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V for Vendetta by Alan Moore was voted to be our group read for April 2018 from open nominations.

V for Vendetta was published as a comic book, of if you prefer, a graphic novel. I started it this morning, but I'm two steps away from the original. I'm hearing an audiobook version of the novelization by Steve Moore. At first I thought it was by Alan Moore who is the author of the comic, but then I saw the name difference and assumed they were brothers or somehow related. According to Wikipedia Alan Moore and Steve Moore were unrelated. They were friends and collaborators. Steve was a cartoonist who taught the craft to Alan.

After I started the audiobook, I downloaded the comic book. On my desktop with a large screen monitor, the page is 11" high and 7" wide. The print is small and difficult to read with my old eyes. I plan to compare and see if anything is lost in the novelization. I hope not because I would like to continue with the audiobook.

The novel is different from the comic book in the way that a movie can be different from the book.

Buck wrote: "The novel is different from the comic book in the way that a movie can be different from the book."

So It turns out that what I'm hearing is "A novelization by Steve Moore based on the screenplay written by the Wachowsky Brothers." Oh, well. The Guy Fawkes mask looks the same.

Apparently Alan Moore didn’t want anything to do with the Wachowsky brothers screenplay. They changed it enough so that his viewpoint was lost. Hence the differences.

Whoever manufactures the Guy Fawkes masks must have made a fortune since the film came out as every protester/demonstrator now wears them.

I finished it. Now I'm curious about the comic book. How different is it from the movie? From the novel?

It is different from most dystopian novels in that (view spoiler)[the protagonist, V, is never in doubt about the final outcome. And it is not a fight of freedom vs oppression; it is revenge, perhaps in the guise of good vs evil. V is no saint. (hide spoiler)]

I read the graphic novel. It took me a while to get used to the style of artwork, because I read a lot of manga and that style of artwork is usually incredibly clear and highly detailed, while the artwork for V reminds me of old Sunday newspaper color comics.

Once I got past the artwork, I liked the story a lot. It reminded me a lot of Orwell's 1984 in places. In light of recent (last 2-3 years) political events in the US, it did give me quite a chill when I read a sentence from The Voice of Fate's broadcast that said "seize the initiative and make Britain great again." (top right panel of page 10). That sentiment never seems to bode well... Anyway, I don't want to open a political debate, so I will just finish by saying that this is a chilling portrayal of life in an authoritarian regime, and I really hope that I never experience this during my lifetime.