5 out of 5

I’ve reread We3 many, many times, and pushed it on many people who probably aren’t prepared for such grisly animal-on-animal and animal-on-man violence.  I stand by it as a testament to the abilities of comics to tell stories uniquely (beyond just pictures and words) and how important a strong relationship between author and artist can be.  5 out of 5, yes?  But I do want to note that upon every sifting through of these three issues, I do sense a sort of wraparound logic on Morrison’s behalf, the tale obviously in-line with his vegetarian save-the-whales lifestyle but then somewhat glorifying animal superpowers at the same time.  And it’s a “lot of stuff happens” / “nothing happens” book, where the three issues were maybe perfunctory to sit with a loose 3-animal structure and to fall happily in line with the other 3-issue series Morrison dropped for Vertigo at the same time (Seaguy, Vimanarama…).  I can see Grant planning his trilogy of trilogies gleefully, then mapping the arc of each story, not fully acknowledging that he might not need all of those pages to tell this tale.  But it does give Quitely so much room to detail his unbelievable artwork.

We3 is a “cautionary” story about weaponized animals – cybernetic grafts used to allow them to understand rudimentary commands – a project funded by the military, represented in its usual one-sidedness of trying to find the most expendable and easy option to kill things.  In the first issue, the scientist in charge of training the 3 initial subjects – a bunny, a cat, a dog – gets a last minute conscience and allows for their escape.  Cue bloody chases where rabbits poop out explosive bombs.

In a way, the pitch is – what’s the opposite of a funny animal book?  Because though we have our ‘talking’ animals, Grant twists it by playing up each animal’s generalized personality – the eager to please dog, the slinky cat, the nervous rabbit – to interesting applications as weapons, having artist Frank Quitely divvy up some robot suits that highlight how these relative innocents can be easily turned against any given target, without falling back on cheesy “robot-controlled” tropes like eyes that suddenly turn red and someone chanting “destroy”.

When the government whips out the “untested” animal to track down our first three, things get especially over-the-top questionable in terms of mixing violence and the ethical point of the book, but that heightened sensation is there from the start, so… yeah.

But still: 5 out of 5.  Beyond these ‘issues’ with the general structure, there’s this amazing experience of art and story (there’s very little dialogue), and while I chide Grant for stretching this to three issues, he and Quitely do an unmatched job of sequencing incredibly complicated chases and action bits without any words or sound effects, in tiny, ‘Dark Knight’ style boxes layered over larger tableus… but unlike books that just wow you with the art, there’s some type of passion moving the whole thing that can only occur when the writer knows what he or she wants to be expressed between the panels.  Morrison has, of course, some flubs in his career.  He has better stories than We3.  And worse ones, and more experimental ones, and more straight-forward ones.  And despite my difficulty adjusting to his rise to “everything guy” with 52, I cannot – would not – deny the genius gears ticking away in his brain.  You look at Invisibles and think Grant’s crazy.  You look at We3, say “wow” to Quitely, and then find yourself studying each beat and motion to understand what’s going on.  And you get it, because you have two masters making sure you do.