There are a couple of other milestone releases coming out this week along with Flash: Rebirth that I’d like to highlight: The first issue of Irredeemable and the final issue of Noble Causes.
Noble Causes
Jay Faerber‘s series about a wealthy but dysfunctional family of super-heroes wraps up with #40. The first miniseries opened with the family’s speedster, Race Noble, being killed on his honeymoon, as the narrative focused on his non-super-powered widow Liz. Eventually they brought Race back*.
The series went through a major change last year, jumping ahead five years and dropping Race and Liz from the cast to focus more on super-heroics. The revamp wasn’t the hit they’d hoped for, and the series has been moving toward a resolution over the last few issues. CBR has a preview (beware spoilers). One of the selling points for long-term readers is the return of Race and Liz.
It seems appropriate that Noble Causes should be bringing back a speedster on the same day as Flash: Rebirth!.
I’ve really liked Noble Causes, and in fact everything I’ve read of Jay Faerber’s that he’s done at Image has been excellent. If you only know him from his disastrous run on The Titans a decade ago, it’s worth checking out some of his creator-owned stuff. The first Dynamo 5 trade is only about $10, so it’s a good place to start.
Noble Causes #40, Image Comics. Written by Jay Faerber, art by Yildiray Cinar.
Irredeemable
Long-term Flash writer Mark Waid’s new ongoing series about what happens when the world’s greatest super-hero becomes the world’s greatest super-villain. It’s been compared to Kingdom Come and Empire. The first issue comes out tomorrow. CBR has a preview and video trailer, and Major Spoilers has an advance review.
Empire and (more recently) Potter’s Field have shown that Waid can definitely write dark when he wants to, so this looks promising.
Irredeemable #1, BOOM! Studios. Written by Mark Waid, art by Peter Krause.
*To be more precise, they brought Liz back, as she traveled to an alternate reality in which he had survived, but she had died. They wisely never mentioned this again until another storyline required it.