V for Vendetta New (New Edition TPB) [Taschenbuch]

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.

You can read the rest of the reviews and find a lot of spoiling detail about the narrative, but the best aspect lies in an attention to the small and overlooked people whose feelings Alan Moore makes very much a part of the entirety. In what I think is the best moment of all, one of the characters imprisoned by the secret police of the English totalitarian state reads and envisions the final thoughts of a dead lesbian, written on toilet paper for some future prisoner to draw hope from. I felt an almost tearful admiration for the sort of bravery and faith in oneself that this prisoner discovers, and a more conscious recognition that Alan Moore is one of the best ever to write for the medium.

It's indisputably good, but it thumps the pulpit of the author's choosing - all government steals self-determination and liberty from its subjects, civilization and barbarism are close neighbors, the masses remain wilfully ignorant of the big picture to focus on television fantasies. It's a deliberately simple portrait of a dystopia, and its questions demand thought from their readers. You might love this as much as I do, but rest assured it won't be because of simplicity or polite avoidance of libertarian doctrine.