DMZ is a brilliant series written by Brian Wood and published by DC as part of it’s adult Vertigo comics series. The story takes place in the aftermath of a new civil war in the United States. The country is divided in two with the “Free States” made up of militias, etc. holding a large portion of the country and the traditional United States government holed up in New England. New York City is cut off as a DMZ patrolled by the United Nation’s forces and a Haliburton like force called Trustwell.

What started off as a study of journalism in a war zone shifted recently with a story arc involving the election of leadership in the DMZ. Both forces vied for office with a third option called the Delgado Nation entering the fray. Having just finished the sixth and final part of the arc I can’t help but wonder if this was a metaphor or the elections that have taken place in Iraq.

While sides tried to prop up a puppet government another option, not popular with those involved but popular with the people, decided to throw it’s hat in the ring. Could Delgado Nation be a metaphor for Muqtada Al-Sadr’s Iraqi political forces in comic book form? A parallel exists of people giving their lives to vote, violence preventing them, and corruption in the counting all around.

The series has take a definite shift from it’s early issues and is moving from surviving a war zone towards how you govern a nation. If nothing else DMZ is THE must read political comic book.