Noble Causes Archives Volume 2 (v. 2) (Paperback)

~ Jay Faerber (Author), Various (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Behind the glamour and wonder lie dark secrets, ruthless ambition, and twisted desires! Collecting the rest of the early adventures of the world-famous Noble family, as the Nobles are re-introduced to the Blackthornes, a family of super-villains! Collects Noble Causes #12-31 and Noble Causes: Extended Family Secrets #1-2.

Product Details

• Paperback: 598 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics (May 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582409315
• ISBN-13: 978-1582409313
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #897,857 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 770+ page grayscale compilation reprints second half of recently concluded Image Comics series., May 23, 2009

By	K. W. Schreiter (Conshohocken, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This massive grayscale volume collects the final six trade paperbacks' worth of Image Comics' "Noble Causes" title that features the Noble family of wealthy, celebrity superheroes and is often described as a "superhero soap opera". It includes issues #13-#40 of the main series (650 pages), "Extended Family" issues #1-2 (120 pages) plus a short episode from an Image Holiday Special. Jay Faerber created and wrote the title series, and the "Extended Family" stories are short bits from each of fifteen comic book writers, including Brian Vaughan and Robert Kirkman. Fran Bueno, Jon Bosco, and Yildiray Cinar provided most of the penciling.
While the lack of color is an obvious drawback, at least the grayscale is an improvement on Marvel Comics' comparable budget-priced "Essential" line that is limited to simple pencils and inks and resembles newspaper comic strips. Another highlight of Volume 2 is the inclusion of the final issue of the recently concluded series that was just released in regular comic book form a few months ago. This fun collection should provide hours of entertaining reading. Reading Volume 1 first is recommended but not required.

5.0 out of 5 stars Soap opera + superheroes = one fine story, June 11, 2009

By	Kid Kyoto (Beijing) - See all my reviews

Noble Causes is such a natural mix it's amazing no one has done it before. The Nobles are the world's greatest superhero family, and the world's greatest celebrities. Their faces are on magazines; their every move is watched by paparazzi. They are also about admirable as the average celebrity. They smoke, they fight, they cheat, they lie... But Faerber is careful to make sure that they're still human and likeable. They're flawed but you still like them.

In many ways this is a comic for grown-ups, the main characters are neither the perfect icons we want for children nor the psychopaths we want as teens but the fairly three-dimensional people you'd see in any grown-up TV show or novel.

In this nearly 800 page volume we get 27 issues of the regular series plus a collection of short stories that add to everyone's background. This volume includes issue 40, the conclusion to the series. The ending will surely frustrate some, many questions are left unanswered, but it's really the only appropriate way to go.

We meet the Blackthrones, the Noble's opposite numbers, a family of villains who are just as dysfunctional and human as the Nobles.

Characters fall in and out of love, they lose powers, they gain powers, they progress and they regress. And halfway through readers get hit with a twist that's far too cool to spoil. It's a fantastic showing of what a comic is capable of when it's not tied to a dozen other books, a cartoon and a movie franchise.

The price of course cannot be beat.

But moving to black and white does have cost, some of the color art looks muddy and indistinct in B&W but all-in-all the reproduction is better than the previous volume.

One nit I need to pick though, there's a stupid typo late in the book (page 733 to be exact). "You HERE that" should course be 'hear'. The fact this slipped by the writer, the letterer and the editor, not once but twice (since this is a reprint) is just unacceptable. But that's a nitpick.