We3

We3
Cover artwork to the We3 trade paperback. Art by Frank Quitely.
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo
Format	Miniseries
Publication date	2004
No. of issues	3
Main character(s)	Bandit Tinker Pirate
Creative team
Written by	Grant Morrison
Artist(s)	Frank Quitely Jamie Grant

We3 is a three-issue comic book miniseries by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, who describe its kinetic style as "Western Manga". It was published in 2004 by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, with a trade paperback released in 2005.

Plot

Template:Spoiler The story follows the journey of We3, which is a squad of three prototype "animal weapons" as they flee captivity. Their escape was engineered by their trainer, and follows the decision to terminate them, in preparation for expanding the project of which they are a part. The group consists of a dog "Bandit" a.k.a. "1", a cat "Tinker" a.k.a. "2", and the rabbit "Pirate" a.k.a. "3", who were all kidnapped from a nearby city and encased in robotic armor. They were also given the ability to speak through implants in their skulls; this ability is, however, severely limited - as one scientist notes, "don't expect the sonnets of Shakespeare". The armor in which the animals are encased also fields numerous weapons, including mine laying devices, machine guns and razor claws.

As We3 break free and try to find their way home, the US Air Force attempts to capture them before anyone can find out about the Animal Weapons program. We3 are pursued by helicopter gunships and troops on foot, but their weaponry and fighting skill is vastly superior and they dispatch all soldiers sent against them with apparent ease. In desperation, the military and scientific personnel charged with We3's recapture release a swarm of cybernetically enhanced rats, themselves prototypes within the Animal Weapon program. Once again the effort fails - We3 evade the verminous pursuit, destroying a railway bridge (and a train passing across it) in the process.

We3 reach a city and encounter a father and son out hunting with their own pet dog. Shocked by the appearance of the cybernetic animals, the father opens fire on the rabbit with a shotgun, wounded it severely and damaging its speech implant. 1 and 2 immediately attack and kill the hunters, an act for which 1 later exhibits great remorse. Following this, We3 encounter Weapon 4, a mastiff encased in similar armor to theirs, which was intended to represent the next stage of the program. Weapon 4 kills the rabbit, but not before it is grievously damaged by the latter's mines. 1 and 2, teaming up, fight the mastiff, which is terminated by its handlers when, maddened after being blinded by the cat, it threatens to kill a police officer.

Exhausted and desperate, 1 and 2 make their way into a construction site. The damage they have sufferd (1 especially, the cat managing to survive all their travails relatively unscathed) awakens them to the truth that their armor suits are not intrinsically part of themselves, and can be discarded. They rid themselves of their exo-skeletons, which are approaching a point of critical instability; an army patrol arrives in time for the suits to explode, killing them all. Meanwhile, 1 and 2 have escaped to a tumbledown basement where they are encountered and adopted by a homeless man. The story's final scene sees the dog and cat sat with their new owner on the steps of a courthouse where one of the scientists is preparing to testify before a commission about the Animal Weapon program.

About the series

We3 was nearly unanimously praised by critics, who particularly celebrated Quitely's experimentation with panel layout and page design. For example, Quitely's action scenes often depicted a large primary image overlaid with dozens of tiny panels showing extreme close-ups of individual actions. Morrison's characterization (the title characters are sympathetic, despite their limited communicative abilities) and pro-animal rights stance also attracted praise.

Movie adaptation

New Line Cinema is in the process of signing We3 as a movie project. Morrison is in negotiations to write the script, while Don Murphy, Susan Montford and Rick Benattar are attached as producers. If the film is made, the cybernetic animals would be completely computer-generated.

Trivia

• Prior to his work on We3, Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men stated that the X in the Weapon X Program stood for the roman form for "10", with Captain America being Weapon One, and Wolverine being the original Weapon Ten. Weapons Two, Three and Four were revealed to be animal experiments.
• Doctor Trendle, the project director that spearheads the We3 program, is based physically on animation director Hayao Miyazaki.[1]

External links

• "Disney With Fangs" - Morrison on We3
• "New Line takes on We3 killer cuties"
• "New Line looking to sign We3, Morrison"
• We3 at Vertigo.
• Review by Matthew Craig at Ninthart.com
• Review by Greg McElhatton at ReadAboutComics.com
• Review by Richmond Clements for the Fortean Times