Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Faker #2

By Zak Edwards
August 6, 2007 - 00:33

Faker #2

The first issue of Faker left me feeling confused and still willing to see where this mini-series goes.  Now this second installment of this college life story has cleared up some of the confusion and leaves me very impatient for part three.  The series revolves around a group of ‘friends’ who all attend the same college and party together.  After one night of experimentation, one of the cast ends up without an identity, which is a little weird to say the least.  While the story does have a science-fiction element to it, the whole thing is really about identity and lack there-of during these eventful years. Please remember, as with everything printed by Vertigo, this story is for mature readers only.  There is a fair amount of swearing as well as sexual references, so keep the kids away.

The characters in Faker are not good people, and it serves the purpose of the story well.  As everyone is not always who they say, or even act as, they are.  While they do things for each other and hang out together, these kids all have a agenda, which makes the whole thing feel very disturbingly like real life.  The story this time around is less drug-induced, readers of issue one will remember a scene with a girl drowning in a sea of her own vomit, and makes a little more sense.  This is definitely a good thing as the story needed some clearing up.  The interesting thing about the story is that the character having the lost identity crisis doesn’t even seem to be the focus in the story.  Sure, he gets plenty of ‘screen time,’ but Jessica seems to be the central focus.  Jessica serves well as a main character, as it is easy to dislike her and yet still care about what happens to her.  As for Mr. Nobody, he manages to get some answers in the form on non-answers, helping to advance the plot.  Overall, character interaction and individual agendas are defining this series, as does college life sometimes.  The only major complaint is that Carey tends to shove the theme down the audience's throat, which gives off the air that they are lacking the ability to read and understand.  Still, despite the science-fiction element, the whole thing feels like it could happen on a campus near you.

Jock, the artist, has a fairly decent style.  Unfortunately, some of the male characters are difficult to differentiate between, making some scenes difficult to follow.  I personally had to read the issue twice before understanding who was who.  The colour palette problem from last time is still there, but much tamer, serving to enhance rather than distract.  Nothing amazing, but Jock does a good enough job for the most part.

8/10    Things are progressing nicely.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12