Faith Dreamside #2 Moves Slowly But Is Still Charming
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Faith and Monica find Doctor Mirage outside a studio where the doctor just spoke on a talk show. Faith and Monica catch up to Mirage and get her to hear out their situation. Mirage is skeptical of what Monica explains, but she agrees to help. Monica’s spirits only come out at night though, so she and Faith must crash in Doctor Mirage’s hotel room.
Faith: Dreamside #2 is a rather slow-moving issue. Faith and Monica catch up with Mirage early on in the book, and the vast majority of it is the three of them chatting. It’s not a complete wash, as Jody Houser is quite talented at scripting dialogue. Plus, Faith is an endlessly charming character.
The comic does one thing differently than other Valiant comics I’ve read: we actually get to see Dr. Mirage’s husband, Hwen, and what he has to say. Admittedly, I’ve not read the original Valiant material, and I came into the rebirth a few years in. However, Doctor Mirage has shown up in quite a few books lately, and we never get to see her husband.
He’s a very charming character, and it adds sort of a playful mysticism to the comic well-suited to a book centering on Faith Herbert.
As always, Faith still has a few really good lines showing off her geeky bona fides. She’s easily one of Valiant’s best characters.
MJ Kim once again delivers a good-looking issue, and I found myself especially impressed by Mirage’s costume in this issue. It looks really good, and Hwen looks great too. The spirits that show up in the book all look quite cool, especially helped by the excellent electric blue coloring provided by Jordie Bellaire. The pseudo-anime aesthetic Kim brings to the table also suits Faith quite well, as it captures her adorkable moments very well.
Faith Dreamide #2 continues Faith’s latest adventure in a fairly slow manner, but the likable characters and solid dialogue keep the book from being deadeningly boring. There are slow spots for sure, but the comic is still recommendable to any fans of Faith Herbert or the ongoings of the Valiant Universe in general.
Faith Dreamside #2 comes to us from writer Jody Houser, artist MJ Kim, color artist Jordie Bellaire, letterer Dave Sharpe, cover artist Marguerite Sauvage, and variant cover artists Sibylline Meynet and David LaFuente with Andrew Dalhouse.
