Meet the Plus-Size Superhero of Your Dreams

Over the last ten years, there has been a surge in female superheroes – Lady Thor, Hawkgirl, Batgirl, Supergirl – but there still hasn’t been one that depicts women in a realistic way. Until now.

Meet Faith Herbert. She’s plus-size and a superhero. Faith is a comic book nerd who can make herself lighter than air to fly. She stops crime under her alias, Zephyr, and perform telekinesis. Created by Valiant Comics, Faith is the antithesis of most devil-may-care superheroes around today. Morality is at the heart of her world, according to Warren Simons, editor-in-chief of Valiant Comics.

Faith first appeared in 1992 as part of a superhero team and “has been one of Valiant’s most popular characters ever since,” Simons told TODAY.com.

Dinesh Shamdasani, CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Valiant, told People, that about 50 percent of the early Valiant offices were female who wanted to see a character that looked like them. And thanks to writer Jody Houser, who pitched the idea of Faith getting her own series, they have one.

“As a kid, the only people I knew who read comics were girls,” Houser told People. “Women have always been a part of comics, both on the fan side and the creator side, so the main difference these days is that their presence and importance to the industry is actually being recognized and acknowledged.”

Houser also made the point that Faith should be considered a superhero first, and plus-size second.