I can't add much to James Wolcott's article about "V For Vendetta"...
http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2006/02/the_red_and_the.php...except to say, I can't believe I'm even seeing the trailer on TV, with the line “people shouldn’t be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people.” These days, with The Virgin Ben and other reightwinger scumbags screaming for the jailing of all Bush-dissenters, that's a jawdropper.
For all the things DC Comics is doing wrong these days--right now they're going through their semi-annual "screw everything up, kill everyone off, then hit the reset button" continuity-enema festivities for the umpteenth time--at least they've been fighting the good fight in politics. Lex Luthor stole an election to become president of the United States, then launched a phony war against a Middle-Eastern country to give him a bully pulpit to swiftboat and outlaw anyone to opposed him...AKA The Good Guys. (And that was long BEFORE Bush's numbers went into free-fall.)
Saturday, it leaked into
cartoon superhero antics with "Justice League Unlimited." JLU has already used and discarded the Lex-As-President angle, but in the latest episode, "Patriot Act," a top military officer, fearing the "metahumans" threaten his own power, doses himself with a leftover WWII monster-serum (a combination parody of Captain America and the Hulk called "The Captain Nazi Project"--!!) and goes looking to start a fight with Superman.
All the major superpowered heroes are off saving the universe, so The General is confronted by seven "normal" heroes who get their powers from technology or magic. He totally stomps their asses, only to be pushed back by civilians before running off.
Now, it's not a great work of art by any means. JLU is too often a horrible mishmash of background-free superheroes piled together for some long, pointless, poorly-written fight scene, and "Patriot Act" is a perfect example. It's the "I can't believe they're doing this...and getting away with it!" political-message factor that wows me.
Points of interest:
--The General (unlike his opponents) doesn't give a damn about civilian casualties, spouting the usual tripe about "breaking eggs to make an omelet" and "acceptable losses." You know, the same stuff you hear from Rummy and company. Even when faced with the undeniable wrongness of his actions, he declares that one day, everyone will realize he was right.
--His opponents are a politically-mixed bag: the archliberal Green Arrow (who has expressed similar concerns about metahumans in the past) and Speedy, Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry-fan Vigilante, fellow gun-nut Crimson Avenger, the very-conservative Shining Knight (who puts up the hardest fight against The General), and Stars and Stripes. They have their personal differences, but naturally stand together against the obvious greater threat.
--Just in case someone didn't grasp the intent of the title "Patriot Act," a little old lady stands up to The General while he's ranting about how he's protecting America (while hurting civilians in the process) and tells him to "drop the act." XD
Sorry, reightwingers: in the media propaganda war "There's A Liberal Under My Bed!" doesn't stand a damned chance.