Michel Fiffe’s ‘Death of Copra’ will bring the story to a ‘high octane’ end

The long-running indie comics sensation concludes with a final four-issue miniseries that begins in January.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Michel Fiffe’s excellent self-published series Copra will meet its final fate in Death of Copra, a four-issue miniseries that kicks off In January.

“The whole thing is bittersweet, which is perfect in a way,” said Fiffe. “The story of Copra is one of duality: brutal but tender, bombast as defined by human nuance, crafted with a love of comics history while guided by an eye towards the future.”

The final miniseries will be published by Image Comics, rather than self-published by Fiffe. Image published the series for about six issues just prior to the pandemic, but Fiffe returned to self-publishing it for issues #38-45. Image continued to publish collections of the material.

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You can pre-order Michel Fiffe’s DIY guide to creating comics

‘Creating Copra: Michel Fiffe’s Definitive DIY Guide to Making and Self-Publishing Comics’ will reveal the ‘Copra’ creator’s secrets.

If you’ve ever wondered how Copra creator Michel Fiffe produces and publishes his own comics, it’s time to find out –he’s offering a guide to making and publishing your own comics for pre-order on his website.

Creating Copra: Michel Fiffe’s Definitive DIY Guide to Making and Self-Publishing Comics is as the title describes, as detailed by one of the modern-day masters. Fiffe has self-published roughly 45 issues of Copra — minus a few that were published by Image — along with several spinoffs.

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Michel Fiffe returns to self-publishing ‘Copra’

Image Comics will still release collected editions of the comic.

Michel Fiffe will once again self-publish his popular Copra series, starting with issues #38 and #39. Both are available for pre-order via his Etsy shop.

After self-publishing Copra for 31 issues, Fiffe moved the comic to Image Comics last year. The publisher released collections of all the previous issues, as well as six single issues, which were re-numbered. Fiffe is picking up with the previous numbering with the new issues.

“Snapping back into legacy numbering. Original paper stock was called in. Copra Press has reopened its doors,” Fiffe said on Twitter. He also noted that digital editions will be released around the time the physical issues become available.

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Dark Horse to publish Fiffe’s ‘Panorama’

An early project by the creator of ‘Copra” arrives in stores next May.

With his flagship series back on shelves, Michel Fiffe already had a great October, but Dark Horse added some icing to the cake yesterday by revealing a horror graphic novel by the creator called Panorama.

“I’m beyond excited to have Panorama finally back out in the world,” Fiffe said. “It was the first sizable story that I ever created, crackling with the enthusiasm of a cartoonist who wants to do it all. It mixes genres and bends the form and is quite possibly my most personal project yet.”

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Michel Fiffe loads another round of ‘Copra’ in October

A new first issue arrives Oct. 2 from Image Comics.

Michel Fiffe’s wonderful Copra moved to Image Comics earlier this year, bringing new editions of the five previous trade paperbacks to stores in May. But since then fans have been asking, “When will we see a new Copra series from Fiffe?”

The answer: October.

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‘Copra’ finds a new home at Image Comics

Formerly published by Bergen Street Press, the indie superhero comic’s first five collections arrive from Image in May.

Michel’s Fiffe’s excellent superhero series Copra has found a new home at Image Comics, the creator announced on Twitter. New printings of all five Copra collections can be found in the just-released Image Comics solicitations for May.

Fiffe has self-published the single issues of Copra, while collections have come out from Bergen Street Press, the comics publishing arm of the now-closed Brooklyn comics shop of the same name. Bergen Street Press announced last month that both Copra and Chuck Forsman’s Revenger would move to new publishers this year; the latter has landed at Floating World Comics.

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Comics Lowdown: Alex Ross’ ‘DayGlo’ Fantastic Four pitch

Plus: Bill Jemas, Liza Donnelly and an IKEA comic!

Artist Alex Ross pitched Marvel on taking over the Fantastic Four last year, and you can find his pitch inside Marvelocity, a coffee-table book that highlights the artist’s Marvel work. The 13th Dimension reviews the book and shares several pages from the 2017 pitch. “It just goes to show you that even the biggest talents in comics don’t always get what they want – and what Ross wanted was an eye-popping comic that echoed the DayGlo ’60s while offering something fresh,” reviewer Dan Greenfield writes.

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IDW enlists Michel Fiffe for a new G.I Joe miniseries

‘G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte’ debuts next spring.

Copra creator Michel Fiffe has heard the call — “Yo Joe!” — and will tackle the G.I. Joe team in a new miniseries, G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte.

“Love and loss, combat and cunning, cheap laughs and high stakes – this is everything I want in a G.I. Joe comic,” Fiffe told Nerdist. Fiffe’s story will feature Snake Eyes, Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, Rock ‘n Roll, Gung-Ho, Stalker and Flint, who go rogue on a rescue mission.

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Image reveals many, many new titles at Image Expo

New projects announced from Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, Rob Guillory, J.H. Williams and Haden Blackman, Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel, Annie Wu and more.

As they’ve done in previous years, Image Comics dropped a metric ton of announcements at their Image Expo event, held today in Portland, Oregon.

The line-up of announcements this year includes five new titles from Todd McFarlane’s camp, new titles from Chew creators John Layman and Rob Guillory, two comics from Christoper Sebela, the fact that they’ll publish the Netflix/Millarworld titles starting with The Magic Order and much more. No doubt there are interviews aplenty dropping around the internet on all these new projects, so I’ll start with the text of the press release, then add art and commentary as I find it.

So let’s get to it …

Blackbird by Sam Humphries & Jen Bartel
Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel team up to co-create Blackbird, a modern fantasy story best described as Harry Potter meets Riverdale. It follows a young woman named Nina who discovers a neon-lit world of magic masters in Los Angeles. Now they’ve kidnapped her sister, and Nina is the only one who can save her.

“Blackbird is a labor of love, a coming of age story and beautiful people doing insane things with magic,” said Humphries.

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Paul Maybury contributing Chapel back-ups to ‘Bloodstrike’ relaunch

‘I don’t have friends.’

We don’t have a lot of information yet on Michel Fiffe’s revival of Bloodstrike, but a few details have started to emerge. In addition to new Bloodstrike material, the comic will also feature the return of Chapel, another character created by Rob Liefeld who debuted in the early days of Image Comics.

Paul Maybury announced he’s creating back-up stories starring the skull-faced character, handling writing, art, colors and lettering. He also shared a teaser image:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Michel Fiffe on ‘Zegas’

The ‘Copra’ creator revisits its predecessor, which will be collected and released by Fantagraphics.

Today Michel Fiffe is best known for Copra, the acclaimed Suicide Squad-inspired adventure story that he self-publishes. Before he made Copra, Fiffe started self-publishing with the series Zegas. It only lasted three issues, but the stories of siblings Emily and Boston Zegas take place in an unnamed city and combines quiet realistic stories with dynamic styles, wild backgrounds and interacts with the story in interesting ways. I made the comparison to George Herriman’s Krazy Kat who had wild backgrounds and used them to convey a feeling. Zegas doesn’t take place in a science fiction city, but it captures a lot of the energy and craziness that comes from moving to a big city and experiencing urban life for the first time.

Fantagraphics has just published a collection of Zegas, along with a brand new story Fiffe created for the collection. He continues to publish Copra, with issue #31 out now and a fifth collection coming out early next year from Bergen Street Comics, and is creating a new series Negativeland on Patreon. In addition, this week brought the news that Fiffe is working on Bloodstrike, the 1990s comic created by Rob Liefeld. This interview was conducted before that news broke.

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Michel Fiffe takes aim at ‘Bloodstrike’ in 2018

‘Don’t rub the blood. Drown in it.’

Michel Fiffe dropped a big ol’ bloody bomb on Twitter this morning — he’s working on a revival of Bloodstrike, the 1990s Extreme team created by Rob Liefeld.

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