59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
One of Alan Moore's more provocative graphic novels
It is perhaps simplistic to declare that "V for Vendetta" is Alan Moore's version of George Orwell's "1984." Orwell came up with his "prophetic" title by reversing the last two digits of the year in which he wrote his book. Moore began his story in 1982, picturing a future that was around the corner and setting his tale in then late 1990s in a Britain that had become a...
8 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Great value for money, but overall a bit dull and predictable.
This comic is about a guy who dresses up like guy fawkes and does anarchic things in a rigid, dystopian society, and that's about it. I was pretty disspointed with this. It doesn't come close to the complexity and depth of the Watchmen, doesn't add anything to what you may have read in 1984, and doesn't have the driving momentum of The Dark knight returns...
It is perhaps simplistic to declare that "V for Vendetta" is Alan Moore's version of George Orwell's "1984." Orwell came up with his "prophetic" title by reversing the last two digits of the year in which he wrote his book. Moore began his story in 1982, picturing a future that was around the corner and setting his tale in then late 1990s in a Britain that had become a fascist state. Moore worked from the assumption that in 1983 the Conservatives would lose the elections and that the Labour Party would remove American missiles from the British Isles, which meant that England would no longer be a target during a nuclear war. In the post-holocaust Britain of the 1990s, Moore posited a Fascist takeover. The title character of V is a one time victim of a concentration camp medical experiment who is now an enigmatic hero wearing a grinning Guy Fawkes mask; Fawkes was one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot that was an attempt to assassinate King James I of England. In the opening chapter V sets his sights on The Voice of Fate, the official voice of the government's propagandistic lies. From that small but significant initial victory, the battle continues.
There is something decidedly "English" about "V for Vendetta," and not simply because of the setting. Moore can talk about Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" and "Fahrenheit 451" being among the elements he drew upon to create his own brave new world, but it is clear that he owes more to Orwell and Huxley, to Robin Hood and "The Prisoner," than American manifestations of the same impulse to freedom. V is not a superhero, even if the medical experiments have somehow made him more than human. Sometimes we forget that a lot of our heritage, both culturally as well as politically, comes from England, and on one level this work reminds us of our English roots.
It is ironic that Moore tells his story as a graphic novel because traditionally your comic book superhero is essentially a fascist vigilante. However, Moore succeeds in finding the perfect context to turn the traditional approach on its head. Most people have no conception of what is meant by the term "Fascism." They equate the idea with Hitler, although it was coined by Mussolini, and Hitler means Nazis, Anti-Semitism and Concentration Camps. Of course, Moore knows better. Fascism is based on the "struggle" for "order" wherein the ends justify all sorts of means. This dynamic clearly runs counter to the democratic ideals of "liberty" and "property." Historically, then, we are confronted with the monumental irony that although the Fascists lost World War II, the Cold War was on one level the triumph of Fascism, a period where we allowed all sorts of travesties, from the McCarthy witch hunts to Nixon's executive orders in the name of "national security." Moore brings the idea of fascism home. If you cannot recognize it in England's green and pleasant fields then you are never going to recognize it when it walks down Main Street in your hometown, U.S.A. Don't you think you should?
David Lloyd is the artist for the "V for Vendetta" series, although Tony Weare did the art for "Vincent" and some additional art on "Valerie" and "The Vacation." Notice the pattern? All of the chapter headings in each issue begin or at least include the letter "V." Lloyd's peculiar style is particularly well suited to this particular storyline. It is odd and a bit off, just like the world it is depicting. Lloyd, Siobhan Dodds and Steve Whitaker did the coloring, and I give them special mention because there is a carefully constructed style that also fits the mood and tenor of the tale.
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V for Vendetta is not a graphic novel, comic book or piece of literature. It is an experience. At the heart of the story is the chapter entitled 'Valerie'. I challenge anyone to read this chapter and not cry their eyes out and yet at the same time be uplifted. And that is V for Vendetta in a nutshell. It will break your heart and twist you up inside and yet leave you feeling strangely happy through your tears. And how many works in any media, comics, novels, films or tv, can you say that about? V's insane, Evey's hopelessly lost and the whole Valerie thing might all be part of his deranged imagination. And yet it is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
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Collected from the cult early eighties British comic, 'Warrior', Moore and Lloyd's chilling V for Vendetta portrays a chilling alternate Britain which has sucumbed to fascism after a nuclear altercation has destroyed most of the world. In a bleak and violent society, only the strangely Jacobean vigilante 'V' seems to act as a force for good.
As with Orwell's 1984, Moore and Lloyd's 1982 vision of Britain in '1997' is no less potent now that the year itself has been and gone. Darkly brilliant stuff. Lloyd's art has never been better and after this, The Watchmen and 2000AD's greatest ever story, The Ballad of Halo Jones, can there be any doubt that Alan Moore is the greatest writer in British comics today?
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To understand 'V For Vendetta', you have to understand the times in which it was written. Britain of the 1980s was wracked by recession and with discontent against the Conservative government. Hanging over this was the ever-present Cold War mentality.
The premise of this book is that the Conservative government are voted out (as Moore expected at the time, but which didn't come to pass) and the new Labour government insists on nuclear disarmament. So it is that when the Cold War becomes World War 3, Britain is uninvolved, but not unaffected.
As nuclear fallout affects the weather and radiation causes widespread death a fascist regime rises to offer England stability and order. The price for this is the internment and execution of blacks, homosexuals, liberals and all those who don't conform to the fascist ideals. The future Moore paints is a bleak and painfully believable one.
However, one man decides to destroy this new order so that freedom can be rebuilt from the rubble. The man is known only as V. When it comes down to it, V is the greatest element of this book. He's cultured, witty, mysterious, charismatic and ruthless. Also, David Lloyd's design of the character as a man dressed in a smiling mask and Guy Fawkes costume is inspired. My favourite bit of the book is when V sneaks into the home of a child-abusing bishop and confronts the corrupt clergyman with a Rolling Stones quote; 'Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste'.
There are numerous other characters integral to the story; the widow Rose, forced to become a stripper; the Leader, an insane fascist in love with Fate, the computer which effectively controls England; as well as the various heads of the Party. However, there are two characters who reveal about V what he never reveals himself.
The first is Mr. Finch, a police officer tasked with hunting down V, who undertakes a personal quest to understand V's mind (which includes an LSD trip in a death camp).
The other character is Evey. At the beginning she is a helpless girl who turns to prostitution to make ends meet. However, after meeting V she begins an education at his hands in the meaning of freedom which breaks her and then remakes her.
At it's most basic level this book is about freedom, both personal freedom and freedom as an abstract concept. Dark, disturbing and thought-provoking, this book still manages to be exciting and uplifting. Certainly one of the best pieces of literature (not just comic-form) that I've ever read.
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One of the latest gritty, dark graphic novels to be adapted to film was "V for Vendetta," based on Alan Moore's futuristic comic of the same name. But as usual, the source is the most compelling.
First published in the early 1980s, Moore painted a frightening future where there is only one man who can challenge the fascist system. Is he an anarchic madman, or a freedom-loving visionary? Readers will have to decide for themselves, but the story is a fascinating action story that raises quite a few questions.
The year is 1998 (okay, pretend it's an alternate reality), and Britain is ruled by a fascist regime, and dominated by a shadowy figure. Order is the law. Blacks, gays, Muslims and Jews are relegated to concentration camps, where they are tortured with medical experiments and evil priests. The one exception is a horribly scarred man, who blew his way out with a homemade bomb. He donned a Guy Fawkes mask, and calls himself V, for he "has no name."
One night he rescues a young prostitute, Evey, from a bunch of thuggish policemen, whisks her down into his hidden base, and involves her in a trap-and-murder plot. Evey is both repulsed and fascinated by V's plots, especially when she is interrogated. And when an order-obsessed policeman closes in on V, both he and Evey must accept their fates.
"V For Vendetta" is a thinking-reader's comic. Fascism and anarchy -- both concepts that Moore clearly understands -- are timeless concepts that pop up periodically throughout human history. So even though 1998 came and went long ago, "V For Vendetta" is an intelligent, deeply compelling story that still resonates in its readers.
Moore's London is a rather dank, dismal place, apparently reflecting the government. He knows how to chill his readers with a diversity-free England that seems a lot like Nazi Germany. Even nonessential scenes like Evey's interrogation are absolutely harrowing. But he can also tug at the heartstrings, such as when Evey reads Valerie's letters.
And Dave Lloyd's artwork is rather flat and a bit faded-looking, though this is not very distracting. But despite the ordinary art, the novel is brought to life by the solid characters and surreal illustrations, with V as the most surreal of all -- just look at that creepy smiling mask.
At first glance, V is a vigilante hero in the tradition of Zorro -- the government is oppressive, and he's trying to take it down. But V is not a plaster hero, and his actions can be very morally ambiguous. Is he a hero or a madman? Did those experiments make him psychotic, or did they just give him courage? Moore leaves it up to our imaginations what he is. By the end, V has become less a person than an ideal.
"V For Vendetta" is a memorable, somewhat frightening graphic novel, which will leave you thinking about what you might do in such a world. A deserving classic.
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I expected a lot of this Graphic Novel, but it was even better. This one really blew me of my socks. What we get to see is an alternative timeline in which Germany actually won World War II and where England has turned into a fascist state. People live very cautious and affraid because everything they say or do is being monitored, and they've been overly restricted by their own government. Then oneday a mystic figure appears and he rocks the city. He murders people of importance, he blows up government buildings, and nobody knows a single thing of who he is or why he does the things he does, except that he's codenamed himself V. Meanwhile V takes a little girl under his wing who he teaches things about his history, about herself and about what is happening. But over time the government is getting closer too. Along the story more and more is explained about who V is, about what moves V, about the real consequences the war has cost and about the value of a free will. All this is illustrated very appropriatly by David Lloyd in a bit of a cinematic style. This makes the flow of the story even better. For me personally this is the best Alan Moore Graphic Novel I've read so far and I would easily recommend it to everyone who is looking for something more than superheroes. Even when you're normally not that much into comicbooks this could very possibly still be one heck of a ride for you ...
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I tend to listen to friends advice very often, and I also happen to like being generous when I by them Christmas presents. So a friend of mine talked alot about how much he wanted to read From Hell by Moore. So I bought it as a Christmas present for him, mostly because I wanted to read it myself. And we both liked it. Later, I owed the same guy some money, and after listening to him muttering that V for Vendetta might just be even more brilliant, I bought it to him too. And it was awesome. I have always been a little scared of superhero books, and I never really liked Batman or Punisher very much. But this was beyond great. The hero is so extremely complex and sophisticated, that any comparison to the more famous superheroes is impossible. And the setting is really one of the best grim futures I've encountered in any literature or movie.
Set in London in some future, the world has been torn apart by some great war, and several continents are wiped out. England has prevailed. And now she is being controlled by a totalitarean (is that a word) and facsist government, who seem to put her future in the hands of the all knowing computer Fate. Anyone who strays from the ideals and looks the government want, are arrested and taken to camps. In this future, music, art and literature is forbidden, unless it is approved by the government, and not much is. In the middle of this we follow Eve, a young girl lost in the city and drawn to prostitution to survive, and her mysterious captor/savior V, a terrorist and visionary, who tries to turn England back to what it were before the war.
If you like Neil Gaiman or Garth Ennis, you'll love V for Vendetta, also if you like any story about dark futures, like George Orwell's 1984 (well that's more a dark past). Now I really look forward to buying "The Watchmen" and "Swamp Thing". Guess my friend is too.
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V for Vendetta takes as its premise a nuclear war in the mid-1990's which leaves Britain cut off and vulnerable to the rise of a Fascist government. I was watching quite carefully and this didn't happen. So why should you read this historically obsolescent graphic novel? There are three reasons: - Just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it won't happen. Not the nuclear war necessarily but the rise of a dictatorial regime in Western countries in response to an external threat. Sound familiar? - "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them." Although set in a near-future (when written) this story is as much about our past and near-present: the Nazi Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge Year Zero, the Bosnian conflict, Rwanda... do you really think the list is now closed? - The writing, the writing and the writing. Moore has freely admitted that he got a bit carried away with some of the more paranoiac elements but this remains beautifully written with characters you care about - the helpless girl Evey, the dictator Adam Susan and most of all the enigmatic V himself. I first encountered V on its original appearance in the short-lived Warrior magazine as a monthly serial. It was, and remains, the best graphic novel I've ever read.
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Alan Moore and David Lloyd's aesthetic seems almost Brechtian. With a sci-fi motif it distances the reader from the universal political issues being addressed; amusingly, V for Vendetta could be said to use Brecht's V-effekt. There is a strong dialectic that runs throughout, a sense of determinism layered symbolism. All V's Larkhill targets personify aspects of the state. Science is embodied by Delia Surridge, military and media by Lewis Prothero and religion by Anthony Lilliman. Each takes an attitude of opposition; so Lilliman is the unrepentant leader of an institution of salvation, whilst Surridge seeks repentance from the opposed standpoint of a scientist. Prothero, by representing the military become media, is in himself a synthesis between the power of rhetoric and that of violence, which ultimately spawns a new antithesis resulting in V - anarchy personified.
The secret police are represented by Peter Creedy and the figurehead by Adam Susan; Creedy seeks power as an end in itself, whilst Susan is a deranged idealist who believes in his superiority to the extent that he becomes solipsistic, disconnected from humanity and infatuated with the super computer `fate'. With all of this madness Moore knows how to offer grounding and realism; investigator Eric Finch and orphan Evey Hammond take on the roles of the everyman and everywoman respectively. They offer the audience characters to follow, to empathize with. They are a thread of sanity weaved through this excellent narrative.
Moore's story is also full of intertextual allusion; from Shakespeare to Goethe and from Crowley to Fawkes, this is intelligent writing. The dialogue (replete with convincing phonetic spellings, character ticks and vernacular language) flows beautifully and the absence of thought bubbles or sound bubbles lends this book both a maturity and minimalism. Lloyd is given room by this minimalism to show of his artistic capabilities, which are not at all lacking; this is a gritty, dystopic kind of realism that takes you to the action. Each panel demands your attention.
Overall V for Vendetta is faultless; I love the film as well, but the original is on a different level. This is a comic book that shows you how far the medium can be pushed when it is backed by enough raw creative talent.
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Back to graphic novels after a long absence, I had never read V before, but ordered a copy.
Lets just say I'm not often motivated enough by a book or CD to want to review it on Amazon, but this book does.
Absolutely superb read, complex story with super characters. Really couldn't put this one down.
After reading, immediately watched the movie which has had mixed reviews. In my view not a truly bad film at all, but a far cry from the book with some serious storyline changes. I mention this because if you have seen the film, dont let that cloud your judgement of whether to read the book.
The book is a lot more sinister - due to its age it actually carries a wonderful style - very Orwellian, very Brazil (The film, not the country!).
Please read, its well worth it.
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