Have you ever thought to yourself “Why are all these bad things happening to me?” or “Why does this person get good things while I get trash?” Writer Charles Soule and artist Ryan Browne (the creative team behind 8 Billion Genies) have collaborated to give you the answers and there’s good and bad news. The good news is that it isn’t your fault. The bad news is you’re regularly being influenced by devils that sit on your shoulder.
The premise behind the comic book, titled The Lucky Devils, is two devils named Collar and Rake break a major rule by revealing themselves and their jobs to their humans (Cam Stane and Starr Wilson). The plan for Collar and Rake is to break the cycle of monotony and change things. Rake says this isn’t just for the two of them, it will help all the devils in Hell.
The idea of what makes humans bad is a cool one. We’ve all had those moments when things weren’t fair and questioned everything from ourselves and the people in our lives to the existence of a higher being (whether you believe in one or not is good regardless). And while The Lucky Devils is a work of fiction, this 9-issue series will go on to have multiple thought-provoking moments because that’s what this creative team does. In fact, The Lucky Devils has pulled this off in one issue by questioning why even in Hell, the idea of advancement in life is impossible.
As Rake tells readers:
"This whole place runs on evil. Strained from the humans and sluiced down here to the rich folks, while we do all the work and get (censored) all."
As you keep reading you start to relate to the four main characters. For Cam and Starr, sometimes you want to break things and curse people. But you (hopefully) stop yourself before you hurt someone. But you're also human and make mistakes. For our devil friends, we see two lovers ready to take on the world to make the lives of everyone better. It's beautiful.
Throughout 8 Billion Genies, readers are hit with real-life philosophical questions inside a fantasy world. Each character offered a different viewpoint on life and how the choices they made affected everyone. Instead of genies and the people who made wishes, you're seeing things from the point of view of devils trying to break the system and two humans with the purest souls on Earth. That is more than enough to keep this interesting. Now imagine what will happen to each of them when Collar and Rake’s bosses find out what’s going on.
There’s more to the story than the main devils and the humans. Something nefarious is going on in Hell (shocking to no one). What is that exactly and will it affect Rake and Collar’s plans? You’ll have to buy the series to find out. Trust this writer when he says The Lucky Devils is a series you’ll want to jump on now and read monthly.
Are you going to read The Lucky Devils? If you've already started, what do you think? Let us know on the Bam Smack Pow Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter.