and mercenaries to search for relics in museums and the National Archives.  In one you find the Declaration of Independence for him.  I like to think him and the man in this story would be exist in any place where there was great culture and history to be preserved.

"HEART OF NEW JERSEY" finally fills us in (or does it) as to how the FSA made such great strides as it did against the biggest and best equipped army in the world.  There's an interesting dynamic going on between Townes and Matty, how much is bullshittery, will Chicago flip to the FSA at the drop of a hat?  Are there four divisions on their way through Canada as they speak?  The Free States will be coming back into focus soon enough, maybe we'll find out then.  Finally "WILSON'S KITCHEN" gives Matty his first taste, literally of one of the ways Wilson has been able to keep the culture and character of Chinatown alive in the era of the DMZ. WILSON elaborates some more on Matty's feelings about him before they fell out and DECADE LATER shows that while DL might be gone from the DMZ now, he's left a lasting legacy like he wanted. With a line up of superb artists including legends like Jim Lee and Dave Gibbons, this was an excellent celebration of the further flung stories of the DMZ in a landmark issue.  Join me in a few days for the rest of this volume: "M.I.A."

DMZ Book 8: Hearts And Minds (#42-49) PART TWO

"Feels like a hit, a revenge killing.  But who would do that?" - Radio Free DMZ

Time for part two of book 8. A quick reminder as to what DMZ is about. In a fictional noughties USA the country has split in half between the mid-western Free States and the rest of the country.  A second civil war blew up between them and a demoralised U.S army whose troops were mainly deployed overseas soon found them pushed back to New York.  They held the city until the accidental massacre on Day 204 of the war of a peace march attended by some of the half a million people left trapped in Manhattan caused them to withdraw and negociate a ceasefire between them based east of New York and the Free States lurking in New Jersey.  People in the DMZ have been carrying on with their lives as chronicled by journalist Matty Roth, recently there was an election and a charismatic man called Parco Delgado and his Delgado Nation voted in a provisional governer. He immediately ordered out the various factions and used Matty to go and buy a nuclear weapon from the Ghosts of Central Park so he can shore up his position in the eyes of the world.  A somewhat bitter Matty has alienated his former friends and has got Parco to agree let Matty be his sole media mouthpiece.  Now this volume contains two parts, a three part story called "No Future" and a five-parter called "Hearts and Minds".  It's my policy to split books when they have eight or more parts to them, I've already done "No Future", so this post covers the "Hearts and Minds" five part arc which further explores Mattys fall from the journalistic ideals he once represented.

Matty delivers the news.

It begins with Matty recruiting the AWOL U.S. army gunner called Angel who Matty met back in Book 1, he just kept out of the fighting and had a long distance relationship with a Free States female sniper in the opposite block.  Matty finishes collecting his things as Angel tells him "we're five minutes past Wilson's 'Get the fuck out of Chinatown' deadline, Matty..."  Matty and his goons drive to the U.S. army checkpoint at the Brooklyn Bridge.  There he makes a devasting annuncement.

Matty: "On behalf of the Delgado aministration, I would like to declare that city of Manhattan is now a nuclear armed state.  There will be no tests or inspections.  For those in the position to confirm, the serial number on the device is 25287.  The people of this beleagured city voted and gave us independence, an identity, a nation. We hope the world realises we ae preaprared to deter and defend that at all costs.  Thank you".

After leaving Matty mulls over what this will mean to the population of the DMZ, how do you move the people when they don't know how to move themselves? "Living 'post-racial' was one thing.  Now lets see what post-nuclear can do."

As they go to where Parco is based Angel asks if there is any news on his girlfriend.  Matty says anything is possible.  They arrive a Madison Square Garden and a sharp suited Parco comes out to meet Matty asks him jovially where he's hidden the bomb.  "Fuck you Matty" replies Parco and they both laugh.

Living in style.

Parco congratulates Matty on his press conference, "thirty seconds. All business, only what they need to know and not a syllable more".   He says the U.S. and Trustwell are going to have to spend days covering their tracks if the pedigree of the bomb is correct.   Matty asks what to do, Parco says he gave him autonomy, "you tell me."

Matty starts trying to discuss with Parco that he's rattled a lot of cages, and he will probably have to deal with "lunatic local warlords" challenging him.  Also the U.S. might invade to "stabilise" the situation and face no condemnatio for it.  Parco however is taking a phonecall.  He finishes and tells Matty he can cut deals with any of the local tribes who seem willing, he gives him money for bribes.  He then says he wants some media of their own and is sick of Liberty News everywhere.

Parco: "That's a nice security detail you assigned yourself there.  Try to keep the bodycount down will you?"

We then get a montage of news from all over the world reporting on what Matty said about having a bomb.  Then we see Matty and his goons cleaning their weapons.  Matty takes Angel up to the roof, there a woman called Claire parachutes down.  It's Angel's FSA girlfriend.  Later that evening Matty and his crew bust into a theatre where some scientists are doing experiments and shockingly kill all of them for no reason given.

Matty's squad in action.

The next chapter begins with snatches of news reports about how the balance of power has been upset in the whole region and the Terror Alert has gone to red, and now "regime change" is openly being talked about.  Small drone aircraft are being deployed over the DMZ to start looking for the nuke.  Silently we see both Parco and elsewhere Zee and Martel watching the news unfold.

We then cut to Matty talking to Danny, one of the local Warlords he's been authorised to cut a deal with.  Danny looks at him sullenly, Matty says "I'm no threat to you." He offers Danny ninety thousand dollars for a ceasefire. Danny tells one of his snipers to take aim at Matty. Matty says he thought Danny was pacifist, Danny says he personally is, but his men aren't, "I'm no idiot.  And you know that.  Which is why you're trying to buy me off". He asks how he thinks Parco can buy a bomb and expect everyone else to "chill the fuck out."

Attempting to bribe a local warlord.

He then says currency is no use to him, "we need food, supplies.  Peace". Parco is playing chicken with the whole world and truning the DMZ's innocent civilians "into terrorists by default".  Can his cash wipe away that stink and what comes with it?  "Embargo.  Airstrikes. Invasion... is cash dollars gonna save us?" he asks Matty pointedly.

Matty says OK, he doesn't want any drama or misunderstandings.  Danny then asks to speak privately so they walk a little distance away.  He says this whole bomb thing is not what they voted for after the uplifting campaign rhetoric.  He tells Matty he was close to closing a private foreign aid deal, and Parco fucks it all up.  For what?

Matty: "Respect?"

Danny: "you say that like a fucking question.  You're not even sure, are you?  What the fuck happened to you Matty?"

Matty: "I'm getting sick of being asked that".

Danny tells him to stop acting like a tool.  He could have been so much more, he could have been what the city needed.  Bitterly Matty says "oh yeah? What's that.  Some great journalist?"  Danny says no, "the DMZ needs a Ghandi".  It needs man of inspiration and peace.  Matty was more than halfway there before he started toting an assault rifle.  Matty tells him to "get real."  Danny tells Matty as long as they stay out of his territory he has his ceasefire.  Matty leaves saying he knows the man he's talking about, "... and I voted for him".

A U.S. airforce plane flies over the DMZ tracking radiation signatures.  All they are picking up so far is normal background radiation and various sites of contamination by medical material, storage facilities, labs etc.  The bomb would be "look like a supernova".   The drones have picked up no unual construction and Trustwell haven't got back to them over projects that could be used to shield the weapon.  As far as the can tell it's not on the Manhattan island, "so I suggest figuring out a way to look underneath it".

Matty and Angel chat.

Back with Matty, Angel is having second thoughts.  He tells him he's not so sure he "signed up to be just another insurgent following just another warlord".  Matty tells him the warlord thing is bullshit, "we have money and we're sanctioned by the government".  Angel says he just wants to know what the mission and the endgame are.  Matty says it's ceasefire, peace to the city and supporting Parco's administration.

Matty: "I know I'm not a native, but I feel like one.  And I love this city enough to go block-by-block to do what he can to end the troubles".

Then rather cruelly, he points out that while Angel is here having his crisis of confidence, he's still technically AWOL... "who else will have you?"  And the implicit threat is understood by Angel well enough.

We then cut to Zee and Martel travelling back to the part of the city now under Parco's control.  Martel drives a car through the checkpoint while Zee hides in the boot.  We then get introduced to a new, unnamed woman who is broadcasting a radio station called "Radio Free DMZ".  She says she is here to provide the DMZ with a "friendly voice, a voice of their own, a news source that actually understands what it's like to live in this great city of ours".  She is basically doing what Matty no longer does.

Radio Free DMZ.

She tells them about the drones in the sky, no news of ground based search-and-destroy teams entering the city looking for the nuke yet, but don't rule it out.  She asks people to text or write to her email address if they can, "Who am I?  Who am I is not important.  I am all of you, and you are me".  Then she signs off for now.

Next chapter begins with Matty manning a sniper rifle, he is told to focus on two targets below and squeeze the trigger when he is ready.  The inference that they are murdering random passer-bys is shocking  Fortunately one of the two is Zee and this causes Matty to take his hands off the trigger for now.

We then hear from Radio Free DMZ, on the Governors Island a press conference is being organised, "look at the bright side - a day of them shoving soundbites at us is a day of them not dropping bombs".  The conference is being held by Matty Roth's father, a high up on the board of Liberty News.

He gives a long speech, saying when Parco was elected they hoped he would be a partner for change but him acquiring a nuke aimed at the rest of America, "this cannot stand".

Mr. Roth: "The United States of America is still the high office of the land, and I have been instructed by its Commander-In-Chief to deliver this message:  As long as Parco Delgado insists on holding this city, and the rest of the country hostage with his illegal weapon of mass destruction... we are committed to opposing him".

This could include the removal of Parco from office, he is ordered to surrender the nuke and himself within three days unconditionally.  He will give up authority over Manhattan and "answer for his crimes".  He is saddened at this turn of events and now will take questions.

Mr. Roth publically disowns Matty.

The first one asks him about his son, is he still working for Delgado and "what of reports that he is leading essentially, a paramilitary death squad?"  Does Liberty News still have him on the payroll and the reporter holds up a photo of a tooled up Matty.  Mr. Roth says Matty could have made him the proudest father in the world, "but he chose another path".  He fell in with turncoats, murderers and criminals so his association with Liberty News, the U.S.A and his family has ceased.

Mr. Roth: "I wish him luck, and hope he survives whatever is to come.  But I must be clear.  Matty Roth is no son of mine".

We then cut to Matty telling the woman from Radio Free DMZ over the phone that he won't comment on his father's statement.  She says the people will expect a comment, he responds "fuck the people.  Leave this one alone."

Later that night Matty, ruminates on all the Trustwell "quick response" teams left stranded in the DMZ and how they always have plenty of ammo.  Locating them is easy, people are all to eager to give them up and no one, least of all him, give a shit about them. As he pulls on a balaclava and gets out a gun he thinks about his father saying he was on a "path to violence".

Matty:  "If I can't make the old man proud, why not at least make him right".

He bursts into the room with several Trustwell employees in it firing madly.  As images of the people in his life flash in his head, he beats and then shoots point blank the last one who is kneeling.  As he leaves he wonders, "why is it so hard to feel anything at all?"

Matty in a dark place right now.

Outside small planes overhead drop cylinders all across the area.  He sits moodily on the ground then Parco pulls up, saying he's always got his back, "especially on these... outings of yours".  He tells Matty the devices are designed to boost their radiation sensors. He then asks if, when the shit goes down, Matty will have his back the same as he has his.

Matty tells him that his loyalties haven't changed, he offers Matty a lift back while he takes a walk.  Matty asks him again, "hey, you gonna tell me where the bomb is?" and Parco responds "fuck you Matty!" and walks away laughing.  Later Matty wakes up with a start to find Zee on the end of his bed saying "you killed us all Matty".  Then he wakes up for real to this news report.

Parco, king of the DMZ.

Radio Free DMZ: "This is Radio Free DMZ with a brutal wake-up call, New Yorkers...Parco's missing and our friends across the river have moved up their deadline.  Reports coming in from all over... gonna get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better."

Transporter helicopters have dropped U.S. troops into the DMZ as "search and retreival" teams under order presidentia order and backed by the U.N. The announce they are not an occupying force "our mission is to preserve your safety and safety of the country"  They reaasure the inhabitants that they have nothing to fear from them and to refer to "designated block commanders" if they have questions or information to share, as Matty looks down through a window at them.

Later Angel and Matty are getting high and discussing the situation.  Matty says it's the arrogance that gets him, troops on the ground shouldn't happen now it's why they elected Parco.  Angel asks where he is, "dude likes to pull disappearing acts at the worst moments". Matty says maybe at the best times, "I dunno, the mother-fucker is mercurial".   He says he hopes Parco is nowhere near his bomb.

Angel asks what'll his defence be when someone wants to put a bullet in his head, but Matty says no one would be that stupid, it'd be like fifty Day 204's, "no one is that dumb".  Angel says that they are on lockdown then?  Matty says there is no one outside keeping eyes on their operation, no embedded reporters, no Liberty News, no one to keep them in line, no one to police them up.

Angel: "... I thought that used to be your job."

Matty: "Yeah.  Right. Bunch of fucking good it did in the end, with troops back on the street".

We then get some more news from Radio Free DMZ over scenes of soldiers hooding and shackling people, setting thing ablaze and pointing guns at women with babies.

The radio says that being a search and retreival mission but it's not stopped soldiers settling old scores, including executions, arrests and detentions.  She advises, "Write down names, people.  Take pictures if you can.  Don't let these people vanish forever like before.  And hey, one more thing?  Anyone seen Parco Delgado...we got his back but we didn't vote for him to get slaughtered in the streets".

Matty contemplates what's going on.

Matty is on the phone to Parco who yells at him to get out and do his job as mouthpiece of his administration, "and right now my administration has a foreign fucking army up its ass."  Then he hangs up on Matty, who was in the middle of asking him if he'd seen Zee around.  So he gets out his press lanyard, tucks a pistol in the back of his trousers saying "fuck it. Why not".

Off to to his other job.

He goes out alone thinking he'll get passed slowly up the command chain until he reaches a state official who'll respond politely with a bunch of bullshit.  This proves an optimistic scenario on his behalf.  One of Parco's drivers comes to pick him up, but gets blown up and a squad approach Matty guns pointed at him.  They beat him almost senseless sneering "the famous Matty Roth."

Squad Leader: "You got no one, Roth.  No one's coming.  Your legitimacy is shot to fuck and no one cares if you live or die".

A bludgeoned Matty stammers "But... I'm still Press...!"  But gets his face stamped on.  As he lies their one of them pulls off his press pass and says with contempt, "fuckin' disgrace".  And the squad head off.

He lies in pool of blood and when Martel comes running up to check him he feebly asks to use her phone.  He asks her if she saw six soldiers on foot and probably in a good fucking mood.  She says maybe east, so over the phone Matty orders Angel to get as much firepower together, get moving east, "...and kill the fuck out of the first group of bad guys you find". He tells Martel to make herself scarce, she asks him if he needs a doctor but Matty says his giys will take him home. But up runs Zee and says shw just heard Matty on the phone just now, "what have you done?"

A beaten and brusied Matty.

Angel confirms they have a large group on infrared a block away, they just need the kill order, which Matty gives much to Zee's horror. She says to call it off, she knows he's in pain but it's no excuse. He refuses, saying he spent years in the DMZ trying to "live up to this fucking standard you've set for me".  Who made her the authority in fitting in:

Matty: "So fuck you Zee.  I don't need this anymore.  or you.  Or Wilson.  Or my parents. Or even Parco!  The last few months have proven that.  You have your new little project there, a new friend you can show around and explain how everything works, so go do that".

Then he gets a call back from Angel and when he hears what happened he moans "Oh... oh no.. No!"  We then see Angel's group standing over the bodies of fourteen civilians, the first group of guys they found like Matty ordered.  Angel tells him "I'm out of here.  You won't see me again.  Anyone asks, I'm dead.  might as well be after this.  Good luck, bro."

Innocent blood on Matty's hands now.

Then we cut to reports that the nuke has been found, Parco had it transported to the defunct Indian Point nuclear station twenty-five miles north of Manhattan. They are unsure how he got it there but they have confirmed it's there and being dissassembled into a smaller suitcase nuke.  And they have plan on what to do next.

The discovery has been reported by Liberty News and Radio Free DMZ has a response to it. She says she might love Parco a little more for what he did. People contact her with opinions that range as far as agreeing it was a good idea to thinking Parco has fucked them over to wondering if this makes the current invasion illegal to wondering if there was ever a nuke and it's a ploy to force Parco out.

Was it worth it Matty?

Matty meanwhile stands and looks at the dead he got killed. He says to Zee it was supposed to be soldiers not civilians.  Zee punches him and tells him "disappear Matty.  Like, for good.  Don't ever come back."  We see a bomber plane in the air, then cut to Matty cleaning his wounds back at his place.   Radio Free DMZ broadcasts about the deaths, it was a wedding party. Matty then picks up his phone:

Matty: "I called everyone I could think of.  Parco. Wilson. My dad.  My mum. Angel. Jamal.  The FSA Commander. Everyone I could think of. No one would talk to me. Instant pariah.  The last four years.  A life's work.  Undone."

He rips off his press lanyard and walks dreamily out into the streets. Liberty News report a breaking story. The U.S. government authorised the military to do whatever it takes to deal with the nuke and we see the plane fire a missile at the Indian Point nuclear powerstation.  And the story ends with Matty observing a mushroom cloud to the north of the DMZ.

Oh shit!

I remember when I first read this arc of the series feeling this horrible sick feeling as I saw Matty falling further and further into the path of violence as I realised something awful was going to happen.  And it did.  Blame anger and bad communication but there might be no walking back for Matty now he was responsible for the wedding party massacre and having been left hung out to dry by Parco.  Parco, who motives are a mystery, whose actions are mercurial and actually shared very little information with his supposed mouthpiece, a man who idolises him.  The hunt for the nuke of course reflects very much the whole W.M.D panic and how that could be a justification to invade a country back when the USA invaded Iraq in 2003.  Of course once again, staying in the grey areas there is in fact a W.M.D in this case, does that still justify what had been recognised as a country of it's own within the United States?  And the comic never pulls it's punches about Matty's embracing of violence, in fact he feels like he's in the same headspace as Nick Fury, now addicted to the war he was covering -"I wanted the girl and the war and the victory.  I chose one.".  Other characters shoot him pointed remarks and armour piercing questions about what he used to be, and yet he brushes them all off with bitter self deprecation.  Now with Radio Free DMZ reporting the news in the DMZ and Matty rendered a pariah in everyone's eyes, what role is there left in the place he loved and can he make it up with the people he once professed to love? Still four more volumes to go folks, find out next time.

DMZ Book 8: Hearts And Minds (#42-49) PART ONE

"So that was how it started...but this is how it ended up" - Tony

A quick reminder as to what DMZ is about. In a fictional noughties USA the country has split in half between the mid-western Free States and the rest of the country.  A second civil war blew up between them and a demoralised U.S army whose troops were mainly deployed overseas soon found them pushed back to New York.  They held the city until the accidental massacre of a peace march attended  by some of the half a million people left trapped in Manhattan caused them to withdraw and negociate a ceasefire between them based east of New York and the Free States lurking in New Jersey.  People in the DMZ have been carrying on with their lives as best they can as chronicled by journalist Matty Roth. Recently there was an election and a charismatic man called Parco Delgado and his Delgado Nation was voted in as a provisional governer. He immediately ordered out the various factions and used Matty to go and buy a nuclear weapon from the Ghosts of Central Park so he can shore up his position in the eyes of the world.  A somewhat bitter Matty has alienated his former friends and has got Parco to agree to be him being his sole media mouthpiece.  Now this volume contains two parts, a three part story called "No Future" and a five-parter called "Hearts and Minds".  It's my policy to split books when they have eight or more parts to them, so this first post is devoted to the "No Future" which is about a legendary cult of mercenaries occupying the Empire State Building and is illstrated by Ryan Kelly.

Inside the Empire State Building a group of men are sitting in a circle having a group therapy session. Our main character is a man called Tony, he speaks of what happened to him and his family on the day of the evacuation, he told them to lock the doors and stay inside.  He feels "retarded" saying all this out loud but the group leader encourages him to talk some more.

Tomy spills his guts.

Tony was a cop assigned to crowd control as the evacuation began, "it got ugly fast".  People turned into animals, he called his family and because he was a cop they jumped the queue and came straight through the barricades and the crowds got angry with them, even his baby  The crowd then rioted and Tony lost track of them, until it was too late.  The group leader tells him he losthis  loved ones, but "we're your family now."

Tont starts thinking about what it was like being there. Group therapy was six times a week, "it was always the same.  We'd take turns telling our stories, reopening old wounds, probing them, provoking, over and over."  It was a bonding exercise only in hindsight does Tony see how manufactured it was. They all had PTSD but didn't need to spend three hours a day reliving it. But it was the glue that held them together, "the raw material that fueld this particular insurgency".

Out on their destructive mission.

The windows of their bunk rooms were painted black, sometimes the didn't see daylight for weeks.   They operated in shifts, fired up by mission briefings, men who were "damaged and desperate for a solution to the pain".  There was a big armory, they were an insurgency, but Tony realised they were actually a cult.  "A death cult, composed of dead men.  Less interested in getting well than getting even".

Tony: "Kept in something not unlike sensory deprivation for fourteen hours a day, and then set loose in this dark playground of fear and violence.  We felt like gods".

There mission was to seek out signs of civilisation, signs of military presence, anything growing like a mushroom and kill it to spread their pain around.

He's out on patrol when they get orders to take down a helicopter, under fire they chase after it and crash their car thanks to an ambush.   They fight their way through the "street trash", Tony links up with the spotter team.  He comes face to face with the helicopter, it's the Liberty News one from Book 1 that came under attack and caused Matty to end up in the DMZ.  They fire a rocket at it and the chopper explodes.

Capturing Viktor.

However there is a survivor, the veteran journo Viktor Ferguson.  Tony is about to kill him when he gets new orders, which we can infer was to sell him to the Free States as seen in Book 2.  Later Tony is back at base feeling used for the first time, "The rules.  The mandate.  The mission. Orders.  Twitch, react". He wonders what was so important about the jounalist, he was part of the system that destroyed their lives, "the system that lived on long after we died inside.  Right?"

He asked around about Viktor and when he realises he's been trafficked he regards it as "another sin I have to atone for". In therapy he goes through his orders that day then talks about his dead wife and child "for the thousandth time".  We see in a group hug afterwards.  Later he takes out his anger in the gymn using a punchbag.

Therapy used for evil.

The leader of the therapy group finds him and says Tony must really be feeling it, and he checked the sign-in sheets and Tony comes here more than anyone else. He asks if Tony wants to talk about his pain?  He tells Tony he has the fire and he has something to show him.  Tony remembers it was the first time the "Boss Man" spoke to him outside the group.

The Boss turns the TV on and it has footage of the evacuation, Tony asks him to turn it off, but the Boss keeps going and shows him a man in the crowd that day called Mike Costa.  He was there when Tony's family was killed and he's still here in the city.  The Boss gives Tony his address and tells him to consider it a gift.

Revenge.

Tony remembers how he has very little recollection of what happened next.   He suited up and got a weapon and off he went out into the DMZ alone.  He reaches Mike's flat and finds him cowering in a corner with his wife and four children.  Mike pleads with him, but Tony fires on them killing them all, he kept firing until the weapon clicked empty, then he switched to a pistol and emptied that as well, "like I said.  I shut off." Leaving the area he vomits against a wall.

Tony: "Did I feel better afterwards?  Yeah, sort of, I think.  The truth is I was mainly worried about coming back to base, terrified to see what was in store for me."

Sitting alone in a room he's handed an envelope with orders in them.  The Boss asks if Mike Costa is dead?  Tony affirms this.  The Boss says he knew it would be good for him.

He says the vengeance has prepared Tony for what he has to do next. Then he shows Tony his new room, with luxury furniture he says it's a "performance related bonus".  Tony ask if its because he murdered a man and his family?  The Boss says it's because he finally owned his pain, he "bucked the fuck up and took care of it".  It was extraordinary of him.  The others can barely keep it together in the group sessions, "you've graduated." Left alone he thinks he "didn't own shit".  Sadly he looks out of the window, then goes to floss his teeth and just stares at his reflection in the mirror.  He ends up slumped on the bathroom floor with his head in his hands.

A man in severe pain.

We see Matty and Zee together at the start of the chapter, fully dating this back to when Matty first arrived in the DMZ. Tony is still staring out of the windown, there is an attractive woman sleeping in the bed.  We join him at the group therapy session and all he can hear is "blah blah blah" and he snaps and punches one of the other men shouting "shut the fuck up already!"

As the group collapses in chaos, Tony throttles the man thinking he could kill him, he's been trained to. Calmly the Boss says to stop it, and Tony does so. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asks him.  Later Tony and the Boss are alone, the Boss stares out the window saying the city is really something.  Tony says it's seen better days.  The Boss asks if he thinks it can ever be the same again?

Tony thinks not.  The Boss agrees, the city will become another Mogadishu.  "The sun is setting on America.  We're just another failed state" he says.  Tony asks if he's turning Free States.  The Boss says there is no difference between all the factions.  He asks Tony what he wants.

Boss: "Food and shelter? You got it. Safety? Yep, as much as anyone can be safe in the DMZ.  Comradery? Got it.  Revenge?  You got that, right? What am I leaving out".

Tony: "Justice... peace?"

Boss says he'll be able to get justice by doing what he did to Mike Costa.   He says Tony has been on a journay from evacuation day to killing Mike Costa.

He thinks back to how the next few seconds played out, he ended up saying not what he meant to say but a different voice from different place. "What about my fucking family?" he snarls.  The Boss gives him an envelope with orders in it.  "Here's your peace Tony.  It was an honour to have known you.  See you on the other side".

His final mission.

He goes and straps himself with an explosive vest.  He ruminates how his years with the cult he did everything by his own volition.  He wires himself up, thinking how he was never talked down to, never preached an ideology, "and so we felt we were in control. Our decisions were ours".  All this was his own choice. He is given a car as the voice over his radio hurries him along.

Tony: "The seclusion, the lack of sleep, the emotional manipulation.  I'm not making excuses.  But in those moments, heading down town.  I'm not sure I realised what I was doing."

He arrived at one of the DMZ's shopping streets and suddenly it all clicks in his head. We see hm transported back to evacuation day, while back then he tries to fight through the crowd, Tony of the present looks down on his wife and child's corpse.  He apologises to them and thinks, "not sure it's ever really been about me."

He calls out a warning to everyone yelling he has a bomb. As people flee he thinks, "and so this is where it ends.  reliving my horrors, stuck in my emotional prison.  But this time for the last time.  I'm sorry Maribeth, I'm sorry girls.  I've been away from you too long".  And he touches the wires together and explodes, bringing this arc to an end.

Tony is finally free.

This is a very compelling story.  We've already had suicide bombings covered in Book 3, but this story goes into far more depth of the grooming and psychological manipulation it takes to persuade someone to take their life for the cause.  The cause in this case being a nihilist one, striking out at all sides, keepng a violent status quo and punish those trying to lead a normal life.  Tony is something of a sad case, prime material for suicide bomber, forced to relive his worst moment, over and over for years, the confessional part of group therapy abused to make people more suseptable to anything that can relieve the pain they feel. His sadness and guilt comes through very clearly here, that he couldn't save his home family, that murdering a man and his family who just happened to be one person in a massive crowd that day didn't heal him and indeed turned him into a death seeker even more strongly.  And yet at the end he realises that why he is ready to take his own life, he's not ready to tke innocent people with him. Part two of this volume in a few days time as we catch up with Matty's work as Parco Delgado's mouthpiece.