5 out of 5

The “anniversary” issue, featuring some guest spots and pin-ups.

You know, I normally don’t care too much for the “so and so takes on X” extras, but Copra is Michel Fiffe, and so the extras have been chosen by him; having thoroughly enjoyed the backmatter and other artists Fiffe has pointed me to (Charles Forsman, Dieter VDO), I was actually pretty excited to see what was in store here.  That in addition to one of the best Copra one-shots delivered yet, which flashes back to give us a tale from the time Vitas was part of the crew.  Vitas’ rise and fall in the first acts of Copra set the stage for awesomeness; it was also a rare combo of a storyline that I – at times, and maybe quite often – had no idea what the hell was going on and yet dug to no end anyway.  Having reread some issues and also having had 24 books to get into the full flow of awesome that is Copra, I feel more grounded when digging in, so it’s pretty rewarding to get some background on one of the book’s stranger villains.  The layouts are particularly fantastic here.  Fiffe really pushed himself to wring the most out of each and every page.  The pin-ups are fun.  Tim Hamilton’s “tale from Copra’s classified files” (wouldn’t it be cool to get a regular back-up like that…?) has a fun Silver Age vibe to it, syncing up well with the general classic-comics-tribute vibe of Copra, though it alternately underline’s Fiffe’s unique skill of not expositing to us too often.  Hamilton (somewhat tongue in cheek, but still) resorts to this in a few panels, which is pretty funny since it’s just a guest shot.  Better – noting that Hamilton’s contribution is still a lot of fun – is Benjamin Marra’s amusing “future Copra” Lloyd 3,000,000 tale.

A total solid milestone issue that successfully comes across as the celebration it’s intended to.  As Fiffe notes in the afterword – here’s to the next 25 issues and beyond!