Valiant has Faith and so do the Readers

​Thanks to my good friend and fellow Comics Education Outreach founder Eric Kallenborn for printing this review on his web site as part of his 365 graphic novel reviews in 365 days experiment over at his website. Check it out! Here is my review, in its entirety, with a few minor edits.

Valiant Comics' Faith has taken the comic world by storm. It has smart writing, action packed panels, and just enough humor to make you smile at least once every three pages. Well…maybe once ever other page. Sure, lots of graphic novels can say the same, but this book has something no other title has – the titular character of Faith herself.

Faith is a woman and a superhero, qualities that are not uncommon within the genre. What makes this particular woman superhero unique is the fact that she does not possess a gravity defying body which remains primarily unhindered by clothing. Faith (and by extension, her alter ego Zephyr) has a more realistic body type and wears a stylish and conservative costume when she fights crime. She is a powerful, confident, and genuinely funny character who jumps off the page. Who she is on the outside might make you curious, but she transcends her physical appearance and exists as a smart, resourceful, and flawed individual with an imagination that the reader is treated to through a different artistic representation. 

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​In fact, Faith’s fantasies are what set this title apart from others. Faith is already a superhero with amazing powers and yet she still feels like her life could be more fantastic. This slight sense of uncertainty on her part is just another charming quality that makes me love her all the more. To top it all off, Sshe is also a huge comic book geek and the book is riddled with pop culture references that are sure to appeal to ComicCon nerds everywhere.

The first trade paperback picks up from where the character left off after her introduction in Harbinger as Faith dons a wig and glasses (remind you of a certain set of super cousins, by any chance?) and tries to take on a new identity as a content creator for a gossip website (yet another dig at Clark Kent’s legit reporter gig). Unfortunately for her, she is forced almost immediately to reveal her identity to her co-workers because, in this world, a makeshift disguise isn’t enough to hide you in plain sight and the bad guys come a-knocking right out of the gate. The satire is palpable.

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​Faith loves being a superhero and that’s a huge part of what makes this book so fun to read. She’s doing what most of us would if we had access to amazing powers - she’s reveling it in and enjoying the fame, admiration, and notoriety. At the same time, she keeps her head on straight, always tries to make the right decisions (like breaking up a puppy heist ring), and not exploiting and wasting her talents like her reality television star ex-boyfriend and fellow superhero Torque. Oh, did I mention that there are lots and lots of crossovers with other Valiant characters? Well, there are.
 
Faith flies high, makes her own rules, and is a role model in her world and on the comic page and kudos to Valiant for creating such a fun, unique, and praiseworthy female hero. Let’s hope that the other publishers follow suit and start giving us heroes of all genders that the rest of us can identify with. I highly recommend this for your personal or classroom library.