Noble Causes: First Impressions #1

History

Jay Faerber conceived Noble Causes after years writing work-for-hire at DC and Marvel — stints on Titans, Generation X, New Warriors, and Green Lantern — and brought the project to Image as his first creator-owned work. Image originally intended the book to launch directly as an ongoing monthly series, with this one-shot designed as a self-contained primer to be published ahead of a December 2001 ongoing debut; however, the ongoing was subsequently downgraded into a series of miniseries before finally achieving ongoing status in 2004. The issue features two distinct stories in one package: a primary lead penciled by Billy Dallas Patton (inked by Damon Hacker) and an eight-page backup flashback story penciled by Patrick Gleason (inked by John Wycough), the latter recounting how Liz first met Race Noble.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of the entire Noble family: patriarch Doc Noble (brilliant inventor), matriarch Gaia (elemental sorceress), speedster Race Noble, brain-in-robot-body Rusty Noble, weather-manipulator Zephyr Noble, ice-powered Frost, scheming Celeste, and civilian protagonist Liz Donnelly.
• Written by Jay Faerber; this is his first creator-owned comic book series, published by Image Comics with a cover date of September 2001.
• The issue contains two stories: the main lead penciled by Billy Dallas Patton with inks by Damon Hacker, and an 8-page backup flashback penciled by Patrick Gleason with inks by John Wycough.
• Published as a self-contained introductory one-shot ahead of a planned ongoing series; the ongoing was later restructured into a succession of miniseries (In Sickness and In Health, Family Secrets, Distant Relatives) before finally becoming a true ongoing in July 2004.
• The series' central concept — described in original promotional copy as 'the Fantastic Four meets the Kennedys' — uses an ordinary civilian outsider (Liz Donnelly, a Georgetown bookstore owner) as the narrative lens through which the superhero family's private dysfunction is revealed.
• First Impressions #1 was collected in the trade paperback 'In Sickness and in Health' (Image, March 2003, first printing; second printing November 2014) alongside Noble Causes #1–4.
• The issue is also collected in Noble Causes Archives Vol. 1 (Image, April 2008, 598 pages, black-and-white), a large-format omnibus reprinting material through Noble Causes vol. 2 #12.
• Patrick Gleason, who drew the backup story in this issue, went on to a high-profile career at DC Comics on Green Lantern Corps, Batman and Robin, and Superman.

Full credits