Older readers start here. It’s fiction’s future

The Costa judges have caught up with graphic novels. But they are only one way that storytelling is changing

No question as to what has been fiction’s biggest seller in the past few years. Step forward E. L. James. But which novel, of the thousands that pulse out each year, has had most political impact?

You could argue that Fifty Shades has triggered a sexual counter-revolution (back into your kitchen, Germaine) and some stimulating new toys in the bedroom. But the one that has had the most explosive presence on the streets is a graphic novel from 1989 by the writer Alan Moore and the illustrator David Lloyd. V for Vendetta gave us the mask that became iconic in the Occupy events in the City and Wall Street.

Moore is a full-blown anarchist. V for Vendetta has such thoughts for the day as “with