V for Vendetta’s Iconic Mask Started Out as a Joke

In the 1980s, V for Vendetta presented its central revolutionary character, V, behind a mask inspired by the historical British figure Guy Fawkes. According to writer Alan Moore, artist David Lloyd anticipated skepticism when he pitched the Fawkes-based design for V. Instead, Moore immediately saw the brilliance of the idea, with the tale of Guy Fawkes coming to inform the character in every way, beyond just his visual style.

In an interview with BBC4 for their Comics Britannia documentary series, Alan Moore discussed the early development of V for Vendetta, which was originally published as a serial in the comic book anthology magazine Warrior, then being republished as a ten-issue limited series, before finally being collected in a single volume.

The idea for V’s iconic look originated with artist David Lloyd, and Moore immediately saw the possibilities it offered. As he noted in his Comic Britannia appearance, “it played well into the kind of thinking that was already starting to develop” about the story.

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V’s Mask Gave “Vendetta” A Vital Connection To British History

The historical Guy Fawkes was executed in 1606, after being apprehended as part of an attempted assassination – later known as the “Gunpowder Plot” – of England’s King James I. Fawkes name, and the memory of his fate, endured in British cultural memory for centuries afterward, thanks to the date of his capture becoming a celebrated holiday, along with folk poems and tales about the plot. The failed assassin’s notoriety was also aided by contemporary illustrations of Fawkes, which portrayed the visually distinct look that David Lloyd and Alan Moore would later appropriate for V for Vendetta.

In his Comics Britannia interview, Moore admitted that Lloyd brought up Guy Fawkes, “almost as a joke,” before adding: “I don’t think he expected me to go along with it.” Instead of doubt, or dismissal, however, Lloyd’s idea was enthusiastically embraced. As a result, what would become a piece of revolutionary iconography recognized world-wide found its way onto the page. “As soon as I saw it, I saw that this was genius,” Moore explained. “It was connecting to this whole British mythology. There was something so British, and so striking, about that iconic image.“

V For Vendetta’s Imagery Has Been Adopted By Real Radicals & Activists

In recent years, Alan Moore has had a contentious relationship with the comic book industry, to say the least. He has fully “disowned” his most famous stories, including V for Vendetta. He may have disinherited the legacy of V, but it must be recognized as one of the most direct, impactful contributions of a comic book story on culture, not just in Britain, or the U.S., but worldwide. While it achieved this through its complicated translation to the screen, the proliferation of David Lloyd’s mask design as a counterculture symbol has become familiar to people on a global level.

The V mask has become synonymous with activism and protest, echoing the themes of the original series. By representing V as a modern Guy Fawkes, Moore and Lloyd made him a symbol. This is not unlike what the complex central character in V for Vendetta seeks to do with himself. In turn, this same process is recognizable in the popularization of the mask in the decades since the Wachowski sisters’ big-screen adaptation of V for Vendetta came out in 2005. What may have started as a “joke,” has come to be a serious signifier of resistance in contemporary culture.

Source: Comics Britannia, BBC4