V is for Very Awesome Comic

Har har.

As an Alan Moore fan, I can't believe it took me this long to read this comic, though the real reason to be honest, I held out so long to buy it used. I really didn't know what to expect, as I didn't have a real concept of what the story was before starting. I knew V was the superhero and I knew (or hoping) Moore would reference pop culture as he usually does in his other works. Both expectations were right on target. The stream of consciousness about the comic can be found in an article Moore wrote about the writing/collaborating process of the V that followed in my copy of the comic best sums up the story itself:


"Orwell. Huxley. Thomas Disch. Judge Dredd. Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!"' Said the Ticktockman." "Catman" and "Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World" by the same author. Vincent Prince's Dr. Phibes and Theatre of Blood. David Bowie. The Shadow. Nightraven. Batman. Farenheit 451. The writings of the New Worlds school of science fiction. Max Ernst's painting "Europe After The Rains." Thomas Pynchon. The atmosphere of British Second World War films. The Prisoner. Robin Hood. Dick Turpin..."

Am I familiar with that entire list? Hell no. But it definitely has me intrigued (especially the name David Bowie...). Don't be surprised if any of those items follow in future blog posts.

Another reason why I might love this comic so much brings me to another tangent: it defined what anarchism is. The first year I moved to D.C. I met a wonderful person named Danielle at a wonderful little coffee shop I worked at, where she introduced me to "radical literature". At the time, nonfiction reading for me meant music history, including my subscriptions to Punk Planet. Before then in college, I was in search of something, this something that I couldn't describe at the time. Perhaps it was a truth or some sort of hope that I could believe in/relate to/learn from. In the stack of books Danielle gave me was Living My Life, by Emma Goldman, both volumes. Now, being a fan of punk/hardcore/whatever-you-want-to-call-it music, the thought of anarchism was a fashion, a statement. And here, here! Ms. Goldman was able to introduce me to what anarchism meant to her and I was fascinated. That was my first taste of anarchism and opened a whole new interest in wanting to truly understand what that stigmatized term meant. Since then, I read countless books, pamphlets, articles about anarchism and years later, in V For Vendetta, I come across the clearest definition that basically sums it all up.

"Anarchy means 'without leaders'; not 'without order'"

Duh.