Review of Copra #14

by Michele Fiffe

After last issues roller coaster ride Copra #14 takes a step back for a much more measured tone where we have another bottle issue that works as both a reflection of the audience in addition to a chilling and sobering reminder of how violence changes us. In this installment we follow Patrick on leave as he goes home after his Copra mission out of his robot suit and in his hometown with his family and friends. In it we see a character who feels like your standard slacker bro that likes to hang out at record stores and comic shops with his crew while spending time with his mother and grandmother at night. Meanwhile Patrick’s younger pill popping cousin is looming in the background causing minor disturbances as the story creeps forward. This issue is as much about how Patrick is similar to us as it is about what makes him different and how he’s changed which plays out over the course of the story. You pretty much know what’s going to happen and that becomes even more apparent as the issue slowly marches towards conclusion but what makes it work so well is the constant terror it inspires as your are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Early on one of Patrick friends asks him if he’s killed anybody which he casually brushes off but as the story moves forward to it’s harrowing conclusion you learn the cost of constant violence and casual murder has on him in the comics chilling final pages. We’ve seen Fiffe do bombastic action sequences better then anybody but here he shows his uncanny ability to display subtlety, slow story building and abject horror. While it may be radically different from past issues it is just as fantastic as the stories of the series past while showing more sides to Copra’s world and Fiffe’s abilities. This isn’t your typical Copra story but it is a great one and it’s another dimension in what is already one of the best current ongoing series being created.