Genre: Superhero
Publisher: Valiant
Writer: Jody Houser
Art: Francis Portela & Marguerite Sauvage
When looking out over Los Angeles one might see her soaring through the sky; Faith Herbert, also known as Zephyr of the Harbinger Resistance. Having left her friends and adopting a secret identity she drudges through life as Susan, working at an internet site eventually tasked with watching a reality show starring her ex-boyfriend Torque. When not stuck in her cubicle Faith flies around and stops crime even if it doesn’t quite turn out as in her vivid daydreams. When she realizes that someone is hunting psiots, that her ex is quite uninterested in superhero work she sets out to investigate it herself, but when she in an unguarded moment reveals herself, she becomes a target.
Faith is in many instances a perfect comic. It takes a female superhero and avoids all the stereotypical traps that they jump into without thought. The character of Faith is also exactly what happens when a true nerdy fan girl has supernatural powers and abilities. The story in this first collected issue appears, at first glance, to be quite basic with kidnappings and the like, but it is quickly revealed that there is depth here and an ingenuity that is refreshing. The artwork is nice and the juxtaposition between Faith’s reality and her daydreams is clever. Faith’s job at a buzzfeed like internet magazine and the reality show makes the comic close to its social context and it speaks to the reader showing that the writer, Jody Houser, is in tune with the trends of the day. Something that actually isn’t that common in the comic world of today. Another aspect that Valiant does so well is the use of the shared universe and the continuity they have created; Archer makes an appearance.
All in all; Faith is the comic book we all deserve and is clever, witty, exciting and entertaining.
C.M. Marry Hultman
Comments