Getting Up: DMZ #23

DMZ’s consistenly been one of my favourite series. I like Vertigo stuff as a whole, but this seems to be a departure from the normal future/fantasy/superhero stuff, which is good every once and awhile. For those who haven’t read, or even heard of the series before, it’s about a Journalist who has been stranded in the DMZ, the island of Manhattan which has been ravaged by a new Civil War. As he’s on the inside, Matty Roth must report on the people and goings-on of the DMZ without getting himself shot in the process.

(Click for larger image)

Every once and awhile, the series does a one-shot comic. Usually between arcs, it chronicles usually a couple separate members of the dynsfunctional community that inhabits the city. This issue, however, it opts to focus on one: a graffiti artist names Decade Later. An aging artist, he comes in conflict with the authorities and many other group while doing his craft, but by the end of the issue, his grand plan is revealed: a giant mural based on how the rail cars are parked in the train yard.

A very touching an uplifting tale; a true artist would appreciate it.