Thursday, June 16, 2011

WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

Many things have been said about Grant Morrison's writing.  He is known as a genius who is so in love with all the crazy ideas in his head that he forgets to make it understandable to the average reader.  In some cases the reader has to read one of his stories 3 or 4 times before they start understanding the story.  For that reason some fans will not read his books.  I am of the group who feels anything that Morrison writes is an automatic buy.


WE3 is one of Morrison's most accessible stories.  It is a good one to introduce to a new reader.  Morrison and Quitely have done their version of the "Homeward Bound" type movie.  This is the story of  a dog, a cat, and a rabbit who only want to go home.  With Morrison involved, the story is not quite that simple.  In this situation, the animals are part of a weapon's project developed by the military.  When they decide it is time to shut them down, the trio tries to find the legendary place of safety that is called home.  Unfortunately for them the military unleashes Weapon 4.  It's mission is to destroy Weapon 3.  It is almost impossible to not sympathize with Weapon 3 as these cute animals in cybernetic war suits try to find sanctuary.  


I do not want to forget the art by Frank Quitely.  He makes the animals sympathetic even when they are killing people.  The expressions he draws on the animals' faces is unparalleled.  Quitely is also a master at depicting an amazing degree of detail on the action scenes.  Numerous bullets are flying at their target and it looks like you can see every one.  


Fans of great character work or military science fiction will like this book.


Highly recommended.

1 comment:

adamosf said...

I have never been a big Grant Morrison fan, going back to his Justice League days. To me he always seemed more interested in writing specific scenes with little concern for continuity or detailed plotting. Enjoyable reading, but I never thought he deserved to be ranked with Gaiman or Moore.