Copperhead Appears Cancelled
Copperhead was a space western series written by Jay Faerber, illustrated by Scott Godlewski, and published by Image Comics. It launched in fall 2014, and I kind of liked that its lead character was a woman sheriff new in town. I drifted away from the series, though, as it started wandering into political conspiracies, con artists on the run, and other elements I found overly familiar.
There have been four collected editions so far, each reprinting four or five issues:
- volume 1 (issues #1-5)
- volume 2 (issues #6-10)
- volume 3 (issues #11-14)
- and volume 4 (issues #15-18).
Drew Moss took over as artist with issue #11, with Godlewski continuing on covers.
Issue #19 came out in June, promoting the return of co-creator Godlewski as artist. However, the latest Diamond information lists issues 20, 21, 22, and the volume 5 that would collect them all as “cancelled by publisher”. Godlewski has been drawing some issues for DC, including Batgirl and an upcoming Adventures of the Super Sons, so maybe he’s busy, or maybe the new story arc start didn’t launch as well as it needed to to make it worth continuing.
A four-year run isn’t bad. The series was mostly monthly during its storylines, with a year-and-a-half gap between 10 and 11, likely lining up the new artist and having him work ahead. Balancing the time to make a creator-owned comic with the income it creates is always tough. At least all the collections are out there for later readers to discover.
4:15 pm
I was a fan of the series as well, but it wasn’t the same after Godlewski left. Plot wise, I don’t recall any major change in direction. I’ll have to think about that. I am sad that the series was cancelled, as it was one of my favorites.
I missed issue #19, I’ll have to see if I can get it.
5:24 pm
Farber has said they were running behind and that the last 3 issues “will be resolicited when the story is done.”
5:48 pm
That’s good to know! I hadn’t realized that issue #22 was solicited as the “series finale” anyway. Weird, though, that they didn’t list the cancellation as “will resolicit”, since that’s one of the possible categories. Probably not sure enough of when to do so.
8:14 pm
Faeber’s tweet tonight: https://twitter.com/JayFaerber/status/1070488465647620096
9:11 pm
Thanks for hunting that up!