Written by: Jody Houser
Art by: Pere Perez & Colleen Doran (origin sequence artist)
Publisher: Valiant
Coming out strong in her second solo series we have Faith Herbert (a.k.a. Zephyr, a.k.a. Summer Smith), Valiant’s most popular superhero. Seriously, I don’t really read Valiant comics (they’re hard to come by out in the boonies) but even I haven’t been able to escape the tidal wave of positivity that fans hold for her since her first solo appearance since 2012, back in January. I must admit I was a bit trepid at first, looking back at her early appearances before reading the more recent ones in order to get a feel for the character all I could see were boring tropes and fat joke. I think these were designed in an attempt to give a body-positive vibe, at least that’s what it seemed in the 2012 version, by taking a sort of ‘Oh, she’s overweight but look! She’s still happy in spite of that,’ angle on things. An angle which I don’t think really delivers the lesson it tries to teach well and can easily lead to a more shaming tone for the reader rather than liberating.
Fortunately Jody Houser demonstrates her good sense and ignores that whole issue by just writing Faith as a normal human being with her own life, one that doesn’t revolve around her being a bit bigger than the average woman her height. It plays a facet, as one’s appearance does in anyone’s life, but it in no way dominates and instead Faith’s struggles revolve around problems with friends, starting a new life after her having to abandon her old secret identity and balancing her superhero and social lives. This allows for people to feel more connected to Faith as she is a fully developed person with her own foibles and allows them to project themselves onto her, a key ingredient to success as we enter the Post-modern era of comics.
I love Faith and Summer Smith’s designs, it’s one of the few times that I know I would wholeheartedly buy into a superheroes secret identity (others including Clark Kent from All Star Superman). What I noticed is that Summer always wears her uniform under her regular clothes and all I could think about once I realised that is ‘How is she not passing out from the heat? She lives in LA for Pete’s sake! It must be boiling!’ It’s a minor thing but I couldn’t stop thinking that every time I saw her. I did like the scene where Faith questions whether or not her costume was cool enough though, as her resolution is that she keeps her old one sue to it being a uniform and therefore meaning something. It’s a small thing but it tells allot about her dedication and drive for being a superhero as well as what it means for her.
This is connected to the fact that Faith’s equivalent to Jimmy Olsen, Jay, may or may not be (he totally is in my opinion) dropping hints to his girlfriend about Summer being Zephyr. I think this opens up an interesting dynamic that will be fun to follow as Faith questions who she can and cannot trust with secrets and possibly see some fallout in the future with this relationship.
A big part of Faith’s life is that she is a massive nerd, her job is to write editorials on superheros after all, and appears to be a particular fan of Star Wars and the works of Tolkien. That’s cool, makes her more approachable to her readers? Awesome. The problem is that Houser shows this off by having her reference these things in weird and clunky ways that wouldn’t have felt out of place in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Examples of this Summer falling asleep thinking “This is the worst night. Midichlorians bad. Hopefully tomorrow will be more of an episode VII day…”
Pictured: My Reaction
The most enjoyable parts of the issue by far are the daydreams and fantasies that Summer has, bringing a refreshing source of humour and creative exploration of her thoughts and feelings at the time.
You’ll notice I didn’t really go into detail about what the plot looks like it’s going to be for this upcoming arc but that’s just because it’s nothing sensational, your standard superhero-still-getting-the-hang-of-things story. That isn’t really the focus of this series though, nor is it what sets it apart but I do get the feeling that this is a series that’s best read in trade. What is special is Faith, who feels like an actual, real human being which is an attribute I don’t think I could bestow to the stars of many superhero comics hitting print these days. The comedy may miss every so often but when it hits, it’s pretty memorable. I quite enjoyed reading Faith’s story and learning about this awkward yet relatable, telekinetic heroine and intend to follow it in the coming months to see were it goes (hopefully a film starring Rebel Wilson).
Oh man I can’t wait to review this!
You must be logged in to post a comment.