In case you missed it, I’ve already reviewed Faith’s first trade paperback collection, Hollywood and Vine, and her second, California Scheming. Writer Jody Houser isn’t penning mind-blowing plots, so if you haven’t read my reviews or the comics themselves, you’re still fine to read my review of the third trade paperback, Superstar.
The first thing I noticed is that there are more women credited at the top of the cover: Jody Houser (writer) and Marguerite Sauvage (fantasy sequence artist) have been part of the crew, but Meghan Hetrick (artist), Colleen Doran (artist), and Louise Simonson (writer) are new. In case you are confused, a trade paperback of a comic is several smaller Issues bound in one glossy, shelf-friendly collection. Thus, each Issue may have a different artist.
The plot of Superstar is largely about Zoe Hines, a red-headed teenage TV star who is struggling because she took photos of herself in her underwear and sent them to her boyfriend. Society proceeded to slut shame Zoe, leaving her willing to listen to an evil entity that wants to use Zoe to suck the energy out of people’s bodies and collect it. This is part of Issue #5. But Issue #5 also had two mini-stories, “Faith in Politics” and “No Days Off.” This happens once in a while in special edition Issues.
One mini comic is about Hillary Clinton and ends by asking readers to vote the following week. An even shorter (six pages) mini comic about criminals gathering weapons (“No Days Off”) also interrupts Faith and Zoe’s story. Thus, Issue #5 could have been interesting to read on it’s own if purchased singly, but gathered with Issues # 6, #7, and #8 in this trade paperback, the mini plots were a confusing interruption. Thankfully, Issue #6 takes us back to Zoe and Faith’s story. The team of people that created this evil entity tend to get in Faith’s way as she tries to convince Zoe that hurting people who shame her won’t make Zoe feel better.
Issues #7 and #8 tied directly together and are about Faith having to literally face the ghosts of friends and family who have died, for which Faith blames herself. Writer Jody Houser does a clever twist that takes readers back to Hollywood and Vine, making a nice little circle, which I so enjoy. My happiness emphasized for me how disruptive those special mini comics were! Doh!
I keep an eye on how Faith is drawn because Superstar has different artists. I want her to be her fat self. Pere Perez, who drew all the images in California Scheming and some in other Issues, seems to have Faith’s body right. She is fat from all angles, whether she’s sitting, standing, laying down, or flying. Unfortunately, Faith was dramatically slenderized in the hands of both Meghan Hetrick (Issue #6) and Joe Eisma (Issues #7 and #8):
Slowly, Faith is becoming a more socially acceptable fat women, which disappointed me. Sadly, Joe Eisma is the artist for most of the Issues in the fourth trade paperback, The Faithless. I’m hoping that he does her justice and doesn’t turn her into a sexual fantasy like most female superheros are, but my hopes are low. Superstar is still recommended, though I would advise readers to skip the mini comics in Issue #5 and save them for the end.
Grab the Lapels 
I’ve liked what Faith I’ve found online but I’m a bit disconcerted by her apparent changes of age. I reckon Faith on the covers is 20 years older than the Joe Eisma Faith. One comment about one of the earlier illustrations, I put my hands above my head precisely to give my stomach an illusion of flatness.
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I’m not sure how old she’s supposed to be. The comic doesn’t mention (at least not in the Faith-specific comics). She was in another comic as a minor character, and maybe it’s clear there, but I don’t plan to read those books.
I have more arguments to make about how Faith’s body is drawn for my last Faith review tomorrow.
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It’s great to hear there are more women involved in the creative process, as they’re woefully underrepresented in the world of comics. On the other hand, it’s such a shame they’re proving so inconsistent with Faith’s body image.
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A lot of women are just straight up chased out of comics and gaming spaces, which is weird because male gamers and comic nerds notoriously complain that they are “good guys” and women don’t want “good guys.” And then we get the onslaught of “good guys” murdering women who say “no.” I may have shared this before, but there is a fascinating article by Authur Chu in which he writes about the violence in nerd culture that no one seems to be paying attention to: https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-princess-is-in-another-castle-misogyny-entitlement-and-nerds-1
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It’s bizarre that certain areas of nerd culture continue to push the myth that women aren’t as interested as men. Less female involvement in gaming, comics, etc. is due almost exclusively to a hostile environment and a lack of content aimed at including them.
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Hmmm too bad about the drawings in this one, but the plot and writing still seems fantastic!!! Very excited about these.
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I think artists just aren’t used to drawing the anatomy of someone who isn’t your stereotype of a superhero. They need to get back to their figure drawing days. No model is great looking in a figuring drawing class. They’re very realistic people.
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Hmm yah that’s a good point
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It’s a shame that they are drawing Faith so inconsistently. The story doesn’t sound quite as compelling to me as the last one, but I like the idea of Faith trying to help someone resist the desire to get revenge.
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I’m not sure why a comic publisher would hire different artists to render the same character, but they have. I know it some comic books they have one artist who does scenery, one to do people, one to do interiors, etc. Those are big-name comics, though.
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[…] two plots, both of which make sense and follow each other logically, so that is an improvement over Faith: Superstar. In Issue #9, a new intern shows up at Faith’s day job, and the perky young woman seems […]
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[…] main plot but got a bit messy when writer Jody Houser chose to include a special political Issue in Superstar. Things round out when a villain from each of the previous three books appear in The Faithless, a […]
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