
Published by DC Comics on March 1982
Genres: Adult, Dystopia, Science Fiction
Pages: 296
Format: Paperback
Source: Gifted




A powerful story about loss of freedom and individuality, V for Vendetta takes place in a totalitarian England following a devastating war that changed the face of the planet. In a world without political freedom, personal freedom and precious little faith in anything comes a mysterious man in a white porcelain mask who fights political oppressors through terrorism and seemingly absurd acts. It's a gripping tale of the blurred lines between ideological good and evil.

I think most people are familiar with the story of V for Vendetta. I, like many others, have watched the movie, and I really really liked it. So when Gaby insisted on buying this for me as a late birthday gift, I was super excited. It’s one of those books that I’ve been meaning to read for a while — and I really wanted to start reading more graphic novels.
Sadly, it didn’t go that well. The story is split up into three “books”. I really liked Book 1. It established the society that I was familiar with through the movie, and the art was gritty and really enthralling. Book 2 was all right but… odd. It took a weird storytelling method, telling it as if it were a cabaret or something… I was a bit puzzled, but I still liked how society was beginning to crumble and seeing more of V’s plotting and Evie’s transition.
But Book 3 was an absolute struggle to get through. I am not a dialect person, and Ally’s dialect almost made me throw the book across the room and give up. Because sentences like…
A wull, sleng the lettle goabshite en the waag’n wi’ the rest. Can y’no see am on ma lunchbreak?
A, et’s a doddle, all a thus money fur damagin’ some puir bastud an tachin ap thur messusez en the strep-serrch.
Yuz coapers ‘iz clever bastuds, keepen thess number tae yourseln.
Nah, et’s juss thess berrd. Lessen, a foond some mair o’they letters, y’better have ’em tae luke at.They really get in the way of the overall experience of the book. Look, I get it, some people have dialects. But can’t you simplify it so that we know they’re speaking a dialect, but it doesn’t take full minutes to understand one sentence? It was absolute painful torture.
For the rest… I don’t know. The art was okay, but a bit too dark at points to know what was going on. The dialogue bubbles were sometimes very oddly placed that made it difficult to see who was talking. There were a lot of dense monologues on V’s part that were tough to get through and understand, which made the overall message difficult to grasp. Book 3 in particular suddenly placed a bunch of characters in the foreground, but I hadn’t been paying attention to them before so I had NO clue who they were or where they worked or anything – which apparently I should have. I dunno. It was all pretty anti-climactic, and toward the end I just wasn’t that into it anymore.
I also liked the movie since well, I am a die hard fan of Natalie Portman. However, I never considered buying this one since I really don’t like reading graphic novels. What a shame that Book 3 wasn’t able to maintain Book 1’s awesomeness. I really hate it when things prequels are followed by sequels that are lackluster.
But wow, I am glad to know that you are still willing to re-read this one. Good luck, Debby. I hope your second reading will be a success. 😀
Have you watched the movie? I like the movie more than the book.