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October 29, 2004
Subway Reading: We3 and Strange
We3 #2 - Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely could collaborate on a fax machine user manual and I would buy it. Luckily they're working on something more interesting: the limited series We3. The main characters in this title are a cat, a dog, and a bunny rabbit who have been transformed into talking half-animal, half-cyborg war machines by a secret army research program. When the government threatens to shut the program down, sympathetic research team member Lucy frees the 3 animals and they escape into the world, battle armor and all.
It would be easy to dismiss this series as a simple statement against animal testing by an avowed vegetarian. While that is undeniably an element of this book, there is much more going on. Morrison shows us the cruel and destructive nature of man, but his human characters also demonstrate nurturing and caring. The same can be said for the animals: they kill and kill and kill some more, not just in self-defense but also for survival. Like the best kinds of allegorical subtext-laden stories, this one does not hammer the reader over the head with a viewpoint or lesson. It exposes many facets of the man vs. nature conflict and forces the reader to confront them on his or her own.
The characterization in this book is extraordinary. If animals could speak, they probably wouldn't have a lot to say about the Red Sox or the Election. Morrison's 1, 2, and 3 (the creatures' names) are concerned with their next meal, survival, and most importantly, home. The dog's optimism about their goal ("go home") plays against the cat's pessimism ("2 say IS no home") beautifully. The dog dearly wants to be accepted as "Gud dog" while the cat could care less about pleasing the "Ssstink boss" (Now I can't help but think that's my cat's name for me: Stink Boss). Watching the dog castigate himself for failing his compatriot later in the book, by hanging his head and muttering "Bad dog," tugs the heartstrings just as much as his effort to be a "Gud dog" by saving the man in the river. The reveal that Morrison & Quitely pull off in that sequence, by the way, is perfectly done.
Speaking of Quitely, the art in this book is among the best on the racks today. He is one of the few comic artists who is able to use a thin pen line and restrain himself from skritchy-scratch noodling (see my Strange #2 review). The design of the animals' armor is cool but also convincing. The panel layouts in the action sequences - featuring dozens of mini-panels floating over splash panels - communicate the grisly violence clearly and effectively. The outdoor landscapes are exquisite. Little touches, such as the rabbit foot dangling from the rear-view mirror of the humvee attacking the animals, complete the package.
The only bad thing about this series is that it will only be 3 issues long. It's in the running for limited series of the year. 5 stars.
Strange #2 - To: Brandon Peterson. Re: Your art on Strange #2. You're a good artist, Brandon. You've got chops, as they say. Very consistent and distinctive characters, convincing 3-D space, interesting anatomy with a kind of John Romita Jr. feel. But the noodling! It's choking the life out of the final product. Stop yourself, man. Just put down the crow-quill and back away from the bristol board. Nice and easy. There, isn't that better? I know you rose to prominence in the heyday of the Image house-style. You've risen far above that clenched-teeth, squinty-eyed, footless morass. Now it's time to shed that last vestige, which is the unnecessary hatching. You can do it.
--SPOILERS WARNING--
The writing in Strange #2... capable, engaging, but not extraordinary. I do like the element of Stephen Strange being torn away from his comfortable surgical career by mangling his hands. The ineffective yet expensive traditional medical treatments that he seeks out simultaneously take away his fortune and build up his disillusionment with modern medicine. It's done well, but I can't help but feel that it's something we've seen a million times before. All in all, this series has a lot of potential but a ways to go before it realizes that potential. 3 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at October 29, 2004 10:12 AM