Faith #5 Review: She’s With Her!
By Matt Conner
Faith combines the worlds of Valiant heroes and politics when Hillary Clinton herself guest stars in her book. Don’t miss this zeitgeist issue!
Faith #5
Written by Jody Houser with Louise Simonsson and Jody Houser
Art by Meghan Hetrick with Pere Perez and Colleen Doran
Published by Valiant Entertainment
Faith has had plenty of crossovers in her book already. She regularly goes on dates with one of the title characters from Archer & Armstrong. She pulls in previous teammates from her time on Harbinger. But this week, six days before the American election, she crosses over with one of the most prominent women in the country: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Faith #5 Cover by Carmen Carnero
The main story moves Faith’s ongoing plotline forward. She investigates a scandalized teen starlet corrupted by an evil talking cat into hurting her acting rivals. It’s the good-natured skewering of the entertainment industry that has become standard with Faith’s move to Los Angeles, and it works beautifully.
But the draw is the backup story by industry legend Louise Simonson. In that one, Faith stops a helicopter full of bank robbers but crashes into a Hillary Clinton rally. The pair of powerful women inspire one another in a moment of genuine charm. The pages with Clinton work well, respecting the candidate without attacking her opponent. And the narration, though wordier than modern fashion, exhorts readers to seek understanding and balance in such a divisive time. Faith would absolutely get behind that message. Unfortunately, Simonson’s Faith connects to the current character but spends too much time in exposition for a woman in the ninth issue of popular solo titles. We know how her powers work by now.
Maybe because he’s already written Faith in his Archer & Armstrong book, Rafer Roberts has the stronger piece. His simple story about our hero stopping bad guys and helping innocents fits perfectly into the flow of this book’s run. That said, both writers show the versatility of this character, a hero representative of the average fan and living our dreams of making the world a better place.
The Bottom Line:
Faith continues to win hearts, taking what could have felt like a cheap election-year gimmick and using it for charm instead.