Andrea Speed
December 29th 2004, 07:47 PM
Reviewer: Andrea Speed andy@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Great
The killer of Gretchen is revealed, while Frost discovers something surprising about Cosmic Rae.
<a href="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/media/48/noblec5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/48/noblec5.jpg" align="left" border="0"> </a>Creator & Writer: Jay Faerber
Artist: Fran Bueno
Color Art: Ron Riley
Letters & Design: Golden Goat's Ray Dillon
Fonts By: Blambot's Nate Piekos
Cover Art: Fran Bueno
Publisher: Image
Review: Noble Causes is a series that manages to get a lot of critical acclaim for itself, yet continually flies low under the radar, one of those odd paradoxes that makes a critic feel less than useless. Released as a series of four issue miniseries in the past, this is the first time - as writer Faerber notes in the letter column - that there’s ever been a Noble Causes number five, as it is now a continuing series. And it’s about damn time.
For those who’ve never heard of it and don’t know what this is about, I’ll break it down for you in a bite sized form: the Nobles are a family of superheroes, famous for their exploits as well as famous for simply being famous, a type of American royalty that the tabloids love to cover. And the Nobles are so genuinely screwed up, the tabloids hardly have to scramble for stories. Into this family comes Liz, a normal book seller who happens to marry the youngest son, Race Noble, and to say she’s a bit unprepared for all of the internal weirdness of a family of superheroes - strange, dysfunctional superheroes - is a bit of an understatement. To add to this, Race was killed in the first Noble Causes miniseries, but in the last miniseries before this new series, Noble Causes: Distant Relatives, a Race from another dimension where everything is exactly the same, except he wasn’t killed, is added to the mix. So Liz has her husband back, and all is right with the world. Or is it..? (And may I credit Faerber for using a typical comic plot device - the twin from a parallel universe/alternate reality - and making it seem touching as opposed to a simple cheat.)
The Noble family is deeply messed up, full of secrets, lies, betrayals, and skeletons in the closet (some literal). It’s a soap opera, all right, but one as instinctively compelling as potato chips - you have one, and you want more. I almost hesitate to call this a soap opera, as that seems insulting, but this a good soap opera: you know these characters, and you love them or hate them as the case may be (sometimes both at once), and while they may have superpowers, it doesn’t keep them from being completely screwed up. Their own demons are often bigger and nastier than any super villain could be.
This series kicked off with the murder of a prostitute that had been a frequent companion of Krennick, the son of Draconis - the Noble family’s greatest enemy - and surrogate member of the Noble family (well, his best friend is Race), who liked the woman, Gretchen, to dress up like Zephyr, the teenage daughter of the Noble family, who is actually pregnant by the now late Draconis (I told you it was a soap opera). The murder plot comes to an end here, and while the revelation of the murderer is no surprise - I thought it was tipped last issue - Krennick’s decision afterwards might have some unexpected consequences down the road for everyone. As for the two other plots running through this issue - it’s almost impossible to get bored by Noble Causes, because several things are usually going on at once - the teenage hero Invincible from Invincible makes a cameo in one, helping out Doc Noble and Gaia, the patriarch and matriarch of the Noble clan, with a bank robber with unusual abilities. Doc has been acting strange lately, and it comes to a head here; I think I know what’s happened to Doc, but I don’t want to spoil it for others. The other plot takes place on an alien planet, where older brother Rusty has joined a strike team on the behest of his new girlfriend, Cosmic Rae, to rescue American scientists trapped on a hostile world. The things is, she recruited him before mentioning that his ex-wife, Celeste, and her lover and his bitter half-brother, Frost (who was also her paramour during her marriage to Rusty), were also on the team. But it seems the government operatives who sent them on this mission neglected to mention how hostile the inhabitants were, or how many of them there were; they were attacked and outnumbered almost immediately, and in the chaotic fight, Frost and Cosmic Rae got separated from the others. Last issue, Cosmic Rae and Frost were ambushed by the inhabitants, and an injury revealed that Rae wasn’t perfectly Human. That’s confirmed this issue, although much is left up in the air - enough that you can’t help but think that something’s sinister is afoot. And Frost is still Frost, meaning he’s a jerk, but you can’t help but feel bad for him. After all, he didn’t ask to be treated so poorly by his mother, Gaia, and the rest of the Nobles (just to add to the dimension hopping in this title, his father is Doc Noble from another dimension, which is why this Doc Noble refuses to accept him).
The issue ends with a surprising twist, a cliffhanger destined to make fans sit on the edge of their seats until then. Faerber really should be writing a television series, as Noble Causes oftentimes plays out like the best of them, and this series would make a great one - although the alien and otherworld landscapes, as well as the varied mix of powers would make a prohibitive budget on a t.v. series disappear in the blink of an eye. If you’re new to this series, don’t let the complex mix of plots discourage you from checking it out; everything you need to know is broken down for new readers on the inside front cover, which should get you up to speed quick enough.
The art by Bueno is sharp and very clear, with lots of open spaces and cinematic choices in panel selection. It’s a classic comic style with the slightest hint of Japanese animation. Sometimes some of the faces don’t work for me - Race looks a bit odd to me, and sometimes Doc seems to have far too much chin - but overall it’s very effective, and certainly dynamic in the action sequences. And the coloring! Somebody give Riley an award now - his coloring is absolutely gorgeous, and works perfectly with Bueno’s crisp illustrations. The colors pop off the page, and any fans of color art might start weeping, it’s that good.
I should mention there’s a back up story here, “Opposites Attack”, by Brian Joines (writer), Ray-Anthony Height (pencils), Jamie Snell & Matthew Weiman (inks), Caleb Ravello (colors), and Charles Pritchett with Blambot fonts (letters). It’s basically about a super powered vigilante with an unfortunate, candy obsessed sidekick named Confectionary. It’s a cute idea, and it looks like it could be a promising story, depending on if it wants to be more serious or more silly.
But the star of this show here is Noble Causes. A terrific, complex, well written series about a deeply troubled family that just happens to be superheroes, with all the bizarre problems that can entail, this is head and shoulders above most superhero books. In this world Faerber has created, it’s not beating up super-villains that take center stage, but the internal dynamics of this odd and troubled family struggling to hold itself together against forces external and internal. Another one of Image’s great series, this is one that even those who dislike superhero books might enjoy.
Ratings:
Story:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg
Art:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/half.jpg
Overall:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg
Buy Noble Causes online now from X-World and Save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=184&cat=NOBLE+CAUSES)
Quick Rating: Great
The killer of Gretchen is revealed, while Frost discovers something surprising about Cosmic Rae.
<a href="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/media/48/noblec5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/48/noblec5.jpg" align="left" border="0"> </a>Creator & Writer: Jay Faerber
Artist: Fran Bueno
Color Art: Ron Riley
Letters & Design: Golden Goat's Ray Dillon
Fonts By: Blambot's Nate Piekos
Cover Art: Fran Bueno
Publisher: Image
Review: Noble Causes is a series that manages to get a lot of critical acclaim for itself, yet continually flies low under the radar, one of those odd paradoxes that makes a critic feel less than useless. Released as a series of four issue miniseries in the past, this is the first time - as writer Faerber notes in the letter column - that there’s ever been a Noble Causes number five, as it is now a continuing series. And it’s about damn time.
For those who’ve never heard of it and don’t know what this is about, I’ll break it down for you in a bite sized form: the Nobles are a family of superheroes, famous for their exploits as well as famous for simply being famous, a type of American royalty that the tabloids love to cover. And the Nobles are so genuinely screwed up, the tabloids hardly have to scramble for stories. Into this family comes Liz, a normal book seller who happens to marry the youngest son, Race Noble, and to say she’s a bit unprepared for all of the internal weirdness of a family of superheroes - strange, dysfunctional superheroes - is a bit of an understatement. To add to this, Race was killed in the first Noble Causes miniseries, but in the last miniseries before this new series, Noble Causes: Distant Relatives, a Race from another dimension where everything is exactly the same, except he wasn’t killed, is added to the mix. So Liz has her husband back, and all is right with the world. Or is it..? (And may I credit Faerber for using a typical comic plot device - the twin from a parallel universe/alternate reality - and making it seem touching as opposed to a simple cheat.)
The Noble family is deeply messed up, full of secrets, lies, betrayals, and skeletons in the closet (some literal). It’s a soap opera, all right, but one as instinctively compelling as potato chips - you have one, and you want more. I almost hesitate to call this a soap opera, as that seems insulting, but this a good soap opera: you know these characters, and you love them or hate them as the case may be (sometimes both at once), and while they may have superpowers, it doesn’t keep them from being completely screwed up. Their own demons are often bigger and nastier than any super villain could be.
This series kicked off with the murder of a prostitute that had been a frequent companion of Krennick, the son of Draconis - the Noble family’s greatest enemy - and surrogate member of the Noble family (well, his best friend is Race), who liked the woman, Gretchen, to dress up like Zephyr, the teenage daughter of the Noble family, who is actually pregnant by the now late Draconis (I told you it was a soap opera). The murder plot comes to an end here, and while the revelation of the murderer is no surprise - I thought it was tipped last issue - Krennick’s decision afterwards might have some unexpected consequences down the road for everyone. As for the two other plots running through this issue - it’s almost impossible to get bored by Noble Causes, because several things are usually going on at once - the teenage hero Invincible from Invincible makes a cameo in one, helping out Doc Noble and Gaia, the patriarch and matriarch of the Noble clan, with a bank robber with unusual abilities. Doc has been acting strange lately, and it comes to a head here; I think I know what’s happened to Doc, but I don’t want to spoil it for others. The other plot takes place on an alien planet, where older brother Rusty has joined a strike team on the behest of his new girlfriend, Cosmic Rae, to rescue American scientists trapped on a hostile world. The things is, she recruited him before mentioning that his ex-wife, Celeste, and her lover and his bitter half-brother, Frost (who was also her paramour during her marriage to Rusty), were also on the team. But it seems the government operatives who sent them on this mission neglected to mention how hostile the inhabitants were, or how many of them there were; they were attacked and outnumbered almost immediately, and in the chaotic fight, Frost and Cosmic Rae got separated from the others. Last issue, Cosmic Rae and Frost were ambushed by the inhabitants, and an injury revealed that Rae wasn’t perfectly Human. That’s confirmed this issue, although much is left up in the air - enough that you can’t help but think that something’s sinister is afoot. And Frost is still Frost, meaning he’s a jerk, but you can’t help but feel bad for him. After all, he didn’t ask to be treated so poorly by his mother, Gaia, and the rest of the Nobles (just to add to the dimension hopping in this title, his father is Doc Noble from another dimension, which is why this Doc Noble refuses to accept him).
The issue ends with a surprising twist, a cliffhanger destined to make fans sit on the edge of their seats until then. Faerber really should be writing a television series, as Noble Causes oftentimes plays out like the best of them, and this series would make a great one - although the alien and otherworld landscapes, as well as the varied mix of powers would make a prohibitive budget on a t.v. series disappear in the blink of an eye. If you’re new to this series, don’t let the complex mix of plots discourage you from checking it out; everything you need to know is broken down for new readers on the inside front cover, which should get you up to speed quick enough.
The art by Bueno is sharp and very clear, with lots of open spaces and cinematic choices in panel selection. It’s a classic comic style with the slightest hint of Japanese animation. Sometimes some of the faces don’t work for me - Race looks a bit odd to me, and sometimes Doc seems to have far too much chin - but overall it’s very effective, and certainly dynamic in the action sequences. And the coloring! Somebody give Riley an award now - his coloring is absolutely gorgeous, and works perfectly with Bueno’s crisp illustrations. The colors pop off the page, and any fans of color art might start weeping, it’s that good.
I should mention there’s a back up story here, “Opposites Attack”, by Brian Joines (writer), Ray-Anthony Height (pencils), Jamie Snell & Matthew Weiman (inks), Caleb Ravello (colors), and Charles Pritchett with Blambot fonts (letters). It’s basically about a super powered vigilante with an unfortunate, candy obsessed sidekick named Confectionary. It’s a cute idea, and it looks like it could be a promising story, depending on if it wants to be more serious or more silly.
But the star of this show here is Noble Causes. A terrific, complex, well written series about a deeply troubled family that just happens to be superheroes, with all the bizarre problems that can entail, this is head and shoulders above most superhero books. In this world Faerber has created, it’s not beating up super-villains that take center stage, but the internal dynamics of this odd and troubled family struggling to hold itself together against forces external and internal. Another one of Image’s great series, this is one that even those who dislike superhero books might enjoy.
Ratings:
Story:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg
Art:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/half.jpg
Overall:http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg
Buy Noble Causes online now from X-World and Save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=184&cat=NOBLE+CAUSES)