Jody Houser crafts a fun little story that is expertly paced and full of genuinely funny moments that had me laughing out loud. She paints Faith as a sympathetic character that is easy to fall in love with. She peppers the story with references to Doctor Who, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and more, giving readers a glimpse into Faith’s pop-culture obsessed mind. This is a girl who didn’t just fall into superheroing, but grew up immersed in comics, science fiction, and tales of heroes that informed her need to one day become like them and save the world. Faith is written very much like an everyman, living in an apartment with paper thin walls, working a job she only nominally likes, and needing an escape from her everyday doldrums. One can’t live a satisfying life posting listicles and cat videos without an outlet, and her alter-ego as Zephyr is that outlet. Houser’s dialog has a smooth flow to it that just rolls off the lips of her characters, and she knows how to write an exciting yet tense cliffhanger that makes sure you’ll be back next issue. I will definitely be looking for more of her work. The art by Francis Portela is fantastic, whether sitting at her deskjob or flying high above Los Angeles the panels are filled with detailed linework with a soft edge befitting the character. His facial expressions and body language could tell the story without dialog. The page layouts aren’t anything too fancy, but that’s not a complaint. The fantasy/daydream sequences with art by Marguerite Sauvage are different enough that they set themself apart from the rest of the story, yet similar enough that they don’t take you out of the story. Her pages do have a softer edge, with a dreamlike quality to them. As good as the art is the coloring by Andrew Dalhouse elevates it to an even higher standard. It has a smooth airbrushed look to it that is easy on the eyes. His hues give the mostly shadow-free linework depth and shape.

In typical Wood fashion, the series isn't as straightforward as the solicits would have you believe. The pages are full of social commentary yet grounded in personal struggle, a Wood staple since his college days and first published work Channel Zero in 1996. He wears his politics on his sleeve, but it never feels heavy handed. The backdrop of social inequality, modern journalism, and reality TV gone wrong never feel crammed in, and elevate the series from mere comics to something greater. The pacing is quick where it needs to be, but there are plenty of slower moments of character development. Gavin's daughter Angie is the heart of the series, reigning him in when he gets too antagonistic, and acting as a counter-balance to his greedy, spiteful ex. Daniel Zezelj is the perfect artist to bring this story to life alongside Dave Stewart's always masterful use of color. Zezelj's lines have much of the same sensibilities of Wood's own art, giving the pages an almost wheat-pasted, graffitied look that fits the tone of the story. Chef Cruikshank has a bit of an anarchistic bent to his character, and this is personified in the style of the book. The book begins with a highly claustrophobic style befitting Gavin's surroundings, but opens up as the story develops. His panels are dense and full of highly detailed backgrounds giving this world a lived-in appearance, especially in its architecture. Stewart is one of the best colorists around, with an uncanny ability to adapt his style to cater to whichever artist he happens to be working with. With Starve he utilizes a muted palette and a painterly style that counteracts and elevates Zezelj's stark, jet-black linework. Overall, Starve is a compelling, confrontational, and unique read full of three-dimensional characters, social commentary, and heartfelt human emotion elevating an interesting concept to the fascinating.