We3

I guess I’ve just been in the mood for bizarre comics recently, and WE3 certainly fits that description. This ain’t no funny animal book. Instead, it’s a gritty, near-future, science fiction yarn about three pets – a dog, a cat, and a rabbit – that are kidnapped by the government and bio-engineered so that they can operate heavily-armored and heavily-armed battle suits, the purpose of this experiment being to see if someday animal armies might be able to replace human ones. But, as always happens in stories like this, Something Goes Wrong. The animals, who can now speak and refer to themselves as 1, 2, and 3, get loose, and the government tries to hunt them down before they can hurt any civilians and/or expose the experiment to the public. As you might imagine, bloody chaos ensues.

I wouldn’t recommend WE3 to everybody. Grant Morrison’s story and Frank Quitely’s art are rather disturbing at times. But they generate a lot of suspense and more than a few poignant moments, too, especially if you’re an animal lover like I am. And no matter how you think this story is going to end, you’re probably wrong. I know I was. Overall, this is one of the best graphic novels I’ve read in quite a while, and while I say again that it won’t be for everybody, I really liked it.