Your Wish Is My Command h/c back

Page 45 Comicbook Of The Month February 2023.

Created and set in Egypt, it has fulfilled all my hopes for it and exceeded my wildest dreams. Three highly personal stories hung around a simple premise with very far reaching ramifications, all of which have been thought through thoroughly:

What if wishes existed? What it they were commodities like water, diamonds or mobile phones? Where in the world would the raw materials be mined, and which other countries would exploit their extraction, dominate their refinement, and so capitalise most lucratively on their distribution? How would governments seek to determine their use worldwide? And how would any specific country's authorities control their population's individual acquisition and use of them?

Deena Mohamed's debut graphic novel is ever so clever, absolutely rivetting, profoundly moving, heartbreaking in places but bursting with kindness as well.

The publisher writes:

"A brilliantly original debut graphic novel that imagines a fantastical Cairo where wishes really do come true. Deena Mohamed brings to life a cast of characters whose struggles and triumphs are heartbreaking, inspiring and deeply resonant. Your Wish is My Command is the story of three people who are navigating a world where wishes are literally for sale.

Mired as they are in bureaucracy and the familiar prejudices of our world, the wishes that are more expensive are more likely to work as intended. Three wishes sold at an unassuming kiosk in Cairo link Aziza, Nour and Shokry, changing their perspectives as well as their lives. Aziza learned early that life can be hard, but when she loses her husband and manages to procure a wish, she finds herself fighting unreasonable regulations and inequality for the right to have - and make - that wish.

Nour is a privileged college student who secretly struggles with depression and must decide whether or not to use their wish to try to 'fix' this depression. And, finally, Shokry must grapple with his religious convictions as he decides how to help a friend who doesn't want to use their wish. Although their stories are fantastical, each of these people wrestles with the very real challenge of trying to make their most deeply held desires come true."

A mix of full-colour and blackand white interior art.