A great graphic novel, but I discovered that graphic novels make me seasick. A bit more comprehensive than the film. ( )

A great graphic novel, but I discovered that graphic novels make me seasick. A bit more comprehensive than the film. ( )

A great graphic novel, but I discovered that graphic novels make me seasick. A bit more comprehensive than the film. ( )

In the post-apocalyptic "future" of the late 1990s, Britain is under totalitarian rule, but a mysterious man known only as V is about to change all that.

This is pretty much right up my alley storywise. The art...well, it was bearable to get the story. I would have much preferred it as a novel, though, because the art definitely didn't add anything to me. I'm not a fan of most western comic styles and this seemed worse than most in that it was so dark and everyone's faces were half in shadows all the time, so I had real trouble distinguishing characters (especially since aside from V and Evey, they were pretty much all Generic White Guy With Short Hair). But as with many less-than-stellarly-drawn manga, it's well worth it for the story.

I kind of feel frazzled at the moment, so I don't really have much to say beyond that, though there were definitely things that didn't sit well with me, most notably the fact that while it makes sense for the government as set up here, having all the people of color and queers sent away to concentration camps sure makes for a convenient excuse to tell a story about only straight white people (except for that one tragic lesbian whose tragic life and death is nothing more than a tool to cause straight people to change). I wasn't too thrilled with the portrayal of women here, either. ( )

Curiousity was the reason I read this book, because I found myself enjoying the film version. I now find myself in the position of saying I'm glad the book was written because otherwise the film would not have been made. I found the written story far more disjointed, harder to focus on (partially because it was written for the 1980's, not the 2000's political climate), and generally unappealing. It is a classic of its genre, however, and worth at least one read if you are a fan. ( )