A lot of people were surprised by the relatively low sales on Seaguy, Grant Morrison's first venture for Vertigo.  I can't say I was one of them - Morrison's more experimental projects have never sold in the numbers of his superhero books, and Seaguy was firmly in the experimental category.

We3 is his next Vertigo project, reuniting him with sporadic New X-Men artist Frank Quitely.  It's another of his more experimental efforts.  But this time the experimentation is more in the narrative style than the plot.

The plot is absolutely straightforward.  The military, in typical mad scientist form, have created three cyborg animals, which they use for assassinations.  Then the programme gets decomissioned.  And the animals escape.

Simple.  But the strength lies not so much in the story as in how its told.  Most of the book is silent, which in the hands of most creators would be a dismal prospect.  Morrison and Quitely, however, know the medium inside out.  The weird camera angles, the bizarre ultra-tight close-ups, and the incredible perspective shifts aren't just showmanship.  It's hugely effective storytelling, with a wealth of information in every panel, and our attention masterfully directed.  The six solid pages of security camera panels - 18 panels to a page - are demanding on the reader, but they more than repay the effort.

The animals talk, but only just.  They're more intelligent than the average animal, but they're still pretty dumb.  Their conversation is restricted to extremely basic words and numbers.  That doesn't stop their personalities coming across (though admittedly, it helps that all three characters are deliberately cast according to stereotype).

Even when working with a completely straightforward story, Morrison and Quitely are able to use all of these devices for subtle emphasis and subtext.  This isn't gratuitously obstructive, or unduly difficult to read.  It's experimentation done right, finding ways of using the medium that make the story more effective, whereas so much experimental material achieves nothing other than cryptic muffling.

It's the sort of comic that makes you realise how painfully unambitious everything else is, and reconsider just how high they ought to be setting their aspirations.  

Rating: A+

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