Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

10 reviews

bearystarry's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

yaboiellis's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

linblythe_pub22's review

Go to review page

dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

zealforneil's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve read V for Vendetta a few times over my life, and every time I zip through the second half breathless, carried away by David Lloyd’s illustrations of Alan Moore’s ambitious storytelling.
Analysing the politics of the story has surely been done to the moon and back, and it will have been obviously stated that it is as pertinent now as ever. Perhaps that simply reflects how our society walks the tight-rope  between fascism and anarchy as much now as it did when V was written.
The story and the characters, however, surely make this stand apart from other politically-driven fictitious works. The characters come and go, killed in various brutal fashions, losing their minds or their comfortable lives. It is them that has driven me to read the story at pace, to follow their changing fortunes and witness their demise. V is not the most compelling character by a long shot, and in this collection’s epilogue, Moore admits that he surprised even himself by giving the fascist characters such fleshed-out backstories.
The confluence between incisive political commentary and intriguing characters are what has made this a modern classic, and the alchemy of combining them is perfected as the story wears on.
I’m sure I’ll return to V for Vendetta again in a few years and find new political angles and story arcs to intrigue me again. And I’m sure it will seem just as chillingly feasible then as it does now, and has seemed since I first read it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

xenia_li's review

Go to review page

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

emilo's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sup_demons's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very mysterious and poetic, glad I read it 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

slayergirl3281's review

Go to review page

dark emotional informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Still rings true in the modern politics of today. As V says “While I’ll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go in making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate.”

As humans we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and I think that is why V for Vendetta remains so timeless and relatable even 40 years after publication. 

Cw
Genocide
Racism
Homophobia
Eugenics 
Hate crime
Sexism
Rape
Death
Murder
Torture 
Pedophilia 
Antisemitism 
Xenophobia

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

dudebell's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

An absolute classic for a reason. Stripping the comic of sound effects and thought bubbles was a revolution in itself, creating a noir-ish feel without ever verging into the cinematic. This dystopic world avoids the pitfalls of many others by remaining grounded and feeling real, feeling contemporary - it was shocking to read the words “make Britain great again” in a comic that was not only pre-Trump, but pre-Thatcher. The Storm Saxon panels illuminate the kind of propaganda that we consume daily. All around brilliant, subtle world building.

The world of V for Vendetta is one in which fascists in Britain have successfully eradicated all visible ‘minorities’ from their country, leaving behind only those less visible - those who are queer. Characters are forced to make the decision: to be visible, or to move invisibly. For Valerie, this is her “one inch” that she will not give up. For Ruth, this is price she is willing to pay for her ‘freedom’ — a freedom that is simply a different sort of prison. It’s interesting to me that, in the afterword of the edition I read, Moore describes an earlier version of V as “transsexual” — and it’s true. Firstly in the sense that V is both everything and nothing, he is a man and a woman and both and neither, he is an idea, and anyone can be an idea. He represents anarchy and freedom and the queerness we can associate with that, and we see this as
SpoilerEvey dons his mask and becomes him; a woman becomes a man. I can also very easily see V as Ruth, as someone who decided one prison and got the other one anyway, who is fuelled by remorse for what she did to Valerie, who takes her lover’s initial in an act of defiance but still feels the need for invisibility, the need to mask her face and lie.


The world of V is also one in which love has been replaced with power, and for me this is the strongest element of the novel. All romance is a power play. Sexual intimacy is girls on a stage, is rape. Susan (and there’s something to be said about genderplay with that name as well) is ruling a world so devoid of love that he falls for a computer (here again — a non-sexed ‘entity’ who is addressed as a woman and has the voice of a man). There’s an incredible scene where, almost in a trance, Susan whispers “I love you” to Fate, while Creedy trembles in the background, unsure if he’s the object of this affection. Lost love is depicted as queer joy, as a celebration of Blackness. And this is something that has been sacrificed for uniformity and control.

There are some issues I take with the comic. I think the film’s decision to make Gordon a queer man was the right one, as his role in the book is a little cloudy. I also wish the two leads were less opaque. While I understand this decision to make V more myth than man, I wish there had been moments to humanise him and make him feel more real.
SpoilerBut the biggest offence for me is Evey’s under-reaction to her torture and captivity at V’s hands. What V does is insurmountable, strangely motivated, unclear in its outcome. In my opinion it would almost be better if it were lost entirely.


Overall, a classic comic, one of the greats. Definitely an important read for anyone interested in the medium.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

readwithchar's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...