DMZ is an American comic book series set in a near future war-torn New York City that ran for 72 issues from 2005 to 2012. Characters in the story are, for the most part, subjects of either the United States federal government and its corporate affiliates, the rival Free States of America, or natives of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Manhattan island.
Factions
Free States of America Originally a largely disorganized movement of right wing and anti-federal militias, the FSA has come to seize control of large areas of territory from the U.S. government. The FSA arose out of anger and disillusion following the U.S. government's continual engagement in foreign wars. Before the U.S. had the chance to respond militarily to the threat inside its own borders the FSA had amassed enough support and materials to fight the returning and exhausted U.S. military at Allentown, Pennsylvania to a stand still.
The FSA is revealed to be fighting an asymmetric war employing conventional tactics as well as unconventional ones. The FSA has used money, intimidation and violence to compel state and local government officials to align with their cause. FSA influence is extensive and not fully known, for example a FSA commander which Matty Roth met with claimed that the governing authorities of the neutral city of Chicago to actually be FSA affiliated, capable of flipping at any time and initiating a new front in the war.
Perceived and portrayed as an army of rednecks and backwoods hicks (a label the FSA doesn't seem to mind at times) the FSA is a sophisticated and dangerous force even claiming to have large conventional forces poised to take the DMZ and end the war. The FSA operates on the western side of the Lincoln Tunnel launching its own operations into the DMZ. The flag of the FSA consists of a five-pointed star (like those on the U.S. flag), with a diagonal line splitting the star in half, symbolizing the breakup of the United States of America (it resembles the Bonnie Blue Flag during the First American Civil War by another secessionist regime, the Confederate States).
The penultimate volume of the series, Free States Rising, included several flashbacks which provided more information on how the FSA began, combined with other scattered references in earlier issues. The U.S. had become entangled in numerous and increasingly expensive anti-terrorism campaigns around the globe, decried as "foreign adventurism", until ultimately three quarters of a million U.S. soldiers were deployed fighting on six fronts around the globe (the most recent being the Horn of Africa). These interventions were alternatively described as "three different wars on as many continents". This strained the domestic economy and infrastructure to the point of near-collapse, with domestic spending co-opted to fund these overseas "police actions". Due to massive budget cuts, municipal authorities were forced to abandon entire neighborhoods, with basic utilities, public transit, and 911 services shut down. This reduced vast swaths of major cities to ghost towns, including Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Portland, Boston, Miami, and most recently, Richmond. Despite this dire situation, the federal government passes the largest war spending bill in history, devoted entirely to funding the ever-expanding overseas wars. This led to the accusation from much of the country that the military-industrial complex had abandoned the United States's own citizens: even as large portions of major cities were being abandoned due to lack of public utilities, major corporations were actually making record profits from supplying the U.S. military's foreign wars. Protests erupted around a G8 summit held in Phoenix, Arizona, which turned particularly violent. Ultimately, local anti-government militias in Montana started a secessionist movement, which quickly spread to other states - sometimes directly, but frequently other local groups were inspired to spontaneously join in due to the crippling domestic problems and anti-government anger across the country. As explained later in the series, the FSA was not so much a rival nation as an ideology, and had no clear hierarchical leadership. Eventually the anti-government militias coalesced and began to spread eastwards. The same massive budget cuts that the militias were protesting against had also gutted domestic police forces, so they encountered very little opposition. Even National Guard bases were practically undefended due to budget cuts, and considered "ripe for the picking" as the militias began to pick their armories clean of heavy military hardware. The split-star flag of the movement began appearing across the country, and the disparate anti-government forces began calling themselves "the Free States of America". Many bitter and underfunded National Guard units actually began to defect to the FSA rather than fight them, giving a boost to the skill and training level of their forces. The U.S. military was stretched so thinly due to foreign interventions that when what regular forces could be assembled finally faced the FSA militia units in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the FSA actually managed to defeat them. Even the FSA forces were surprised at their own rapid advance. At this point the federal government yanked back all military forces from foreign fronts and redeployed them on U.S. soil to stem the tide of the insurrection. For a time this worked, and the U.S. seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but then on Day 204 U.S. soldiers accidentally gunned down a crowd of unarmed protesters in Manhattan. This caused the U.S. to lose its momentum, and each side settled into a stalemate which lasted for a decade.
Not much is revealed about the state of affairs in the rest of America, but in general, the U.S. government only maintains firm control over New England and Long Island, while everything westward is a warzone of sectarian violence between U.S. and FSA forces. The FSA firmly controls New Jersey and Staten Island, from which it launches its continued pushes to take Manhattan - as the nation's largest city, both sides see controlling New York as a symbol of control over the entire country. Many cities have also apparently declared their official neutrality: it is mentioned that Chicago is officially neutral, though it privately has leanings towards the FSA.
Later in the series the FSA commander and some of his troops assist the newly formed Delgado nation in acquiring a nuclear weapon, in order to put more pressure on the U.S. government (it is later revealed by the FSA commander that the FSA were the true backers behind the formation of Delgado Nation). The strategy eventually ends up working against the FSA though as the U.S. simply uses the event as a pretext to finally go on the offensive into the DMZ. During the offensive the FSA commander is captured (and subsequently executed) while the main conventional army of the FSA is defeated on Manhattan. With one of its leaders dead and the bulk of its army defeated, the FSA movement is finally all but crushed after a decade of civil war. The war officially ends with the U.S. and the FSA signing an armistice.
United States The officially-recognized U.S. government has largely lost control or is contending over much of the territory of the United States. From the comic it appears one of the few places the U.S. has complete control is Long Island, where it launches its many offensives into the DMZ. Pushed to the brink by the war, the U.S. possesses a technologically sophisticated and extensive military force capable of meting out serious destruction both against its enemies and the civilians caught in the cross fire. The U.S. has demonstrated that it faces issues of deep corruption and will do anything (or kill anyone) in its efforts to end the war and secure the DMZ. What remains of the United States as a faction is dominated by the military-industrial complex: even five years into the stalemated war with no end in sight, the U.S. government cynically makes open announcements in the press that it is promising massive graft contracts to Trustwell, Inc. and other large corporations for the future reconstruction of New York City.
One of the few remaining advantages the U.S. has is that it still maintains total air superiority against the FSA, which does not have its own rival air force. The FSA, however, simply uses asymmetric warfare tactics in response, drastically decreasing the value of air power geared towards fighting a conventional war.
After the rise of Delgado Nation in the DMZ, and their subsequent acquirement of a nuclear warhead, the United States military detonates a nuclear device of their own in order to frame the newly formed nation and thus give the U.S. a legitimate reason to move into Manhattan and end the war. After a sustained shock and awe bombing campaign on the DMZ the U.S. military finally moves in, fighting their way through both DMZ militias and FSA troops. The U.S. eventually gains control of Manhattan and through both Matty's efforts and the interrogation of the FSA Commander, Parco Delgado is captured. While the U.S. gains the upper hand in the conflict, Matty discovers the cover-up used to justify the U.S. offensive and uses evidence of it to blackmail the U.S. government into pardoning the life of Parco Delgado in exchange for Matty's own silence on his knowledge of the nuclear detonation (a deal in which Matty directly negotiates with the U.S. President himself). With the truth of the cover-up sealed, the United States is finally able to both secure the DMZ and defeat the FSA Army, thus finally ending the Second American Civil War. The war officially concludes with the signing of an armistice between the U.S. and the FSA.
Trustwell Inc. Trustwell Inc. is a private military contractor that operates throughout the DMZ under contract from the U.S. government. Ruthless and amoral, Trustwell has been shown to kill civilians, fund terrorism, torture and manipulate events to ensure that its role (and profits) in the DMZ only expands.
Following Parco Delgado's election, Trustwell has withdrawn much of its official presence but hundreds of its agents remain within the DMZ, stranded and desperate. When the war concludes, Trustwell ensures that they can continue their involvement in the DMZ through a rebranded construction company.
DMZ militias Largely formed out of the need for DMZ residents to defend their neighborhoods, the militias protect certain areas while fighting with one another for territory. When the initial FSA offensive reached Manhattan there was a mass evacuation of the island, but in many ways it was botched and several hundred thousand residents remain trapped in the city. After five full years of the island being reduced to a "demilitarized zone" - a major front in the war with sporadic flareups - these local militias have carved out their own enclaves in different parts of what used to be a thriving metropolis. Some are loyal to the FSA, others to the US, and there is an ongoing proxy conflict between them. Many militias, however, are loyal to no side but their own, feeling abandoned by the outside world - equally blaming the FSA for starting the war, and the U.S. government for the massive corruption that led to the FSA's creation in the first place, and their continued lack of concern for their well-being.
Militias are always hostile to incursions from the U.S. or FSA military and will attack anything or any person they deem a threat.
Wilson's Triads