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NOBLE CAUSES #2
Recommended (8/10)
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Image Comics
"In Sickness and in Health, Part Two"
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: John Wycough
Colors: Chris Sotomayor & Jeremy Roberts
"Life Support"
Pencils: Jamal Igle
Inks: Damon Hacker
Colors: J. Brown
Writer: Jay Faerber
Letters: Ray Dillon
Price: $2.95 US/$4.60 CAN |
Noble Causes stands out as the best work Jay Faerber's done so far in comics. Using super-heroics as a gateway, he's really drawn me into the lives of this unusual family. It's not the wonder of super-powers and secret labs that hooks one on the story, but the interaction and tension among these characters. The split storytelling approach -- the main story set in the present with a backup set in the past -- works extremely well, and the art is sharp, detailed and fun.
The Noble family mourn their fallen son, Race Noble, along with his widow, Liz. The memorial service turns out to aggravate tensions among the members of the family, especially when Frost, Race and Rusty's half-brother, shows up. Meanwhile, Zephyr tells Krennick that she's pregnant, while Rusty finally emerges from his self-imposed isolation, only to make a shocking discovery. And in the backup story, we learn how Rusty was injured and forever changed.
Gleason's work on this book is top notch. The thickly inked artwork is sharp and eye-catching. Though Gleason's style is somewhat cartoony, there's an impressive level of detail brought to bear, and the story flows clearly despite the numerous characters and repeated shifts in setting. Igle's work on the backup story shows a strong level of visual consistency, and his figures boast a strong degree of humanity.
The flashback stories stand up well on their own, but they also bolster the main storyline wonderfully. These characters are well developed ones, and Faerber shows us to what extent. These fantastic characters become more believable because their histories are so comprehensive and well plotted out. Adding to that believability is the fact that even though these are extreme circumstances and characters, it's not too hard to see parts of ourselves in the Nobles. The perceptions of our family members (or imagined perceptions) can affect how we perceive ourselves, and Faerber plays on that here.
Faerber made no secret of the fact that he was combining the super-hero and soap-opera genres in Noble Causes, and he succeeded in doing just that. Somehow, though, the cheeziness of soap-opera conflict and "intrigue" was eliminated in the process. The discord in the Noble clan doesn't come off as silly or cliche. It's entertaining and engrossing.
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