Noble Causes: Family Secrets #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNoble Causes: Family Secrets #3 holds a firm place in Image Comics history as the first in-continuity cameo appearance of Mark Grayson — Invincible — the Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker creation who would go on to anchor the Image Universe for fifteen years and eventually headline a major Amazon Prime animated series. The issue also delivers a rich snapshot of Jay Faerber's commitment to a shared Image Universe, packing a single story with crossover appearances from Savage Dragon, ShadowHawk, SuperPatriot, Firebreather, Tech Jacket, and other contemporaneous Image characters in a way that underscored how deliberately that universe was being built in 2002. Cover B, a direct homage to Uncanny X-Men #141, visually announces the issue's ambition to situate itself within broader superhero tradition while remaining distinctly creator-owned.
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Noble Causes: Family Secrets was the second four-issue miniseries in Jay Faerber's ongoing Noble Causes project, following the 2001 one-shot First Impressions and the In Sickness and In Health miniseries; the series would not become a proper ongoing title until 2004. Faerber wrote all four issues while rotating artists handled individual segments — Ian Richardson penciled the lead story across the miniseries, with Jon Sommariva penciling the back-up story 'An Early Frost' in issue #3, and Ray Dillon providing lettering throughout. The Cover A by Michael Avon Oeming and Cover B by Cory Walker — Invincible's own co-creator, whose rendering of the character on that cover constitutes the first cover appearance of Invincible anywhere — were part of the dual-cover format the miniseries used for all four issues.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First in-continuity cameo appearance of Invincible (Mark Grayson), the Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker character, occurring on the sixth page of the lead story.
- First cover appearance of Invincible, on Cover B — drawn by Cory Walker, Invincible's own co-creator.
- Cover B is an homage to the classic Uncanny X-Men #141 cover.
- First appearance of the character Clarion, who debuts in the issue's back-up story.
- The back-up story, 'An Early Frost' (penciled by Jon Sommariva), reveals the origin of Frost and depicts the beginning of Celeste Noble's affair with him.
- The lead story's central device — Rusty Noble interrogating a parade of Image Universe heroes (Savage Dragon, ShadowHawk, SuperPatriot, Firebreather, Tech Jacket, and others) over who fathered Zephyr Noble's child — served as a wide-ranging crossover showcase for the 2002 Image shared universe.
- Written by Jay Faerber; lead story penciled by Ian Richardson, inked by John Wycough, lettered by Ray Dillon; Cover A by Michael Avon Oeming.
- Published December 2002 by Image Comics as the third issue of the four-issue Family Secrets miniseries, the second Noble Causes miniseries in Faerber's creator-owned run.
Cast · 19 characters
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Reprinted in Noble Causes #2 (2004), Noble Causes Archives #1 (2008)
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