FAITH

Fat and fierce superhero Zephyr—aka Faith Herbert—leaves the Harbinger Resistance to fly solo.

On her own in LA and with her secret identity blown in a previous adventure, blonde, white Faith goes Clark Kent with a pair of glasses, a red wig, and a new name—Summer Smith—to complement her role as a mild-mannered content writer for online outlet Zipline. She works hard to get over ex-boyfriend and rising reality TV star Torque and continues to fight crime. Investigating the disappearance of a young black teen, a possible psiot like her, soon leads her to the evil Vine, who are experimenting on psiots as part of a plot to (of course) take over the Earth. Faith is an enormously likable character, an unapologetic geek and fangirl. Dialogue and internal monologues are both strong in banter (“I can do this,” she thinks to herself as she prepares to write a puff piece on Torque. “I’m a freakin’ superhero”) and reflective of an unflinching moral code. Portela’s and Sauvage’s classic superhero stylings accommodate Faith’s size with ease and respect. Readers unfamiliar with previous Harbinger storylines will flounder a bit as they catch up, but the willingness to suspend disbelief and go with the superhero flow will take them far. This volume compiles the first four issues of her solo comic.

You go, girl.