Eight Billion Genies Deluxe Edition Vol. 1
Story by Charles Soule & Ryan Browne; Charles Soule, writer; Ryan Browne, art, colors, design & covers
Image Comics, 2023

The story opens on a small group of people at the Lampwick Bar and Grill in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. There’s a rock band setting up to play, a father and son, a Chinese tourist couple who have come to the wrong place, and the bar owner/bartender. Suddenly each one of them is visited by a genie, as is everyone in the world. The deal is, every person on Earth has a genie, and they each receive one wish. The barkeep immediately wishes that no wish made outside the bar can affect the bar or anyone or anything inside it, making it a calm central point in an increasingly chaotic world: as he puts it, “this is probably the safest place in the world right now.”

A quick glance outside the door of the bar reveals a crazy scene with flying cars, superheroes, killer robots, and dinosaurs, among other things. This is what happens when millions of humans make wishes at once. And it all happens in the first issue (in the first eight minutes!), so the implications play out over the rest of the series. The genies explain that they’re not big on stuff that affects the whole world (unless they think it’s funny, or interesting, or ironic). They want as many people as possible to see their wish come true, which means they don’t want greedy folks ruining it for everyone else.

The father wishes for his late wife to return–mainly for the sake of his son–and shortly thereafter Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, and Jim Morrison show up. The genies call these formerly dead people “remnants,” and of course they all exist because of wishes. Two of the bar’s denizens wish for powers to help them protect their loved ones, and eventually the band members choose to seek out an artist collective. Once they get out into the world, they find communities that are trying to protect each other and create a space where a somewhat normal life is possible. The storyline moves from eight seconds to eight weeks to eight years to eight decades to eight centuries. In the end the last two humans who still have wishes make their choices, creating a (hopefully better) new world.

There is a ton of extra material in the collection. Alternate covers; history of the series conception; early designs and layouts; and notes on the first issue from the “Director’s Cut” version. As a fellow Detroit native, I appreciated all of the local color.

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Arca
Van Jensen, writer; Jesse Lonergan, interior & cover artist
IDW Publishing, 2023

Arca is a dystopian science fiction graphic novel. The planet is dying, but the rich have an escape plan. They board a starship called the Arca and head for the nearest Earth-like planet, which they call Eden. The ship has hundreds of passengers, who are divided into three key groups. Citizens are those who planned and funded the ship before the Earth became uninhabitable. They reside in the upper levels and enjoy the same kind of luxurious lifestyle they had before boarding the Arca. Helpers are armed security personnel who maintain order; they are loyal to the Citizens. Settlers are children and teenagers who maintain the ship’s infrastructure and serve the Citizens as personal assistants. At age 18 they graduate and retire from their chores.

So, it is a highly structured society, reminiscent of feudal times (it also called the world of Snowpiercer to mind). The central character is Effie, a Settler who is about to graduate. She is unusually bright: so much so that the Citizen she assists has taught her how to read, a skill the Settlers are not supposed to possess. This is an early red flag that life on the Arca may not be what it seems. Sure enough, Effie’s curiosity takes her to places that make the Arca elite uncomfortable. It all begins with her accidental discovery of human remains in the garden, which makes her question the whole relationship between Settlers and Citizens: why has no one ever met a Settler who graduated to Citizen status?

It all comes to a head when Effie and her friends trick Arca’s founder into admitting the truth about how the Settlers are being used: on camera for the entire ship to see. The armed Helpers refuse to follow his orders, leading to chaos and revolt. Effie finally learns the real truth about the Arca and how life on Earth was doomed. It came as a complete surprise to me, although the big reveal (as well as the class structure in the story) did remind me of Justin Cronin’s recent novel The Ferryman. I was trying to remember why it seemed familiar! If the two stories hadn’t been created at about the same time, I might have suspected mutual influence on one or both authors. Jesse Lonergan’s sketchy art style did not appeal to me, but his storytelling was dynamic: I especially liked his creative use of panel structure. He is not afraid to crowd a page with multiple small, irregularly arranged panels, nor to use a full-page splash for dramatic effect.