Valiant Entertainment 2016
Written by Jody Houser
Illustrated by Pere Perez
Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
Fantasy Sequence by Marguerite Sauvage
Faith was able to defeat Chris and his army of extras to escape and return back to normalcy. Back home, Faith was faced with a problem - her new friend Klara had deduced her secret identity. But Klara turned out to be a Faith superfan, promising to protect Faith’s identity - and even offering to design her a new costume. Faith’s secret is out. Her co-workers know. Her cross-country boyfriend, the heroic Archer, knows. So at least the only people who know are people she can trust. ...but can she trust herself?
Ah another date with Archer and this time the two are heading to a comic book convention. It’s hard to forget that Faith is such a huge comics fan and to see here with Archer in this setting is absolutely delightful. Even more so since yes there’s a crime but this isn’t one of those silly issues that pokes fun at the con or those attending it. It’s actually a fun and pretty accurate representation and that this is Archer’s first time and he’s the way he is well yeah it’s a hoot.
Love what Pere does with the interiors here. From the opening page where the borders are gears I knew this was going to be cool. Also even though this is con cosplay for Faith I like this outfit she has on she should totally keep this and rock this look fulltime. Major cool shoutout to all those creators in the Artist Alley two page spread. Not to mention all the fun he got to have with this issue and the various versions of Cosplay represented throughout. Very well done indeed.
That Faith stumbles upon a “case” while Archer is having his picture taken with a group was a nice touch. Then her remembering the past and that convention where she gets to meet her childhood idols and her and her parents were all in Star Trek gear with that Nichelle Nichols moment yeah that was sweet. While this is a serious representation of her life it still made me laugh when Archer tried to intervene with the Police about the crime. Yeah if every cosplayer were to get involved thinking they were a hero heh so naive and so cute.
That this simple robbery turns out to be something so very much more is great! I really hadn’t expected this to go the way it did. Once they got @X involved, which his request totally had me, and they found the trail of Murder-Mouse I really thought this was a one and done story so colour me surprised when it’s not! Now I can’t wait to see how this plays out next issue and i’ve a feeling that with what we’re seeing that it isn’t good/evil it’s just twinsies all around. Who knew Murder-Mouse was a powerful foe?
This continues to entertain with great characterisation, fun situations and still be able to make it come across as a serious story. That’s quite an accomplishment.