V for Vendetta

This article is about the graphic novel. For the film, see V for Vendetta (film). For other uses, see V for Vendetta (disambiguation).

V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta collected edition cover art by David Lloyd
PublisherUnited Kingdom
Quality Communications
United States
Vertigo (DC Comics)
France
Delcourt
Brazil
Abril Jovem
Panini Comics
Creative team
WriterAlan Moore
Artists
LettererSteve Craddock
ColouristSteve Whitaker
Siobhan Dodds
David Lloyd
Editors
Original publication
Issues10
Date of publicationMarch 1982 – May 1989
ISBN0-930289-52-8
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V for Vendetta is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British anthology Warrior, its serialisation was completed in 1988–89 in a ten-issue colour limited series published by DC Comics in the United States. Subsequent collected editions were typically published under DC's specialised imprint, Vertigo, until that label was shut down in 2018. Since then it has been transferred to DC Black Label. The story depicts a dystopian and post-apocalyptic near-future history version of the United Kingdom in the 1990s, preceded by a nuclear war in the 1980s that devastated most of the rest of the world. The Nordic supremacist,[1] neo-fascist,[2][3][4][5] outwardly Christofascistic, and homophobic fictional Norsefire political party has exterminated its opponents in concentration camps, and now rules the country as a police state.

The comics follow the story's title character and protagonist, V, an anarchist revolutionary dressed in a Guy Fawkes mask, as he begins an elaborate and theatrical revolutionist campaign to kill his former captors, bring down the fascist state, and convince the people to abandon fascism in favour of anarchy, while inspiring a young woman, Evey Hammond, to be his protégée.

DC Comics had sold more than 500,000 copies of the graphic novel in the United States by 2006.[6] Warner Bros. released a film adaptation of the same name, written and co-produced by the Wachowskis,[a] in 2005. Following the first and second season premieres of Gotham prequel television series Pennyworth in 2019 and 2020, showrunners Danny Cannon and Bruno Heller confirmed the series would also serve as a prequel to V for Vendetta,[7] with the series' British Civil War eventually giving way to the Norsefire government and rise of V,[8][9][10] and the third season featuring predecessors to V wearing Guy Fawkes masks.[11]

  1. ^ Shantz, Jeff (2015). Specters of Anarchy: Literature and the Anarchist Imagination. Algora Publishing. p. 223. ISBN 978-1628941418. [Norsefire's] goal is to lead the country that I love out of the Twentieth century. I believe in survival. In the destiny of the Nordic race.
  2. ^ Call, Lewis (1 January 2008). "A IS FOR ANARCHY, V IS FOR VENDETTA". Anarchist Studies. 16 (2): 154–172. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. V for Vendetta offers a clever, insightful look at the rise of fascism. The fascist 'Norsefire' party takes advantage of the power vacuum which occurs as the liberal British state collapses in the aftermath of the nuclear war.
  3. ^ Muise, Chris (2011). Quicklet on V for Vendetta By Alan Moore. Hyperink, Inc. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-1614640844. Britain, however, survives under the cold, watchful eye of the Norsefire government, a fascist regime that took control amidst the chaos and confusion after the war.
  4. ^ Madelyn Boudreaux. "An Annotation of Literary, Historic, and Artistic References in Alan Moore's Graphic Novel, V For Vendetta". Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008. ...make Britain great again....This is typically "nationalistic" sentiment.... It was this sentiment, taken to its extremes, that drove Hitler's Nationalist Socialist (Nazi) Workers' Party to try to rid Germany of "non-Germans".
  5. ^ Moore, Alan (1981). V for Vendetta, Book One: Europe After the Reign. Vertigo (DC Comics). pp. 37–39. ISBN 0-930289-52-8. My name is Adam Susan. I am the leader. Leader of the lost, ruler of the ruins. I am a man, like any other man... I am not loved, I know that. Not in soul or body. I have never known the soft whisper of endearment. Never known the peace that lies between the thighs of woman. But I am respected. I am feared. And that will suffice. Because I love. I, who am not loved in return. I have a love that is far deeper than the empty gasps and convulsions of brutish coupling. Shall I speak of her? Shall I speak of my bride? She has no eyes to flirt or promise. But she sees all. Sees and understands with a wisdom that is Godlike in its scale. I stand at the gates of her intellect and I am blinded by the light within. How stupid I must seem to her. How childlike and uncomprehending. Her soul is clean, untainted by the snares and ambiguities of emotion. She does not hate. She does not yearn. She is untouched by joy or sorrow. I worship her though I am not worthy. I cherish the purity of her disdain. She does not respect me. She does not fear me. She does not love me. They think she is hard and cold, those who do not know her. They think she is lifeless and without passion. They do not know her. She has not touched them. She touches me, and I am touched by God, by Destiny. The whole of existence courses through her. I worship her. I am her slave.
  6. ^ "The V for Vendetta Graphic Novel is a National Bestseller". WarnerMedia. 30 March 2006. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference V was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference CBR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference CBR2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference SciFiNow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Barsanti, Sam (8 September 2022). "Trailer for the third season of Pennyworth has a truly confounding comic book cameo". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.


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