Select delivery location
See All Buying Options
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Grant Morrison
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

We3 Paperback – July 1, 2005

by Grant Morrison (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 649 ratings
See all formats and editions
Writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely deliver the emotional journey of WE3 - three house pets weaponized for lethal combat by the government - as they search for "home" and ward off the shadowy agency that created them.

With nervous systems amplified to match their terrifying mechanical exoskeletons, the members of Animal Weapon 3 (WE3) have the firepower of a battalion between them. But they are just the program's prototypes, and now that their testing is complete, they're slated to be permanently "decommissioned," causing them to seize their one chance to make a desperate run for freedom. Relentlessly pursued by their makers, the WE3 team must navigate a frightening and confusing world where their instincts and heightened abilities make them as much a threat as those hunting them - but a world, nonetheless, in which somewhere there is something called "home."
Previous page
  1. Part of Series
    We3
  2. Print length
    104 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Vertigo
  5. Publication date
    July 1, 2005
  6. Dimensions
    7 x 0.25 x 10.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1401204953
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1401204952
  9. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bandit, Tinker and Pirate are three pets who just want to go home. This collection of Vertigo's three-issue release tells the tale of a dog, a cat and a rabbit, who, like their Incredible Journey–style forebears, work together as they travel through a hostile human world. The difference here is in the awful loss of innocence wreaked by human ingenuity upon the animals. They've been bioengineered to act as military killing machines, but, as the covers reveal, they started out as house pets, and readers will feel heart-tugging empathy even as the former pets are driven to acts of shocking violence while escaping from the military. Morrison, perhaps the greatest writer in comics today, endows his animals with synthesized cyborg speech in which they express their most basic desires for warmth, food and love, as well as their attempts to process their unnatural capacities for violence. "Bad dog," Bandit repeatedly scolds himself after taking down yet another soldier. Quitely's art consists of lucid images of mayhem and sweetness that, in the most impressive spreads, fractalize to express the way these animals "experience time and motion differently." It's a groundbreaking and bravura performance. This is Morrison's most accessible tale ever, and one that is destined to be a classic. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up–This title reads a bit like Robocop meets Homeward Bound meets the final scene of The Wild Bunch. In it, animals are being transformed into intelligent experimental weapons, and three in particular are trained to work together as a team known as WE3. When the animals formerly known as Bandit the dog, Tinker the cat, and Pirate the rabbit are decommissioned and condemned to death, their doctor/trainer decides to let them escape. What follows is a series of action-packed and heartbreaking chase and fight scenes between the lethal animals and the United States military. The artwork is innovative and breathtaking, and there are several pages without text. While this requires some concentration, those who take time to look carefully at all of the images will witness an amazing story. This book pulls no punches; sensitive readers will be moved to tears, and animal lovers might be moved to put the book down for a while before picking it up again. The violence is often graphic, but those who wade through all the blood will be rewarded with some badly needed closure. Compelling, moving, and disturbing, this is a thought-provoking work for mature readers.–Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vertigo (July 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 104 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1401204953
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1401204952
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.25 x 10.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 649 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Grant Morrison is one of comics' greatest innovators. His long list of credits includes Batman: Arkham Asylum, All-Star Superman, JLA, Green Lantern, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, The Invisibles, WE3 and The Filth.

The TV series of his graphic novel HAPPY! is showing on SYFY and Netflix.

Photo by PDH (File:Grant_morrison.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
649 global ratings
Frankenstein's Menagerie
5 Stars
Frankenstein's Menagerie
Former Animal Man writer Grant Morrison revisits the issue of human inhumanity towards animals in this story published by Vertigo Comics. Beautifully illustrated by Frank Quitely, WE3 is a frightening, hyper-violent science fiction story "suggested for mature readers." It opens in a secret military research laboratory where scientists are working to replace humans on the battlefield with cybernetically enhanced, remotely controlled animals. Their first success is creating a horde of "rat biorgs" able to repair complicated machinery-aided by the drills and other tools that have been surgically grafted to their bodies. But when a senator comes to inspect the scientists' progress, they show him their proudest achievement, an armored dog, cat, and rabbit outfitted with an array of deadly weaponry and electronic voice boxes that allow them to communicate in a crude form of human speech. At the conclusion of his visit the senator orders the animals destroyed-or as he puts it, "decommissioned"-not because he disapproves of the project, but because they were not specifically bred to be used as test subjects and he is afraid the mental strain of their condition may eventually make them uncontrollable. As the "lost" posters that appear before each chapter in this book make clear (the story was originally published as a three issue miniseries), Bandit the dog, Tinker the cat, and Pirate the rabbit are all stolen pets.Instead of euthanizing the animals as ordered, the doctor in charge of their care removes their restraints and allows them to escape into the night. As described in the ads for the series, what follows is a cross between Terminator and The Incredible Journey, as the three animals try to find "home"-wherever, and whatever, that is-with the U.S. military in hot pursuit.As the chase continues, this rollercoaster ride of a story touches readers on an emotional level that makes it clear whose side Morrison is on. With the invaluable assistance of Frank Quitely's breathtaking art, Morrison makes the fugitive animals the most "human" characters in the story, without ever forsaking or diminishing their animal nature.This is simply one of the greatest works of graphic literature to come along in years.Cautionary note: While I can not recommend this story highly enough, those who are disturbed by comic book images of graphic violence-whether it's human against animal, animal against human, or even animal against animal-should be prepared for some extremely gory scenes. Also, Quitely's innovative panel arrangements, though visually stunning, may be a little challenging for the untrained comic book reading eye to follow.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

N. Beitler
5.0 out of 5 stars Grant Morrison's finest work is right here!
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2011
Verified Purchase
Title: We3
Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely
Collects: We3 #1-3
Price: $12.99

This story was one of those rare books that surpassed my expectations. I had heard many good things about this series when it was on the comic racks, but I had my doubts about it, as Grant Morrison can really whip up some bizarre stuff. When I learned more about it, however, I figured this might be something I would enjoy. Being a Vertigo book, there are no costumed characters to be found. This book is more-or-less a science fiction yarn about three wayward pets that are abducted and taken into a clandestine government facility to be experimented on. At the end of the process, the three cuddly pets - a rabbit, a dog, and a cat - are transformed into much more than they had ever been before. A mixture of performance-enhancing drugs, gene therapy, and cybernetic implantations has created fast, stealthy, intelligent war machines from adorable domesticated house pets. (It's really not all that hard to envision the government attempting to do something like this, which makes the story that much more relevant to the reader.)

Despite all of this, the pets still retain their memories of a good life with their old masters - a life they all would like to return to. When the program's funding is terminated, a sympathetic female scientist assists the animals to escape before they can be destroyed, and the majority of the story focuses on the pitiable creatures' attempts to not only avoid termination, but their struggle to get back to the kind of normal life they once enjoyed.

The writing on the book was very good, and although I wish the book would have been longer, the complete story was adequately told in the brevity of pages allotted for it. Morrison has a knack for original concepts, and this was certainly one o the most original I've seen in a comic book. He deftly pulls on the reader's empathy for the main protagonists of the story - more so than I've seen him do in any other of his works. Artist Frank Quitely also turns in the best work of his career on this title. I've not yet seen artwork by Quitely that I did not enjoy, but this was really the cream of the crop. His hyper-detailed pencils and radical character designs made every page a beauty. He definitely earns a "10" from me on this book.

The once-cuddly characters and their emotional innocence stand in stark contrast to the immense amounts of destruction they dispense on their quest for real freedom. I am not kidding when I say this is the most violent (and graphically violent) book I have read in years. Even when the unfortunate heroes of the book had to fight to defend themselves, the portrayals of the bloody havoc they wreaked on those that opposed them really made me wince. This book is definitely not for young readers. However, I would strongly recommend it for any older reader - whether a regular comic readers or those who have never picked up a comic in their life. This very human tale is sure to enthrall most anyone who gives it a chance. I have heard that this book is being adapted for a big-screen movie, and I know that it would be a successful movie if Hollywood can manage to humanize these animals in the movie like they were humanized in the book.

Really, anyone tired of spandex-clad characters in comics should give this book a try. I think anyone who reads it will be very glad they did.

Writing: 10/10
Artwork: 10/10
Cool Factor: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Felixpath
5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Work
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2006
Verified Purchase
Grant Morrison is an amazing author. The prolific comic book writer is best-known for intricate, mind-altering meta-stories that must be read multiple times to fully appreciate. (His Vertigo titles include "Animal Man," "Doom Patrol," and "The Invisibles.") With "WE3," the story he tells is far more straightforward, covering a mere three comic book issues. Even within that limited space, he and artist Frank Quitely have created a wonderfully bizarre little tale, a splatterpunk retelling of "The Incredible Journey" that oozes with Morrison's distinctive warped ideas and pointed social commentary -- and somehow manages to be heartwarming as well.

"WE3" opens terrifically, as a fugitive war criminal and his bodyguards are messily assassinated by what looks like a trio of giant, fiber-optic cockroaches. These three deadly entities are soon revealed to be the result of a top-secret military bioengineering project. Once common household pets, their bodies have been grafted into indestructible cyborg exoskeletons, while electrodes in their brains allow them to receive direct orders from their human commanders. They are known only by their numbers: 1 the dog is equipped with ground-to-air missiles and automatic rifles, 2 the cat shoots flechette needles from his metal fingertips, and 3 the rabbit leaves a trail of explosive mines. (Their names were once Bandit, Tinker, and Pirate, as revealed by the poignant "Missing" posters that precede each chapter.) The animals have even been equipped with a rudimentary robo-sentience, and can mimic human speech. Sadly, the project has moved on and WE3 is now obsolete and due for termination. That's when the scientist in charge of the animals, in a burst of guilty compassion, "forgets" to activate the suits' security locks -- and before you can say "Fido," three deadly cybercritters are on the loose.

The remainder of the story chronicles WE3's exploits and the military's increasingly frantic attempts to bring them down. The problem, you see, is that the animals have been programmed to protect themselves at all costs if they perceive a threat to their lives, and it never occurred to those silly army scientists that they themselves are included in this equation. When conventional troops and weapons prove useless, the humans try fighting fire with fire -- first with remote-controlled rats, then with the sinister "Weapon 4," the next stage in the project. But WE3 won't go down easily. It's not just that they're fighting for their lives; 1 has a vague memory of "Home," and he is leading the skeptical 2 and the childlike 3 toward where he remembers "Home" to be. "?Home is?" the cat asks, in the strange digital-pidgin the animals speak, and the dog replies, "Is run no more." I admired Morrison for being able to convey so much in so few words. I also liked that he didn't anthropomorphize the animals; they are not furry, four-legged "people" like in the movies, but confused household pets whose latent instincts are at war with the rudimentary AI they've been implanted with. ("Bad dog!" 1 whimpers as he mows down hapless humans.) Despite the mayhem they cause, we feel deeply for these poor, twisted creatures.

Whether or not WE3 finds "Home" I won't reveal, though I will observe that the climax contains an admirable mix of tragedy and comfort. Both the writing and the art are simple and right to the point; Morrison can be poetic when we wants, but in this case, he knows that the dialogue must be bare-bones to keep the story from dragging. Quitely's art stays firmly in line with a photorealistic approach that makes the violence and gore -- of which there is a great deal -- even more effective. Happily, Morrison continues his trend of playing with the layout of the comic panels in order to accent the story. The are moments when a single image is splashed across two pages, and moments when the page shatters into a hundred fragmented panels. At times we're disoriented, and at times we know exactly what's happening and are horrified by it. The haunting images are really the heart of "WE3"; it doesn't leave the mind in a hurry. It also resonates on a topical level. I mean, is the story really that far-fetched? Scientists have already figured out how to "enslave" rats by sticking computer chips in their heads. Besides an adventure story, "WE3" is a solemn reminder that the human race enjoys playing God -- and that sometimes, we pay the price for it.

"WE3" is a prime example of a master storyteller at work. Only someone as talented as Morrison could craft such an effective tale in so few pages. Only someone as talented as Quitely could illustrate the tale with such pitch-perfect imagery. Although it's a quick read, this book is worth its cover price.
35 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Toby Wallwork
4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Moving.
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
I was surprised how much I liked the emotional notes. The animals language is a bit difficult to parse at first, but you'll get it and the story is a nice spin on something familiar.
The design of the "coats" make some of the action a bit hard to follow, but becomes clear by the end.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
iuno
5.0 out of 5 stars Came in perfect (preloved) conditions
Reviewed in Italy on April 9, 2022
Verified Purchase
I'm very happy with my purchase from worldofbooksit. As a collector, I find the book is in perfect used conditions: the spine is intact, no defects on the cover and the pages, just minor signs of wear. And it was delivered well before the expected date!
Report
AKV
5.0 out of 5 stars Touching, poignant, short 3 issue tale by Master Morrison
Reviewed in India on August 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
WE3 - Touching, poignant, not-on-the-nose; non-preachy commentary on animal exploitation and human attitudes. The detailed, scraggly lines of Quitely suit both the animal illustrations, unique panel compositions and the epic, high octane action moments.
Customer image
AKV
5.0 out of 5 stars Touching, poignant, short 3 issue tale by Master Morrison
Reviewed in India on August 16, 2020
WE3 - Touching, poignant, not-on-the-nose; non-preachy commentary on animal exploitation and human attitudes. The detailed, scraggly lines of Quitely suit both the animal illustrations, unique panel compositions and the epic, high octane action moments.
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
One person found this helpful
 Report
Francisco Casanova
5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity achieved through alterity
Reviewed in Mexico on February 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
Without going into to many details, Grant Morrison's work is a great study of what "humanity" means, and the different perversions of this concept. The illustrations seem to go by the hand of the story, showing the brutality and tenderness necessary to exemplify the aformentioned theme, as well as creating an innovative way to perceive comic books.
Report
Mathieu Boisclair
5.0 out of 5 stars Just enough script to make it a poignant piece of art
Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2013
Verified Purchase
I went and bought this graphic novel because it was recommended to me by a friend and decided to give it a try. The HC Deluxe edition is exquisite, the artwork is crisp and phenomenal. This is a short story of 3 animals, a Rabbit, a Dog and a Cat. We follow the life of Roseanne Berry who is an scientist who loves animal and somehow works in a Biotech-Robotic lab with those soldier of the future. After a bad review from The Man, things goes horribly wrong!

Inspiring! a Graphic novel of few word but with a clear understandable and original story! Must read!
2 people found this helpful
 Report
S. Hose
5.0 out of 5 stars did not expect much, but...
Reviewed in Germany on October 8, 2012
Verified Purchase
I really did not expect much of this book, but I have to say: i really like it. It has a solid, good story, very good drawings and strange but interesting characters. I would recommend this one to everyone who loves strange science fiction comics with a touch of movie style(s). Great buy!
One person found this helpful
 Report