What Jeff Read: Eight Billion Genies, The Wife Upstairs, Saga Volume 11, Night of the Ghoul

Genies, sci fi stories, and a scary ghoul all feature in this month’s edition of What Jeff Read. So, let’s take a look at three different graphic novels, as well as an earlier book by Frieda McFadden, and determine whether any of the four are worth reading.

Eight Billion Genies Deluxe Edition Vol. 1

By Charles Soule and Ryan Browne

Eight Billion Genies is very much a story where its creators had a really creative, unique idea that you could sell someone on with a quick elevator pitch. Basically, all eight billion people on Earth suddenly get a genie that will grant them one wish. After granting said wish, a person’s genie will immediately disappear. Obviously, chaos ensues as people make wishes and the world is transformed.

We see how the world is changed largely through the eyes of a few characters who we meet in the first issue. However, this is very much a comic focused on plot rather than characters, as none of these characters themselves are particularly interesting. Still, Eight Billion Genies has some creative ideas with where it takes its story plot-wise. It’s a fast, fun read.

This Eight Billion Genies deluxe edition contains all eight issues that make up the miniseries. I don’t know why “Vol. 1” is included in all listings of this graphic novel since the entire story is here and it really does tell a finished, satisfying story. Overall, it’s a great idea for a comic book with pretty good, not great, execution.

Grade: 7.5/10

The Wife Upstairs

By Freida McFadden

The Wife Upstairs is a 2020 Frieda McFadden novel from before the author was a New York Times Best Seller and was actually still self-publishing her books. The story focuses on a young woman named Sylvia who is hired by a handsome writer to care for the man’s wife, who has been in a horrible accident that’s left her unable to speak. After finding the woman’s journal, which we read along with Sylvia, Sylvia begins to suspect that everything might not be as it seems.

The Wife Upstairs is a solid earlier McFadden novel, and I think that a lot of her later work definitely took inspiration from this book. The Housemaid (which is great) has some common elements, as do The Coworker and Never Lie, which also have us learning about the past by way of records (a journal and taped conversations respectively) kept by a character who’s not our protagonist.

With that being said, I think that these later works are clearly an improvement off of The Wife Upstairs. This book, while still an intriguing read, is about 100 pages too long. I’m not positive, but this might be the longest McFadden book I’ve read at 420 pages. True McFadden fans (such as myself) will still be able to appreciate this earlier book, even if it isn’t quite as good as her later work.

Grade: 7/10

Saga Volume 11

By Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favorite comic book writers ever, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I think Saga is an all-around great comic. However, there’s a major issue I have with Saga, and it has nothing to do with the (above average) story or (fantastic) artwork by Fiona Staples.

The first issue of Saga was published in 2012, and over the following six years, 54 issues of the book came out. Following issue #54, which Vaughan said wrapped up the first half of a planned 108 issue series, the writer and illustrator took a four-year hiatus. After picking up working on Saga again in 2022, the pair have released enough comics to make up two graphic novels. However, the last individual issue in this volume, Volume 11, was released in September of last year and no issues have been published since.

Basically, at this rate, the entire run of Saga won’t be completed until around 2030. And that might be me being optimistic. The infrequent publication of Saga, and the lack of deadlines for someone that’s become such a well-regarded writer, make it hard for me to recommend getting into reading it. This particular volume is pretty average for the overall run so far, which is to say it’s still an above average comic book.

If you’ve read some (or all that’s been written so far) of Saga and enjoy Vaughan’s work, I would highly recommend some of his other comics, namely the series Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina (both of which wrapped up years ago), and also (the stand-alone graphic novel) Pride of Bagdad. Y: The Last Man is my favorite comic of Vaughan’s and I think it’s superior to Saga, with his other work being on a similar level quality-wise.

Grade: 7.5/10

Night of the Ghoul

By Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla

It’s not easy to craft a decent horror comic book, but that’s what writer Scott Snyder and illustrator Francesco Francavilla have managed to do with Night of the Ghoul.

A major problem with horror comics is that the majority of the time they don’t end up being all that frightening. Sure, Night of the Ghoul never manages to be truly terrifying, but it does accomplish a level of creepiness/scariness over its pages.

The story goes back and forth between the present-day and the past. The events in the past are shown to us by way of a film, that though it shows a fantastical horror story, is supposedly an accurate depiction of what really happened decades prior. While Night of the Ghoul isn’t too unique and won’t provide many surprises with where it’s going to readers familiar with the horror genre, it does do a good job of feeling like a classic horror tale. That’s what I think Snyder was really shooting for here, and, in that regard, he’s successful.

As for the art, Francavilla’s illustrations are perfect for this sort of horror story and definitely add to the mood of the book. Overall, I think this is a solid bit of horror that those looking to get an entire horror story in just one graphic novel will enjoy.