Review - V for Vendetta

Title: V for Vendetta
Author: Alan Moore & David Lloyd

As a comic enthusiast, I watch comic-themed movies, whether I've ever read the comic or not. So, of course, I have seen V for Vendetta, the movie. I am so impressed by the movie, I've wanted to read the graphic novel for over four years now. Sherry bought it for me for Christmas, so I've just had the opportunity.

I loved it.

For the record, here's the obligatory "review into:"

In the near future, London is under the control of a strict government, and the people of Great Britain are hiding their feelings of fear and deprivation, yet they are apparently better off than the rest of the world, which has experienced a nuclear war.

Into this despair, a mysterious figure in a cloak, hat and Guy Fawkes mask appears, with a bang. After saving a young woman from the hands of the cruel undercover government men, he blows up a national treasure, and the hunt for "Codename V" begins.

So far, this sounds just like the movie. But it's not. The details are different, and those details follow a theme that is just as dramatic as the theme of the film, but much more literary, much more cerebral.

I know that some people will simply discount this work because it looks like a comic book, and comic books aren't literary. Well, there's nothing I can do about that, but I will tell them that they are missing something. As a clear example of the old saying that "one picture is worth a thousand words," David Lloyd's illustrations tell a full half of the story. In fact, one of the great aspects of reading this collected version of the graphic novel, Alan Moore's article about the creative process makes clear how essential the art is.

They undertook the daunting task of telling the story entirely without thought balloons and descriptive boxes. While there is one supporting character who is allowed a minor breaking of the "no thought balloon" rule, the primary action with the primary characters either is dialog, lyrics (in ways that fit the story and characters) or in the frames of Lloyd's art. There is frame after frame of striking visuals, and many of them are entirely without words, but they advance the story and fill in characters.

V for Vendetta is not a typical comic. It, like a novel, tells one story from beginning to end. It's characters grow, and they drive the plot. And like any good speculative fiction, it is believable and makes you think.

Well worth the time to read, and I will come back to it again.