Faith and the Future Force

by Jody Houser

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Kitties.

I received a copy of Faith and the Future Force from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Faith and the Future Force is a miniseries based in the same world that Valiant has already created, and it certainly came out swinging. Jody Houser (Mother Panic, Star Wars: Rogue One) is the writer, and she’s backed up by Stephen Segovia (Action Comics) and Barry Kitson (Fantastic Four). I’ll say this upfront; I’ve only read the first issue of Faith, but despite that I had no problem keeping up with what was going on (though I’m pretty sure I did get some spoilers for future volumes; no pun intended). So if you’ve been looking at this series and debating about trying it out, this may be a good way to get your toes wet (though I loved volume one, so I say just go back and read that one).



If you’ve ever wanted to see all of Vailiant’s superheroes in one place, then this is the volume for you. Faith teams up with a timewalker, and before you ask, yes Faith does in fact make some time to make plenty of Time Lord references while they’re trying to save the world. It’s wonderful and hilarious all in one. It’s a really fun series; and I’m surprised to hear myself saying that, considering how heavy it gets at times (though knowing about the time travel bit helps to immediately assure us that the events can be changed, and therefore there’s a bit of a lack of permanency to what happens).
As I mentioned above, I’ve only read volume one for Faith, so I’m sure I’m missing tons of references and backstories for the other characters brought in. That being said, I really enjoyed it. It was fun trying to figure out who had what power just based off of how they looked and dressed. You don’t get that many opportunities to try and do something like that! Of course I actually enjoyed seeing them all try and work together as well. There are some very dramatic “the gangs all back together” scenes that were really interesting and well designed.
I’m obviously a fan of Faith; she takes so many different comic tropes and flips them on their head. For that and the fact that she’s an unashamed nerd I will love her forever. What I was surprised by is how much character development they were able to throw in for Neela (the timewalker) despite the short amount of time they actually had. At her first appearance I was concerned that this would be another stereotypical time travel plot (albeit with some added Doctor Who jokes), but that was quickly proven to not be the case. Neela has been through a lot, though because of the way time traveling works for her, she doesn’t remember all that she’s been through, she can only surmise what has and hasn’t worked based off a few scant pieces of evidence. I don’t envy being put in the situation she’s in, frankly. She handles the whole thing well though, as do the supporting characters alongside her.
I’ll admit I was pretty shocked by the ending, even though I shouldn’t have been. Faith has always been adamant about taking a comic trope and twisting it around to completely change it. The ending is no exception to that rule; they mashed the trope of the hero being well, the hero, and the villain’s tendency to monologue and made quite an interesting, and surprising, ending. I loved it.
Reading Faith and the Future Force has once again inspired me to try and get caught up in my reading, so here’s hoping I can do that before the next volume comes out. I can’t wait to see what happens next!


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