Graphic Novel Review - "V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, with bonus movie talk!

I've been not great about keeping up with my "1 graphic novel a month" resolution" but I knew that one of them would be this one.  Basically because I really liked the movie, opposite world I guess; movie than book for me!

Here's the basics: England is possibly one of the only countries left after a worldwide nuclear war took out several countries around the world. It's not run by an incredibly scary dictatorship that controls and monitors absolutely everything. People who are enemies of the state/party are swept up into concentration camps where predictably terrible things happen. So suddenly anyone who is gay, black, outspoken against the government, threatening in any way to the "peace" that's been accomplished has disappeared. This leaves a lot of orphans, and one of them is Evey, one of our main characters. She decides that she needs to take to prostitution to survive, but on the night she decides to start she runs into a scary situation where she is saved by a masked man.

This masked man takes her to his subterranean lair that is filled with wonderful, illegal things; like art and music and movies. He explains that he is "V" and that the explosion of a nearby government building was him, he's out to fix England and force her people to make a change.

So throughout the story we hear how the government reacts to "V" and his little anarchy fueled mischief, why he is the way he is, and more. I was surprised how closely the movie followed the novel, it hit all the same major points, even if sometimes it took some different paths to get there. There was a lot more side action about wives of high ranking officials in the novel who were cut out of the movie, which I think is fine. They weren't super crucial.I thought it was interesting that parts of the branches of government were named after body parts, like the surveillance team who spies on everyone was "Ears"; which makes sense. And the policemen who almost kill Evey are "finger men".

Movie talk: I love the casting in the movie, especially Hugo Weaving. That's not really fair because I love Hugo Weaving in general so I might be a little biased. Not everything is followed from the novel to a T (but when is it ever?) but I think that it's close enough that a lot of people won't be that angry!

If you are looking for a classic graphic novel to read I highly recommend this one. It's pretty straightforward, the text is clear to read and it's kind of a familiar story. 3.5 out of 5 stars!