Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context ComicBook / WE3

Go To

1[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/We3_run_7353.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:330:RUN.]]
3
4''WE 3'' is a 2004 Creator/VertigoComics miniseries by writer Creator/GrantMorrison and artist Frank Quitely. It has been described as a combination of ''Film/TheTerminator'' and ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'', and it was well-received for being dynamic and innovative in both art and story.
5
6The story follows a trio of animals--a dog ("Bandit" or "1"), a cat ("Tinker" or "2"), and a bunny ("Pirate" or "3")--that were [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically enhanced]] by TheGovernment to work on covert military operations. When the project is scrapped, the animals--who have escaped from their military handlers--have to fend for themselves ''and'' escape the soldiers sent to destroy them.
7
8The writing is notable for the innovative way the animals speak: their suits electronically translate their thoughts, and rather than sounding like human speech, the animals can only articulate on a very simple level. Each one even has its own speech patterns, determined by their intelligence; the dog has the closest thing to "normal" human speech, while the rabbit is only able to manage single-word concepts. The art is notable for being drawn by Frank Quitely in fine form.
9
10The story is unusual for Morrison, in that despite the originality of the concept, it does not devolve into their usual habits of BreakingTheFourthWall, AuthorFilibuster, and other WriterOnBoard eccentricities. The story's emotional impact is full of Morrison's belief in animal rights, though. It will hit you a lot harder if you're an animal lover.
11
12For a more RuleOfCool story based around this concept, check out ''ComicBook/{{Brute Force|MarvelComics}}.''
13
14----
15!!Featured Tropes:
16* AnimalTesting: Comes down very much against the practice, with the covers implicitly supporting the "family pets stolen and sold to testing labs" allegations.
17* BetterWithNonHumanCompany: Dr. Roseanne Berry very much prefers the company of the animals she works with to that of the other researchers.
18* BigFatFuture: Even if it is only TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, every human character with the exception of the homeless guy, the little boy and some of the soldiers ranges from slightly overweight to disgustingly obese.
19* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:3 dies]], but there is an investigation going into the military project and public outrage, and [[spoiler:1 and 2]] are freed from their suits and find a loving owner with a kind homeless man.
20* BottomlessMagazines: Averted: 2 runs out of flechettes during the rat attack.
21* CatsAreMean: 2 dispatches birds and humans with the same disinterested aplomb.
22** A general with a force sent out to eliminate the robotic pets loudly hopes the cat gets killed during a small, ultra-violent skirmish.
23** "SSSSSTT!!!!NNNKK BOSS!"
24* {{Cyborg}}: 1, 2 and 3 [[spoiler:and 4]].
25* DeadpanSnarker: 2 manages this with only the most basic vocabulary.
26-->"1 KNOW 0"
27* DoubleMeaningTitle: It's supposed to stand for Animal Weapon Three. The animals decide it means [[TrueCompanions We]] [[PowerTrio Three]].
28* DubNameChange: The French translation is retitled ''[=NOU3=]'' which is more or less a direct translation of "We Three" ("Nous Trois"). To accomodate that change, the "Animal '''We'''apon Three" program is also renamed "Animal '''Nou'''veau Trois" ("nouveau" as in "the next step" but also like in Dr. Trendle's {{tagline}} "say hello to Man's '''''new''''' best friends").
29* EyeScream: Some panels show [[GrossUpCloseUp close-ups]] on soldier eyes being pierced and slashed in gory details by the animals' advanced weapons, even {{Natural Weapon}}s in some cases.
30* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: 2 and 1 respectively, according to the missing animal posters for Tinker and Bandit.
31%% * FlechetteStorm: 2's weapons; she calls them "far claws".
32* TheGovernment: The people vivisecting animals in the name of creating super-commandoes seem to have government affiliation (or are, at the least, contractors operating 'above the law' with government approval.)
33* {{Hellhound}}: [[spoiler: 4 more or less resembles a mechanical version of the Hound of the Baskervilles.]]
34* TheHero: The dog, 1.
35* HeroicBSOD: 1 reflexively kills a man with a rifle after the man takes a shot at 3, and spends quite a while afterwards sitting on the side of the road, saying "Bad dog. Bad dog."
36%% * HeroicDog: 1 certainly ''wants'' to be, or maybe just a "gud" dog.
37%% * HomelessPigeonPerson
38* HulkSpeak: All of the animals have vocabularies that help them communicate basic concepts, but as the scientists say, "Don't expect the sonnets of Shakespeare." The senator backing the project actually thinks talking animals is going too far and makes the weapons too human, and requests that any future weapons have the ability removed.
39-->"What kind of lunatic teaches a killing machine to talk?"
40* IntercontinuityCrossover: The animals are the first three iterations of Weapon Plus from Morrison's run on ''ComicBook/XMen''.[[labelnote:So Its like this...]]Morrison introduced the concept of Weapon Plus in New X-Men 129, and in New X-Men 130 further elaborated that while Weapon I was a volunteer (Surprise, its CaptainAmerica), Weapon II involved experimenting on animals. In Wolverine And Captain America – Weapon Plus #1, its established on page that Weapon II was in fact the aforementioned Brute Force. And to close the loop completely, Brute Force made their first appearance in ''thirty years'' in Weapon Plus: Word War IV, acting more like We3. [[/labelnote]]
41* KidnappedForExperimentation: 1, 2, and 3 were once family pets before their enhancements; between each issue, we see Missing posters of each of the animals.
42%% * KillerRabbit: 3.
43%% * TheLancer: The cat, 2.
44%% * MatureAnimalStory
45* MisplacedSorrow: The military and most of the scientists involved with the project are much more concerned about the soldiers dying trying to apprehend the animals, rather than the fact that they are sending soldiers to their deaths against three animals who wouldn't hurt anybody unless they are threatened. Animals that they had experimented on and forced to kill, which they planned to terminate without a second thought.
46* TheMovie: In 2010, Morrison discussed making a ''We 3'' movie, but so far, no other information has surfaced about the project.
47* MixedAnimalSpeciesTeam: The premise is about a trio of animals: a dog ("Bandit" or "1"), a cat ("Tinker" or "2"), and a bunny ("Pirate" or "3") who were cybernetically enhanced by the government for covert military occupations.
48* MutilationConga: Over time the animals become more and more beaten up, losing mechanical parts and gaining injuries to their flesh. Most harrowing is the [[spoiler: headshot]] 3 takes, which sticks with him til the end. [[spoiler: Ends on a slightly happy note; by the end, 1 and 2 have had their metal parts torn off, leaving mangy and injured but still normal looking animals.]]
49* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Or, specifically, a cyborg canine Rambo, a cyborg cat ninja, and a cyborg bunny demolitionist.
50* PaintingTheMedium: 4's only speech is an entirely black word balloon with nothing in it. Somehow it's horrifying.
51* PetTheDog: Inverted. 1 proves himself to be a "gud dog" by [[spoiler:protecting some cops from 4's rampage]].
52* PhlebotinumRebel: All of the animals, who don't really know what to do with themselves after their escape.
53* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Most of the people involved with the program, particularly the head scientist and general. Both are honestly trying to protect the lives of soldiers and want the animals killed because they pose a serious threat to the civilian population. [[spoiler: When the recently-deployed 4 almost eats a policeman, they self-destruct it before it can do so.]]
54* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules:
55-->"There's a big reward -- sorta money you could use. [[HomelessPigeonPerson Guy like you]]."
56-->"Yeah. Yeah. I sure could. But...nah..."
57* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily
58* SelfDestructMechanism: [[spoiler:How 4 is eventually killed. The general in control of it self-destructs it when it nearly attacks a policeman.]]
59* ShoutOut: In the opening scene of issue #2, the three animals (probably unintentionally on their part) yell out the lyrics to the song ''Run Rabbit Run'' while fleeing through a field with a number of wild rabbits.
60* ShownTheirWork: Grant Morrison did a ''lot'' of research on animal behavior and psychology, the result of which is that the protagonists are definitively non-human.
61* SpeechImpairedAnimal: The team speak only in broken English that is more akin to LeetSpeak than anything else; this is because the animals only think in short, simple concepts.
62* TakingYouWithMe: Attempted. [[spoiler:4 attempts to eat 3, who detonates the bombs his suit carries. Unfortunately, 4 is almost indestructible.]]
63* ThemeNaming: The actual names of the three animals (Bandit, Tinker and Pirate) are all occupations on the fringes of society, indicating their outsider status.
64* {{Weaponized Animal}}s: Played for pathos and for horror.
65* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The central trope, made much more interesting because the animals aren't written like people in tiny furry suits. All three have distinctly non-human thoughts and emotions. It might be better phrased here, "What measure makes a human necessarily better at all?"
66* {{Xenofiction}}

Top