Less the heroes of our stories than the villains of some other bastard’s

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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

8 Comments

  1. Spoilers Below
    February 12, 2015 @ 5:44 am

    I always read V's bedtime story juxtaposition a little differently: the reason you can't stay in the Land of Do-As-You-Please is because you can murder people, which prevents them from doing as they please, thus ruining the premise of the entire Land.

    I've read many defenses of how an anarchist society would prevent such actions, but many come off as either horribly naive ("No one would want to murder in our utopia") or creating the same thing that anarchy is in direct opposition to ("We'll create a citizens council to track down and arrest/imprison/kill the murderer!"), in the latter case being essentially running back to mommy and daddy — appealing to or creating the kind of "higher authority" anarchism is usually opposed to.

    Of course, these seem to be the exact kinds of questions that V is meant to raise in the reader. His murder of Suttridge may be the most compassionate of all of them, but he still kills her for what she did to him. The mere absence of laws or authority wouldn't completely erase historical hatreds anymore than their enactment completely prevents them. Is it inevitable that "true anarchy" is a temporary condition, that we must always leave the Land of Do-As-You-Please due to scarcity, emotions, accidents?

    Moore even says something to this effect in a 2009 interview with Margaret Killjoy: "I believe that all other political states are in fact variations or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared that it is not an anarchist situation – that it is a capitalist or a communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice."

    No doubt one of the other commentators who is better informed in anarchist philosophy and politics can discuss this point better.

    Reply

  2. Spoilers Below
    February 12, 2015 @ 5:46 am

    Bah, that should read "Surridge", not "Suttridge". Silly lack of an edit button.

    Reply

  3. BerserkRL
    February 12, 2015 @ 5:53 am

    a psychotic man named Howard Bates in 1957 who adopts Night Raven’s identity and starts murdering people he believes to be communists while Night Raven himself is semi-amnesiac and reeling from Yi Yang’s poison

    So there's precedent for what Fabian Nicieza did to Anarky; interesting.

    Reply

  4. Eric Gimlin
    February 12, 2015 @ 8:34 am

    I still find that house name of "Maxwell Stockbridge" one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen, more because it's such a bizarrely obscure joke for where it appeared rather than the joke itself.

    I have a real fondness for Night Raven in general; although most of the pre-Moore text stories are pretty disposable. And at least one or two cross the line to appalling.

    Reply

  5. Hobus
    February 12, 2015 @ 4:35 pm

    Dredd is the Law. Dredd under will.
    Do-As-You-Please shall be the whole of the Law.

    Reply

  6. Daru
    February 13, 2015 @ 6:22 am

    Never heard of Night Raven before, so thanks for this.

    Reply

  7. Matthew Blanchette
    February 13, 2015 @ 4:09 pm

    There's a person actually named "Killjoy"? :-/

    Reply

  8. Antoine VGmai
    February 22, 2015 @ 3:31 pm

    I really like the Night Raven text stories I've read. I have slowly been able to acquire most of them, either through scans or back issues. I'm only missing two (the ones that appeared in Savage Action #14-15). I'm looking forward to finally reading the whole thing someday!

    Reply

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