My Faith in Frankie

Rating:
Summary: My favourite mini, so why the shabby trade treatment?
Review: Frankie Maxon, the beautiful young lead of this story, has a problem with boys; whenever she gets close to one, strange things happen. From voyeur bunnies to pants that instantly catch on fire, all the men in her life seem to be haunted by mysterious mishaps when things get heavy. Well, mysteries to some, but not to Frankie. She knows its all due to Jerivan, Frankie's own personal, and very jealous, god. But when a boy comes back from the dead for Frankie, even the powers of a god may not be able to save the relationship between her and Jerivan.

There's a lot to say about this story, and 100% of it is good. Sadly, the same can not be said for the trade, but I'll get to that in a bit. Mike Carey (writer of Lucifer and one of the best Hellblazer runs yet) shows a comedic side here that I'd never before thought he would have had. Each of the four main characters (Frankie's friend Kay rounding out the group) have distinct personalities and are a treat to read, as well as look at, thanks to Sonny Liew and Marc Hampel. The art is fun and a bit cartoonishly-stylized, but fits so perfectly with the tone of the story that I couldn't imagine anyone else handling artistic chores. My only solid complaint is the packaging (otherwise this is a six star book; the story is that good). First off, this book is shrunk to digest size, making it cheaper but condensing the art, something I don't like but am not that bothered by. However, the powers that be also decided to remove the colour from the book, making it black and white, This robs the story of a lot of the character it had in single issue form. Hopefully Vertigo will one day put out a full-sized colour version.

Should you buy this book? Despite the minor format complaints (which if you hadn't read in singles probably won't bother you), this is one of the most endearing stories I've ever read. It's fun and engrossing and just amazing. My Faith in Frankie is also a great way to read comics for those who buy into the stereotype that all comics are kids stuff, or are about tights and capes. Imaginative, humourous, and heartwarming, there's no reason you shouldn't have stopped reading this ages ago and ordered that book!