(no subject)
To be honest, I was a little late purchasing the book, V For Vendetta. Thankfully, Showcase Comics on South Street ordered a heavy stack for this Friday's release, and I yanked the last one off the shelf that afternoon. I read the whole thing in one day.
I was really intrigued by the literary and colorful development. I had heard a few disenfranchised readers, insulted by the strange comic style, but I think it gives a certain kind of dark and moody noir classicism to it that's unmatched by most graphic novels, save for Batman's Hush, The Goon, and... oh, hell, noir has always been in comics. V For Vendetta just uses its shadows well, particularly when the shadows seem to creep out of the characters themselves.
V had a certain kind of control over the city, and his plans for it, with a genuine omnipotent future-telling. I was distinctly reminded of the character Jigsaw, from the acclaimed gorefest Saw; Saw and V share a certain kind of unmatched foresight for the malicious (though hardly similar) acts they enlist upon their subjects. Not to lump V together with a deranged killer, but their intellects and ability to blueprint the fate of lives (in V's case, an entire city!), not to mention the watchful eye that falls upon their subjects, is fascinating, breathtakingly complex.. and a little unnerving.
You could even say the power V had over the city was so precise that it nearly feels staged, as if he's rehearsed it a thousand times. In all likelihood, this could be the case, and it's reflected in his attitude, and reverence for theatrics. The book plays like the modern-day fall of Rome; the leaders squirming under the guillotine, leaving behind a society lucid with unrest. Shakespeare would be drowning in his tears of joy.
The novel never gives in to our expectations, particularly at that pivotal moment; that one oppurtunity Evey has to find out who V truly is. The curiousity instilled in the readers is so pent up, but at that point in the book, we have a shared reverence for V's privacy, and welcome the suspense of never truly knowing, which is satisfying in its own right.
A true classic of society gone mad, in the footsteps of Fahrenheit 451.
Certainly a re-read. I think I'll start now.
I was really intrigued by the literary and colorful development. I had heard a few disenfranchised readers, insulted by the strange comic style, but I think it gives a certain kind of dark and moody noir classicism to it that's unmatched by most graphic novels, save for Batman's Hush, The Goon, and... oh, hell, noir has always been in comics. V For Vendetta just uses its shadows well, particularly when the shadows seem to creep out of the characters themselves.
V had a certain kind of control over the city, and his plans for it, with a genuine omnipotent future-telling. I was distinctly reminded of the character Jigsaw, from the acclaimed gorefest Saw; Saw and V share a certain kind of unmatched foresight for the malicious (though hardly similar) acts they enlist upon their subjects. Not to lump V together with a deranged killer, but their intellects and ability to blueprint the fate of lives (in V's case, an entire city!), not to mention the watchful eye that falls upon their subjects, is fascinating, breathtakingly complex.. and a little unnerving.
You could even say the power V had over the city was so precise that it nearly feels staged, as if he's rehearsed it a thousand times. In all likelihood, this could be the case, and it's reflected in his attitude, and reverence for theatrics. The book plays like the modern-day fall of Rome; the leaders squirming under the guillotine, leaving behind a society lucid with unrest. Shakespeare would be drowning in his tears of joy.
The novel never gives in to our expectations, particularly at that pivotal moment; that one oppurtunity Evey has to find out who V truly is. The curiousity instilled in the readers is so pent up, but at that point in the book, we have a shared reverence for V's privacy, and welcome the suspense of never truly knowing, which is satisfying in its own right.
A true classic of society gone mad, in the footsteps of Fahrenheit 451.
Certainly a re-read. I think I'll start now.