5 out of 5

If I were smarter, I’d be writing this up as a ‘loving tribute’ or some kind of ‘nostalgia’ piece ‘blended’ with some modern hype-words… but I’m not going to claim to be a comic historian and / or a jerk and pretend like those words mean anything.  Yes, there is the shell of Suicide Squad here – which I probably wouldn’t know if Fiffe didn’t have a nice blog entry written about how much he loved that comic – but it’s only pieces of that shell, even, taking it as a springboard to become something that’s only like itself.  I love artists and writers who can ONLY be them – while Fiffe’s blending of geometry with his loose lines does remind me of Jesse Moynihan at moments (but then dig his shaky inks and motion lines, recalling some kind of mutated Miller / Janson thing), there isn’t a single panel or line that doesn’t feel uniquely of this book, from cover to god damn cover.  Apparently Fiffe lives in Brooklyn and works part time at Bergen Street Comics – which the dude at the counter told me when I brought the books up for purchase.  This in itself isn’t notable, of course, since most of us live and work somewhere and the BK is a pretty happenin’ place from what I understand, here in my wonderland of Queens.  But what was notable, to me, was that these were true indie books, self-published then ‘compendium’ed by the newly coined Bergen Street Comics, and that I had full confidence in the 30 bucks I was dropping to catch up on seven issues of a titled I’d never heard of or seen before.  Fiffe’s biography has work outside of the indie realm, sure, but it’s rare that small press books feel so assured, to me, after just one glance.  And I ALWAYS feel lucky to discover these things, but it’s generally via a used bin.  So it’s a nice feeling that I’m actually paying up front for it (not secondhand, I mean) and thus can assume (hope) that Mr. Fiffe gets a good chunk of that dosh I doth spend.

Yes, I gobbled it all up in one night.  Yes, it was as good as I expected it to be, no bones.  I’m not making exceptions – this shit was great.  Printed on thick tan paper stock that really enriches the colors and inks, ‘Copra’ is about a ragtag band of sorta criminals who are guided by an Amanda Waller proxy to complete various tasks.  At the opening of our series, one of these tasks goes miraculously wrong.  A skull with a shard of something jutting out of it is the cause of mass catastrophe in a small town.  Copra is sent in to retrieve it, does so, and is then waylaid by a band o’ thugs who steal the MacGuffin and blow things and people up.  The character design and plotting – as Fiffe fills in pieces about what this skull is issue to issue, blending in, to my joy, a reference to Shade, the Changing Man (it has to be; a dude’s name is suspiciously similar to ‘Rac,’ he traveled through something that sorta’ looked all Madness Zone, and is wearing a Ditko power suit) – is all right on the fringes of surreal with toppling into overkill.  It stays grounded in comic excitement with brief flashes of wonderfully fluid action; it stays grounded in humanity by giving each of his many characters a full voice.  Although you can pick through and name the ‘oh, they’re like THIS character’ likeness, and toss out nicknames like ‘the angry one,’ ‘the young one,’ and so on, it doesn’t feel like Fiffe wrote it that way.  Again: springboard.  Each of those templates is fleshed out through snippets of conversation (and I love non-standardized lettering like this, though I’m sure it’s a pain) as well as Fiffe making sure to pan past everyone in the group scenes to show how they’re comporting themselves while the shit goes down.  It could just be an obsessive mindset on behalf of the author, WANTING to know where his characters are and what they’re doing, but it’s to the benefit of the fullness of the book and never sacrifices the pacing to do so.

I dunno if the freedom of self-publishing (schedule-wise as well as whatever else) is desired or if Fiffe would take a publisher if it came along, but I could easily see this book put out by one of several indies.  First Second comes to mind, initially, as they do a good job with color productions in a wide range of genres that seem to hold on to an artist’s original vision, and I think ‘Copra’ needs to be on this type of paper to maintain its solid feel.  Personal opinion.  (Duh.  What else are these reviews?  Oh, right, GOSPEL.)

Random comic trek led me to finding this book and I feel goddamned blessed.  You can get it too, and should: http://michelfiffe.com/comics/.  If you like the art style, just buy the book.  I promise you there’s much eye candy even if you don’t dig superhero stuff.  But if you DO dig hero stuff, all the better, as the book is ramping up incredibly well going into issue 8, further developing its story and peoples in unexpectedly awesome ways.