Wow, talk about a series getting better with each issue. Eight Billion Genies #4 is an amazing end to the first chapter of this epic story as it teases what’s to come. The concept for the series is simple. In an instant, every person in the world is given a genie and granted one wish. You can imagine the chaos that would ensue from that. A group of individuals are protected within a bar and the series focuses on them as the world spirals out of control.
Writer Charles Soule lays it all out in Eight Billion Genies #4. We learn the truth about the bar and what’s going on. And it’s very interesting. The series quickly pivots to one of goofy infinite possibilities to something else entirely. This isn’t just some random event, there’s logic behind it and what is learned is epic in the implications in both the past and the future to come. Soule is delivering something more than just a story of survival, and like Undiscovered Country co-written with Scott Snyder, Eight Billion Genies now feels like a series that is exploring so much more. It has deep themes and a goal to explore humanity.
The art by Ryan Browne continues to be amazing. Browne takes the anything is possible and somehow makes it focused. It’d be easy for the art to pack in too much with so much going on, but Browne keeps the visual focused. This is an issue with superheroes, a twisted world, kaiju, and average folks in a bar. But Browne’s art keeps it all feeling cohesive and as if it all fits together. It’s interesting in how both Soule and Browne show restraint with a story that can be so much.
The first four issues of Eight Billion Genies is about the first eight weeks. The series now pivots to the next eight months. We’ve already seen the chaos that has ensued and now we get to see what might be the possibilities to come. But, despite that world of possible, it all comes back to a small group in a bar. The series is focused on the impact of a world gone crazy instead of the crazy itself. And that’s what helps make this one of the best new series of the year.
Story: Charles Soule Art: Ryan Browne
Color: Ryan Browne Letterer: Chris Crank
Story: 8.75 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.75 Recommendation: Buy
Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle
Source: Graphic Policy
