As the world is overtaken by wishes, a group has set forth from the Lampwick on a crucial mission. Your Major Spoilers review of Eight Billion Genies #3 from Image Comics awaits!

EIGHT BILLION GENIES #3

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Ryan Browne
Colorist: Ryan Browne
Letterer: Chris Crank
Production Design: Erika Schnatz
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 13, 2022

Previously in Eight Billion Genies: We explore the first eight days after eight billion genies appeared on earth, offering one wish each to every man, woman, and child. The wish-proof Lampwick Tavern has provided a safe haven for our eight heroes so far, but now they must undertake a crucial mission into a world utterly remade by frivolous and bizarre wishes.

With a special appearance from history’s most famous drunkards!

WE CALL THIS SORT OF THING ‘REMNANTS’

At the end of last issue, eight hours into the Genie Incident, the assembled patrons of the Lampwick Tavern were shocked to find Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, and Jim Morrison at the door, each seeking out a drink. With nearly half the eight billion wishes expended (and almost TWO BILLION people now dead due to one capricious whim or another), the genies explain that Papa, Dottie, and The Lizard King are just leftovers of a wish by someone now deceased. When they realize that a wished being can just disappear, Ed (who wished his wife back to life) and his son Robbie realize that things are more complicated than they seem. As for Mr. Zhang, who had to make it to a meeting last issue, he treks across the city and the wish-induced madness it entails to arrive only six days late. That’s when he reveals that he was being blackmailed for industrial secrets by an amoral merchant of secrets, but that he has changed his mind. When he returns to the bar, the newly empowered Zhang warns them all: If they still have a wish, it’s time to consider how to survive the world that IS, and not the one that was before the madness began.

THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD

I hadn’t realized at first that the population counter at the beginning of the issue had dropped by over 800,000 in the first eight hours, but this issue’s precipitous shift actually gave me chills. Zhang’s journey revealed a number of foolish wishes, from a man who impulsively wanted to be young again without considering what that might mean to EIGHT DIFFERENT Mount Dooms erupting around the world to a man who wished to become a vampire and wanted only to feed on his blood. The terrible tension of last issue has become more of a sense of impending doom, punctuated by the occasional bursting of a remnant or radio broadcast that makes its way inside the impenetrable Lampwick Tavern. That’s not a bad thing, either, as the progression from 8 minutes to 8 hours to 8 days requires the escalation of the situation, and the stinger at the end of the issue, promising that humanity is about to enter “The Powered Age” is both ominous and wonderful. The art in this issue is once again top-notch stuff, as Ryan Browne makes the reality of a mundane world suddenly filled with madness entirely plausible. The perfect example comes as we see a man trying to perfect his wish to stop climate change without destroying everything, only to look out the window to see Santa Claus and his reindeer being eaten by a newly animated moon.

BOTTOM LINE: MORE CHAOTIC THAN LAST ISSUE

After having such a visceral reaction to the second issue, I’m happy to report that Eight Billion Genies #3 keeps the environment of fear and disbalance intact while widening the scope of the story from terrified foreboding to disaster-in-progress, making it all work thanks to clever plotting, lovely art and coloring and Dorothy Parker, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. I’m happy to hear this book has been optioned for television because it seems like the kind of story that would make a truly wonderful binge-streaming experience.

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EIGHT BILLION GENIES #3

73%

73%

It's The Journey

The progression of events is exponentially crazy, and it makes me worry about how mad issue eight is going to be, but it's a well-written, complex and engaging story with a lot of moving parts that still works. That's an achievement.

• Writing

  7
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  7
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