Tuesday Comics: WE3

Sunday Comics is a weekly feature where I spotlight awesome comics that you may want to check out.

The Comic: WE3


By: Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly

Type: Graphic Novella

Content Rating: R. For violence. Very graphic violence.

Plot:On the times I've had to explain this one, I've found the quickest way to describe it was "Homeward Bound with machine guns." Yes, you read that sentence entirely correctly. WE3 deals with a quirky little government experiment called the "Animal Weapons Project," where a set of kidnapped household pets--the dog, Bandit, renamed "1;" the cat, Ginger, renamed "2;" and the cute little bunny, Pirate, renamed "3"--have been encased in and bonded to special mechanized armor that allows them, paired with training, to act as very powerful, obedient, and stealthy covert soldiers. But they're only prototypes, the first of their kind, and though their missions assassinating small-time dictators have been successful, the Animal Weapons Project has moved on to more advanced units, with animals that are actually genetically bred for the job. It's time to "decommission" WE3, as this group is collectively called...in other words, put them down, to make room for the new soldiers. But their researcher and personal trainer, Dr. Barr, has grown too attached to them to allow that and instead, against direct orders, sets them free. Now 1, 2, and 3 are lost and confused in the outside world, possessing means of self-defense no animal should have...surface-to-air missiles, machine guns, deadly hails of needles, bombs, poisonous gas, not to mention self-destruct mechanisms capable of leveling the average house. It's up to the army and Dr. Barr to find, reclaim, and kill WE3 before they can reach the general public, but...how do you do that to a group of confused and frightened animals that are so amply equipped and trained?

Personal thoughts:I'm going to reiterate the content warning here just for good measure: this is the most violent graphic novel I've ever laid eyes on, and I've seen some fairly squint-worthy stuff. If you don't handle depictions of violence well, please don't try to torture yourself and plow through this book. I totally understand. That aside, if you can deal with the violence, or at least briefly examine, squint, shudder and move on, as I did, you'll find an actually pretty interesting little tale. 1, 2, and 3 are capable of speech, though they're far from cartoony talking animals...Morrison and Quietly have given them their own sort of language composed of a blend of simple words and phrases, abbreviations, and leetspeak (and here and there, a touch of lolcat, before lolcats existed) that feels very...well, appropriate to a cybernetically-enhanced animal. A lot is said with a little...the animals have limited but fully-expressed personalities and emotions that still manage to come out through dialogue and body language. It is also technically a tale of animal rights and animal cruelty, but never felt preachy, overbearing, or guilting at any point. Whether you care much for animals or not, if you can take some blood and guts and want to read some unconventional science fiction, this is a good afternoon read. It looks silly, I know (how can you look at the cover art, pictured above, and not at least crack a small smile), but by the end you'll see those former pets as anything but silly.

Also, since this was gonna be an Easter post, I figured the pastel colours and presence of a bunny would work nicely for that. BONUS POINTS.

Holden Out.