V wie Vendetta: Der Kult-Comic zum Film (1982)

Modern day Guy Fawkes meets English Orwellian archetype Batman. This, I believe, is an apt description of V who pursues an anarchist vendetta against the infrastructures of political tyranny and totalitarianism.

Entrancing, masked, Vaudevillian and possessing a trademark sense of humor V never reveals his true self either mentally or physically rendering him more enigma than militant. Who is V? We experience him through the eyes of Evey Hammond, a timid government employee forced to confront her own delusions as she realizes the neo-fascist panorama under which she serves. We never really discover who V is even when he falls in battle. The unknown soldier. The silent warrior letting his valor speak after him through centuries beyond.

From a more tangible grounding, V is a symbolic place holder; a personification of anarchy and revolution in the face of tyranny. He is Camusian in the sense that rebellion, the very act of resistance, defines his being. He is revolutionary. Getting down and dirty; warring on the front lines while buttressing newfound recruits with the creed of chaos for it is out of total chaos that total order emerges and when that order atrophies chaos rears its head again.

The concepts presented in this singular graphic powerhouse are of epic proportions. There is a reason why V For Vendetta is the anarchist's newfound bible in a picturesque sense. Its relevancy is deeply rooted in the fact that materialism and pleasure have become the opiate of the masses today. Rarely are governments subject to soul searching or uprooting by conscientious individuals. The conscientious ones are lost in a haze of hedonism. V is the antithesis of this. Put profoundly, he is everything which we are not. ( )

“People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” ~Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

I loved every minute of this graphic novel. I would love to find and read more graphic novels like this. ( )

Fantastic story and characters... the artwork has not aged well. Too dark and difficult to distinguish characters and the storyboarding was often hard to follow. ( )

I always expect to be blown away when something has the sort of following this has but the second half seemed convoluted and uninteresting. I can see how this would have resonated in Thatcher’s Britain though. ( )

I'd seen the movie and I've been curious about the book for a long time. This Fourth of July (how appropriate and ironic), I finally got Kate to trust me with her copy.

This is actually one case in which I'm glad I watched the movie first, because it allowed me to be swept up in a dark, complex world that I did not expect to find. The good characters--other than V himself--had very dark corners and complex motivations, and the bad characters weren't as powerful as they seemed (not that they were sympathetic, but they weren't simple). The story didn't end with the downfall of the tyrant, and the people weren't immediately free and happy. Perhaps it's just a result of having seen revolutions sweep the MENA region a few years ago, but I far preferred seeing the realistic riots break out and having V distinguish "chaos" from "anarchy" before the people began to settle down and figure out which way to go.

Best of all, Evey really grew, and we got to see her come into her own at the end of the story. She didn't have the passive role she did in the movie (Really, they cast Natalie Portman and then stripped down the character's growth? What's the point?) and I didn't get as much of a Phantom of the Opera tragic love story vibe, thank goodness. I also appreciated how young Evey was, and I wish that had stayed in the movie too. I think it's something often overlooked, that politics affects everyone, not just the pitiful little children or beaten-down old-for-their-age adults that "freer" countries so love to photograph. Here is someone who remembers the past, who lived through the change, who is growing and learning about this world, and who is going to share the responsibility of shaping the future.

The only thing that I did prefer in the movie (though I haven't seen it in years) was Stephen Fry's character. I kept waiting for the one person hiding in plain sight, the one person to represent those who'd been disappeared, the one person who tried to stand up with their own face, and I was disappointed. But thinking about that now, it fits. The lack breaks from conventional storytelling and hints at how far the government has infiltrated society (no one "different" managed to hide). And the fact that the little girl who graffitied did so without fear, without a mask, without a message, and without idolizing the single male figure who was going to "save" her and her whole world meant so much more in its directness. I'd love that page on my wall.

I'm afraid this review will have to be short, since it's now been almost a week since I finished and I haven't been able to read it twice, as I usually do with graphic novels. Thank you, Kate, for letting me read this! I've been wanting to for a long time, and it definitely didn't disappoint. ( )