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depreydeprey's review
4.0
Oh boy does the Hilary Clinton appearance and story line feel dated already. That said one of the real strengths Houser's work is that she often tells stories in two issue archs so even if you don't love where a story is headed it will take a pleasant turn soon enough and what she is doing with Faith feels so forward thinking I'm more than willing to give her a little latitude.
joinreallife's review
3.0
I guess I'm realizing that these bind ups of single issues are maybe not for me. There was a weird 2016 election interlude in this one, which interrupted the flow of the story, and overall it feels like conflicts and fights are resolved far too quickly and easily, which I understand is for the sake of wrapping things up before the end of the issue and not the volume, but when reading them this way, feels really abrupt. I do still really like Faith as a character though.
melanie_page's review
3.0
The first thing I noticed is that there are more women credited at the top of the cover: Jody Houser (writer) and Marguerite Sauvage (fantasy sequence artist) have been part of the crew, but Meghan Hetrick (artist), Colleen Doran (artist), and Louise Simonson (writer) are new. In case you are confused, a trade paperback of a comic is several smaller Issues bound in one glossy, shelf-friendly collection. Thus, each Issue may have a different artist.
The plot of Superstar is largely about Zoe Hines, a red-headed teenage TV star who is struggling because she took photos of herself in her underwear and sent them to her boyfriend. Society proceeded to slut shame Zoe, leaving her willing to listen to an evil entity that wants to use Zoe to suck the energy out of people’s bodies and collect it. This is part of Issue #5. But Issue #5 also had two mini-stories, “Faith in Politics” and “No Days Off.” This happens once in a while in special edition Issues.
One mini comic is about Hillary Clinton and ends by asking readers to vote the following week. An even shorter (six pages) mini comic about criminals gathering weapons (“No Days Off”) also interrupts Faith and Zoe’s story. Thus, Issue #5 could have been interesting to read on it’s own if purchased singly, but gathered with Issues # 6, #7, and #8 in this trade paperback, the mini plots were a confusing interruption. Thankfully, Issue #6 takes us back to Zoe and Faith’s story. The team of people that created this evil entity tend to get in Faith’s way as she tries to convince Zoe that hurting people who shame her won’t make Zoe feel better.
Issues #7 and #8 tied directly together and are about Faith having to literally face the ghosts of friends and family who have died, for which Faith blames herself. Writer Jody Houser does a clever twist that takes readers back to Hollywood and Vine, making a nice little circle, which I so enjoy. My happiness emphasized for me how disruptive those special mini comics were! Doh!
I keep an eye on how Faith is drawn because Superstar has different artists. I want her to be her fat self. Pere Perez, who drew all the images in California Scheming and some in other Issues, seems to have Faith’s body right. She is fat from all angles, whether she’s sitting, standing, laying down, or flying. Unfortunately, Faith was dramatically slenderized in the hands of both Meghan Hetrick (Issue #6) and Joe Eisma (Issues #7 and #8).
Slowly, Faith is becoming a more socially acceptable fat women, which disappointed me. Sadly, Joe Eisma is the artist for most of the Issues in the fourth trade paperback, The Faithless. I’m hoping that he does her justice and doesn’t turn her into a sexual fantasy like most female superheros are, but my hopes are low. Superstar is still recommended, though I would advise readers to skip the mini comics in Issue #5 and save them for the end.
Full review with images was first published at Grab the Lapels.
The plot of Superstar is largely about Zoe Hines, a red-headed teenage TV star who is struggling because she took photos of herself in her underwear and sent them to her boyfriend. Society proceeded to slut shame Zoe, leaving her willing to listen to an evil entity that wants to use Zoe to suck the energy out of people’s bodies and collect it. This is part of Issue #5. But Issue #5 also had two mini-stories, “Faith in Politics” and “No Days Off.” This happens once in a while in special edition Issues.
One mini comic is about Hillary Clinton and ends by asking readers to vote the following week. An even shorter (six pages) mini comic about criminals gathering weapons (“No Days Off”) also interrupts Faith and Zoe’s story. Thus, Issue #5 could have been interesting to read on it’s own if purchased singly, but gathered with Issues # 6, #7, and #8 in this trade paperback, the mini plots were a confusing interruption. Thankfully, Issue #6 takes us back to Zoe and Faith’s story. The team of people that created this evil entity tend to get in Faith’s way as she tries to convince Zoe that hurting people who shame her won’t make Zoe feel better.
Issues #7 and #8 tied directly together and are about Faith having to literally face the ghosts of friends and family who have died, for which Faith blames herself. Writer Jody Houser does a clever twist that takes readers back to Hollywood and Vine, making a nice little circle, which I so enjoy. My happiness emphasized for me how disruptive those special mini comics were! Doh!
I keep an eye on how Faith is drawn because Superstar has different artists. I want her to be her fat self. Pere Perez, who drew all the images in California Scheming and some in other Issues, seems to have Faith’s body right. She is fat from all angles, whether she’s sitting, standing, laying down, or flying. Unfortunately, Faith was dramatically slenderized in the hands of both Meghan Hetrick (Issue #6) and Joe Eisma (Issues #7 and #8).
Slowly, Faith is becoming a more socially acceptable fat women, which disappointed me. Sadly, Joe Eisma is the artist for most of the Issues in the fourth trade paperback, The Faithless. I’m hoping that he does her justice and doesn’t turn her into a sexual fantasy like most female superheros are, but my hopes are low. Superstar is still recommended, though I would advise readers to skip the mini comics in Issue #5 and save them for the end.
Full review with images was first published at Grab the Lapels.
iamrainbou's review
3.0
Three things I seriously loved from Superstar;
+Discussion of how hurtful and horrifying is to blame teen girls for rape culture. The comic lets teen girls to be angry and show the world their pain. And Faith resolves the battle with her compassion and positivity.
+Faith salving Hillary and urging people to vote!
+Faith deals with her past and her regrets; she learns to accept what she has done because people need her. Her character is becoming more complex and real which I always enjoy reading about.
+Discussion of how hurtful and horrifying is to blame teen girls for rape culture. The comic lets teen girls to be angry and show the world their pain. And Faith resolves the battle with her compassion and positivity.
+Faith salving Hillary and urging people to vote!
+Faith deals with her past and her regrets; she learns to accept what she has done because people need her. Her character is becoming more complex and real which I always enjoy reading about.
demackison's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Not a bad story, but nothing really original either. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I had started with volume 1.
tinkeringlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Ordering of the issues in this was odd-would have preferred the two Dark Star ones side by side. Decent humor, but not the strongest plotting. Hopefully vol 4 is more exciting.
iviarelle's review against another edition
5.0
I can't sing enough praises for Faith. She's powerful and heroic and vulnerable and kind and everything.
ariadna's review against another edition
4.0
This volume has a slightly darker plot which was both unexpected and, for the most part, refreshing. I liked seeing Faith trying to defend innocents when her powers are down as well as having some moments of self-doubt.
The villain in this issue was interesting too.
The one issue that made me cringe and feel a little sad was the middle one. In this one, Faith meets Hilary Clinton (this issue was published back in 2016 at the height of the US Presidential Election.) Although I understand that Jody Houser (the comic book author) thought using the comic book medium was a good way to urge people to go and vote, I have to say that it was a bit of a jarring moment to find RL events happen in the comic.
Not because art shouldn't be political (ALL ART IS POLITICAL and, if you don't think that, then you are super delusional). However, it IS super weird to see an issue in which the author is literally voicing all of her thoughts directly at readers. YMMV, obvs.
TL;DR: An improvement (plot wise) from the previous issue. The one discordant note was the middle issue in which the author decided to use it as a platform to urge her readers to vote. It's an altruistic way of reaching out to folks. However, it aso felt forced since this comic book series has mostly been set in its own 'verse. So, seeing RL!political events was a bit weird, imo. I borrowed this from the library.
The villain in this issue was interesting too.
The one issue that made me cringe and feel a little sad was the middle one. In this one, Faith meets Hilary Clinton (this issue was published back in 2016 at the height of the US Presidential Election.) Although I understand that Jody Houser (the comic book author) thought using the comic book medium was a good way to urge people to go and vote, I have to say that it was a bit of a jarring moment to find RL events happen in the comic.
Not because art shouldn't be political (ALL ART IS POLITICAL and, if you don't think that, then you are super delusional). However, it IS super weird to see an issue in which the author is literally voicing all of her thoughts directly at readers. YMMV, obvs.
TL;DR: An improvement (plot wise) from the previous issue. The one discordant note was the middle issue in which the author decided to use it as a platform to urge her readers to vote. It's an altruistic way of reaching out to folks. However, it aso felt forced since this comic book series has mostly been set in its own 'verse. So, seeing RL!political events was a bit weird, imo. I borrowed this from the library.