Cover Image: Noble Vol. 1

Noble Vol. 1

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Member Reviews

Noble is an enjoyable graphic novel following a potential superhero with powers to save many.
It's nice to see a broad spectrum of characters within the story and the dialog and art are great to match.
Having read the blurb though I actually learnt much more there than from the story itself so it is a little more subtle in a lot of the story arc.
Overall I enjoyed the story and would look forward to reading the second volume.

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This was a great read. I couldn't set it aside until it was done. I greatly appreciated that there was a cast of strong minority characters that didn't feel stereotypical or pandering. In fact, it was really only once I was halfway through did it really click that there was such a strong minority presence. The plot and characters were so immediately engaging that I cared about what was going on more.

The plot line of rescuing the earth from an asteroid felt, at the beginning, a bit trite. As the story developed, especially toward the end of this volume, it made a lot of sense, In fact, the triteness and the human need for heroes played really well into the plot line as it developed.

Our male hero follows the Joseph Campbell archetype for the hero cycle perfectly, and it doesn't feel forced. Our hero is thrust into hero-hood by the shenanigans of another hero (I'm playing with the "hero" piece, because I don't want to spoil the plot). As he has lost his memories, he doesn't remember his family, and his wife is having nothing to do with that, as she pursues him (while others pursue him, too).

If you want a straight timeline type of comic, then this isn't for you. There is a lot of back-and-forth in the books timeline, and you do have keep focused on it, but the reward is a great plot payoff.

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From the blurb, this feels like a bog standard science fiction superhero story - a man gains superhero powers and is chased by evil entities who want to use his abilities for world domination. But there is a lot more going on here and I found this title surprisingly enjoyable. Yes, it is a bit confusing with its non linear storytelling and parsimonious world building. It reminds me quite a bit of Japanese manga storytelling in which very little is given away in the beginning and the world builds from there. Western audiences may be much less patient with the denouement but I am finding Noble to be rewarding upon reread.

Story: A man with telekinetic powers is living a lie in hiding in South America. Those sent to apprehend him know he is dangerous - and a fight ensues. Turns out, the man is an astronaut named David Powell and he has no memory of his past, only that he needs to remain hidden. But the world knows David Powell as one of several astronauts who saved the world from a rogue asteroid. Astronauts whose technology was developed in Mexico by a very gifted family run by the driven Lorena. The same Lorena who is hunting David who he knows he must avoid at all costs. Meanwhile, David's wife is determined to find her husband and bring him home.

There are many different plot lines at work here - from Lorena and her agency, David's telekinesis abilities and how they do/don't work, why he's in hiding and lost his memory, David's wife and her connection to special ops and Lorena, the doctor who brought David back from space and his connection to David's abilities, and more. It all begins to coalesce slowly in this first volume, which starts with the main story of David fighting to not get captured but ends with side stories about the astronauts and Lorena that fill in some of the holes in the story of the asteroid. There's an excellent twist at the end with Lorena's story that put a perfect punctuation on this first volume.

The artwork is excellent and tells the story smoothly. The lines are clean and uncluttered, straightforward but giving each of the characters enough personality that you are never confused about identities or actions. The coloring is suitable - never overshadowing the action but also bringing nice clarity to the telekinesis ability.

Because we don't get a lot of answers and because the story was non linear, it can be very confusing on the first read. I think this will frustrate many readers, to be honest. Most of the first quarter was battle after battle with David Powell evading capture from typically goons - it was a bit too much. As well, the evil characters are just a bit too evil - I'd rather have more of the Joker than Lex Luthor; in this day and age, villains should be complex rather than the prototypical "I am going to rule the world!" mustachio twirling braggarts (that includes the henchmen, too).

Although I am giving this a mid rating, I would like to read more of the story. Hopefully, we get a lot more than snippets of story with long action sequences. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

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Author: Brandon Thomas
Illustrators: Roger Robinson, Jamal Igle +

About:
In this first series of Catalyst Prime superhero world, Astronaut David Powell is one of five astronauts sent by the Foresight Corporation and CEO Lorena Payne to save the world from annihilation by a massive meteor plunging to Earth.

Within the first two pages something goes wrong and his wife, former agent Astrid Allen-Powell sets out to not only hold her family and her two sons together, but it seems a year after the accident, Astrid finds out that David is still alive and she is not the only one trying to get him back.

My thoughts:
This will appeal to the new X-Men generation and the readers who liked the movie Logan and are currently watching the TV series Gifted. Granted the characters are adults and we need more teen characters just finding their powers and having to use them to get away from those people who either created and/or want to control them, HOWEVER, the appeal in this first volume is the identity issue.
David, who insists that is not his name, gains powers but loses his memory so he does not know who this David is. What he does have is sudden flashes of a child calling him daddy and glimpses of what happened to him. He remembers Lorena who seems to have implanted some of his powers but when Astrid tracks him down to try and bring him home, he does not remember her at all.

Like all first volumes in any series, the author uses the short chapters to give multiple background stories "to be continued," and this one has potential to hold readers and keep them coming back.

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Great, intriguing start, but petered out for me. Got confusing trying to keep everything straight.

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This was a 'Read Now' graphic novel that I requested from Net Galley, and for which I thank the publisher. I like to look at the 'read Now' because while this designation can sometimes mean a novel is not doing well and for good reason, it can also mean a gem is being overlooked. I've many examples of both. This one I am sorry to report, was not a gem.

While I was, on the one hand, pleased to see a graphic novel featuring people of color and a strong female character (Astrid Allen-Powell), I have to say I was really disappointed in this one because it adhered so closely to trope that it really offered nothing new to the genre. The men were magically muscular even if they had not been so before, and the women were absurdly sexualized. I keep hoping for graphic novel illustrators to get real and join the rest of us in the 21st century, but far too few of them seem to be interested in doing that and remain trapped in a perpetual and unhealthy adolescence.

In many ways this novel was reminiscent of the TV series, Extant starring Halle Berry, wherein people come back from space changed in odd ways. This graphic novel has nothing to do with aliens, however. In the end, it's your regular super hero novel, and in that regard it's very similar to the Fantastic Four (the 2005 movie) wherein four people out in space are affected by a phenomenon and given super powers. Here, five people go out into space to prevent an asteroid colliding with Earth, something happens, and at least one of them returns to Earth with powers.

Without wanting to give away spoilers, one problem for me was that the plot assumed everyone was using the same data regarding the asteroid, and this is never the case. There are too many different nations with a vested interest in their own safety for them to rely on one set of numbers without verifying them, so a 'plot twist' late in this volume did not work for me.

That said, there never was any justification for sending out people to tackle this problem in the first place. Missiles could presumably have done the same job - especially set in the future as this was. We already have drones and robots, yet far too few writers factor this into their scenarios. This novel offered no reason for people to go out there, other than that it was necessary for whatever the asteroid would do to wrangle a super hero transformation. It was a bit lacking.

The main character, David Powell, was affected by something, and has developed mental powers which can repulse and otherwise move objects and people, but he is having trouble controlling the power he has. Despite flashbacks which are annoying to me, especially in this story where they served little purpose other than to confuse the story, there is no explanation offered for how he came to be in this state, running loose, using false identities, and hunted by the Foresight Corporation (which seems to be inexplicably lacking policing by any government). All we're told about him is that the guy has lost his memory.

This for me was one of the major problems with this story: it was a confused and disjointed mess, with apparently random scenes tossed in. There were random flashbacks which made little sense and the whole story was in disarray. The flashbacks really did not contribute to the story whereas other flashback (if they must be included) that could have illuminated things were never offered. Everything seems to be under the control of the global Foresight Corporation. Its CEO is Lorena Payan and she is the villain here, but she makes for a pretty poor villain, being pretty and poorly developed. I could not take her seriously.

Overall I did not get any enjoyment out of this, nor any entertainment. It was not really clear at any point what was going on, and this made it boring. I cannot recommend this story.

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Yaaaassssss! This new comic grabbed me with both fists from the first panel. The sharp, glossy artwork elevates the well-constructed plot in every way. As much as I already love David, his partner, Astrid, is the bomb diggity. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment. Highly recommended!!

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Good to see some diversity in graphic novels. This is a fun one!

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