Faith #2

Valiant's latest breakout star and body positive superhero Faith is back! I HAD to read this issue as one of my favorite artists Marguerite Sauvage has lent her amazing talent to the project. She has illustrated all of Faith's fantasy sequences. I have to admit, I really wish her whimsical panels were the entire way through the issue. That's not to say that Francis Portella is not a talented artist, it's merely a personal bias for Sauvage's work which I've followed extensively since she began her career in comics.

The running theme of the story appears to be celebrity and Faith's unrelenting conscience. She does what she has to in order to get the job done, but not without questioning her own golden morals of honesty. I'll show a little of my morals here and be perfectly honest that Faith's alter ego who's career is based in journalism is far from original but writer Jody Houser has made Faith's alter ego Summer, engaging and realistic. Summer is fearless and although bullied by her boss, stands up for herself assertively rather than pulling some Peter Parker impersonation or stuttering Clark Kent.

There is a theme running through the issue I'd like to put focus on. It paints the media and Hollywood as both vapid and shallow, casually calling attention to the pitfalls of celebrity. I think it's really important to do this, especially for the younger generation however holding stereotypes like "pretty, thing and blonde" equals mean and stupid isn't very forward thinking. If we could loose this type of character casting which utilizes stereotypes of this nature, we'd find Faith being an all around more body positive story.

Despite this one criticism, I still find Faith to be an excellent read and hopefully will only improve with time. You can get your copy of Faith #2 next Wednesday, March 2nd.