Faith: Dreamside is a new miniseries from Valiant. It includes a couple of their beloved characters…one of whom you could probably guess from the title of the series. Along for the ride is Dr. Mirage and Animalia.
Confession time: I am still not fully up-to-date with Faith’s main series. I’ve read most of the miniseries about her at this point though, so I’m used to getting minor spoilers. It does however mean that sometimes I’m out of the loop when major events occur.
Dreamside is only four issues long, but in some ways, it felt like it was longer. There was a breathtaking amount of character development and several absolutely striking views of a whole new land that these characters have never previously been to.
This was a beautiful series. I loved the character dynamics and the world that was shown to us, courtesy of Dr. Mirage and the combined subconscious of our main characters. I loved almost every element to this series, so forgive me if I sound a little too enthusiastic about it.
The series starts out with Faith being a little on the angsty side and being pretty tough on herself. Though on the bright side it did reinforce all of the reasons behind keeping your alter ego a secret. I’m not sure if this happened towards the end of Faith’s series, another series, or was invented for the sake of this introduction…but before this miniseries started Faith had been framed for murder. And by that I mean the superhero side of her had been, forcing her to take on her mild-mannered and adorably geeky alter ego full time.
Realistically this is something that all superheroes should do from time to time. Not get framed for murder, but take a break from the superheroing for a little bit. It probably provides a lot of perspectives. Granted it’s probably a lot less painful when it’s an intentional break…
Anyway, moving on. Animalia gets thrown into the mix early on, and she doesn’t really understand why Faith is so upset or holding back. Some would make comments about ‘kids, amirite?’ here, but Animalia has gone through a lot, so it’s not like she doesn’t get heavy subjects. In fact, she’s dealing with something downright horrible at the moment, hence her sudden appearance to Faith.
I actually really like Animalia’s character, and think that she’d be a great influence on Faith. Part of me wishes that the two could spend more time together, but that risks having the whole adult superhero with a child sidekick thing, and I think we’d all prefer to avoid that.
Dr. Mirage was fantastic. Her backstory was new to me, so naturally I found it utterly heartbreaking. I’m definitely going to follow the other series with her in it. I just have to know the whole story.
The last two issues were without a doubt my favorites of the set. I loved the world that they went to, and more than that I loved the way it was interpreted by the artists. It had this sickly sort of childhood theme overlaying something dark and more insidious. It was really well done. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that.
There was a decent amount of character development, despite there only being four issues to work with. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because of spoilers. But I will say that I’m curious about the long-term ramifications of some of the things the characters learned from it.
I’m sad that I have to let Dreamside go. But since this isn’t Faith’s first miniseries, I hope that means we’ll get another one sometime. In the meantime, I guess I’ll go back and read all of the backlog I’ve been missing out on.

Faith: Dreamside finds Faith framed for murder and hiding from the law with her secret identity. When Animalia asks Faith for help, Faith and Animalia set out to find Dr. Mirage. A trip to the Deadside is in order as Animalia is haunted by more than just the ghosts of her friends. A great team up full of action and adventure, Faith is all that is good and true among superheroes, once again proving she will go up and beyond for her friends or anyone in need. The story flows smoothly and keeps your attention while the art is expressive. I wish the color was a little brighter but the art is still pleasing to the eye. Faith is, as always, a feel good character that makes you want to believe in good and doing right by the people who need you- another winning story line in the world of Faith. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Faith Sneaks Up On You

I started this with the attitude that I can take or leave the character Faith, but I was curious about what was new with Dr. Mirage. By the end I had come around to rooting for Faith, and maybe appreciating her a bit more.

Faith starts out here a bit, no a lot, angsty because she's hiding her superheroeness after being framed by an alien for murder, (earlier book). Faith comes out of "retirement" to help one of the renegade psiots who's being tormented by evil spirits/ghosts. Since Faith doesn't know anything about the spirit world she turns to Dr. Mirage for help. This takes up about half of the volume; for the rest of the book Faith, Mirage, and the psiot have crossed into the "Dreamside", (a death plane), to figure things out and kick a little eeeevil butt.

This is a more cerebral than physical adventure because the Dreamside is a head-trip sort of place where facing up to your lost dreams is the real challenge. As it turns out, Faith is a more substantial, mature, and decent superhero than most, and by the end of this I finally began to see her appeal. That might all be a bit angsty, but there's just enough humor, deadpan dialogue, and hero throwaway lines to keep the story energetic and moving along.

The drawing is fine; I didn't think of it as inspired, but it certainly supported the story and had its moments. This volume collects the four issues that make up the complete Dreamside story arc, so no cliffhangers. Bottom line? Faith is an interesting and unique superhero with sneaky appeal. Worth keeping an eye on.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

In this volume Faith enters the deadside in order to rescue one of the psiot renegades.

As she does so she comes to terms with the death of her own dreams of superhero stardom. Faith is still wanted by the police because she was framed for a murder she didn't commit.

This is another enjoyable episode in the Faith series and she is joined by Dr Mirage. The artwork is good as it always is with Valiant comics, and there is plenty of action, mystical creatures and the deadside!

Copy provided by Diamond Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

A cool graphic novel with a good body positive message. I think some of our Young Adult readers and parents will get into this series as well.

My review covers the combined reading of all four parts of Faith: Dreamside. #1, #2, #3 and #4.
I hadn't read anything of Faith previously. This is a follow-on story, re-launching her into the void she has left in comic books. Yet original to gather a whole new fan base.
Faith Herbert was your average super hero fan, loving all things superhero based and pushing the boundaries of SCI-FI. Like all kids she dreamed of being her own super hero and spent many a hour thinking about what super powers she would like to save the world.
She became Zephyr with the ability to fly. Busy making a difference she didn't realise that some looked upon her skills with envy and so plotted and succeeded to frame her for a heinous crime. Worse than a costume malfunction for a super hero is filmed humiliation and kids seeing their heroes as villains, recorded before their eyes as a low-life fraud and murderer.
The public turned against her, law enforcement agencies had her on their most wanted. Forced to hide and resume her alter-ego, Summer Smith, hoping for the chance to redeem herself and prove her innocence.
#1 Shows Summer learning to live without super powers and frustrated she's unable to help. When a freeway pile-up delays her journey home she lets her guard down and is arrested.
#2 Listening to the cops tell of their former respect for Zephyr, which is replaced with open hostility towards her. She goes quietly, ready to face justice for a crime she did not do. The intervention of a mythical beast provides her with a chance to escape.
#3 Provided with a problem greater that her own circumstances Faith is able to focus on helping her friend before facing up to her own situation. However, she first must enlist the help of someone better equipped to face the dangers ahead; but who would trust, let alone help a disgraced exhero.
#4 The battle is engaged; self doubt being overcome by remembering her initial pledge to serve and her simple dreams to make a difference. New belief and determination empowers her, banishes doubt and fear, enabling her to take the fight to the enemy.
Full of comic asides and a nod to the simple love of all things superhero led, the story has meaning and value as much as it has meanace and action scenes. I loved this balance of danger and fun, risk and normality.
The story is very clever and revealing, with a wider meaning than good coming out ahead of evil.
Lots of madness and outrageous concepts which are wonderfully lifted from the page with fine illustrations that prompt the imagination as much as informing our eyes what to believe.

That Faith may fly again is a worthy strap line and one I'd like to see happen.