The Comics Issue

I got home from the library at 2 this afternoon with a stack of nine books. Two were easy reader children's book, one was an overview of a filmmaker's career, one was a creativity guide, and the rest were graphic novels. I read a lot of graphic novels. I love the blending of words and images. I love the creative stories that seem to only flow out of the blending of art and text. And I love the art. But a lot of people will tell me that graphic novels, comics, or even comic strips aren't real reading. There continues to be a stigma attached to this kind of reading. I couldn't disagree more.

I grew up on a rich diet of books which included picture books, chapter books, comics, and comic strips. Some of the earliest adventure stories that I fell in love with were Uncle Scrooge comics. Each thin paper comic contained an adventure that often spanned the globe. I would get sucked into the stories. I can still picture Uncle Scrooge in his adventure for the golden fleece or making his way into the valley of Tralla La (the Carl Banks version of Shangri-La). I had no idea at the time that I was learning bits of greek myth or about mythical utopias. I just knew that I loved the stories.

As I got older I fell in love with comic strips. I read Calvin and Hobbes, Wizard of Id, The Far Side, and Bloom County to name a few. There were other comics, ones that weren't in our local paper, that found their way into the house in the form of collections. My mother supported us kids as readers, in whatever form that reading took. So we had hundreds of these comic collections mixed with our paper comics that included Archie's, Mickey Mouse, and Casper. We were allowed to read anything we wanted as long as it was kid friendly. And we did read. I can't remember a moment of my childhood where I wasn't reading or thinking about books to read. We were blessed.

I worry about kids now whose parents keep them from comics. Parent who say that graphic novels and comics aren't real reading. As if reading a chapter book was the only form of book for kids once they can read on their own. Like the mistaken idea of taking picture books away from kids after they can read on their own, I think that this does more to keep children from becoming readers. Much like picture books, I think graphic novels are essential reading for kids who are learning to love words and stories. A story can be told in many ways. Like a great film, a graphic novel uses both dialogue and image to tell a more complete story. A child who is encouraged to read whatever they would like (within reason) will become a reader. They will read for pleasure. They will read to learn.

Now I'm not saying to never pay attention to what your children are reading. I've read graphic novels that were disturbing for me as an adult. I've also read word only novels that have done the same thing. My mother was careful to screen what we read for adult content. Things we read that were more advanced were discussed. But we were never told that we couldn't read some type of format. When I went back to reading picture books my mother gave me a stack of books from our old library. I have dibs on some of our comic book collections. I read constantly as a child, in all formats. And I don't know if I would have been as large a reader if I hadn't been granted so much freedom in deciding what I wanted to read. I know that I would not be the reader I am today without that combination of art and words.

Daytripper

Last week at the library I picked up a graphic novel that had been mentioned as one of the best graphic stories for last year. I'm a huge fan of graphic novels but I tend to focus on the more unique stories. I seek out those novels that touch on unusual topics. Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis were two that I've read in the last year and found fascinating. I had read a review of Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba and knew I had to pick it up. If the review hadn't caught me, the cover would have (yes I judge books by their covers, also by their titles). Daytripper might be one of the most unique and interesting stories I've read in a while. It's an existential graphic novel with a twist.

Daytripper is all about death. In each chapter, the main character Bras is killed. In a each chapter there is a brief obituary about his life and each section of the book is at a different age. Normally he is killed at a particularly tragic moment, one of the great moments of his life. We see how his death affects others based on where he is in his life. The 11 year old boy receives a very different send-off than the 48 year old man. And through these obituaries (Bras himself is an obituary writer and an author), we get a further peek into his life. In each chapter he loses his life at a particularly poignant moment: after meeting the women of his dreams, traveling on a book tour, after the birth of his first son. But in each story we see the character progress as he accepts life and starts to live more fully.

I noticed that each death, at a later stage of his life, started to impact me more. The first story is all about how he can't write, how he's trying to live up to his very successful author father, how his life is falling apart. Although tragic, his death didn't impact me. Perhaps because they tried to show that Bras wasn't really living. With each story, I felt more and more for the character. His deaths seemed more tragic. A particularly heart-wrenching death was when his son was six and idealized his father. Bras is traveling and the story is of the tender moments between him and his family. And at the end, I cried. Not because he died, but because he lived. The story reminded me of all the living we have to do and we better get to it. I saw how the obituaries changed. In these chapters I got to watch an entire life, and multiple deaths. And each seemed worse. A great character, an inventive way to tell the story, and some incredible emotions. This one has to be one of the best graphic novels I've read. It will find a place on my bookshelf.

New Books!!!

I walked away from the convention quite a bit poorer and a majority of that money was spent on...can you guess?...books. Shocked, aren't you? I have a bit of a book addiction. But there were tons of books that I wanted to buy and almost all of them were at a fantastic price. So I splurged. And came home with a couple new reads.

First up was a beautiful Art of Bone book done by Jeff Smith. If you don't remember, I mentioned my love for the comic series in this post. I read the Bone series nearly addictively, moving from book to book. I even made two library trips, the same day so that I could keep on reading. So this book was a great find and for a very decent price. I love art-of books.

The next title on the list was the second book of the Mouse Guard series. I'm not sure how I missed that it had come out already. I read Fall many years ago and have been eagerly awaiting Winter to see what happens. When I was walking through the convention hall on the last day I spotted a copy and promptly bought it. And then moved it to the top of my stack of books to read.

The Mouse Guard stall was doing a "buy one get one free" deal so I also got to pick up a second book. I looked through their interesting titles but decided on a Field Guide for a graphic novel series called Berona's War. The salesman described it to me as Spy Versus Spy meets Looney Tunes. With that kind of description, how could I possibly pass it up? After I finally get to read the field guide I'm sure I'll be tracking down the original series as well.

But my last and most exciting purchase was two books from the Looking for Group webcomic. I've been reading Looking for Group for a while now and love it (I posted on that one here). I also read the author and illustrator's other comic Least I Could Do. So when I found out that they would be having a booth at Gen Con I knew I had to stop by. Jeff went a little fanboy standing in front of Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza and I have to admit that I was a bit excited. It was a bit of a thrill to meet the creators of not one but two of your favorite comics. We bought Books 1 and 3 (I already have 2) and also picked up a stuffed Richard and Bunny (yes he's supposed to be riding the bunny. If you read the comic you understand). It didn't hurt that the guys were incredibly nice. Both of the editions were signed and I walked away a very happy fan.

With Apologies to Alan Moore

Over the weekend, Jeff and I sat down to watch the movie Watchmen. The previous weekend it had been The Dark Knight so apparently we’re on a dark superhero/supervillian kick. I’d been hesitant to watch Watchmen. I’d loved the graphic novel and movie adaptations tend to disappoint. Plus I knew that Alan Moore had been unwilling to even have his name associated with the film. So I went in with lower expectations. And I have to apologize to Alan Moore. I enjoyed the film, quite a bit.

The movie had the same gritty feeling as the novel and that’s what I liked. The characters were perfect, particularly The Comedian and Rorschach. It is exactly how I imagined they would sound. In fact, I thought most of the characters were pitch perfect. The plot had some significant changes from the graphic novel including cutting out an entire storyline. But many people thought the novel was unfilmable so I know that they had to make some big choices on what to include and what to cut out. Like most action films of the current day, this was bloody and violent. But the graphic novel was as well and I think I can almost say that the film-makers downplayed some of the violence of the story by leaving out the secondary storyline. The ending was very different. But this is one of those rare, rare times when I will say that the movie might have improved on the book. The ending to the novel was a bit out there, a bit far-fetched. The ending to the film made total sense. It tied the entire Dr. Manhattan plotlines together.

The visuals were fantastic. Like many others have said before, the opening credits were just amazing. I don’t know how they shot those but I want to learn. The darkness and grime of the city was perfectly captured. The movie still kept a bit of a comic book feel to it though. The fight sequences were a bit over the top though. These are mortals who donned masks to play vigilantes, not superheroes. Some of the fight sequences would have been better served with a touch more realism. Over all I was really impressed by the film. I enjoyed the endings and the overall story. I enjoyed the characters and the visuals. It was a fun film that I was not disappointed with.

Plus it was nice to watch a movie that had more male nudity than female nudity. A rarity in Hollywood. J

Guess What I'm Reading?

I read a lot. A ton actually. I've read three and a half books this week, although one of those was a young adult novel. And I've noticed that I don't write about what I'm reading very often. So I'm going to try to add a Guess What I'm Reading segment. The title comes from Unshelved, a great webcomic about a library. You can find that particular story line here (it runs for five days). I also bought one of their "Guess What I'm Reading" bumper stickers to hang in my library.

Lately I've been reading Tintin. Tintin is the main character in a series of comics created from 1929 until 1954 by french artist, Herge. The character is a young journalist who gets into all types of international adventures with his friends: a crusty old sailor named Captain Haddock, a hard of hearing professor who's brilliant but absentminded, and a pair of detectives who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag. He is accompanied by his dog Snowy and often ends up saving the day against a troupe of bad guys.

I picked up my first adventure on a whim. I'd heard a number of children's book writers mention how influential Tintin had been for them. I figured it was worth a shot. The first story I read was "The Castafiore Emerald" and although I was a bit lost on the characters, I loved the adventures. It reminded me of the old Uncle Scrooge comics I read as a child, but with more humor. The adventures are a mix of slapstick, funny dialogue, and genuine excitement. The series has only started to gain a following in the US, but Tintin is as well known as Mickey Mouse in Europe. Charles de Gaulle compared himself to the character once. Steven Spielberg is currently working on an animated Tintin adventure to be released in December 2011. This is a character that has influenced generations and I'm just learning about him.

After the first adventure, I've been picking up books from all of the libraries in the city. The stories were just released in a boxed set and I've been buying the books, one at a time. I've decided I want to own all of the Tintin adventures. I haven't gotten a chance to read all the adventures but I'm excited to get the chance. It's a fun series with great characters.

Into Boneville

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I read Out of Boneville, the first book in the Bone series by Jeff Smith. I had picked up the book on a whim and had been fascinated by the first chapter in this graphic novel series. Shortly afterwards I picked up the second book The Great Cow Race and was brought deeper into the story. So after picking up books Three and Four on Tuesday at the library (and polishing them off in short order), I knew I had to go back last night and borrow the rest of the series. Once we got home I promptly sat down and read the last five books (5-9). I was up well past midnight, but it was worth it.

As I mentioned before, the Bone series follows the adventures of the Bone cousins after they are kicked out of Boneville and find themselves in a strange valley. The cousins, Fone, Phoney, and Smiley are as different as night and day. Fone is the main character of the story and is of the noble hero mindset. He's extremely loyal, intelligent, and caring. He's the heart and soul of the books. Phoney is the con artist. He's the reason they got kicked out of Boneville. His constant get-rich-quick schemes often lead the boys into more trouble or fuel the fire of whatever drama is going on. Smiley is the simpleton who seems to go along with either cousin. The cousins end up befriending Thorn and her tough-as-nails Grandma who end up being far more than we expect. They also encounter a friendly flea who helps them out, a tough and loyal villager who's sweet on Grandma, a red dragon who always seems to aid them at the right time, and a slew of other unique characters.

The story follows the group of heroes as they fight against the Rat Creatures who terrorize them, a gigantic mountain lion who can't decide his allegiance, and The Lord of the Locusts, an ancient evil that will destroy the valley and everyone in it. During the series we encounter ancient religions, a crazy hooded figure who'll stop at nothing to kill Thorn and kidnap Phoney, and enough magic and mischief to keep us entertained. Add onto that the constant schemes and dilemmas that the Bone cousins create or deal with and you have a pretty action packed series.


The series is located in the children's book sections of many bookstores. It was in the young adult graphic novels section of the library but I've also seen it in the adult graphic novel section of bookstores. One bookstore had it located in all three places. The series can be read by children but I actually think that adults might get more out of it. There is a lot going on in this series. In many ways it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings series. No matter what, it's a series I recommend. Quick reads, unique and interesting characters, lots of action, and some great humor and emotion. I was completely enthralled.

A Perfect Night

If it seems like I've been distant from the internet lately, it's because I have. I haven't been on Facebook in days. Haven't checked email since we got back in town. And really haven't been online most of the day except for my brief lunch breaks. Work is ganging up on me and I haven't had a ton of time to spare.

So last night after working late again, I had planned to go home, make up a salad, and sit on the couch mindlessly watching TV. Jeff had other ideas. As I brought out my salad fixings he meekly suggested going out. And of course I couldn't pass that up. We headed over to one of the local sports bars and found a table outside on the patio. It was beautiful yesterday but we had the patio completely to ourselves. It was heaven. I ordered a beer and their amazingly tasty (and possibly good for me) taco salad. Then Jeff made me an offer I simply couldn't refuse. His deal was that we would go to the library as long as I walked around the nearby lake with him. Okay so I get to go to my favorite place in the world, and I get to go on a beautiful walk. Sign me up!!!

After dinner we headed over to the library and walked the lake. It's not a huge lake and we took our time in the walking. Jeff and I tend to get distracted by interesting bugs, pretty flowers, birds or animals of any sort...well pretty much everything. It was just nice to be out. I'm working on walking on rough terrain to strengthen my ankle even more. I'm still not 100% but I'm getting better. After the walk we went to our own different sections of the library. I picked up the second book in the Bone series by Jeff Smith. I've been loving this graphic novel series but have been taking my time reading them. The series follow Fone Bone and his cousins Phoney and Smiley who, after being kicked out of Boneville, find themselves being chased by rat creatures, saved by a dragon, and befriended by a young girl and her ultra tough grandmother. The characters are all unique and the plot has me both intrigued and confused. I need to pick up the pace with this series.

I picked up a graphic novel called Wonderland written and illustrated by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew. This is the first in a series of graphic novels following the exploits of Wonderland's characters without Alice. This one followed Mary Ann, the housemaid for the White Rabbit and her adventures with the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Spades. I'll be curious to pick up the next book. I love take-offs on Alice in Wonderland and these are inventive and downright beautiful. The story is a wonderful reinvention of the world and is very much in the spirit of the original book. The book's artwork is stunning, a great mix of detailed and surreal landscapes with well created characters. I'd seen the artwork before and had been meaning to check out the book.

I also picked up a biography of Edward Gorey and a book on the making of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version). After the library Jeff and I stopped for ice cream and I went home to read. I finished the two graphic novels and started the "making of" book. I'll be through it before the weekend is up. As I sat on the couch last night, surrounded by books and finishing up my ice cream, all I could think was that last night was a perfect night. I feel completely refreshed today. It's amazing what unplugging does for me.

Watchmen

I may be the last person in the US to blog about this book and the upcoming movie. I hadn't intended to write about it. I'm not sure if I'm seeing the film. But a friend of mine just mentioned that he was reading Watchmen, I assume in anticipation for the movie. I read the graphic novel probably seven or eight years ago and was shocked by it. This was a totally new take on superheroes. This was an anti-superhero novel and like everyone else, I thought it was unfilmable. First and foremost this is dark. When I wrote about V for Vendetta, I mentioned that it was dark, but this goes well beyond that. This is some seriously twisted, disturbing, and totally amazing stuff. The book will shake you up, but in a good way. In the kind of way that makes you think about why things work the way they do. About what happens if we had common enemies and what would happen if our heroes weren't all that hero-like. It's a topsy turvy story.



I won't say the main plot of the story, (because it follows so many different plots) but one of the plots of the story follows Rorschach as he tries to figure out who killed masked superhero "The Comedian". We see his fellow superheroes in flashbacks, and then as they are now. These are disturbed people. The Comedian himself was no Dudley Doright. He rapes and kills without seeming remorse. Rorschach is crazy and violent. These are not your children's superheroes. In fact, I don't think children should be reading this book. The society they live in is a perfect dysutopia which although current when Moore wrote it, doesn't seem that far off. The technology has changed but somethings ring true.


Purist fans of the book will be surprised by the ending of the film, from what I understand. The giant squid is gone. As one commenter said, they love to tell their friends all about the dark themes and allusions made in the book. All about the social commentary and subtle nuances of the story. And then top it off with a giant squid landing in NY and killing everyone. It just seems so out of place.


As is typical with Moore he will be distancing himself from the film. He does not feel that any film can do his stories justice. I too am concerned with this one. I was more concerned though with rumors I heard before the film came out. I had originally heard that the ending was changed so that people who had read the book would not spoil the ending for others. That saddens me. The book has existed since 1987. Alan Moore wrote a book that most considered unfilmable. The book, no matter how good the movie is, will always be better. But they are worried about people leaking the ending. Here's an idea (and this is me on my soapbox), let them all read the book. Perhaps if they read the story they wouldn't have to worry about having the story ruined for them. It's a quick read and most libraries carry it. Honestly I hope the movie gets people to read the book. I hope that they return to the source material and compare. Because movies always tend to be found lacking against great books. I'm not sure I'm heading to the theaters for this one. And I'm not even sure if I'll rent. Some things are just too good to cheapen with theatrics.

A Picture is Worth....

The first real graphic novel I ever read was Maus by Art Speigelman. For those who tell me that graphic novels are kids stuff, I point to these books. Maus handles the holocaust in ways that are hard to describe. Even though the characters are animals there is no mistaking what is going on. The images are disturbing and sometimes truly gut-wrenching. It would be a hard hearted person who read these and didn't swept up in the emotions of the story. And I still claim that this story needed to be told in this format. Somehow the visual portrayal of these actions are so much worse then they would be through words alone. They are powerful stories.

But starting with Maus was interesting because when people would tell me that graphic novels are just oversized comic books (which I've read my share of) I couldn't believe them. Comic books have their own purpose but the beauty of a graphic novel is the depth it can take people. And since that time I have sought out graphic novels that educate just as much as I have the ones that entertain. There is far more to graphic novels than superheros. (although those are fun too.)

A friend of mine recently lent me Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This starkly black and white graphic novel tells the true story of a young girl growing up in a very turbulant Iran. She lives through a dictatorship, a quick democracy, and the Islamic Revolution, until she is finally forced to leave the country. The story is brutal in parts and sweet in others. This is story of childhood told from the safer viewpoint of adulthood. The author mixes tales of relatives going to prisons, families fleeing, and the constant fear of discovery (her parents are revolutionaries). There are silly parts in the book but it left a vivid impression of darkness for me. The book has recently been turned into a film. A powerful story.

But I promise you, not all my reading selection is that dark. As I have mentioned in the blog before, The Arrival is a wonderful story of immigration, told entirely through pictures. The setting is strange enough to not be an identified place, but the emotions are very real. We follow one man as he leaves his family to travel to a foreign land. The reader gets to try to figure out the new society along with the protagonist. Until eventually he is able to welcome his family to the country and show them how to navigate. This is a wonderful story with a much happier ending then either of the previous two. If nothing else check the book out for Shaun Tan's amazing illustrations.

And for sheer humor (but also education) I'm reading Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Universe, parts 1-7. This light and often silly graphic story starts at the big bang and looks at human history from early fish life through the Ancient Greek civilization. There is a long section on the Egyptians that was just fascinating and the stories of early Canaan and Persia are wonderful. For the first time I was able to keep track of at least some of the ancient rulers. Gonick mixes just enough silliness with just enough facts to make for a very entertaining and informative read. Jeff had recommended the book and I have to say I've learned a ton about ancient history and laughed out loud a couple times in the process. There are more books following that bring history up to the modern time.

Ordo Bibliotheca

Librarians have an image problem. Picture a librarian. I can guarantee that the image you have in your head is a matronly woman, wearing glasses, with a bun, and a pinched look on her face. You will imagine her walking between dusty shelves, shushing patrons, and expounding on the value of the card catalog. That image is starting to change for some people but for a many it is still the idea they have. I should know. I have the librarian action figure with her advanced shushing action. That image has changed a lot in the last couple years though. The next generation of librarians is young, hip, often tattooed, and very technological. 

So when I found Rex Libris I knew that I had to share this. Rex is a librarian but he is not either a matronly woman or a hip tattooed young adult. Instead what he is an action hero. In comic book form. Rex Libris is the brain child of James Turner. He saves the world one book at a time. And he is utterly fun. 

Rex is a librarian at the Middleton Public Library. Middleton is not any ordinary library, it lays on one of the most powerful ley lines in the universe. This causes literary characters to occasionally pop out of books and overrun the library. It also allows the library to hold some of the most important books in the universe. And when they go overdue it is Rex's job to get them back. Normally he starts with friendly calls, then moves on to letters, and then he crosses the galaxy to bust heads and get books back. The first book, I Librarian, starts with Rex fighting a demonic samurai who doesn't want to get a library card to check things out. In the middle of the fight he grabs a book on demons to read up on how to defeat them. It's that type of humor. 

Turner has created the idea of the Ordo Bibliotheca, a secret society of librarians who have used the cover of docile do-gooders, to hide their true purpose of preserving all the knowledge of the world. As a librarian I've seen the Noah Wylie film which is about a librarian saving the world. But there is a huge difference between Wylie's librarian and Rex Libris. While Wylie played the character as a wussy character who was afraid of a fight but is dragged into it, Rex is a lot more willing to get his hands dirty. Circe (yes based on the ancient sorcerous) is a standard matronly older librarian, when she's not turning unruly patrons into pigs. But she's more than happy to grab a sawed off shotgun to preserve the peace against Viking invasion. 

Perhaps these books are just so fun because they poke fun at the stereotypes of librarians. Rex may talk like a gangster, he may be well skilled with a gun, and he may be willing to take on all the baddies around the galaxy, but it's all in the name of books. An action figure I can get behind. Now I'll just have to get the t-shirt. And you should check out the comic. 

Movie Comparisons

A while ago I reviewed the graphic novel V for Vendetta on this blog. I had just finished reading it and had been blown away by the depth and power of it. It is a striking novel about some incredibly tough subjects. It is violent, dark, inspiring, and thought provoking. And I absolutely loved it. I loved the imagery and the dialogue. I loved the setting and the main characters. I even loved the darkness of it.

So last night I was a little nervous when I sat down to watch the film. It is very rare that I enjoy a film based on a book I've loved. The movies are just never as good. But last night I was blown away by this film. I will not say that it was better than the book but it definitely stood its own. The movie was downright wonderful. I was enthralled from the opening recitation of the Guy Fawkes rhyme up until the final moments.

Perhaps the reason I loved the film so much was that it stayed relatively true to the book. There were some sections that were changed but the majority of the film followed the images in the book. And even if the scenes were not totally true (the raid on the TV station was changed to include Evie), they stayed true to the spirit of the novel. The scene at the end of the film where everyone arrives in their own Guy Fawkes masks was not in the book but it was an immensely powerful scene and I felt stayed true to the spirit of the book.

I was surprised to see that Alan Moore was not involved in the making of the film. I will have to do some digging to see what he thought of it. I thought Natalie Portman did beautifully going from helpless victim to heroine. Her transformation, although horrific, was done well and you can see the character develop. V (portrayed by Hugo Weaving) was wonderful. His verbosity and grandour made the role that much more powerful. The character of V has to be one of the more powerful heroes/anti-heroes of these last couple decades. I found myself crying at the last scene and I don't normally weep tears of joy for treasonous or seditious acts. :-)

The rest of the cast was very good and the film maintained the dark atmosphere of the book nicely. I was not particularly impressed with the character Stephen Fry played. The problem was not his acting but the character himself. He seemed to add almost too much light to a very dark political film. This character simply doesn't exist in the book. The violence was done well and was not simply for shock value. It, like in the book, always had a purpose. In fact, one of the best things about the book and the film is that it reminded me of the power of fear and wisdom and violence. Particularly in the last decade as we have seen fear be used as a tactic of control and I'm reminded how close we are to V's society. As V says, "The people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of its people."

I was very nervous going into the film but I'm happy to say that I loved it. It can happily sit on my shelves right next to the graphic novel that bears the same name. One of the few times that a film lives up to the book.

Book Review: V for Vendetta

In the last couple years I have become enamored with graphic novels. There are a lot of people out there who say that they are not proper reading but I disagree. I guess I have always been reading one form of graphic story since I was a small child reading Uncle Scrooge comics. I still claim whatever gets kids reading is a great thing. Plus there are some incredibly thought-provoking stories told in graphic form. For those who say that graphic novels aren't intelligent reading, I suggest Maus, Watchman, Sandman, and this novel. I started and finished the book this morning. And it is a modern piece of genius. 

V for Vendetta is written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd and is set in what was then the not too distant future. Since it is based in the late nineties readers may scoff at the disutopia presented by the book but for fans of 1984 or a Brave New World this graphic novel will feel very familiar. The story follows V a charismatic and mysterious anarchist who attempt to overthrow Britain's fascist government. V "recruits" a young girl named Evey who helps him with some of his tasks. These two are the main characters but there are many smaller characters whose lives are told in this. There is enough drama, politics and bloodshed to keep you flipping hungrily to the next page. 

This story, although older, is pure madness and genius and revolution all in one book. The characters of V and Evey are engaging. The drama is very real. And the images which tend to be on the dark side are captivating. And that doesn't even touch on the plot. Not often do you read a story that challenges how you think politically. This one did. A tribute in some ways to Guy Fawkes, this story shows how a government that does not offer liberty to its people needs to be overthrown. Now I'm not advocating anarchy. I am actually something of a fan of government but this presents an oppressive regime. As Thomas Jefferson stated "A little revolution, now and then, is a good thing." 

I cannot recommend this title enough. It is bloody and dark, but with a magic all its own. I'm not sure if I will be seeing the movie. I am always hesitant to see movies based on books I loved. And I can see Hollywood taking some liberties with this story that would be inexcusable. Plus with David Lloyd's fantastic pictures I already feel like I have seen  it. A quick read but an amazing story. One of the my favorite graphic novels ever.