When the above film based on Moore’s 1988 graphic novel series came out in 2006, it immediately struck a chord with me. (See my review here and later reflections in the light of the Arab spring here.) I felt that it would become a cultural icon and so it has proved, with the Guy Fawkes mask becoming a ubiquitous symbol of popular uprising against an entrenched oligarchy.

Moore reflects on how the ideas for his book and the iconic mask emerged.

It would seem that the various tectonic collapses deep in the structure of our economic and political systems have triggered waves of kinetic energy which are rolling through human populations rather than through their usual medium of seawater.

It also seems that our character’s charismatic grin has provided a ready-made identity for these highly motivated protesters, one embodying resonances of anarchy, romance, and theatre that are clearly well-suited to contemporary activism, from Madrid’s Indignados to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Our present financial ethos no longer even resembles conventional capitalism, which at least implies a brutal Darwinian free-for-all, however one-sided and unfair. Instead, we have a situation where the banks seem to be an untouchable monarchy beyond the reach of governmental restraint, much like the profligate court of Charles I.
…
As for the ideas tentatively proposed in that dystopian fantasy thirty years ago, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that whatever usefulness they afford modern radicalism is very satisfying.

Moore’s reflections, in which he gives some historical background to the Guy Fawkes story, are worth reading in full.