History ComicBook / DMZ

* AdaptedOut: The HBO adaptation notably removes many of the main characters from the story.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Many of the Central Park Ghosts are former soldiers from one side or the other who became disgruntled about their side and/or the war in general and .

* AxCrazy: "Street crazies" who seem to attack anyone they encounter. Even the sane residents of the DMZ kill anyone in their territory that they don't recognize.
* BalkanizeMe: Actually averted - although the US is caught in a civil war it has not actually split into separate countries per se. The FSA makes no claims to being an independent state, styling itself as a revolutionary movement instead, and even the DMZ itself is still technically United States territory. The operative word there, however, is 'technically' - outside the relatively tiny USA zone of control in New England there's only a few hints of parts of the country that aren't in a permanent state of asymmetrical warfare.

* BittersweetEnding: Matty has to live with the mistakes he's made [[spoiler: in a federal prison for the rest of his life. He even lets the government pin some of their crimes on him, like killing Viktor. However, the war ends and fifteen years later, Manhattan has been rebuilt.]]

* BrooklynRage: It practically oozes off many characters, including Marty, in spite of the fact that they're in Manhattan.

* DeconstructorFleet
* DefectorFromDecadence: Many of the Central Park Ghosts are former soldiers form one side or the other.

* TheDon: It takes awhile to dawn on Matty that [[spoiler:his elderly neighbor and protector Wilson]] is this. Their relationship starts to change after that happens.

* VoiceOfTheResistance: Matty [[spoiler:begins as one, and when he abandons this role he sets up a replacement in volume 8.]]

* AdaptedOut: The HBO adaptation notably removes the main character from the story.

A [[Series/DMZ2020 TV adaptation]] was produced by Creator/HBOMax as a miniseries starring Creator/RosarioDawson, released on March 17, 2022.

** Kristian Donaldson does not draw Matty with his trademark [[PointlessBandAid nose bandage]]. After she filled in for Burchielli on issue 20, Burchielli apparently did homage to her choice by not drawing it on Matty's face for issue 21. In issue 22, however, it inexplicably returns]].

-->'''Matty Roth''': "I can't be the guy that busted Trustwell, or the guy that broke Stevens' story, or the guy who helped end the war without also being the guy that [[spoiler: sold Parco that nuke, or caused the deaths of those innocent civilians]]. The two go hand in hand."

* AxeCrazy: "Street crazies" who seem to attack anyone they encounter. Even the sane residents of the DMZ kill anyone in their territory that they don't recognize.

A TV adaptation was produced by Creator/HBOMax as a miniseries starring Creator/RosarioDawson, released on March 17, 2022.

A TV adaptation is being produced by HBO Max as a miniseries starring Rosario Dawson.

* BadassMustache: Soames and his subordinate Miller are both skilled combatants with impressive 'statches.

* EvilVsEvil: It's hard not to feel that the conflict between the United States and the Free States is a case of this. The USA is depicted as increasingly authoritarian, brutal, and delusional to the point of [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believing their own propaganda]], and their claims that they can beat back the FSA and reconquer the country any minute now is an unrealistic and sometimes pathetic fantasy. The FSA meanwhile is essentially a RightWingMilitiaFanatic group writ large, complete with a rampage through the country that was implied (and sometimes shown) to be full of RapePillageAndBurn, and every single prominent figure from the FSA who is ever shown is an unrepentant {{jerkass}}.

* KarmaHoudini: Arguably the government; they never have to answer for [[spoiler: killing Viktor, framing Parco for setting off his nuke when they just dropped their own on it, and they lay all the blame on Matty in addition to the things he's actually guilty of. However, they end up negotiating with the Free States instead of decisively defeating them to put things back exactly as they were before the war.]] Matty specifically seeks to ''avert'' this for himself, partly because he doesn't want to avoid the consequences of his actions, and party because accepting amnesty [[spoiler: which would save him from both his own crimes and the ones the government pins on him]] would kill the legitimacy of anything he reports on afterwards.

* AlternateHistory: The WarOnTerror is no less than six conflicts, and the strain on the government's approval by the public is far worse for it.

* TheWarOnTerror: The strain of the USA's [[ForeverWar endless intervention throughout the Third World]] have caused the country to come apart at the seams.

* BadassGrandpa: Wilson, literally - he has many, many grandsons. It's never made clear precisely how old he actually is, but he's clearly no spring chicken. He also [[spoiler:rules Chinatown, and his 'grandsons' are actually his private army, one of the most powerful military forces in the city.]]

* DoomedHometown: One of the soldiers escorting Matty and Victor into the DMZ is from Manhattan, and contemporary views it as this in its current state.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Soames, the protector of Central Park, and [[TheLastDJ Random Fire]] stand out as notable examples, although both get ADayInTheLimelight or two.

* AstroTurf: After a fashion. It's strongly suggested that the Free States spent years, if not longer, gathering a fighting force, planning, and then seizing the opportunity to strike. In particular, the soldier involved in Day 204 talks about young men of fighting age being steered away from the US military at home and towards anonymous militias, and how he was assaulted and berated by one of the militia organizers when he did join the Army regardless, including a line that more or less went "You want to fight? You come see ''us'', soon enough you'd have gotten your fight!"

** Liberty News stands in for any of the other 24-hour news networks.

* PointlessBandAid: Matty sports a bandage over the bridge of his nose for almost the entire story, which spans several years. It inexplicably shows up in issue 3 (though disappears in a few panels), and sticks around for the rest of the series, barring a few issues drawn by [[DependingOnTheArtist another artist.

* ElectionNight: The power of an election is shown when Trustwell's ''massive'' voter intimidation campaign fails to stop Parco Delgado from being elected, and then [[spoiler: it's subverted when it turns out electing Parco was the worst thing the population of the DMZ could've done for themselves; their elected representative pushes the government too far.]]

** Kristian Donaldson does not draw Matty with his trademark [[PointlessBandAid nose bandage]]. After she filled in for Burchielli on issue 20, Burchielli apparently did homage to her choice by not drawing it on Matty's face for issue 21. In issue 22, however, it inexplicably returns.

* DrunkWithPower: [[spoiler:Matty increasingly became this before it seriously bit him in the ass. Parco may well have been there, but it's hard to say exactly, because we have relatively little insight to him.]]