A Wishing Booth!? Where???
Being a kid with your own genie is quite probably the most awesomest thing to ever happen. Especially to a kid who's socially conscious to the stuff around him. Imagine, if a child could simply wish for everything to be perfect in the world, like world peace, end to war, famine, disease, poverty etc; who wouldn't benefit from it, right?
This issue focuses on the titular character Jakeem Thunder as he journeys through the stuff he can and can't do. Not for the lack of power, but wondering just where exactly does he draw the line. More importantly, is he willing to see if there is even a line.
Being an adolescent though, Jakeem goes with his gut and decides to use the Thunderbolt to help everyone he can help, which of course can be an exhausting job even for a genie. Jakeem does this after directly disobeying Alan Scott, who tries to be the voice of reason to Jakeem, explaining just what superheroes can and cannot do. Eventually by the end, Jakeem realizes that there's just too much that people want, and once they realize they can get it easily, they'll keep wanting more and more, and more.
This issue reminds me of Kyle Rayner's first outing as Ion when Rayner decides to become the overseer of just about everything in the entire universe. Naturally it took Superman to explain how people cannot become dependent on superheroes for everything. Same is the case here as Alan Scott does his utmost best to to explain the same to Jakeem. While all the way till the middle of the book you'll tend to keep asking "whats wrong with helping everyone if you can?", turns out that the human appetite is insatiable. If you think about it, humans want it all. They're not humbled with whatever they have and when some kid comes up with a wish-granting genie, they are going to pounce. I'd imagine the human race would make up the entire Orange Lantern Corps, if only Larfleeze lets them. :P
Jakeem as the rebel was quite insightful till he got into Scott's classroom. Alan Scott is by definition at his finest. Who else with a ring that'll do everything you put your mind to is better to explain the dynamics of Jakeem's conundrum. At first though, you'd think Scott is the evil headmaster who you'll want to disobey, but in the end he does prove his point anyway.
Overall, a very nice read and one of the better one-shot's I've read in a while.