For every indie comic you support, a Marvel or DC executive gets a good idea. It’s true, it’s like angels getting wings, but even better. Don’t believe me? Read Copra and you’ll see. The latest issue is here, but is it good?
Copra #9 (Copra Press)
Check out our review of Copra #1 through #8 here!
If you don’t know what Copra is you might want to check out my review of the first eight first. It goes in depth about the previous issues, and in all honesty, it’s not recommended to read this issue without reading the previous. Writer and artist Michel Fiffe doesn’t have that Marvel summary page, but expects that you’ve been here from the beginning. That said, the basic premise of this issue is thus: the heroes are in an alternate dimension that a recently befriended hero is from. A big baddie is there to do bad things and lots of action ensues.
Pink Frost might be my favorite bad guy name ever. Oh dang, his name is Quinn. Oh wellz.
This issue opens with our heroes fighting Pink Frost, a hashtag-faced villain with all his muscles exposed. If you’ve been dying to know more about Rax you’re in you’re luck, because Fiffe reveals a few folks from his world and a general idea of what is going on. That said, you’ll still be in the dark on the overarching plot of our bad guy and the general direction of the series.
So far, the series reads by the seat of its pants, without too much time spent outside of action and character. That’s fine by me up to a certain point, but it wasn’t until this issue I was curious what the hell is going on with the bigger picture. It’s not ruining the quality of the book so much as driving my patience a bit up the wall. The problem might be that there seems to be a bigger picture, but so far we’re getting sick art with exciting action sequences and not much more. Maybe it’s Fiffe teasing us, but this issue reads a bit unbalanced between the bigger picture and the events of the issue itself.
Dig the purple silhouette. I said dig it!
Part of this unbalanced feeling is the pace, which abruptly switches from the opening action sequence to being introduced to the new character who knew Rax. Cutting back to action again, the story slows down with narrative boxes. Generally this all makes it tough to know what Fiffe is going for and while it consistently looks great I’m getting a bit confused as to the intention of the story.
Once again the art is stunning. I have a feeling Fiffe has as much fun drawing these pages as we do looking at them. There’s always an inventive tinge here or a clever technique there. It’s consistently riveting, be it movement, gadgetry or emotional impact from the character expressions. The layouts are always changing up, but never with frivolity. For instance, page 18 uses five wide panels to slow down the moment before a character dies, then page 19 is nine panels which speeds up all the reactions to this death. It’s impressive to read because it’s not only the art, but how it’s laid out that’ll affect you.
That is some sweet movement.
9.0
- You’ll feel creative just reading and enjoying this art!
- Great layouts
- So what’s the point of it all exactly?
Aside from some minor pacing issues and an overall impatience with what the intention of the story is, this is another great issue of Copra. It’s starting to irk me that I don’t have any perspective on the world these characters live in. The characters though, are vivid and real. The art is incredible page to page and panel to panel. Fiffe wastes nothing on the page and it’s a real joy to read.
Is It Good?
Yes. If you’re an avid comic book reader you should do yourself a favor and read something a little different from what we’ve been force fed for so many decades.
You can buy Copra #9 here.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
