Michel Fiffe @zegas is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist who’s made a name for himself over the past few years with his rigorously produced self-published comic Copra, as well as for his work for Marvel (All-New Ultimates, Secret Wars: Secret Love),  Dynamite (Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers), Image (Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies) and Valiant (Bloodshot Reborn Annual 2016).

This week, he launches a new self-published title, Copra Versus, and I got the chance to chat with him about it…

CX: Greetings, Michel.  Care to introduce yourself and your work to our readers?

MF: Michel Fiffe is my name and Copra is the comic book series that I write, draw, color, letter, publish & distribute. It’s a violent team book that’s about 26 issues in.

CX: Tell us a bit about your latest book, Copra Versus.

MF: It’s an all-villains limited series featuring the roster of enemies that the Copra team has built. Since the regular book is already pretty jam packed, I wanted more elbow room to spotlight some of these creeps one issue at a time.

CX: One creator we’ve talked about a lot, who we both love and who I know is a big influence/inspiration on Copra, is original Suicide Squad writer John Ostrander.  What do you think it is about Ostrander’s writing that attracts you?

MF: Ostrander is technically brilliant and in complete control of the 22 page comic book structure. More importantly, he’s excellent about making you give a shit about the characters he’s writing. A difficult and rare task in comics.

CX: Favorite Ostrander comic?

MF: Suicide Squad #10, “Up Against the Wall”, the quintessential Squad story. Deadshot #1 is a close second, but just barely.

CX: Have you ever gotten to meet Ostrander? 

MF: I haven’t! I’ve interviewed him before and e-mailed him a few times but never in person. I would love to.

CX: You’re part of a group of creators, along with Chuck Forsman (Revenger), Ben Marra (Terror Assaulter) and Rich Tommaso (Dark Corridor), whose work is both influenced by and feels, in some ways, like a response to, action movies and comics from the 1980’s.  What is it about that particular moment in popular culture that is currently resonating so much?

MF: It all stems from a desire to build and maintain a visceral momentum in our work, I think. Marra was ahead of the game on that one and he’s certainly an influence on me, at least in terms of approaching genre in a personalized way. Whereas before, I was resisting my instincts in the name of some nebulous ideal. It’s something I still wrestle with, but that’s what makes Copra fun and challenging to work on.

CX: Follow up question, are you, Forsman, Marra and Tommaso in a gang?  What is your gang called?  Can I join your gang?

MF: To tell you the truth we’re not even friends. We despise one another. On a strictly professional level, we had a summit in Vegas years ago and field-tested tons of ideas. We came to the conclusion that, to further our careers, we should all talk about [filmmaker Abel Ferrara’s ultimate anti-catcalling/urban revenge movie) Ms. 45 as often as possible.

(edtior’s note- since Michel didn’t answer, everybody please contact these guys and tell them to let me join their gang).

CX: Finally, can you give us any hints of what Copra Versus has in store for us, and what you plan on doing next?

MF: On top of the regular Copra issues, which are still coming out, the Versus mini will feature Klaus and his gang of cyborg mercenaries, last seen in Copra #4…  the Latin-American death squad known as Los Asesinos… the Vitas crew who ambushed Copra in the very first issue… and the four individuals (see Copra #s 11 & 12) who were sacrificed/transformed by a government cult trying to bring forth the Age of Ochizon. Don’t miss an issue!

Read Copra and Copra Versus on comiXology!