Three Little Wishes

Kelly is a really good lawyer because she is very involved in the details. That also means she has one friend and no romantic prospects, because that’s how this kind of character works in media. When her friend encourages her to do something “rash and stupid,” she buys an abandoned storage unit, where she finds and frees Oberon, King of the Fairies.

He grants her three wishes, but the specific wording determines what will happen. She’s the perfect person to defeat this particular trap, and this stand-alone story follows what happens to her and her friends. Three Little Wishes is written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Steve Yeowell. It’s published by Legendary, which is part of a media company, so it’s pretty clear that someone would love for this to become a movie.

That said, it’s a clever, modern twist on a classic premise. The art is readable but not outstanding; the figures can be stiff and appear pasted in, but it’s easy to follow the story and understand what they’re feeling. The dialogue is witty and was the high point of the book for me. You can see the art style in this book trailer:

There are action twists and emotional revelations and flashbacks, and it all moves pretty quickly, which means it sometimes feels a little shallow. But I got these characters and started rooting for them to win through. I also liked the running gag about Kelly’s real desire being to see “those two actors from that British show you like to get together.” That’s a weird character point I can relate to.