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[Part 3 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta]

Part 3 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta


Copyright - DC Comics

V for Vendetta, as most you will know is probably best known as a movie now. The image of V has become an icon for resistance that has grown out of that movie. The comic has to a degree been lost a little in the mix. Though the good news is that its exposure across different media mean that it is still on bookshelves, still readily available and if not known by all who would recognise the mask, at least known by a lot more than otherwise might. That's a very good thing as for me it's arguably the strongest, tightest story Alan Moore has done. It's not Alan Moore's final entry on this list by a long way, but aided by David Lloyd's astonishing grim art it might well be the best and most important story Moore has told.

Where to find it

It's not a hard one to get hold of this. It's been in print since DC released the comic series. The only question you will face is which version you want to purchase. There's quite a few from the regular trade collection, to 30th anniversary deluxe edition, absolute edition, with a mask, without a mask, however you fancy, all easily available digitally (well except the mask!)... just not the black and white edition I so want amazingly!

To get those earlier episodes in black and white you'll need to go back to the original copies of Warrior in the aftermarket. They are beginning to get a little pricey however, though easy enough to find. As are the comic's DC originally printed, they are out there are pretty easy to get, but beginning to get a little pricey.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page

A lot has been said about V in many places so you'll not struggle to find out more about this series. First and foremost I'd recommend our Eamonn's Mega City Book Club for a really good dissection of the series alongside Giles Richards.

Then maybe try Off My Shelves has a nice overview - we might well see this channel more often here!

Already a regular Near Mint Condition gives you a run down of the different (?!?) Absolute Editions you can get before you shell out on that if you are thinking about doing so.

There's so much commentary out there I've plucked one from The Guardian almost at random, but just do a search (remember to add comic or the movie will dominate) and you will find a lot of reflections, reviews out there.

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[Part 2 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta]

Part 2 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta


Copyright - DC Comics

One of the key reasons the book has remained in print, which has enabled the iconography to grip the world, is the perfectly constructed world in which V operates. It's believable and all too chillingly relatable.

As you might imagine Moore and Lloyd introduce a cast of fascinating characters which fleshes out this world and the struggle V faces. Most significantly Finch the head of 'The Nose' the 'traditional' police force who leads the investigation into V's acts. Finch also provides the reader with a character who moves through the layers of power in this state 'The Head' and its different branches and functions and becomes the guide for the reader to the structure of the world V pushes back against. He also to some degree becomes as important as Evey in terms of learning how different 'normal' people can learn to resist due to V's actions and understanding that change can happen.

Across the story you get a perfectly constructed political thriller, with key players all providing different points of view that fully presents this world in which V operates. The UK of this 1997 feels all too real and understood, without weighing things down with dull exposition Moore and Lloyd perfectly lay out their world and what drives the people in it. Power and control, fear and resignation, resistance and hope all sit within the characters to different degrees, and even bit players we see, in a way that allows you to immerse fully into the political and social landscape. This serves as a warning that this dystopia (well I was going to use the word eventually wasn't I, heavens knows why I waited so long!) is all too real a possibility if we allow it, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

It makes V for Vendetta all the more chilling and enables it to have real emotional impact. It makes this 40 year old comic all too relevant and therefore its designs reach far beyond those that know its comic book origins.


Copyright - DC Comics

As I mentioned above however, while that brilliant construction of the world and the guided way the reader is introduced to it builds the foundation of what makes this comic work so well, ultimately as with most comics it's the characters that give it its heart and soul. In some ways V can be seen as a cold, hard comic. It's not dealing with an easy subject, if Evey is the protagonist as I suggest above and she's certainly the most relatable character, well maybe I'll get back to that, then her story in this series is heartbreaking.

When you get to the core of this and put aside how much The Head (the collective name for all the branches of the Government.) and the totalitarian regime it sustains are vial you are left with the brutal radicalisation of Evey by V. V's course may well be very just, their methods are pretty appalling and this is centred on the way he turns Evey to his course. V does some truly terrible things to his protege to fully commit her to the fight. He puts her through almost as much as he went through to become who he has become. The tragic tales of both these characters is incredibly hard to take. This story is as brutal as its subject matter suggests. Yet it's compelling and the construction of the world enables the reader to feel the extremes that V goes to might be justified as they read the story. The fact that V is held up today as a heroic character, regardless of the brutal things he does is testament to the storytelling.

If Evey is the reader's point of view character and the emotional heart of the tale and V is the faceless need for justice at any cost, then Finch is the third aspect of how we react to this brutal world. It would be easy for Moore and Lloyd to paint him as the villainous hunter of the 'heroes' of our story. The cop supporting the corrupt and evil systems, the villain of the piece. They don't however and make Finch a fascinating real character. Evey might not be the only point of view character, Finch gives is a more honest view of how we might engage with this cruel world. He's an effective cop, is good at what he does, yet is far too close to the system he learns is so wrong. He's part of it and 'just doing his job' within the awful controlling government. Like Evey it takes Finch undergoing some pretty extreme experiences for him to realise the system he's sustaining is wrong and he can do something about it, or at least turn his back on it.

Finch isn't a good man, but he's not a caricature. If anything he's the most honest portrayal of how most of us would be complicit in a system that oppresses and it would take a lot for us to get over our fears to enable us to resist.


Copyright - DC Comics

It's hard to imagine I've gotten this far without talking about David Lloyd's exceptional art on the series, beyond his iconic design of V and his mask. Beyond those all important and culturally significant elements David Lloyd brings so much to the series. He's an artist that works in strong contrasts, just as the series does. His use of stark shadow and deep blacks shaping panels and character is just perfect for the story - there I go again saying an artist is perfect for a story, but again here it's true.

As said he drew the majority of this series for a black and white comic and that shines through. I really wish those original stories were available in that black and white beyond getting the original Warriors from the aftermarket. The colours do an effective job, but it can never be more than that. The art is constructed to use the space between shadow and light to give it a solid reality. They emphasise the differences between Evey's innocence and V's now inhuman, unemotional resistance. The almost vapid, washed out colours brought to this do work, they provide an almost subtle wash of dream to the art, they don't try to impose a reality beyond that which the line work provides. I can't say they enhance the linework, the best they can do is not wipe away its strengths too much.

That linework is brave. It's as strong and brutal as the story it is telling. David Lloyd doesn't shy away at all from making the ugly things in V and Evey's Britain as ugly as they need to be. Characters don't come from the glamour of the movies, they come straight out of the kitchen sink dramas of early UK tv. They feel honest and grounded in the world they are shackled in. It really is a quite brilliant piece of comic art. Fitting of the brilliant story.

[Part 1 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta]

Part 1 - Number 82 - V for Vendetta



Number 82 - V for Vendetta

Keywords: Social Impact, Iconic, Political, Thrilling

Creators:
Writer - Alan Moore
Art - David Lloyd
Colours - Depends which one you read but the original DC colourisation was by David Lloyd, Steve Whitaker and Siobhan Dodds.

Publisher: DC Comics these days - originally Quality Communications

No. issues: 10
Date of Publication: Well a little complex. Originally appeared in Warrior between 1982 - 1985 but then reprinted and finished at DC between 1988 and 1989

Last read: 2018

The other Alan Moore classic that is widely known by the general public. This one for very different reasons and many know it solely for its most iconic piece of design. Which is a shame as when you get past the iconography

 
Copyright - DC Comics

is an astonishing piece of storytelling. While it might not be quite as formally interesting as some of his other work, though fair to say it does use the comic form really well it's just a plain great story told really well. It would seem when it comes to Alan Moore his earlier work, when he has less structural and medium based ideas crashing into his work is when I find him most compelling. I am fascinated by story after all, so that should be little surprise I guess.

For those living in a box for the last 40 years V for Vendetta, or V for those of us who can easily forget the early 80s alien invasion tv show and want to cut corners, is set in an alternative 1997 UK. The country has lurched to the right in a way that a 2020's UK population can well imagine and understand. Norsefire now governs the country as a totalitarian government using the state police, The Finger, and controlled media, The Mouth, to rule with an iron fist. Anyone who doesn't fit in with their perceived values, or shows even the smallest of resistance to Norsefire's control is arrested and sent to detention camps.

V of the title resists. He dresses as Guy Fawkes, in a mask that has become so iconic, and cape and initially prowls the night preventing injustice while he plots larger acts of defiance and rebellion. On one such 'patrol', I mean he's not Batman but there are echos, he rescues Evey from the secret police and introduces her to his world. Evey is really the protagonist of the piece and her indoctrination into V's world and struggle is the centre and heart of the story as V plots to take down the fascist government and unit resistance while he is hunted by the authorities he opposes.


Copyright - DC Comics

V has a long history. The prototype for the strip was conceived in 1975 by the then unknown Moore as 'The Doll', but the publishers he showed this to passed on the idea. When Dez Skinn was putting together Warrior he approached Moore for ideas similar to Night Raven, the noir crime fighter created at Marvel UK under Skinn's watch, to work on with David Lloyd. Moore unearthed the idea of The Doll, and used it as a launching point which developed into V for Vendetta. Moore added a host of other influences to that basic idea. The list of which appears in many reprints in the essay 'Behind the Painted Smile" - it's quite the list!

David Lloyd then took the concept and arguably developed the single most important aspect - the mask and Guy Fawkes design for V. Certainly the most important aspect in terms of the way V for Vendetta has filtered into the public consciousness. The mask has become a symbol of anonymous rebellion against a host of establishment institutions. For many the understanding of the meaning of the mask might not even stem from Lloyd's comics, it might be from the movie that was made of the comics. Or even from the fact as it became adopted by more and more protestors it was plastered all over the media and social media independent of its comic or film context. Regardless of where any individual's knowledge might come from its origin and what it stands for all comes from Lloyd's brilliant design.

The design first appeared as V for Vendetta was first published in 1982 in the anthology Warrior and appeared in almost all of the published issues, up to issue 26 in 1985. Two further episodes for Warrior remained unpublished. Issue 26 finished on quite the cliffhanger that is much better discussed by our own Eammon Clark and Giles Richards in the Mega City Book Club - link below.

Numerous offers came Moore and Lloyd's way to complete the series (and one assumes Warriors publisher Dez Skinn who always has a finger in the pie it would seem). In 1988 DC purchased the rights and started to reprint the episodes that had run in Warrior, now coloured, in US format comics. The reprint including the two unpublished parts filled 7 issues, and Moore and Lloyd produced a further 3 issues to conclude the story in 1989. It would be Alan Moore's last published work for DC, well deliberately published work for DC. Like Watchmen it's stayed in print ever since. Though bafflingly never as a black and white edition - unlike many comics including Watchmen - I think many folks, myself included, would love to have a black white reprint. Even though the colour work is absolutely fine.

It might be Proteus Vex end but no need to end the vexverse

That would be very cool.

[Dredd]

Oh my Prog review from the weekend isn't here... I wonder what happened there and how I managed not to post it??? Anyway I think I said Dredd was a solid set up, Aquila had a bit of a damp ending compared to the rest but is setting up the next bit I guess. Intestinauts looks amazing and brings a nice balance to the Prog, Brink is AMAZING, Proteus Vex is AMAZING...

...BUT the final story according to the Thrillcast this week!!! Did we know that. Sounds lile it'll be longer (15 parts) bit Mike Carroll was hoping to do at least one more story. WHY THARG WHY!!!!

[Dredd]

Well that was a distracted read. The App has completely changed and it took a bit of getting used to AND I can't work out where to download my files to (though I think that's a change from earlier I'd just  not noticed and it doesn't handle double page spreads as well and I'm not sure how well it will sort my library when I open the app and...

oh yeah the comic...

Dredd was fun with shiny art. Text articles seems okay, only scanned them to this point. DeMarco was an okay conclusion. Armitage is losing me already. Extra strips fine but I've read Hookjaw and have to be honest the Robot Archie stuff has put me off getting the collection. Dredd Toxic... well I recently sold my copies of the originals so...Harrower Squad has some lovely art but I'm not sure what this strip is really offering. Dreadnoughts is by FAR the best thing in the comic. By far its really good.

So overall not the best Meg for me AND I've not got my previously downloaded issues any more and the Library is just a lump of comics so not as easy to navigate and....

Yeah I managed to book to late to get a ticket for the VIP bash - so Barrington if you fancy playing out in the evening that would be super cool.

To be honest it might be a little to sit down at a table to be as much fun as hanging out at the bar has always been at cons I've been to in the past has been. But sounds like it could be a blast for those who have got tickets.

[The Gate]

Well finally got around to finishing The Gate last night and not sure why I bothered. A seemingly random series of not at all scary stuff. I was kinda hoping for a hidden gem of an 80s horror. Nothing of the sort and the 2000ad cover was by far the best thing in this movie.

Entirely pointless!

Excellent stuff!

...And I've very conflicting feelings about Black Hammer, though partially that's because I loved how it began, but then it ended in a manner I didn't gel with, except that wasn't the ending, and what I've read of it since then has left me unsure of the direction it's going in. I've yet to finish it currently, and I don't even know if the most recent ending is the final ending, and given that I'm not sure I've the inclination to find out...

Oh man I have mixed feeling about Black Hammer - The End. I'd pretty much loved all of Black Hammer to that point, the odd exception aside and think I've got pretty much it all. Then 'The End' kinda read like the very thing it was paying tribute to as an inspiration. Just a great big event comic tyoe feel. Now that doesn't feel like it should have been a bad thing, but it strangely was on first reading.

Black Hammer has its place on my countdown and that set now BUT I had such mixed feeling about the end I've got that final (I believe) series out to re-read before I write it up as it may well change my entry (if not postion) as it might become about how sticking the landing can be so important!

We'll see I have a suspision I'll enjoy it more on re-read so I'm trying to reserve judgement!

Wow have to say that pin is lovely - especially when compared to some of the other stuff!

[Number 83 - Essex County - Part 4]

Number 83 - Essex County - Part 4

Where to find it

Easy one this. While there are three original graphic novels these are no longer in print and to be honest not the best way to get this. Rather just get the Complete collection. Its available in most places at a really good price.

Also available digitally if that tickles ya fancy.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page but there's not much there!

Really nice write up from a place called url=https://www.bookforum.com/print/1503/essex-county-by-jeff-lemire-2760]Book Forum[/url]... well I say nice any website / person that describes both Joe Kubert and Alex Toth as  'journeymen' can't be all good! I mean in the strictest sense yes that's true but really Joe Kubery and Alex Toth reduced to that... I'm getting off the point here aren't I!

And another nice summary from Panel Patter

And another one from The Captive Reader.

To be honest there's loads out there extolling the virtues of Essex County. Just remember to add 'comics' or 'Lemire' to your search. Well unless you want to read about Chelmsford. The world's your oyster for this one, from both comics and prose focused review sites. This one really cuts across the boundaries.

Apparently there a [TV adapation of the comics. I'm not aware of this being available in the UK and while I can take or leave most comic adaptations this one intrigues me so I might try to track it down.

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[Number 83 - Essex County - Part 3]

Number 83 - Essex County - Part 3


Copyright - him what created it

What is true for the art is also true for the way he provides so much from the stories he creates. Everything I've said about the art is reflected in the quality of his writing. In Essex County he uses those same aspects to tell his story with a quiet effectiveness that allows them to have a massive impact on me as a reader.

Vast open landscapes and small, tattered towns and locations that say as much about the compelling characters he fills them with. Archetypal people that we know and have met, all be it in different specific circumstances that are used to say so much more about themselves and through them ourselves. Simple, soulful reflections represented in how we see the character and how they interact. Seemingly using so little to say so much and say it in a way that is relatable and reflects on ourselves as much as the characters he uses to convey those themes and ideas.

Essex County has big ideas and plays with themes that have scope and yet are intimate and personal. Family, isolation, even when amongst others. The need for connection and the things in us that can drive those connections apart. How a quiet 'simple' life can have such importance and significance, measured not in 'Likes' or 'Hits' but the eyes and souls of the people living those lives that Jeff Lemire lays out so honestly in front of us. These are 'small' lives and 'small' stories but they matter, both in and of the characters themselves but what they can say to the reader about themselves.

I have a curious relationship with Jeff Lemire. As said I think of him primarily as a writer, yet his art is so important to this work. Also as I don't think of him as a writer I particularly follow or read everything by, I think of him as someone whose writing I like, don't love and an artist I think works best on particular works and not so much on others. That doesn't really stand up to the scrutiny of this list as he will have two further entries to come and so will have 3 well placed series in my top 100, two of which he also draws... and this from someone I don't immediately think of myself as a big fan of!

I think in part this is due to how I came across his work. I became aware of Jeff Lemire through his mainstream work at DC and Marvel (I think, has he done Marvel work?) and it was all so okay. It was fine. Often good, never amazing. It was only after that I started to find his other works and I got Essex County as part of some Humble Bundle or other, having a vague awareness that it was seen as really good. When I got around to reading it, it was with a curiosity about how this lauded work would read to me given what I knew of him to that point - though I think I was reading one of his series that I'll get to later in this list by that point - and it blew me away.

Essex County was not what I was expecting from what I'd read of his mainstream work and even the works I'd read of his elsewhere. That in part might inform something of why I love these stories so much. Just as if I have expectations set high when I go into something. Or as I've said before, if I'm aware something is hyped and if I don't quite see why, regardless of how good it is, I find I might push against that. Is the opposite true as well. If I go in with limited expectations and what I'm reading defies that in ways I'm not ready for, might that elevate my enjoyment?

It's possible, but even if that's the case none of that takes away from how good Essex County is.

There still remains little pull to me for this other work, which seems odd, but there you go. What I have read of his creator owned work is generally really good, some bits amazing, such as Essex County, but he seems pulled to genre pieces that maybe aren't where I always see his strengths. Though we'll likely get into that more as we go on with this list.


Copyright - him what created it

Essex County is yet another example that makes contrast work and in doing so really works for me. Its themes and story feels both universal and personal. It's both wide in scope and intimate. Quiet and reflective yet speaks volumes. Whatever it is, well worth reading whatever else of Jeff Lemire's work you have read.

[Number 83 - Essex County - Part 2]

Number 83 - Essex County - Part 2


Copyright - him what created it

The second aspect I find so impressive is very specific. He draws solid men, so often ice hockey players, that feel so hard and beaten by life and yet with a vulnerability that belies their physical grandeur. While it's a very specific thing I notice it reveals something that runs across what he is able to do with his art. Firstly while his style could be said to be cartoony, almost caricature once you get into its rhythm it becomes very real and grounded. The faces he gives characters and I'll use those hardened men as the example here, can appear almost grotesque, yet they are immediately recognisable, they relate and reveal so much. I lose myself in his representations and just see these people, so often broken and bewildered. Their solid jaws and flattened noses give their history and the context in which they have lived their lives. Yet at the same time the lines that mark their faces reflect their worries and sadness behind that exterior presentation.

This carries on to the immaculate way he gives these same characters weight through their body language and the way they carry themselves. These big men, muscular and looming can present as intimidating and no nonsense when they need to. Quiet, hard men that I grew up with. Then in the next moment a slight stoop will be apparent in their postures, a sloping of their shoulders that give you the weight that they carry with them. I see in them that those broken hard faces have come at the cost and not just a physical one. Quiet, hard men so often mask the pain and worry they have to allow them to fit into the demands the world requires of them. The pretence they must maintain is a burden and one Lemire is so fantastically and subtly able to convey.

Once again we see how the very best comic artists are able to give the reader contrast and juxtaposition in a single image. They can use their art to display the contradictions we all have in a single frozen moment... with Jeff Lemire that just happens to strike me most with his old ice hockey veterans, or at least I can find a way to express it with those hard, quiet men, but he does it with all his characters.


Copyright - him what created it

Finally another aspect of how he presents character is an amazing 'trick' he seems to have mastered with the way he draws eyes. I mean they are apparently just so simple, black circles with a highlight, often, no detail, little variation in shape and form and yet they are incredibly soulful and penetrate into the characters and so into the reader of those characters. Quiet differences in placement, size and the eyebrows and lines around the eyes, so an attention to detail which works so well, rather than the number of intricate lines often used to present them (eyes) but mask them.

It's quite astonishing how with apparently so little he is able to give the reader so much. There's a depth presented in the simple, deep black circles he uses. They carry weight and importance. The fact that they are so simply realised means that those tiny subtle changes around the eyes hit with so much power. Their simplicity also makes them so relatable to the reader. There is little to distract us from what Lemire wants us to see, so we see it and are able to relate it to ourselves. Quite how he makes his eyes so soulful and powerful is astonishing. The work of a master of his craft with the apparent confidence to know what he is giving will allow the reader to get what they need.

[Number 83 - Essex County - Part 1]

Number 83 - Essex County - Part 1



Number 83 - Essex County

Keywords: Canada; Ice hockey; coming of age; graphic novel, not a graphic novel

Creators:
Writer - Jeff Lemire
Art - Jeff Lemire
Colours - Its in beautiful black and white baby

Publisher: Top Shelf

No. issues: 3 Graphic novels; collected into one bumper 500+ page collection
Date of Publication: 2008 - 2009 originally 2011 as a complete collection

Last read: 2016

I sometimes forget that Jeff Lemire's


Copyright - him what created it

was originally presented as three stand alone short stories. I forget 'cos those stories feel so perfectly bound together into a magnificent 500 page whole and work so much better as such... I assume, I've never read them separately but it's really hard for me to imagine doing so.

The three stories are all set in Essex County in Ontario Canada, though my understanding is that while the places are real, the history and specifics of the region are altered to support the story being told. Characters from each tale filter through the others, but each is distinct as a story and the connective tissue between them is really just in tone and theme. Largely how they deal with family. So while the stories are more closely linked than those in say Contract with God, each could still work perfectly in isolation.

The first story 'Tales from the farm' tells of Lester Papineau sent to live with his Uncle Ken after the death of his mother and with his father long since gone. The pair are united and separated in their grief at the loss of Lester's mum, who was Ken's sister. Lester forms a curious friendship with Jimmy, an ex hockey player, who suffered from a head injury and has a secret history with Ken and his family.

'Ghost Stories' the second tale slowly reveals the history of the relationship between two more ex-ice hockey players, in this instance brothers Lou and Vince. As we learn more about their pasts we learn about the course their lives took and the events that drove them apart.

Finally we meet Anne Quenneville. A Country Nurse who travels Essex County caring for people while also trying to care for her ageing mother who now lives in a nursing home. On her rounds she comes across characters from previous stories and through flashbacks reveals some history of Essex County. In many ways it's this story that brings everything together and unites the initially separate story into a whole.


Copyright - him what created it

While I primarily consider Jeff Lemire a writer I like, I feel I need to consider the impact of the art on Essex County first and foremost to start to unpick why I think Essex County is so good. His style doesn't strike me as something I instinctively gravitate to. It's loose and at first glance feels awkward and unrefined. That's so often something I would be drawn to, but in Lemire's case stylistically there's just something that doesn't leap off the page and draw me in. In fact when I flick through something by him I can find it a little off putting. Then as soon as I start reading I rapidly get beyond any supreficial concerns and quickly see the depth and power to his work. Any stylistic qualms I might have are washed away and I relax and enjoy the comfortable, expansive nature of what he's doing.

In Essex County that is particularly true, his art is just magnificent and so well constructed to carry the stories it holds. There's a few particular aspects of that I want to delve into. Firstly the way he creates open, sweeping landscapes that with apparently simple lines and brilliant use of white spaces he creates a cinematic feeling of wistfulness and isolation. By situating his character in these environments they are immediately given a lonely sadness that is really effective and often haunting. It gives me an emotional connection to the characters I can really relate to by the way they view the world around them, in the way Lemire places them in the world he drafts.

I find an interesting comparison to the way I discuss how Steve Yeowell opens up worlds in Red Seas (no.119). They both do so with similar choices in their use of white space and spare details but to very different effects. Yeowell does so to give epic scope and to add to the sense of wonder that Red Seas demands. In Essex County Lemire makes the space and landscape feel isolating giving a far more intimate emotional reaction to them. The comparison of common techniques (if different styles) to have such starkly different impacts is fascinating to me.