I just finished reading through the collected edition of Jay Faerber’s Noble Causes and I got to say I am even more impressed than I thought I would be. This book collected the initial one-shot, the first three mini-series, and the first twelve issues of the regular series. That is twenty-five issues for those counting at home. And that many issues for twenty bucks is nothing to scoff at, even if it is in black and white.
The story, for those who have never followed the book, is about the Noble family, a mix of the Fantastic Four and one of any multi-generational soup operas you can find on daytime TV. The family consists of father Doc (a gadgeteer) and his wife Gaia(a sorceress), their children Rusty (super-strong and now encased in a metal body), Race (a speedster), and Zephyr (who controls wind). In addition we have Rusty’s wife Celeste, Race’s best friend Krennick, Gaia’s illegitimate son Frost, and Race’s new wife Liz Donnelly. Liz is a normal everyday human and it is she we follow through much of the early part of the trade.
The story opens with a murder and things just get more convoluted from there. Mr. Faerber does an excellent job of building suspense from miniseries to miniseries, which servers to basically create a thirteen issue epic. Things restart (but not reboot) for the regular series, of which the first twelve issues also form an ongoing saga.
I have been following the monthly issues of Noble Causes since the mid-twenties and have thoroughly enjoyed the series. It truly is a great read, but alas, it does not have as many readers as it needed to survive and will be ending with issue forty in October. This is good news for archives fans though, as the eventual release of Archives volume two will contain the remaining twenty-eight issues of the series.
All in all, Noble Causes Archives comes highly recommended. Go out and get your copy today!
No comments:
Post a Comment