Faith, Volume 2: California Scheming by Jody HouserMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Having read the first season of Faith with immense enjoy, I couldn't wait to pick up the new series. I read them as single issues, and my faith in the story and the writers diminished with each passing panel.
Where in season 1, the novelty of Faith being the first plus-sized superhero to headline a comic book was overshadowed by her wit, her humour and the action-packed storyline, the first three issues of season 2 retread a lot of the angst of Faith in season 1, but without quite as much humour.
The majority of issue one is all fantasy; not even fantasy pertaining to the storyline, which eats up valuable space, without moving or adding to the story in any way.
Far too much attention is paid to a potential costume change - not something on Faith's mind, but it is on someone else's. I don't think Faith's costume should be front and center, especially when it detracts from the main storyline. Each issue feels painfully curtailed because not enough meat goes into those 20-odd pages.
There's a couple of issues featuring a comic con; but instead of being fun and a place where we get to see all kinds of people enjoying geekdom (and a possibility of seeing Faith truly in her element), it becomes an overly pedantic, preachy sermon on con-etiquette. Con-etiquette is supremely important, but let's put it this way, those of us picking up our copies of Faith aren't the ones who need to be taught con behaviour - trust me, we're the good guys. There's also an art to teaching people a lesson through, well, art, and this book doesn't have it.
The final issue of this segment was the only good one. Pretty funny and action-packed, with a smidgen of the first season's excellence. I'm not too happy with how Archer, Faith's partner in crime and hopefully more soon, seems to be saving the day. Faith next to never uses her power in this season. And given the first issue starts of with an evil organisation's attempts to besmirch her good name, it's ridiculous that this particular plotline isn't followed through with Faith's powers unleashed to the max. Having said that, I also believe it's too early in Faith's career to include the besmirching of good name thing.
I'm gutted that the glory of season one was not realised in season 2. Faith deserves it and so do all the fans who've long deserved an awesome hero like her. There needs to be a balance of personal struggles and her unabashed superheroing, but at the moment that's not what we're getting.
We need more Faith in our lives, for sure, but the writers need to up the ante and make her a credible hero with strong plotlines and a lot more action.
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