Gotta Have Faith
Writer: Jody Houser
Art by: Meghan Hetrick, Andrew Dalhouse and Marguerite Sauvage
On Sale: December 7, 2016
Cover Price: $3.99
Review by: Ryan Douglas
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**
Check out Ryan's podcast, Columbus Comics Corner HERE.
While I liked the first arc of Dark Star in issue 5, I stayed away from the back half of the book to avoid any politics. I tend to stay away from any stories that involve current day politics. With that being said I was glad to get a normal issue of Faith with no extra political garble in the back.
I've enjoyed since the start of her series, Faith has been a grounded character and it continues in issue 6. Faith is still dealing with the former Hollywood star Zoe Hines being controlled by a mystical cat. Faith is still caught in this psiot force field created by Zoe to contain Faith and drain her of energy. PRS(Project Rising Spirit) step in and break up Zoe consuming Faith's energy. The cat is obviously the captain of this train and tells Zoe to run away from the scene in order for them to regroup. Faith attempts to get some answers from PRS and the woman in control quickly walks right past her as if she didn't exist. Faith doesn't take kindly that she get treated like a ghost and plays the tough guy card and cuts off PRS to get answers. After giving the PRS captain a piece of her mind, she's invited to join them to track down Zoe and the cat.
In the PRS SUV, we find Zoe's mother is a child actor parent who only really care about their child's career opposed to their life. Zoe's mother wants to make sure after all this is over, this becomes Zoe's story opposed to the cat. Here the PRS lead agent gives us some insight into Dark Star. It almost seems Jody tries to throw all her favorite old cartoon or tv show characters in this series in some way. The cat is very reminiscent of Salem Saberhagen, from "Sabrina The Teenage Witch". Anyways, it's revealed PRS had captured a psiot who they believed we're consuming energy from other psiots. But it turns out Dark Star was only using the body as a host. Once escaping, this entity found its brand new host in the body of the cat who is hanging out the lab.
Faith discovers Dark Star only has so much control over Zoe and that she is able to control her thoughts. The reason Zoe attacked the mall was due to a part of her web-series filmed there in the past. Faith does some research and finds her next web-series filmed at a boardwalk in the city. There she finds Dark Star and Zoe in the act of stealing energy from people who are there. Faith finally faces off the two. Zoe has a grudge against anyone who has treated her bad in the past and see's her as just another tabloid celebrity to attack. Instead of a superhero brawl, Jody Houser takes a different approach and has Faith simply speaks to Zoe as a human being. Faith gives Zoe hope and informs her she can't allow the Hollywood stardom and drama that comes with it get to her. She lets Zoe know after everything she's been through, she has to not give up and not let this Hollywood scene break her. Zoe finally comes to the realization what she's done and finds the strength to break the energy link from Dark Star. PRS is there to collect their experiment quickly after Faith has saved Zoe from this psiot.
All in all, this short arc wrapped up as I expected. What I did not expect was the way Faith brought Zoe out of the control of Dark Star. Whether you're an actor/actress or musician working in this sort of industry you could relate with Zoe. Being a musician myself and seeing these sort of things occur I could relate to what Zoe was going through. Even though Dark Star was the big bad of this arc, Zoe's inner struggle was the focal point of this story. While Faith is somewhat of a predictable book, Jody Houser finds a way to make it a very pleasant and enjoyable read. These stories always don't have to focus on big superhero battle arcs. Sometimes a story of morals and focusing on life experiences can make for a satisfying read. Yes, Faith does have superpowers but the book isn't centered around that constantly. I continue to find the art very enjoyable and is very fitting for this story telling.
Bits and Pieces:
Jody Houser wraps up the "Dark Star" arc with a neat and refreshing ending. While Faith is somewhat of a predictable book, Jody Houser finds a way to make it a very pleasant and enjoyable read. Sometimes a story of morals and focusing on life experiences can make for a satisfying read. The art continues to be some of my favorite work this year.
8/10
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