Eight Billion Genies Deluxe Edition Vol. 1

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Killed Mid-Sentence: Ernest and Dorothy both suffer from No Ontological Inertia while they're in the middle of talking, dropping their alcohol glasses in the process and shattering them against the table. Every individual on Earth gets a genie capable of fulfilling a single wish. A fraction of the 8 billion people make instant wishes, while others choose to hold onto their genies for years. Predictably, the wishes trigger wild consequences, which lead to a rapid decline in the global population. We all love to fantasize about being rich or having superpowers or everyone loving us, but I bet most of us haven't thought this whole thing through. We gotta remember that we're not alone in the world - no man is an island - and that on the whole, none of us is likely to stand out too much in any way. If you or me get something cool, then chances are so does everybody else. An episode of The Simpsons (specifically, "Curse of the Flying Hellfish") is referenced when discussing the idea of "tontines" (a wish that is shared among multiple people and can only be granted when all of them are in agreement).

Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Daisy asks if the Remnants of Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, and Jim Morrison are real or not, the genie calls it a good question. They then respond with, "Are you?" while looking directly at the reader from outside any of the panels. Will: Nice House got too deep into the interpersonal drama after the first issue, which was as well-received as any book that I can remember. This, though, keeps it simple — the characters are rough sketches, and there aren’t so many that you can’t keep ’em straight. A Dog Named "Dog": All of the genies respond to the name, "Genie". No mention is made of how they don't get each other mixed up, but they can be summoned for advice or to make a wish simply by calling their name.

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Blue-and-Orange Morality: The genies play by some rules that seem arbitrarily contradictory. They won't grant wishes that alter people's free will on a large scale (like asking for world peace), though focused mind control/brainwashing powers are okay. They also don't care how many people are killed as a result of someone's errant wish ( granted, winnowing down the population is why they're there). Lastly, they are able to offer minor assistance—interpreting languages, offering insight on what other people are doing, and so on—at their discretion without requiring a wish to do so. Domesticated Dinosaurs: One man seen in the first issue is depicted riding a theropod like a cowboy even as it devours numerous people.

I always tell people that the most creative and original storytelling is being done in comic books. It seems like the most innovative ideas are being explored in this medium. Eight Billion Genies is the latest thing I've read that reminded me of that. Starting on the fateful day when 8 billion cute tiny genies pop out of nowhere and latch themselves to each living person on Earth, granting each person one single wish, it then proceeds to tell the story of the craziness that transpires after that. Mark: I think as the series goes on, and we see the first 8 hours, 8 days, 8 years, etc., we’ll see more and more strategic use of the wishes. In the first eight seconds, the world gets turned into a cube, some pretty nasty explosions happen, a million people are dead and 2 million genies are gone. These are the impulsive wishes. The wishes of people, like me now, who are just a bit more impulsive. I’m curious: Have you read any of Charles Soule’s novels? In the minutes after the genies appear, at least eight Mount Dooms appear in various places worldwide. Age Without Youth: Daisy and Betty end up effectively immortal. They spend over 700 years with the bodies of seventy-year-olds. Incompatible Orientation: Daisy doesn't learn Brian is gay until long after she wastes her wish trying to make him fall in love with her (it didn't work because he was inside the wish-proof bar when she made the wish but she wasn't). It begs the question of whether or not she would've made that wish had she known it would change a fundamental part of him (as opposed to "just" overriding his free will).Will: I’d only be interested in that book if it had just, you know, the most electric colors imaginable. And if it was by the same creative team that brought us Curse Words.

Anyone is a bit more sci-fi, but it’s basically, “what if, tomorrow, someone invented a mind swapping device?” Predictable, that one changes the world, but they’re both founded in a realistic world. It’s speculative fiction in the purest sense. I get the feeling with this that it started the same way: “What if, tomorrow, everyone got a wish all at once?” Of course, with a premise like that, you’d really want a Ryan Browne to bring the thing to life, wouldn’t you? Implacable Woman: Betty eventually becomes this. Because of her mother's wish, Betty is immortal until she makes a wish, so she is determined to become the last person on Earth to do so. She ends up hunting down everyone else with a genie until she's the only one left. Deathbed Confession: When Robbie's superhero friends are killed by a particularly powerful supervillain, Robbie has a breakdown because at 12 years old, he's too young to process all this death and destruction. The seemingly-adult King Power tries to comfort Robbie by admitting with his dying breath that he's only 11. Fish out of Temporal Water: Invoked; Helen Gutierrez used her wish to create a replica of her small hometown from 1982, complete with period-appropriate movies, fashion, shops, and people. Mark: His two non- Star Wars novels, The Oracle Year and Anyone, are more or less set in the real world, with one crucial difference. In Oracle Year, it’s “what if someone came up with 108 absolutely accurate predictions, from the outlandish to the utterly mundane, that will happen over the course of one year?” It’s a tiny, tiny thing, but it utterly changes the world.May 11 was the day that the new comic book ‘ Eight Billion Genies’ hit stores and reader apps like Comixology. It arrived with much less fanfare than your latest Tom King Batman run or most anything released with the word “MARVEL” on the cover. But for fans of its co-creators, writer Charles Soule and illustrator Ryan Browne, ‘Eight Billion’ screamed “Potentially a huge deal” from the moment its high concept was announced late last year. Will: You have to snap your fingers with a flash of light, right? Isn’t that how this happens? But, yes, you’d maybe be strategic, like our bartender, Mr. Will Williams, with his zone of protection around his crummy bar. I don’t know how far the book is going to get bogged down in this, but if he could wish for a zone of no wishes, couldn’t someone else wish that no one got any wishes? Betty and Carlos, son of the leader of El Futuro, end up being happily married for several decades, with several children and grandchildren. Harvey Award-nominated Browne is known for his indie title God Hates Astronauts, a superhero satire that has attracted a cult following. He has worked for DC, Marvel, Valiant and others, and with Soule, created the fantasy comic, Curse Words, which is being developed as a series.

Together, the two worked on a previous 25-issue comic called ‘Curse Words’ that is also being adapted for TV (though few details have been shared about that one). With ‘Curse Words,’ the pair found an ideal middle ground between Browne’s penchant for big world-building, spelling out his sound effects (“TUD!”, “VWOOG!”) and ridiculous pun-based characters, and Soule’s ability to shift between large-scale global chaos and more intimate stories grounded in real emotions and relationships. ‘Curse Words’ focused as much on its story of a mother, father, and daughter trying to reassemble their family as it did on the two powerful wizards in its story who nearly destroy our dimension and their own as they wage battle. The genie rules A wish granted in ‘Eight Billion Genies.’ But, I can't help but wish that the story was fleshed out more to really maximize its potential. I can imagine how powerful this would really be if it were a longer series, and we had time to really live in this world, witness the characters change, really sit with the consequences of decisions, and see these ideas evolve. The effect with such a short book is that it feels a bit rushed at times, like we're just jumping from idea to idea, skipping all the juicy bits, and ultimately feels like an awesome bullet-pointed outline. Combo Platter Powers: Wang wishes to become whatever he needs to be to survive in the world forever changed by genies and for the abilities he needs to protect whoever he's with. In response, his genie gives him a futuristic combat suit, Charles Atlas Superpower, a variety of weapons including two Power Fists that shoot powerful beams of energy, and a wide variety of skills from martial arts to being able to speak English to hotwiring a car. Will: That’s a definite choice, right? Because not only does that nail the mood of a dive bar with “character” that definitely doesn’t “reek of piss and spilled beer,” but it also serves as a contrast with what comes … after. Even outside of that context, the sheer fact that everyone on Earth suddenly each get a wish that grants them anything they want is a mass-empowering event in its own right.Fountain of Youth: Unsurprisingly, a common wish among the elderly is to be young again. While a simple and helpful wish, it unfortunately deprives these folks of a wish that could have protected them from the rest of the chaos.