Review by Frank Plowright
Avery lives with her dad in the middle of nowhere running a petrol station, but what she really wants is to be a magician. Her life might seem a dead end, but we’re not long in before the foundations of Avery’s reality are altogether eroded. There’s a reason for her affinity with magic, and she has the potential for greatness. In the sample art she’s talking with Gribblet, teller of truths and a messenger herald for genies, who don’t like repeatedly explaining the terms and conditions of the three wish allocation when someone rubs a magic lamp.
Jeff Victor tells a magnificent story here. Avery is established from the start as a loveable child whose loneliness hits home, and who grasps at the chance for adventure when it comes calling. Yet You Wish is more than an adventure, it’s a search for Avery’s mother, abducted by the magical authorities shortly after her birth. Gribblet was once her herald, and would much prefer her to the master he now serves, the unpleasant, but aptly named Vulgarin.
Animators wanting to try their hand at comics is an increasing tendency, and the attraction is obvious. A high degree of artistic skill is required for their trade, yet it’s servicing someone else’s vision. Comics won’t necessarily transfer to the screen, but their being entirely under one person’s control must be a very attractive proposition. Animation requires storytelling clarity, and Victor ensures from the beginning that we know who people are and what they want. That carries through to the art, which is bright, imaginative and beautifully drawn, but with the discipline to know that young children have to follow what’s happening.
Victor pitches You Wish at a relatively safe level of thrills. We’re aware Vulgarin is a nasty type, but he’s never menacing enough to prompt nightmares, yet still causes a fair bit of trouble, although never to the point where we really fear for Avery.
You Wish delights from start to happy ending, and while a complete story in itself Victor isn’t finished with the cast yet. Wishborn follows.
