Jumping-On: "Copperhead" by Faerber & Godlewski

- by Señor Editor, 10 October 2014

You know, I was thinking if I should write about something scary and spooky and morbid today, since everybody is already getting into the Halloween vibe, but I’m really not about that life right now. What I am about, is Jay Faerber’s and Scott Godlewski’s sci-fi western comic “Copperhead”. It is magnificent.

Issue #1 cover. Click to enlarge.

A small town sheriff on a backwoods planet. Seedy saloons, weird creatures, the railroad and futuristic tech. Space cowboys (possibly even gangsters of love, sometime in future issues, maybe). Surely you get the drift. Western and aliens have been going together hand in hand ever since Han shot Greedo in Mos Eisley, so how was I supposed to even THINK about writing about horror today, when this impressive thing is already on issue #2 and getting better and better.

“Copperhead” is about Clara Bronson, who, along with her son, Zeke, came to the planet Jasper, where a job is waiting her. She is to become the new sheriff of a small town called Copperhead. Immediately after arriving, she meets her deputy, Budroxifinicus (“Boo”), who is still a little upset over the fact that he was also trying to get the sheriff job, but people are still so damn racist about aliens, man.

Sheriff Bronson and Zeke don’t even get to make themselves comfortable after seeing the local police station and their new home, because there’s already plenty of crime to tend to, and lots of shady locals to meet. After breaking up a domestic fight between a family of green, Doop-like things, Bronson and Boo start having bigger problems. There’s now a chilling massacre on their hands, and they have no clue who the killer is and what was the motive.

Bronson, Zeke and "Boo" hit it off. (All images on this page are © Image Comics)

There’s a lot more stuff happening in these two issues, but these are the basics. I don’t wanna spoil more, because you should just pick this book up yourself and see exactly how good it is.

Usually this would be the moment when I write a paragraph about the writing and a paragraph about the art, but I finished reading #2 mere minutes before I started writing this article, and I am way too excited for any more of this neat paragraphs stuff. Instead, here’s a list of just some of the good things about “Copperhead”. With hyphens:

- It’s a western book, a science fiction book, a crime book and something of a “buddy cop” book (though Bronson and Budroxifinicus’ relationship is still pretty damn cold so far).

- The protagonist’s last name is “Bronson”, a name that is universally associated with badassery.

The town of Copperhead. Admittedly, it *does* look Star Wars-y here.

- You know, while space and western always seemed like a real good mix, it is a little tricky to get it just right. Think of all the terrible Star Wars rip-offs where people tried to replicate the formula and failed terribly. Hell, think about the Star Wars prequels. This is not a Star Wars rip-off – it is highly fresh and imaginative, doing a great job of creating its own world. You will be hard pressed to find something half as good and in similar vein to this.

- Godlewski is a fantastic artist. He makes the world really come to life on the pages, and handles all these weird designs masterfully. There are more than just humans and aliens here (no spoilers), and they all look good and fit the established style of this world. The action scenes are great, too.

Action!

- Budroxifinicus. He is very cool. As far as space alien cops go, he is easily as cool as Kilowog (the gold standard for space alien cops). And he is much more sassy than Kilowog. Much more sassy.

- The colors by Ron Riley. They are muted, a little dirty, but still popping and making the whole thing very pleasant to look at. The opening pages of #1, on the train? Fantastic use of colors and shadows. Thanks in big part to his colors, the world of "Copperhead" looks lived-in.

- The creepy “Arties” and Ishmael. and all the things we got a glimpse at, but don't yet know who or what they are. I want to know more about them, which is a testament to how well this comic is done.

- This is an ONGOING series. There will be a lot more of this. Praise Jesus!

I could go on, but I don’t really think I need to. There’s only so much I can do to make you buy this book, so just trust me on this: BUY THIS BOOK. It’s good. It’s one of the best things out this year. Good on Image for publishing it. You need to check it out.


Ok, that was a little weird... Are you reading “Copperhead” yet? What do YOU think of the book? Sound off in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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