Posted in: Comics, NYCC | Tagged: Comics, Diego Bernard, entertainment, faith, hillary clinton, Jody Houser, louise simonson, Meghan Hetrick, NYCC

Faith And Thinking About What You Want This Country To Be

By John Odom

It's hard to find something about Faith that hasn't already been said. Praised internationally in publications such as the Atlantic, noted for the spectacular sales of her solo launch, and drawing extra attention in recent months for announcements of Sony's plans for an onscreen appearance and upcoming "crossover" with Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, is there anywhere the former Harbinger stalwart hasn't been?

How about a horror show?

Writer Jody Houser, repeatedly wary of not "giv(ing) anything away," told the crowd at New York Comic Con that since the horror genre was so removed from Faith's experience, the urge to "make her deal with it" was too tempting to walk away from.

So horror, as well as magic and a new nemesis, await Faith (the latter two as soon as November). Also on the horizon is the coming series Harbinger Renegades (with artist Darick Robertson of Transmetropolitan), in which Faith pulls in her old team to help find threatened psiots, and in the process catching up with her old teammates in very different places.

A host of Valiant creators and top brass were on hand to discuss the meteoric rise of the character's popularity, while praising coming contributions from creators past and present, as well as those lined up for the future (such as Red Thorn's Meghan Hetrick).

In addition, work from Faith artist Diego Bernard serving as a fundraising collaboration with an international nonprofit fighting breast cancer was on display. Keep A Breast founder Shaney Jo Darden was on hand discussing the collaboration designed to support the mission to empower young people with breast help and support.

Faith, described as the "moral center of the valiant universe" by Editor in Chief Warren Simons, has continued to amaze the Valiant team with her success, and their enthusiasm for the character was palpable at the panel. Houser noted that her success is indicative of a growing desire for readers to find characters they can relate to.

Comics legend Louise Simonson was also on hand, noting that her work on the upcoming November Election Special marked the first time she had written for Valiant – but the second time she had written Hillary Clinton into a comic.

Simonson noted that the issue "can't take sides in the election," but that part of its intention was to nudge people "to think about what you want this country to become, and then vote – voting is what counts." Describing Faith as Valiant's Superman, Simonson said "she's truth, justice and the American way as we want the American way to be."

After a moment of consideration, she added "I made it sound really serious, but it's a lot of fun there's a lot of action and a lot of things blow up."

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