DMZ #64

Part three of the "Free States Rising" arc pushes Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli's gritty Vertigo series deeper into the chaos of a city at war. John Paul Leon's cover captures the tension perfectly — a heavily armed, helmeted soldier advances with rifle raised alongside a military vehicle, while civilian figures crouch and scramble in the embattled urban background. It's a striking 2011 snapshot of DMZ's war-torn Manhattan at a pressure point, rendered in Leon's distinctive, muted palette that makes the violence feel uncomfortably grounded.