Faker (comics)

Faker is a six-issue comic book limited series that started in July 2007 by Vertigo, written by Mike Carey, art by Jock.

Plot
Minnesota college students Jessica, Yvonne, Marky and Sack are at a party when an ex-girlfriend of Marky's slips a bottle of "Angel's Kiss" into their drinks. Angel's Kiss turns out to be an experimental medium for liquid data storage. Shortly afterwards, a friend of the four students, Nick Philo, turns up in their dorm. After a bizarre series of events, all five come to realize that "Nick", though possessing a physical body, is not real at all, but is a creation of their minds under the influence of Angel's Kiss.

The five are then abducted by the United States government, the creators of Angel's Kiss, who are now extremely interested in its potential for weapons research as well as data storage. Jessie leads her friends on a breakout of the installation at which they are being held captive, but falls into an entire vat of Angel's Kiss in the process; she emerges transformed in some unknown manner. On the run in the open country, Marky and Yvonne are shot and killed by the soldiers pursuing them. Nick dives into a rural reservoir, and his body dissolves, apparently contaminating all the local drinking water with Angel's Kiss. Jessie ultimately escapes but, returning to her old life, finds herself constantly drinking tap water, in the hope of recreating at least part of the reality of Nick's existence.

Collected editions
The series has been collected into a trade paperback:
 * Faker (160 pages, April 2008, Titan Books, ISBN 1-84576-838-8, DC Comics, ISBN 1-4012-1663-3)

Interviews

 * Mike Carey'a A Faker For Vertigo, July 28, 2006
 * Jock Keeps It Real With "Faker", Comic Book Resources, December 1, 2006
 * Carey's Faker: A Thriller Rooted in Paranoia, With Some Existentialism Thrown In, Comics Bulletin, October 28, 2007

Reviews

 * Review of issue #1
 * Review of issue #2, #3 and #4 , at Comics Bulletin