Sunday, July 28, 2013

WE3; Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely

 WE3 is a three issue Vertigo comic that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely did years ago, that was also collected in an oversized graphic novel. WE3 is the story of three animals that have been bio-engineered for military use as weapons.

I remembered liking WE3 much more when I read it when it first came out in comic form. Re-reading it today, I don't think as a story it really works on any level and ultimately it's just a great showcase of how cinematic and kinetic Frank Quitely's art is. WE3 is widely regarded as a great sad story, but in retrospect, I think if people want a really good sad animal story, read Richard Adams' Plague Dogs (which was also made into a great sad animated movie - Adams is most known for Watership Down). I guess the entire premise of WE3, using a cat, dog, and rabbit and turning them into killing machines was too ridiculous for me today, even though this ridiculous premise may have been Morrison's way of showing just how ridiculous a lot of the thinking that goes on with making killing machines / weapons is. WE3 also reads waaaay to fast for a $24.99 graphic novel, but again, it does show what a master storyteller of an artist Frank Quitely is. 

I really expected that WE3 was going to be my favorite of the three graphic novels I revisited today, between that, Black Summer, and Courtney Crumrin, but I'd say out of the three, Courtney Crumrin was the best.

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