V for Variety

Yesterday saw the DVD release of V for Vendetta, the film "based on the Graphic Novel Illustrated by David Lloyd and Published by VERTIGO/DC COMICS" (so-labeled because scribe Alan Moore chose to take his name off of the film - and insisted that co-creator David Lloyd be given Moore's own share of the profits).

I won't provide a detailed review of the film here - suffice it to say that (a) visually, it captures much of the feel of the original comic; (b) as Lloyd has said, it's "about 80%" faithful to the original; and (c) on its own, it makes for a somewhat thought-provoking, fairly entertaining (if violent) 133 mins.

Anyone interested in purchasing the DVD will immediately realize that "V" stands not only for "Vendetta" but for "Variety." So far I've found at least five different releases for this film:

1 & 2: Your typical bare-bones single disc release, either in widescreen or full screen (also known as the "why bother" format);

3: The "Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition";

4: The Best Buy stores exclusive release, which comes boxed with not just four small poster reproductions, but also a Guy Fawkes mask replica, of a size suitable for your housecat's next Halloween costume;

and 5: The Target stores exclusive edition. Frankly, I never find a "special lenticular motion outer sleeve" to be a real purchase incentive. What might be, though, is the enclosed 64-page graphic novel sampler, reproducing the contents of the first two issues of the ten-issue DC comic book. I think this is a great idea - I'm sure many (most) of the people who saw the film in the theater hadn't read the comic; those who read this sampler, though, are more likely to seek out the original text. (It appears Target does not offer this version via its website; you'd have to access one of their brick-and-mortar interfaces.)

Several comic-book movies have been including tie-in comics with their higher-end DVD releases. I'm all for it: Anything that gets people to read the original text is OK with me.

Filed in:

• gn
• Alan-Moore
• David-Lloyd
• marketing
• dvd
• audience