they pulled off the one thing from the comic that I had figured was unadaptable

What's that (having not read the comic)?

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;

In the German Nazi era there was a event called Kristallnacht where a pogrom against Jews was carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces. The German authorities looked on without intervening.
Based on this there is this adaptation:

Remember, remember
The 9th of November
Broken glass, fire and plot
I know of no reason
Why our very own treason
Should ever be forgot

Like Rorschach (or any other character in Watchmen, really), V isn't supposed to be a role model.

If there's any role models in the novel or the film they could be inspector Finch or Evie (and in the film Gordon Deitrich), but even they are flawed people, and in Finch's and Deitrich's case start as collaborators of the regime.

V? As the title itself indicates, V isn't fighting for freedom, or justice, or to topple the fascist government. V's only objective, only reason for being, is vengeance. And not even vengeance against the Norsfire government, but against the specific people who hurt him at Larkhill.

Don't get me wrong, he clearly doesn't share Norsefire's views, especially when it comes to censorship and morality, but at the end, when he's achieved his objective, he leaves the decision of what to do with England to Evie.

Moore is a great writer, but he does tend to underestimate his readers' ability to stan for characters he specifically wrote not to be stanned for.