Wednesday, May 4, 2016

REVIEW: Faith, Vol 1: Hollywood & Vine by Jody Houser

**** (4) out of 5 stars!

Definitely a fresh take on an old story!  I was pleasantly surprised to learn of this new superhero whose character is uniquely her own.  First there was a new superhero Canadian young woman (Superhero Girl), then a Muslim teen girl (Ms Marvel AKA Kamala Khan); and now this overweight, young adult woman from Valiant Entertainment.  Talk about turning the genre on its ear!  No more are all the heroes these pasty, middle-aged, white dudes in tights.  I love it! 


I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the comic seemed to live up to the hype of its promo description.  While the galley I read contained only the first two volumes of the series (where the actual graphic novel will contain the first four), it still presented enough story to draw me in.  The characters were minimally introduced, the bad guys hinted at but not really explained; basically, the background was set for the anticipated action of the coming battle.  Although only from the intro material did I know that it is an alien invasion that Zephyr (AKA Faith, AKA Summer) will be fighting. 


I did feel like, even though these were the first editions in the series, there was an awful lot of backstory that I should know, even though the reader isn’t really made privy to it, at least not yet.  All the stuff about “psionically gifted ‘psiots’ discovered by the Harbinger Foundation” just left me wondering… Who?  Where?  What now??  But hopefully more of that will be filled in as the series progresses. 


The artwork was clear, concise and easy to follow, with clear definitions between each of the seemingly main and secondary characters, with subtle differences even between some of the minor characters who were apparently supposed to look very similar.


I’m already enjoying Zephyr, glad she dumped her loser ex-hero-turned-reality-TV-star boyfriend, anxious to learn more about her friends and coworkers, and to see if things get more interesting with her new neighbor!  It is definitely invigorating to see the diversity and fresh view that this character brings to the genre.  I can’t wait to read the entire volume, and any that may follow it.

I received a free partial galley of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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