WE3

Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison are one of the finest creative teams in the comic book industry. Every time they collaborate they seem to produce a memorable piece. Quitely's subdued, almost gentle style seems to ground Morrison's stories, which can often tend toward the whacky and downright outrageous, in a non-reality where they might actually be believable.

Their most recent work, "All-Star Superman" (2006 Eisner Award winner for best new series) is one of the most profound takes on Superman in recent memory. Morrisson tells the tale of Superman's "12 Labors" and "death", in what is essentially a set up for his 1998 "DC: One Million", which takes place in the same continuity as "All Star" in the 853rd century. But despite the title's lofty ambitions, the team truly rose to the occasion and created a spectacular piece that will most likely become a seminal part of future continuity and stand the test of time as one of the greatest superman stories.

"JLA: Earth 2", altough not as heady as "All-Star", is a similarly fascinating look into the heart of the DC Universe, the multiverse and the many reflections of reality that exist within as Morrison and Quitely guide the Justice Leauge of America to Earth-2, the inverse of our universe where right is wrong, hearts are on the right side of the body and Morrison is free to go wild with the bad side of the DCU.

"We3", only connceted to DC through its publisher (Vertigo), takes place in a universe all its own; or perhaps, more accurately, a world all Morrison and Quitely's and the story truly stands out as one of their finest works.

One of my favorite elements in "We3" is Morrison's dialogue for the animals. Every read and reread, I still feel as though I'm not quite grasping everything the animals are communicating. But even though I may not be picking up on every nuance, the general message comes across loud and clear and in retrospect, this obfuscation may even serve to enhance the believability of these characters: talking animals probably would not be wholly coherent to the untrained human ear.

Quitely's dynamic use of panels, especially in scenes with flying bullets, is remarkable. With a central image in the background, he spread the panels like tiles across the action, each panel a close up of one facet of the action. The sense of movement that he creates is both inviting and at the same time repellent: the reader's eyes are forced to move across the page to follow the action, yet in many cases they may seek to avert their eyes once they find out where it's going.

My only complaint in this read and this is not so much a complaint as a minor note / observation, would have to be the intense similarity in some of Quitely's characters across projects. Perhaps the most striking instance of this occurence would be the resemblance between the female scientist in "We3"and Wonder Woman in "Earth-2". (I couldn't find up close images, otherwise I would link you, but look for yourselves if you can!)