Dojo Classics - Ideas Are Bulletproof!

This is a re-post from last year, represented on this day for reasons which I suspect are all too apparent.

V for Vendetta is in my estimation Alan Moore's finest work. I know that Watchmen gets enormous attention and deservedly so, but it's always been this more relentlessly somber tale that's captured my fancy first and foremost. Perhaps it's because it all seems so very very real. V for Vendetta first ran in the magazine Warrior, where Moore partnered with David Lloyd created a dour vision of Britain run by Fascists and standing up to them was only a single man who refused to be just a man, but became a symbol of revolution.

The story survives because it found a home at DC Comics where thanks to the success of Watchmen, it has remained in print. I prefer it, but I think it doubtful this dour tale of a dark tomorrow would be so readily available if Alan Moore wasn't such a bankable name.

Despite the fact that Moore wouldn't put his name on the film version. The movie is exceedingly entertaining, if a bit more hyperbolic than the relentless comic story, but those are variations I think fitting to the form. V for Vendetta was written many years ago when it seemed that regressive forces were seizing command of the society, a retrograde movement which fought against the future, a future filled with greater liberties for a broader range of people. 

The story is about staying true to one's self when doing so is not just upsetting but possibly dangerous. Dangerous times are on us again alas and the words about Guy Fawkes have a resonance in these grim times. 

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot:

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

In these dystopic times, when leaders lie with abandon and plunder with little opposition, it might be moment indeed to reflect on such Second Amendment remedies. I don't recommend such drastic action, but we must always remember we are the masters of our own thoughts and so our own deeds. Two plus two is four and must ever be so.

New thoughts after this handsome cover gallery. 

As I write this we still do not have a new President (though that looks promising) and the Senate has not been turned out on its head for supporting the dangerous and dreadful acts and desires of the chief executive. I am woefully disappointed that at long last given the opportunity to fix our mistake, that we Americans have not taken full advantage of it. There has been no full repudiation of the behavior of the last four years. We have not turned aside the hateful rhetoric and behavior of  leaders intent on making "America Great Again" or to turn it on its head "America White Again". That's really what it's about in the rough and tumble, a longstanding racism which permeates American culture and always has done since the very birth of the nation. Demographics will eventually change the destiny of this land, but alas this pitiful land will go kicking and mewling into that future.  

Rip Off