I know who V is. He's not anyone, and that's the point.

He's not  representation of a real-life person, He's not Evey's father, He may not even be the guy in cell V at Larkhill.

He is V, Evey is V.

You could be V. That's the point.

lay 10 dollars down

V for Vendetta, Book Two

Then things went to hell in a handbasket. But that's usually where things go, when you think they can't get any worse. Isn't it?

Book 1: Europe after the War. A specific time and place. Specific events. V was, to me anyway, a specific person. I was on his side. Sure, he was a cold-blooded serial killer, but I believed in what he stood for.

Book 2: The Vicious Cabaret. Perhaps he's not a who, perhaps he's a what. Before it seemed like a strategic political plot, now I wonder if V is not a completely insane guy playing an elaborate game. One where no one wins.

After what he did to Evey, I don't know if I can be on his side anymore. Maybe he taught her an important lesson. But I can't get behind that.

I suppose V has always been more of a concept that a person, even if he does have a specific history. What does V mean to you?

9 in the afternoon

V for Vendetta, Book 1

I did not like Watchmen. This is why: I don't like superheroes, messed up or otherwise. And I know why this is as well: I have no imagination. I cannot suspend belief long enough to enjoy special powers or anything like that. I read a lot as a kid. I read exclusively historical fiction. This is the truth. And therefore, I love V for Vendetta.



This summer, I read 1984 for the first time. I had decided that everyone had read it except me and that I was somehow missing out. I figured that, as an English major, it was one of those books that I was supposed to have read somewhere along the line. And so I read it on my lunch breaks while working at JCPenney (where Every Day Matters).

When I read V for Vendetta, I feel like I am reading 1984 again. Crazy leader. Intense slogans. Government organizations watching you. Anarchist and his stumbled-upon female co-anarchist. But this time, we have the elements of Nazism as well, down to the salute. Concentration camps holding Jews, blacks, and homosexuals. Gross scientific experiments.





It's an odd intersection of two ideologies. The leader of this new England claims that he is a fascist. Nazis hated fascists, right?

So much is going on that I can't even begin to make any guesses or come to any conclusions, except for this: England prevails.

8 days a week

vs.


Me: Mommy, mommy, Scott McCloud called me stupid.
Mom: Did you call him a name first?
Me: No. All I did is express doubt that comics are "art."
McCloud: You're stupid! There are those who ask the question, "can comics be art?" It's a really STUPID question!

Of course, in order to go along with Scott McCloud on his string of theories at the beginning of Chapter 7, one has to agree that art is anything that doesn't help in either eating or making babies. Unfortunately, I don't agree.

If I draw a stick figure, it doesn't aid me in either one of these pursuits. But is it art? No way!
I think there has to be some level of talent to be taken into consideration.

Of course, comic artists are extremely talented and I'm quite sure that I could never do what they do. But is it on the same level as, let's say, the Mona Lisa?

I say no. Maybe comics are art, but all art is not created equal.

So far, we have met two variants of the superhero:
In our Wikis, it is the superheroes that many have come to know and love.
In Watchmen, it is their dark underbellies.

I now offer you a third type of superhero.

6 times a week and twice on a sunday

I know that some people in our class have expressed a dislike of McCloud. The problem seems to be that he's really good at telling us what we already know.

This is true: Most of the stuff in McCloud is stuff that, after I think about it, I probably could have figured it out on my own. The problem is that I've never thought about any of this information before.

After I thought about it, I realized I had known all along that there is a difference between an angry line and a happy line, between a tear drop and a symbol of rage. But I appreciate McCloud not for informing me of this sort of thing for the first time, but for informing me of the fact that I had already known it.

5

Who is Rorschach?

At first he seems like a man that time has passed up. His speech bubbles are just as tattered around the edges as the yellowed pages of his diary. He seems politically reactionary, sees everything in black and white, and there is a distinct feeling that he believes everything was better in the past.

On the other hand, he is almost militantly apocalyptic. The end of the world is nigh.

And while he seems to see things the most concretely out of all the characters, his characterization is also the most ambiguous. Dr. Manhattan? Manhattan Project. Atomic bomb. Nite Owl? Oh, is costume looks like an owl.

But Rorschach? That isn't anything concrete. In fact it's just the opposite. The Rorschach test is that crazy inkblot test psychiatrists have you look at to determine whether or not you're absolutely out of your mind. Which would explain his mask, white with a giant ink blot where his face would be. Is he crazy? Or is he the only sane one? What about me? What about you? What about us all?




Who watches the watchmen?