V for Vendetta: A not-so-wretched happy rainbow land of wonder and splendor and puppies.

Honestly, I couldn't see V for Vendetta as anything else besides a graphic novel. Well, except a movie of course. But even then, something essential seems to be lost in the translation. After watching the movie for the first time, I thought it was great, even groundbreaking. But now, after reading the graphic novel, I think that maybe it shouldn't have ever been made. The book is so rife with meaning, so wonderfully different from anything else that it just seems special.

Part of it, of course, is the art. It's wonderful. It allows for the literature to be theatrical without the necessity of adding in the cliches that accompany movies. For instance, the main antagonist isn't all that evil. In no movie will you find an antagonist that at the end you think he doesn't deserve his fate. The art allows you to feel what the characters are feeling, without some narrator twit telling you what to feel. You can see the pain, the joy, the pure hatred in these character's eyes, their faces, their general demeanor. It's just fantastic.

When a character is moved from book to screen, there can never be a perfect translation. Editors, directors, and others tend to chop up a character and take the parts they like. And of course there's always political correctness to consider. With a graphic novel, the artist works right beside the author, so the author's vision can be realized in full. I could go on and on about why a graphic novel is a better medium for V for Vendetta, but it would be useless. I'm just too right for it to matter anymore.