It’s an interesting issue of Copperhead. The opening has the off-world villain (the sheriff’s ex-husband?) escaping and its complications, but then Faerber spends the rest of the issue with Deputy Boo.

The rest of the issue belongs to the outlaws and Deputy Boo. They’ve kidnapped him, they’re setting a trap for the sheriff, there’s a lot of banter and desert high speed travel. Godlewski does a fine job with all of it and Faerber’s conversations are good, it’s just a little slow. Boo’s too comfortable as a secondary character. He’s not even the lead in an issue without the sheriff.

When Faerber does get to the soft cliffhanger, it’s clear he could’ve compressed the issue a bit and not lost anything. There’s no pay-off for Boo (or the reader), even though Faerber hints at it throughout.

It’s a fine enough issue of Copperhead, just a bridging one.

I resent this issue of Copperhead being so good. It’s an all-action issue, it probably reads in four or five minutes. Clara goes on a date, it gets interrupted by bad guys. Boo is in trouble. There’s some setup–with Faerber maybe even implying Clara’s ex-husband is in a maximum security prison somewhere–and then it’s just the date.

And it works. It works really well. Godlewski draws a fantastic action sequence when the bad guys show up (it’s actually the first time Copperhead, for all its successes, has had an excellent action sequence).

But it’s so short. It’s all setup for the cliffhanger resolution, which probably won’t take the whole next issue just because it’s an action-oriented standoff.

But it’s so good.

The little character moments for Boo and Clara are both good and the first part of her date’s really funny.

Copperhead continues its awesomeness.

It’s a new arc for Copperhead and Faerber’s off to a strong start.

The story moves ahead a bit–Clara and Boo are partners, Zeke’s got a babysitter and a secret friend in the fugitive android. There’s futuristic action in Western themes, there’s a lot of texture in the joining of sci-fi and Western in Godlewski’s art–Copperhead is working. Even if Godlewski’s full last pages are still a bad idea. Faerber’s attention to character detail is paying off. Even when it’s a gradual buildup, the comic feels worthwhile. Faerber’s not using accrued goodwill to get through this slow, first act issue, he’s still accruing more of it.

All of the elements play well together–female sheriff, Western town, sci-fi elements, single parent. Copperhead is perfectly arranged and it’s nice to see Faerber has a way of continuing the comic. Hopefully for quite some time and many issues.

Faerber wraps up the first arc–and the sheriff’s first case–in a rapid-fire issue of Copperhead. Most of the scenes only take three or four pages so there are a lot of them; they’re all fantastic, starting with the opening scene between the sheriff and the android.

There are a number of surprises in the issue, but Faerber handles them all gradually. His characters are thinking and acting; it’s all incredibly active. It’s an interesting way to handle a procedural because the solution to the crime isn’t as interesting as how the characters go about reacting to it, both the police solving it and the survivors processing it.

And Godlewski basically gets to recap all the settings of the previous issues–starting with some fast action in the desert–so the comic always looks great.

Faerber ends the arc with his cast in place. Copperhead’s great stuff.

This issue of Copperhead returns the series to its previous level of quality, which is fantastic, because I really wanted to love this comic and it looks like I still can.

It’s a very busy issue. Faerber wasn’t busy last issue (the weak one); he’s busy here, he keeps Clara busy, he keeps Boo busy, he keeps the supporting cast busy. There’s stuff with the doctor–an actual scene before he gets drug into the issue’s primary subplot–and there’s stuff at the beginning, possible back story for Clara. It all works out beautifully.

I say possible back story because Faerber tells this story about her, which may or may not be true, then has a whole montage sequence showing it might be true. It’s just a cool way of plotting out the issue… getting the reader wondering, then busy with other stuff, then delivering.

Copperhead is back on track.