CANR
WORK TITLE: Alter Ego
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.alexsegura.com/
CITY: New York
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: LRC March 2022
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born March 15, 1980, in Miami, FL; married; children.
EDUCATION:Attended college.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist, editor, publicist, writer, executive, and musician. Worked as freelance writer and editor, Newsarama and Wizard, and as copyeditor and online news editor, Miami Herald, Miami, FL; DC Comics, New York, NY, publicity manager, beginning 2006; Archie Comics, Mamaroneck, NY, began as executive director of publicity, became vice president; Dark Circle Comics, editor; Oni Press, senior vice president of sales and marketing. Member of band Faulkner Detectives; cocreator of Lethal Lit podcast.
AWARDS:Anthony Award for Best Novel nomination, 2019, for Blackout; Anthony Awards for Best Short Story, 2020, for “Red Zone,” and 2021, for “90 Miles”; Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller, 2022, for Secret Identity.
WRITINGS
Contributor of story lines to numerous comic series, including (with Matthew Rosenberg) The Archies, art by Joe Eisma, lettering by Jack Morelli, colors by Matt Herms, Archie Comics Publications (Mamaroneck, NY), 2018—. Contributor to anthologies, including Stories of Jedi and Sith (“Star Wars” series), Disney/Lucasfilm Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2022; and to periodicals and media outlets, including Los Angeles Review of Books.
SIDELIGHTS
Comics creator and executive Alex Segura built his reputation working for industry giants DC Comics and Archie Publications, for whom he wrote numerous storylines, issues, and books. [open new]In addition to graphic fiction featuring characters ranging from Archie and Dick Tracy to Spider-Man and the Black Ghost, he has written a quintet of prose detective novels and other comics- and mystery-infused fiction. Segura was raised in Miami by immigrants from Cuba. Favorite comics during his youth included the Archie and Spider-Man series, and he also enjoyed science fiction like the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” series and mysteries by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Especial inspiration came from a future Spider-Man who was Mexican Irish and named Miguel O’Hara. Segura told Daneet Steffens of the Los Angeles Review of Books, “I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, he’s kind of like me: I’m a Cuban American kid from Miami, and he’s not just a regular white guy.’ It was so eye-opening. It felt like he was my character, you know? I think people underestimate the power of that.” As a youth Segura started writing fan-fiction featuring famous characters like the X-Men and also invented protagonists of his own. In college he majored in English and honed his skills as a journalist with the college newspaper. His career in the comics industry blossomed in New York City, first through journalistic coverage of comics and then as a publicist for DC and Archie Comics, culminating in his success as a writer and creator.[suspend new]
The classic character Archie, Segura told Comics Alliance interviewer Janelle Asselin while working with the imprint, has become “a brand that’s no longer steeped in nostalgia and is, in fact, very vibrant and connected to today’s reader. Archie’s become one of the most timely and progressive publishers out there, which I think is amazing.” Segura continued: “In the grand scheme of things, we’re working on comic books—a medium that entertains so many people and brings joy to a lot of lives, so you have to remind yourself of that. This should be fun. I’m really thankful that I haven’t had a job where I wake up hating the prospect of going into the office in a long time. Even if things were hectic or extremely busy … I always tried to come in excited and eager to work.”
In addition to his work in comics, Segura proved himself a successful novelist through mysteries set in his native Miami. “I’ve become a part of a really friendly, welcoming and engaging writing community in the mystery/crime fiction world,” he told Asselin, “and I feel like I’ve built another career for myself as a novelist that I’m really proud of, while still able to maintain my day job as a publicist and now an editor, too.” His prose works include the novels of the “Pete Fernandez” series, associated collaborations with Rob Hart and Dave White, and the award-winning Secret Identity and its sequel, Alter Ego.
Segura’s protagonist Pete Fernandez is a journalist who often suffers as a result of his attempts to uncover the truth. Fernandez follows the example of long line of semiprofessional detectives. “The birth of Pete was a long process, and I didn’t know it was happening until I got a few chapters into the first book,” Segura told David Barnett in an interview appearing in the Guardian. “I had just moved back to New York to work for DC and had graduated from reading some of the classics of crime fiction—like Chandler—to more modern masters, like James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman and George Pelecanos. These books had a huge effect on me. Not only were the heroes flawed and conflicted … but each book had a very clear and evocative sense of place.”
“Pete’s a smart, curious guy who means well but often jumps into things too fast,” Segura said in an interview with Bryan Young in the Huffington Post. “He’s learning as he goes, which comes with some occupational hazards. He gets beat up a lot, for sure. He’s also not without personal problems: he drinks too much, he has a lot of baggage and resentments and feels like the world is speeding by him. That said, he’s great at finding things out—when we meet him in Silent City, we learn that he’s a bit of a fallen journalistic star, having put together a decent track record as a sports reporter.” “Pete strikes me as someone I could have known growing up in Miami,” the author told Young. “Maybe we drifted apart, but he’s a product of the same environment: son of Cuban parents, journalism background, a bit of a music nerd—we do overlap a bit. But there are striking differences, too. I also didn’t want him to be static or evergreen. I didn’t want each book to feel interchangeable. The Pete we see at the beginning of Silent City is very different from the one we meet at the beginning of Down the Darkest Street and they feed into each other.” As Jeffrey W. Hunter remarked in a review in Library Journal, “Pete’s sadness echoes the darkest corners of Miami’s roughest streets.”
Down the Darkest Street pits Fernandez against a serial killer who has targeted people close to the former reporter, including former fiancée Emily Sprague, recently separated from her husband, and Alice Cline, one of Emily’s friends. Pete opens an investigation with a former newspaper colleague, Kathy Bentley. “Pete and Kathy learn that other young women have been kidnapped off the Miami streets,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, and they soon become targets themselves. The two must find the killer before he can do any more harm.
Fernandez’s involvement in the serial killer investigation drags him further and further into violence. “The deeper Pete digs,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “the more the killer focuses his rage on him, until no one in his orbit is safe.” “Interestingly,” observed Don Crinklaw in a Booklist review, “the case is solved not only by violent confrontations, but also by drudge work” that involves looking up accounts of the killings on a library microfiche machine.
By the time of Fernandez’s fourth adventure, the character has matured considerably. “When I first created Pete, he was driven more by his demons—he drank heavily, he bemoaned how the world had treated him in regards to his romantic relationships, career and luck,” Segura told Steph Cha in an interview published on the website CrimeReads. “He was a bit emo and broken. Over time, he’s picked himself up and worked hard to gain some focus. He’s found that investigation and helping other people helps him, mentally and spiritually. So, while he’s not completely at peace with himself, he has gotten a bit of a handle on his darkness, and he tries to use his wits and skills to do some good.”
Unlike Segura’s earlier novels, Blackout begins in a new locale, “In Blackout, Pete is in hiding in New York when he’s asked to find a missing person,” Paul Semel wrote on his website. “But the evidence surrounding that quest points him toward another, frigid cold case that he failed to solve years before, when he was drinking heavily. That pulls him back to Miami, where he must reconnect with friends he abandoned and face off against the remains of a deadly cult, which somehow ties into his own history, its tentacles reaching into every corner of Miami.”
By the time Miami Midnight opens, stated Nick Kolakowski in an interview with Segura in Mystery Tribune, Pete Fernandez has traveled a long path from his original incarnation in Silent City. “He’s sober, running a bookstore, trying not to get drawn into an investigation (at least at first), and dealing with the aches and pains of old violence (including a shooting that almost killed him),” Kolakowski explained “It’s a stunning arc for any character.”
At the same time, however, Pete is open to clients who—inadvertantly or on purpose—reopen old wounds. One new client, a former partner of Pete’s father, has information on Pete’s mother’s death, but he is murdered before he can reveal anything to the private eye-turned-bookstore owner. Pete is also approached by an underworld figure who asks him to find his late son’s wife and recover a valuable piece of art. “ Miami Midnight is so dark and gritty that the only proper way to read it is with a spotlight and a breathing filter,” declared Joe Hartlaub on Bookreporter. “It’s worth it. If you’re searching for a book with which to spend the closing days of summer, you need to look no further.”
[resume new]Segura teamed up with Monica Gallagher to create the heroine introduced in The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution. Journalist Lara Dominguez has been reeling since the loss of her brother, after which she moved from Miami to small-city Creighton—only to be followed by messages from someone called LONE keeping her posted on crime and a local vigilante, the Black Ghost. When Lara witnesses the vigilante’s downfall and has the inside scoop on the criminal conspiracy responsible, she aims to shake off her doldrums, and alcoholic tendencies, to fulfill her own fate as a crime fighter. Booklist reviewer Jonathan Khan deemed The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution a “thrilling pulp” story offering a “nuanced twist on the hero trope.” Appreciating the narrative’s measured recourse to its “twisty plot and gritty mythology,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that “punchy writing … adds flavor to the street-level superhero action and hard-boiled intrigue,” all together adding up to “frothy noir entertainment.”
Segura garnered critical esteem with his stand-alone mystery novel, Secret Identity, founded in his firsthand knowledge of the comics world. In 1975, longtime comics-lover Carmen Valdez has moved from Miami to New York City to pursue her dream career but has been treading water as an assistant at second-tier Triumph Comics. Carmen’s hopes rise when junior editor Harvey Stern recruits her help creating the company’s premiere female superhero, the Legendary Lynx—as a ghostwriter at first. When the Legendary Lynx proves a hit but Harvey turns up murdered, Carmen has to solve the case so she can lay claim to her creation without singling herself out as the prime suspect.
Reviewers reveled in the mystery-comics mélange in Segura’s novel. Declaring in Booklist that “darkest noir meets the vibrant world of comics” as Segura’s “reverence for the medium comes across vividly,” Jane Murphy praised Secret Identity as a “superlative one-of-a-kind novel.” Branding the novel “outstanding,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer likewise affirmed that Segura’s “infectious passion for supetheroes shines in this page-turning mix of murder mystery and coming-of-age story.” Calling Secret Identity a worthy successor to Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay—a novel Segura has cited as an inspiration—a Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that it “works on so many levels, it’s almost hard to keep track.” The reviewer deemed Segura’s novel a “powerful” love letter to comics, a “smart, perfectly paced, and wonderfully atmospheric” thriller, and altogether a “masterful book filled with real heart and soul. A triumph.”
Excerpts from Carmen’s comic were included in Secret Identity, and Segura also wrote and published a full hundred-page issue of that comic, The Legendary Lynx, with the four-color pallette and faded pages lending a distinct seventies feel. Avenging her murdered sister as an acrobatic, clawed vigilante in Triumph City, Claudia Calla prioritizes women’s well-being. Appreciating how the narrative “inverts tropes” and “provides queer subtext” to counter the era’s stereotypes, a Kirkus Reviews writer considered The Legendary Lynx to be a worthy companion to the novel but moreover a “fun super-hero period piece that stands on its own.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer called it an “entertaining and self-aware graphic novel” that offers a “brisk thrill ride”—and “begs for a sequel.”
Segura and recurring collaborator Rob Hart coauthored the science-fiction novel Dark Space. Humanity is looking to the cosmos after rendering Earth nearly uninhabitable and mostly taking refuge on the lunar colony of New Destiny. A joint Chinese and American effort has sent the starship Mosaic several light-years away to assess the planet Esparar, but pilot Jose Carriles hits the panic button when the engines unaccountably begin powering down and shield failure is imminent. The narrative alternates between Jose’s perspective and that of Corin Timony, who receives a report that the Mosaic’s emergency was a false alarm—but she suspects otherwise. A Publishers Weekly reviewer deemed Dark Space a “stellar blend of space opera and spy thriller” in which the “universe feels remarkably well-developed and the tension is palpable.” Recognizing Dark Space to be “not a standard exploration story,” Library Journal reviewer Jeremiah Rood admired Segura’s subversive approach to both the “horror” of “what humanity brings to the universe and the terror waiting in the unknown.”
Segura offers a sequel to Secret Identity set decades later with Alter Ego, which finds comic artist and filmmaker Annie Bustamante tapped by the son of Triumph Comics’s founder to revive the Legendary Lynx franchise. When Annie starts getting anonymous cautions about proceeding, she starts to wonder about the character’s origins, and both she and readers learn how Carmen Valdez’s fate unfolded in the intervening years. Observing that Alter Ego succeeds also as a stand-alone, Jon Jeffryes of Library Journal proclaimed that this “entertaining sequel vividly depicts the IP-obsessed contemporary comic book world” in what proves a “compelling setting for Segura’s richly complicated characters.” A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that Segura “has lost none of his talent at building suspense,” proves “charming enough” to encourage the suspension of disbelief, and “sticks the landing beautifully,” making Alter Ego a “ride worth taking.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2016, Don Crinklaw, review of Down the Darkest Street, p. 29; May 1, 2018, Michele Leber, review of Blackout, p. 20; May 15, 2021, Jonathan Khan, review of The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution, p. 39; January 1, 2022, Jane Murphy, review of Secret Identity, p. 43; May 15, 2021, Jonathan Khan, review of The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution, p. 39; January 1, 2022, Jane Murphy, review of Secret Identity, p. 43.
Guardian, March 1, 2016, David Barnett, “Alex Segura: Creating Archie Comics by Day and Tales of Crime by Night.”
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2016, review of Down the Darkest Street; July 15, 2019, review of Miami Midnight; February 1, 2022, review of Secret Identity; March 15, 2023, review of Araña and Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow; October 1, 2024, review of The Legendary Lynx; October 15, 2024, reviews of Alter Ego and Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños; December 1, 2024, review of The Legendary Lynx; January 15, 2025, review of Dick Tracy.
Library Journal, April 15, 2016, Jeffrey W. Hunter, review of Down the Darkest Street, p. 87; July, 2024, Jeremiah Rood, review of Dark Space, p. 81; October, 2024, Jon Jeffryes, review of Alter Ego, p. 94.
Publishers Weekly, February 8, 2016, review of Down the Darkest Street, p. 51; February 27, 2017, review of Dangerous Ends, p. 79; March 19, 2018, review of Blackout, p. 55; June 24, 2019, review of Miami Midnight, p. 151; April 12, 2021, review of The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution, p. 61; January 10, 2022, review of Secret Identity, p. 38; July 8, 2024, review of Dark Space, p. 157; November 18, 2024, review of The Legendary Lynx, p. 44; December 16, 2024, review of Dick Tracy, p. 49.
ONLINE
Alex Segura website, https://www.alexsegura.com (February 13, 2025).
Big Thrill, https://www.thebigthrill.org/ (April 30, 2018), Nancy Bilyeau, “Making Miami His Own”; (July 31, 2019), April Snellings, “Becoming Pete Fernandez”; (February 28, 2022), April Snellings, “Up Close: Alex Segura.”
Bookreporter, https://www.bookreporter.com/ (April 14, 2017), Joe Hartlaub, review of Dangerous Ends; (May 11, 2018), Joe Hartlaub, review of Blackout; (August 16, 2019), Joe Hartlaub, review of Miami Midnight.
BookTrib, https://booktrib.com/ (December 17, 2024), Aurora Dominguez, “Step into the World of Comic Books in Alex Segura’s ‘Alter Ego.’”
Chicago Review of Books, https://chireviewofbooks.com/ (December 3, 2024), Lori Rader-Day, “‘Fighting for Yourself’: A Conversation with Alex Segura about ‘Alter Ego.’”
Comics Alliance, http: //comicsalliance.com/ (December 19, 2014), Janelle Asselin, “Archie Comics Publicity Mastermind Alex Segura on Marketing, Management, and His Time at DC Comics.”
CrimeReads, https://crimereads.com/ (June 25, 2018), Steph Cha, “Detective Fiction for a Modern Miami.”
Criminal Element, https://www.criminalelement.com/ (May 8, 2018), Alex Segura, “Q&A with Alex Segura, Author of Blackout.“
Do Some Damage, http://www.dosomedamage.com/ (May 10, 2018), Steve Weddle, “Alex Segura: The Blackout Interview.”
Hollywood Reporter, https:// www.hollywoodreporter.com/ (April 25, 2018), Graeme McMillan, “How Writer Alex Segura Balances Crime Novels and Archie Comics”; (August 13, 2019), Graeme McMillan, “Archie Comics Co-President on ‘Miami Midnight,’ the End of the Pete Fernandez Series.”
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (March 15, 2016), Bryan Young, “Alex Segura Talks Down the Darkest Street.“
Latino Stories, https://latinostories.com/ (March 13, 2024), Teresa Doval, “Evoking a NY City That No Longer Exists: An Interview with Alex Segura.”
Los Angeles Public Library website, https://www.lapl.org/ (December 5, 2024), “Interview with an Author: Alex Segura.”
Los Angeles Review of Books, https://lareviewofbooks.org/ (March 15, 2022), Daneet Steffens, “Blending All the Things I Love: A Conversation with Alex Segura.”
MysteryPeople, https://mysterypeople.wordpress.com/ (May 16, 2018), “Interview with Alex Segura.”
Mystery Tribune, https://www.mysterytribune.com/ (March 14, 2022), Nick Kolakowski, “‘Miami Midnight’ Author Alex Segura on Creating a Fallible and Compelling P.I.”
NPR website, https://www.npr.org/ (March 17, 2022), Carole V. Bell, review of Secret Identity.
Paul Semel website, http://paulsemel.com/ (May 7, 2018), Paul Semel, “Exclusive Interview: Blackout Author Alex Segura.”
Real Book Spy, https://therealbookspy.com/ (August 15, 2019), review of Miami Midnight.
SleuthSayers, https://www.sleuthsayers.org/ (May 12, 2018), Libby Cudmore, “Interview: Alex Segura on Blackout, Outlines and Writing the PI.”
Washington Independent Review of Books, https:// www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (August 6, 2019), E.A. Aymar, “An Interview with Alex Segura.”
Writer’s Digest, https://www.writersdigest.com/ (May 1, 2018), Jeff Zafarris, “Alex Segura Discusses Crime Fiction, Comic Book Writing, and His New Book Blackout”; (December 22, 2024), Erica Wright, “Alex Segura on the Stories You Can’t Ignore.”
Short Version
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Mystery of the Year. He’s also the author of the acclaimed Pete Fernandez series, as well as the Star Wars novel, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and the YA Spider-Verse adventure, Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow. In 2024, he published a sci-fi/espionage novel, Dark Space, co-written with Rob Hart; the graphic novel The Legendary Lynx, illustrated by Sandy Jarrell; Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños; and Alter Ego, a standalone sequel to Secret Identity. Alter Ego was an instant USA Today bestseller, featured in Cosmpolitan, Parade, The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and described as “thrilling” by the Wall Street Journal. In addition to his prose writing he has written a number of comics for Marvel and DC, including Star Wars: Battle of Jakku, Spider-Society, and The Question: All Along the Watchtower. With Michael Moreci he is the writer behind the noir re-launch of Dick Tracy. He lives in New York City with his family.
Long Version
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”
Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.
His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.
A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
Alex Segura
USA flag
Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. He is the author of the Miami crime novel SILENT CITY, the first in a series featuring Pete Fernandez. SILENT CITY and its sequel, DOWN THE DARKEST STREET, will be out via Polis Books in 2016. He has also written a number of comic books, including the best-selling and critically acclaimed ARCHIE MEETS KISS storyline, the Occupy Riverdale story and the upcoming ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES. He lives in New York with his wife. He is a Miami native.
Awards: LA Times (2022), Anthony (2021) see all
Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction
New and upcoming books
October 2024
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Dark Space
December 2024
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Alter Ego
(Secret Identity , book 2)December 2024
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Encanto: Nightmares and Suenos
September 2025
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Enemy of My Enemy
(Marvel Crime, book 2)
Series
Ash McKenna (with Rob Hart)
Bad Beat (2016)
Pete Fernandez
Bad Beat (2016) (with Rob Hart)
1. Silent City (2016)
2. Down the Darkest Street (2016)
3. Dangerous Ends (2017)
4. Blackout (2018)
5. Miami Midnight (2019)
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Pete Fernandez / Jackson Donne (with Dave White)
Shallow Grave (2017)
Secret Identity
1. Secret Identity (2022)
2. Alter Ego (2024)
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Novels
Dark Space (2024) (with Rob Hart)
Encanto: Nightmares and Suenos (2024)
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Series contributed to
Star Wars
Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall (2020)
Stories of Jedi and Sith (2022) (with others)
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Marvel Crime
2. Enemy of My Enemy (2025)
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Graphic Novels hide
The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution (2021) (with Monica Gallagher)
The Black Ghost: Shame the Devil (2023) (with Monica Gallagher)
Arana and Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow (2023)
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Up Close: Alex Segura
ITW
FeaturesLatest Books
February 28, 2022
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Four-Color Crime
By April Snellings
In Alex Segura’s new standalone mystery SECRET IDENTITY—his first crime novel since wrapping up the celebrated Pete Fernandez series in 2019—a young Cuban-American woman has moved from Miami to New York with dreams of becoming a comic book writer. When the book begins, it’s 1975 and Carmen Valdez is working at Triumph Comics, a company that churns out books in the shadow of Marvel and DC. Carmen is a talented writer, but she’s stuck in an administrative role, making copies and fetching lunch for Triumph owner and editor-in-chief Jeffrey Carlyle. When a junior editor named Harvey Stern recruits Carmen to help him create a new superhero series for the company, she jumps at the chance. There’s an enormous catch, though: Carlyle has already nixed the idea of Carmen writing comics for him, so Harvey will take full credit until he decides the time is right to reveal that Carmen is his co-writer.
If the arrangement sounds dodgy, it gets worse. The series they create, about a female superhero known as the Legendary Lynx, is a hit, but Harvey is murdered before he comes clean about Carmen’s role. Carmen sets out to find his killer and claim some part of the character she helped create—a quest that’s complicated when her ex-girlfriend arrives from Miami and inserts herself in Carmen’s rapidly spiraling life.
If there’s anyone who seemed destined to write a rollicking murder mystery set in the underbelly of the comics business, it’s Segura. Besides authoring the Anthony-nominated Pete Fernandez books, Segura is a veteran of Archie Comics and DC Comics, and he’s currently the senior vice president of sales and marketing at comic book and graphic novel publisher Oni Press. Segura is the co-creator of the superhero noir comic The Black Ghost, and he has several new comics projects in the pipeline: NPR/Planet Money will release The Mysterious Micro-Face, while a new subscription-based platform called Zestworld has tapped Segura as part of its first wave of high-profile comics creators. Meanwhile, on Kickstarter, more than 900 backers have ponied up $43,000 and counting to help Segura and his collaborators publish The Dusk, a socially conscious vigilante superhero series.
In his latest interview with The Big Thrill, Segura talks about recreating the gritty world of the 1970s New York comics scene, channeling his own experiences as a Miami-to-New York transplant, and making his novel accessible to readers who might not share his love (and encyclopedic knowledge) of comics history.
Can you trace SECRET IDENTITY to a particular moment or incident that sparked the idea to write a noir murder mystery set in the ’70s New York comic book scene?
Alex Segura
Photo credit: Robert Kidd
Two moments stand out for me. One was a long time ago—in college—while reading Michael Chabon’s magnificent Kavalier & Clay. I remember being mesmerized by it, and just wanting to immerse myself further in the world Chabon created. As an avid reader of not only comics, but genre fiction, I felt like I’d finally experienced a perfect synergy of my own obsessions with the book. One of the things I really wanted, though, was to immediately read the comics featuring the Escapist, the character the two protagonists create. Eventually, we got to see those meta comics created and published, but the idea of having comics woven into a prose narrative stuck with me.
The second moment came later, as an avid reader of mysteries. I’ve always been fascinated with Megan Abbott’s work and her ability to bring the tenets of noir to areas where you wouldn’t expect noir to exist—gymnastics, cheerleading, science, and so on. She crafts these narratives that are tense, fraught, and loaded with style outside of the typical noir settings. I remember reading Dare Me and just thinking, huh, wouldn’t it be cool to write a comic book noir? At the time, I was in the weeds writing my own PI series, but once I knew the Pete Fernandez Miami Mysteries would end, I realized it was the perfect time to dive into this idea.
Was there a moment or scene where Carmen really started to come into focus for you? If so, can you talk about it without spoiling anything?
Segura recruited artist Sandy Jarrell and letterer Taylor Esposito to create comic book pages from The Legendary Lynx, the superhero series co-created by SECRET IDENTITY’s heroine.
There’s a moment, early on, where Carmen is brainstorming with her colleague, Harvey. Carmen has tried everything to get some traction with her boss at Triumph Comics. She desperately wants to write comics. But he just sees her as his secretary and says as much. So when Harvey approaches her and asks if she’d want to co-write a new female superhero series with him (albeit anonymously), she figures she’s gonna take her shot. When we see them sit down and talk, Harvey is all over the place, but Carmen comes in and she’s buttoned up, prepared, and ready—she has notes, designs, everything. This is her dream, and she’s not going to miss her chance. I felt like that scene really summed her up as a character and put her into greater focus for me—and honestly, made me really care for her. It’s a turning point for her, I think, and I hope for the readers.
I feel like you had a lot of fun writing this book. I mean, like, a lot of fun. How did the experience of writing it compare to writing the Pete Fernandez books?
Oh, it was a blast. I love the Pete books—they mean so much to me personally and professionally. But this novel was just an adventure across the board, and I got to blend together all these things I love—comics, noir, Cuban-American life, Miami, New York, music—into something that I would’ve devoured as a reader. The old saying holds true—write the book you want to read that hasn’t been written yet, and this very much hit that sweet spot for me.
Like Carmen, you’re also a Miami native who moved to New York City, albeit in different eras. How does Carmen’s experience as a Miami-to-NYC transplant compare to your own?
An action sequence from The Legendary Lynx, drawn by Sandy Jarrell and lettered by Taylor Esposito
Yeah, I pulled a lot from my own experience. I think as a Cuban-American in Miami, you feel very much like you’re part of the big conversation; you’re certainly not a marginalized community. I’ve mentioned this before, but I didn’t truly get a sense of being “other” until I moved to New York for the first time and felt it firsthand. It’s jarring, but also an important part of growing up. I also felt like that first year in New York—for me, for Carmen, for anyone—can be so, so lonely and strange, even though you’re surrounded by people and noise and lights. I wanted to reflect that sense of isolation despite being crowded into a small space. So in broad strokes our stories were similar, and our desires to write—and having that feeling that you couldn’t because of something out of your control—were similar, so I felt comfortable evoking that.
What makes the comic book industry of the 1970s such a great setting for a noir murder mystery?
It’s the contrast that I love. In the same way the Pete books were fun because you’ve got this tropical setting as a backdrop to these dark stories, the idea of comic books—at least in terms of the mainstream—is one of sharp colors, heroic actions, and all the “wham! pow! blam!” stuff—so to weave that into a dark, dangerous, and realistic crime story, it felt like a natural fit.
1975 is a particular low point for comics, too—before the comic shop market really took off, comic sales depended on newsstands. There wasn’t much of a secondary sales market; comic conventions were still just awkward gatherings in hotel ballrooms vs. the massive pop culture events we see today, and the people working in comics were either diehard fans just happy to be there or people looking for a paycheck before they moved on to do something else. A stark contrast to today, where comics are everywhere—we have a Peacemaker TV show, Ant-Man movies…comics are all over pop culture, and creators flock to comics to tell stories and control their ideas. It’s totally different. I wanted to showcase an industry from a different time and what a fan like Carmen might have had to do to achieve her dream—and the cost that would come with succeeding.
How much thought did you give to making the story accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with comic book history or the comics industry?
That was a balance I thought was really important to strike. I think as it reads now, the novel is loaded with Easter eggs—names, characters, creator nods, you name it. But if you come into it with no deep knowledge of comics, that stuff won’t slow you down. I wanted to avoid Wikipedia-ing anything, to have scenes that just felt performative or “Hey look I know comics.” Which was challenging, because you want to get everything in there. But it goes back to killing your darlings, I guess? As much as I tried to make sure the story was accurate, evoked the time period, and had enough hat tips to entertain the core comics reader, at the end of the day it’s a mystery novel and I want people looking for a good yarn to not get lost in the sauce.
Tell me about recruiting Sandy Jarrell and Taylor Esposito to draw and letter SECRET IDENTITY’s comic book pages.
Segura hopes the comics pages in SECRET IDENTITY will create what he calls a “’meta conversation’ with the prose—giving readers a break from the main narrative to experience something from that world that adds texture and tone to the bigger picture.”
I’ve known Sandy forever—we’ve been wanting to work together for well over a decade. He’s not just an amazing artist and storyteller, but he loves the history of comics. His style is timeless, and he leans hard on narrative. I can just give him a few sentences and he can create an entire sequence. Once I knew that Secret Identity would feature comic sequences—this was before we’d even sold the book, mind you, I was still writing it—Sandy was the first person that came to mind. We worked in what’s now called the Marvel method—meaning, I’d give him a broad idea of what the page would be—a few sentences, really, like: “the Lynx is cornered, we see X or Y, and let’s go for a Frank Miller/Daredevil vibe” and he’d take that and do a rough layout of the page. I’d give notes, and he’d finalize—then I’d write the lettering script (dialogue, captions, sound effects), and Taylor, who is a total pro, would do that last lettering pass over Sandy’s final art. The end result is something that we hope evokes the era and looks like something that could theoretically have been on the stands around the time, while also having what I like to call a “meta conversation” with the prose—giving readers a break from the main narrative to experience something from that world that adds texture and tone to the bigger picture.
What’s the most surprising thing you learned while researching SECRET IDENTITY?
I think the stories that really resonated with me are also the crux of SECRET IDENTITY, the idea of your idea getting away from you. There are so many instances where creators poured themselves into ideas only to see them come to life on their own, after the originator left, got fired, or moved on—not truly knowing the value of what they’d brought to the table. I wanted to take that thought and run it through the prism of a murder mystery, but in many ways the novel is a conversation about where ideas come from and what happens when we lose control of them.
What can you share about what you’re working on next?
In terms of novels, I’m starting my next book for Flatiron—I can’t really share what it’s about yet. My NPR/Planet Money comic book, The Mysterious Micro-Face, with art by Jamal Igle, is hitting in the next few months, my new comic book series for Zestworld, The Awakened (a superhero noir), with co-writer Michael Moreci and artist Dean Kotz, is ramping up, and I have a few other comic book projects in the hopper that I’m excited to talk about soon. And The Dusk Kickstarter is close to completion, so I’m looking forward to getting that in the hands of our patient backers! Always busy is my mantra, haha.
Blending All the Things I Love: A Conversation with Alex Segura
Daneet Steffens interviews Alex Segura about “Secret Identity,” a mystery that draws inspiration from both noir and comics.
By Daneet SteffensMarch 15, 2022
Noir
BY DAY, Alex Segura rocks in his role as senior VP of sales and marketing at Oni Press, following previous marketing and PR positions at Archie Comics and DC Comics. By night, he dons his alter ego, Author Alex, under whose identity he’s published the Pete Fernandez PI series, award-winning short stories, and a variety of comics including The Black Ghost and a musical-crossover Archie series. In his latest novel, Secret Identity, Carmen Valdez, an administrative assistant who yearns to be a comic book writer, achieves her ambition when a colleague asks her to brainstorm a new character and story line with him. But when that colleague is murdered and the comic book story idea turns up under his name, Carmen is forced to pursue a dangerous line of intrigue, exploring the gritty streets and alleys of 1970s New York City — which elegantly enhance the novel’s noir elements — as well as the darker underbelly of the comic publishing world.
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DANEET STEFFENS: You have a career history of working professionally with comic book publishers and publications, and of course you still do so. Did that precede your interesting in writing comic books, or did you pursue work in that world because you were interested in writing for comic books?
ALEX SEGURA: As a child, as a kid, my first comic was an Archie; I grew up reading comics. I loved them from an early age, so once I realized that people wrote them and created them, the dream was to be one of those people. I took kind of circuitous path: I went into journalism and then that became a career as a publicist, so that was my foot in the door in comics — writing about comics as a journalist for websites or publications, and then promoting them, working at DC and then Archie. That’s when the door opened to actually writing them.
In Secret Identity, you have a highly detailed origin story for Carmen’s comic book character Claudia, a.k.a. the Lethal Lynx. Have you been secretly writing your own comic all this time?
The Lynx was an idea I had out of college. It’s not the Lynx you read in the comic in this book, it was just this rough idea I had and the name. When I was putting together Secret Identity, I was thinking, “What are the comic book sequences going to be?” And I thought back to that character, and it was like “Well, that’s kind of cool! I’m going back to my young, early days and this character I came up with.”
That’s when Sandy Jarrell, the artist, came in: in comics you can do a full script where it’s like a screenplay and the artist just pulls from that and draws it, or you can basically plot out the page and defer to the artist in terms of layout and directing. We did it that way: I gave him a paragraph and said, “This is what I’d like to happen on the page, these are the big beats,” and he drew it and then I went back and scripted over it. That allowed me to react to his art in terms of the dialogue and the captions, and it felt a little more organic and stronger, a little bit more creative. I trust Sandy implicitly — he was the perfect choice because he loves comic book history as much as I do, he gets it, and he’s just so talented. I’m so grateful he was able to make time to do this because it really elevates the book.
It’s pretty cool how the comic book excerpts are woven throughout the novel. How did you decide to do that?
It all dates back to when I read Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay forever ago. With that book, it felt like I was finally being seen. As someone who read a lot of novels and crime novels but also someone who was passionate about comics, to have Chabon merge the two things — I mean, it’s not a traditional crime novel but there’s crime, and it’s not really a potboiler but it’s still really engaging.
I was reading the book and loving it and the one thing I had in my mind was, “I wish I could see the comics. I wish I could see the comics that these people, these characters, are creating,” and that idea stuck in my head. I had it while writing the Pete novels, but I didn’t think I was ready to write that book yet. And then when I was finishing up Miami Midnight, I knew that Secret Identity was going to be the next thing, and that’s when I started to think, “Well, do I really want comic book pages?” At first, I was worried about whether that would make it more challenging to sell, but when I pitched it I had Sandy draw a sample page and I think that actually helped clarify what I had in mind. So, yeah, I’ve had the idea for a long time and I’m just happy that it came together.
There are lots of real-life comic book writers and illustrators mentioned in Secret Identity, lending a cool heft to Carmen’s fictional world. Do you have particular favorites? And does Carmen represent an amalgamation of any of those figures?
I think all the characters in Secret Identity that aren’t real people are amalgamations in some way. Carmen, in many ways, is the polar opposite of Pete Fernandez, my PI character, because she is so much more put together: Pete has his demons and his problems and I think the interesting part is the arc of his journey, whereas Carmen, well, I wouldn’t say she’s fully formed but she’s very definitive in what she wants, very focused, very driven, and I think that’s part of what propels the story.
All the fictional characters in this book owe something to comic book history: I used tidbits from different people that I admire in creating the fictional characters. So Doug Detmer, for example, feels like a lot of iconoclastic artists that have worked in comics like Alex Toth or Jack Cole, these guys who are curmudgeonly and super-talented. But it’s never a one-for-one: it’s always a mix of different people because it’s just more interesting for me that way.
There’s a really great scene where Carmen overhears two young girls discussing the Lynx. I loved the idea of this woman who’s trying to push herself forward and empower herself, overhearing these younger women admire her creation: “She’s fast, she’s strong, she’s smart — she’s like Batman or Daredevil but, I dunno, better — she feels like a real person.” How much fun was it to write that scene?
I loved it because it means so much to me as a reader to see myself in stories, and I think a lot of what I do is as a writer is to try to diversify the people we see as protagonists and stars. I remember as a kid when I picked up this comic called Spider-Man 2099, which was a future Spider-Man and he was Mexican Irish and his name was Miguel O’Hara. I just remember thinking, “Wow, he’s kind of like me: I’m a Cuban American kid from Miami, and he’s not just a regular white guy.” It was so eye-opening. It felt like he was my character, you know? I think people underestimate the power of that, and I think it’s really important for our stories as a whole to be as diverse as possible and as welcoming as possible because those moments are priceless.
Since you started reading comics as a kid, what was a niche medium has just exploded and saturated our world now. Did you ever think it would take off like that?
I never thought it would be so prevalent, but I think it’s amazing. My wife and I can sit down and watch WandaVision, and she’s not a comic book fan but she’s pulled in and entertained. It just opens up the medium to so many people — everyone can embrace these characters and ideas. We’re so rich with it at this moment. But as a kid I never imagined it: I thought it would be the kind of thing where every couple of years we’d have a comic book movie, maybe have a comic book TV show, and maybe some would tank. There was always the worry, “Would this tank and sink it for everybody?” But instead it just snowballed.
Do you think it’s because we are looking for heroes?
I think there’s some truth to that. I think people want to see complex people making tough decisions and saving the day. It’s kind of our new mythology in many ways — these are really powerful people that we can all look up to and be inspired by.
What sets Secret Identity apart for you from your previous work?
It feels in a lot of ways like a culmination, which is not to say that I won’t write anything else after this, but it feels like a nice way of blending all the things I love — noir, comic books, comic book history, Miami, New York, strong female protagonists — and just having it all synergize. I mean, I wrote a book that I wanted to read; I wrote a book that I always dreamed would exist. I talked about reading Kavalier and Clay earlier and how I wanted it to contain comics, and the Pete books were very much an exercise in creating a PI series I wanted to read — I wanted to read PI novels about a guy like me from Miami, with my background. So that’s kind of what Secret Identity is: it’s a book that I wanted to will into existence.
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Daneet Steffens is a journalist and book critic. Follow her on Twitter @daneetsteffens.
LARB Contributor
“Fighting for Yourself”: A Conversation with Alex Segura about “Alter Ego”
by Lori Rader-Day
December 3, 2024
Irina Peschan Photography
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It might be a trope, but crime novelist Alex Segura is pretty mild-mannered. Behind his Clark Kentish super kindness is a hard-working writer trying to bring zap! and pow! to crime fiction while also giving voice to underrepresented characters in the world he grew up in: comic books.
Segura worked in the comics trade for years and, side-hustle style, wrote and published a series of private investigator novels before deciding to cross the streams. In 2021, he married his love of crime fiction with his expertise in comics into Secret Identity—a book that won wide acclaim and awards attention.
Segura has written in the Star Wars universe (Poe Dameron: Free Fall), the Spider-Verse (the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow), and the Disney-Verse—giving us the backstory on why we can’t talk about Bruno (no no no) in Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños. He is also the author, with Rob Hart, of the sci-fi/espionage thriller Dark Space and the writer on a number of comic books featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
In his latest novel, Alter Ego, the secret identity of Secret Identity gets the recognition and the legacy she deserves. As a kid, Annie Bustamante discovered comics through an old tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx. She became an artist, then a filmmaker. Annie’s film career has stalled out when she gets the chance to take on drawing The Lynx herself. She snaps up the chance to regroup, provide for her daughter—and maybe once and for all unveil the creator who lurks behind the Lynx’s mask. But getting to live out her creative dream doesn’t come without trade-offs—or danger.
Writing about creativity as a source of joy, as Elizabeth Gilbert says in her book Big Magic, is “a gangster move.” For fans of intrigue and of comic books that do more than “fights and tights,” Alter Ego is a story about identity, art, representation, and when art and commerce come to blows.
I talked to Alex Segura via email about his origin story, his super power, and writing a sequel that stands on its own.
The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Lori Rader-Day
Alex, for those who might not be familiar with your work—what’s your origin story?
Alex Segura
Well, I’ve always been a reader of comics and stories. I loved Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes as a kid, and was consuming those stories alongside issues of Spider-Man and Archie. At a young age I was writing my own stories with those characters and my own. I’m from Miami, originally, the son of Cuban immigrants, and I grew up there. Around 2013, after working as a journalist and PR/marketing person in the comic book industry, I published my first novel, Silent City, the first in the Pete Fernandez Quintet of Miami mysteries. At the same time, I’ve written a ton of comics, for places like Marvel, DC, Archie, Dark Horse, ComiXology, and more. My last crime novel, Secret Identity, won the LA Times Book Prize in Mystery/Thriller, and I’ve also written novels in the Star Wars, Spider-Verse, and Encanto universes for YA and MG readers! Whew.
Lori Rader-Day
Whew is right! Was writing something you always wanted to do?
Alex Segura
Yeah, I mean, even before I knew it was writing, I was doing it. Like drawing and creating a new character to hang out with Archie and the gang, or writing my own X-Men fanfiction. I always had a desire to either add to the mythologies I was a fan of, or create my own. In college, I was a journalist, but also an English major, and it was around that time that I realized I could use the skills I’d learned working overtime at the college paper (to the detriment of my studies, if we’re being honest) to create stories. But it took a while for that to become an actual career path.
Lori Rader-Day
Your latest novel, Alter Ego, is a sequel to the award-winning Secret Identity. Secret Identity features a protagonist, Carmen Valdez, who breaks into comics in the 1970s as a woman creator, not without some trouble. In Alter Ego, we have the protagonist Annie Bustamante, who is deep into a successful career as a woman creator. Where do these women intersect? What do they have in common?
Alex Segura
I like writing about powerful, driven women because in my life, I’ve been surrounded by them, and I want to read stories about them. There are already plenty of novels starring square-jawed, older white men. I’m really drawn to stories with diverse heroes, whether it’s gender or identity or sexuality or lifestyle. Carmen and Annie are both passionate, but we’re meeting them at very different points in their careers. In Secret Identity, Carmen is just starting out, unsure of her skills or path creatively. With Alter Ego, Annie is more established—in two mediums, comics and film—and confident. Annie is also a parent, which goes back to my bigger point, that we all benefit from stories starring heroes we don’t see often. I found writing a parent more challenging because you have to be mindful of their other, non-“work” responsibilities and so on, but it also resulted in a more textured book.
Back to Annie and Carmen… Neither suffer fools gladly, but Annie approaches the story with a bit more fearlessness than Carmen, which made her more challenging to write. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Carmen is felt on every page of Alter Ego, even if she’s not an active character for most of the novel. I think her echo is loud, and Annie is very much driven to find out the truth because of Carmen’s influence on her own life, so the book is in some ways a long conversation between the two of them about art, life, and fighting for yourself.
Lori Rader-Day
Can you talk a bit about the inspiration for these books, and why you wanted to continue this story beyond the first novel?
Alex Segura
I lay the credit (and the blame, when I was struggling with the book) on the lap of my amazing editor, Zack Wagman at Flatiron, who very smartly realized that we needed another beat at the end of Secret Identity, letting readers know how Carmen’s story ended up. I wrote the epilogue that’s now in the novel, and it got us both to thinking that there might be another story here, as Zack calls it, “the other side of the coin.” A tale of art versus commerce in the modern day, through the eyes of a fan of the Lynx who not only uncovers the truth behind Carmen’s role in creating the character [in Secret Identity], but has to deal with someone’s desperate urge to prevent that secret from coming out.
But sequels are hard! I very much wanted this book to feel both essential and standalone. If people read both books and the graphic novel, they will hopefully get a more textured look at this world, but I also tried to be mindful to have Alter Ego be its own thing, have its own flavor and tone, and also be able to exist on its own. I tried to look at my favorite sequels across media and what I concluded was the best sequels are, obviously, just great on their own, and augment the previous work without overshadowing it or trying to replace it. So, Alter Ego is very much its own thing, but if read together with Secret Identity and [the comic book] The Legendary Lynx, is part of a greater whole.
Lori Rader-Day
What writers do you point to as influences?
Alex Segura
Oh, so many. But off the top of my head right now: Margaret Millar, Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott, Stephen King, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane, James Ellroy, Walter Mosley, Leonardo Padura, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Greg Rucka, JM DeMatteis, and Ross Macdonald.
Lori Rader-Day
Are you reading/watching/experiencing anything cool these days?
Alex Segura
One of the downsides, I guess, of being busy is I don’t really have a ton of time to watch movies or TV shows unless I convince myself there’s some “work reason” to watch, so I’ve been revisiting “The Mandalorian” and “Andor” lately. I also spent a lot of time watching political thrillers in relation to my next crime novel—so movies like The Torture Report, The Parallax View, The Firm…those have been entertaining. Books-wise, I really loved Our Wives Under the Sea by Juliar Armfield, Carrie Carolyn Coco by Sarah Gerard, The Name of this Band is R.E.M. by Peter Ames Carlin, The Guest by Emma Cline, Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham, Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, and a lot of comics.
Lori Rader-Day
See Also
Features
Lit & Luz Festival Showcases Bilingual Artists from Chicago and Mexico
Of course comics! Is there one bit of advice you’d share with people looking to get published? Any major lessons learned?
Alex Segura
These are the tidbits I share with new writers when I get questions like this, and I hope they help people in the same way they helped me:
Finish something. A short story, a script, a scene. Finish it. Type THE END. Then reread it, revise it, make it better. Then put it away and start something else. Before too long, you’ve got a few things you can share or shop around. Don’t make that epic, twelve-part fantasy saga the first thing you jump into, because you will get lost at sea.
Treat it like a job. It’s a twist on the “dress for the job you want” cliche, and better, I think. If you want to write professionally, treat it like something more than a hobby. Put in the work. Read books that inspire you (not necessarily books about writing, but do read!), engage in the writing community by going to events and networking and making friends, and support other writers. I’m blessed that writing is my job but it’s also a lot of work, and it started long before I was published. I first put pen to paper on Silent City in 2008, and the first short story that helped spring me to write Secret Identity came together when I was in college. Be kind, be professional, and be human.
Celebrate the wins but also expect rejection. For every 20 pitches you send, you’re bound to get 19 rejections. It’s just the name of the game, whether it’s agents, short story magazines, publishers, whatever. You need to brace for that, and also be able to celebrate the wins that do come because you put in the work. I try to not get too high or too low, because publishing is a topsy-turvy business and you’re one good email away from your life changing completely.
Lori Rader-Day
What are you working on next?
Alex Segura
My next novel, a Marvel Crime story starring Daredevil titled Enemy of My Enemy, hits next year from Marvel—so I’m feverishly writing that!
Lori Rader-Day
Follow-up question! Which super power would you love to have? Which super power do you actually have?
Alex Segura
I’d love to have superspeed! I could do even more work!
As for what my superpower is…I don’t know, I try to be understanding. Is that a power? I try to stay humble and be helpful to others that are doing this writing thing. It can be very hard and solitary, so it feels good when you have the brain space to give back.
FICTION
Alter Ego
by Alex Segura
Flatiron Books
Published on December 3, 2024
Evoking a NY City That No Longer Exists: An Interview With Alex Segura
by Teresa Dovalpageupdated on March 13, 2024
Teresa Dovalpage interviews Alex Segura as part of a Latino Stories series with Latinx authors. Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which the New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful.” It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist.
Dovalpage: Secret Identity has a strong sense of location. It transports the reader to the Big Apple in the times before Google (way before!).
“The New York of 1975 was fraught, menacing, and hopped up on paranoia—where muggings were commonplace and home break-ins a rite of passage.”
How hard (or easy) was it to create that sense of time and space? How did you do it, in such a manner that we lucky readers can get the actual 70s experience?
Segura: It was hard, I’m not going to lie. I think the easy path would’ve been to just write it in a generic way and hope it passed muster, but I really wanted to evoke the anxiety, depression, and sense of danger that permeated New York at the time. It was so different from the NYC of today—we were coming out of Watergate, the city was in financial ruin, and people just didn’t feel safe in “Fear City.” But I knew I had to play that as close to reality as possible without it seeming like a parody or exaggeration. I did a lot of research. I read a lot of books about the music scene in NY at the time, particularly Will Hermes’ fantastic Love goes to a Building on Fire, which talks about all kinds of music happening in the city in the 70s—from punk to Latin music to jazz to the avant garde. I read a great Lou Reed bio, too, by Anthony DeCurtis, that evoked that era really well. So, that gave me a lot of the textural stuff—the tension, the feeling. But then I needed to do factual research to try and make sure I had all the details right. That came as I wrote and was more perfunctory, but still important. The end result was, I hope, an honest evocation of a city that doesn’t exist anymore.
Dovalpage: It definitely was. There is a scene (when Carmen comes out of Alford’s apartment and crosses Grand Street) where I had to stop reading because I was so scared! Bueno, and something else I loved is the Cuban winks, los guiñitos cubanos, in the story, from the Spanish used in the conversations between Carmen and her parents to the Celia Cruz cameo at the end. Could you share your inspiration for Carmen and her Cubanidad background?
Segura: Carmen, like Pete Fernandez, is a friend of mine. Not a specific, actual person, but someone I could see myself knowing in school, or college—Cuban-American like me, but also different. She’s a blend of so many people I’ve known: colleagues, friends, family members, and ideas—that it’s hard to pin down. But I knew I wanted her to be Cuban-American, because I believe strongly in spotlighting people like me, or us, in the stories I tell. I also knew that because it was set in the past, the Cuban revolution would be fresh in her mind, as a relatively recent immigrant. She came over as a young child, but still—it changes you, as it changed my parents’ lives and so many others. I wanted to reflect all of that while still making Carmen feel wholly her own, with a lot of charm and energy and chispa.
I believe strongly in spotlighting people like me, or us, in the stories I tell.
Alex Segura
Dovalpage: The chispa is there! And still, on the subject of Carmen, how did you manage to create such a believable heroine? In the acknowledgements, you mentioned Writing the Other by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl, but I would like to find out a bit more. How did Carmen come alive in these pages? How did you develop the character?
Segura: It was a challenge, but one that I felt was important to the story—and to Carmen. Like I said, she appeared to me fully formed, a queer, Cuban-American woman from 1975. But how to write that? Especially considering that I only share some of those characteristics? It was something I engaged with thoughtfully and with a lot of care. I had a fair amount of sensitivity readers who could nudge me and suggest changes if I was not in the right ballpark when telling Carmen’s story (which they did! And I made the changes, too). I also made sure I wasn’t trying to tell anything close to her definitive experience. We get hints of it and it’s part of who she is, but at the end of the day, it’s a mystery novel and meant, first and foremost, to entertain. I wanted to honor the character that appeared to me by doing the work to tell her story clearly and with care, with the help of many people. I spoke to a lot of women who worked in comics at the time to tell me about their experiences, too, and that was invaluable. It all added up nicely, and I was really happy that the Carmen I first thought of was very close to the one that made it on the page.
Dovalpage: She feels like a friend one would like to share a cafecito with. One of the most adorable features of the novel is the inclusion of scenes from Carmen’s own comic book, The Legendary Lynx, throughout the novel. Now, the comic ends with “The Lynx’s mission isn’t over, it’s just begun…” Will we ever see The Lynx as a full-length comic book as such?
Segura: Yes! We’re doing it. When I created the Lynx, I did all the work I’d normally do to create a hero—crafting her world, her supporting cast, her villains. All for a dozen or so pages in my novel. So it felt like I had all of this backmatter I hadn’t put to good use yet. I always had the idea in the back of my mind, that we (Sandy Jarrell and I) would create an actual Lynx comic, except it would have to be very meta and in-world, so that’s what we’re going to do. Hopefully, sometime next year.
Dovalpage: Pues, I can’t wait to read it. Carmen is the star here, of course, but there is another female character that, despite her few appearances, is significant in many ways. Readers are introduced to Detective Mary Hudson, “a stocky older Black woman followed by a tall, twenty-something uniformed officer,” which totally subverts all stereotypes, more so when we are informed that Officer Idellson “won’t do much.” I’m always curious about the genesis of characters. What can you tell me about Detective Hudson?
Segura: It’s funny because there are two links to the Pete Fernandez books in the novel. The first one, which everyone always gets, is when Detective Hudson mentions “Pedro Fernandez,” a homicide detective she knows. But no one has gotten the other one, and it’s directly tied to Detective Hudson. I’ll be happy when someone gets it.
But as far as the character goes, I didn’t want the sharp, inquisitive detective to just be a sourpuss older white man. I wanted to diversify the trope a bit, and invert it a bit because that entertains me in writing–and often, it works for the reader, too. I liked the idea of Hudson, and she was such a great contrast to Carmen. It was really nice to see them almost become friends as the novel progresses. I’m glad you liked her because she really resonated with me.
Step Into the World of Comic Books in Alex Segura’s “Alter Ego”
Contributor: Aurora Dominguez
Aurora Dominguez
December 17, 2024
6 min read
Alter Ego by Alex Segura
Alex Segura is a creative force. The award-winning and bestselling author has captured the respect of those who love comic books and adventurous novels filled with immersive storytelling, with fans who eagerly wait for his next project.
He has written a selection of books featuring well-known superheroes, as well as original characters that star in some of his most popular thriller and mystery novels. From a book centered around a beloved Star Wars hero, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, to comic book stories for Marvel and DC Comics, Segura is as multifaceted as he is talented when it comes to his craft.
Secret Identity was a runaway bestseller that won him accolades such as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for the Mystery/Thriller category, and was selected as both an NPR Mystery of the Year and The New York Times Editor’s Choice when it was released.
Segura recently released a follow-up to this acclaimed and popular novel. Alter Ego is a stand-alone sequel that follows Annie Bustamante, a successful and award-winning writer and artist who dreams of adapting the stories of her favorite superhero, The Lethal Lynx. A moving, at times funny, touching and gripping novel, Alter Ego realistically tackles the ups and downs of the comic book industry.
BookTrib had a chance to talk with Alex Segura about his varied writing experience, a love of comic books that inspired his new novel, and what is up next for him.
Many of your books are inspired by the world of graphic novels and comic books, and some have graphics added to the stories. Why did you choose this creative way to deliver stories, and how have readers reacted to this diverse approach?
The response has been mostly positive! I’m always flattered when I connect with a comics reader who got turned on to mysteries by these novels, or vice-versa. The big idea was to have these two wonderful mediums in conversation with each other, so I’m glad it seems to be working. You get to read the main story via the prose, but you also get a very intimate peek into the subconscious of Annie or Carmen through the comics they create, and that felt very unique to me when we were first coming up with the idea.
You’ve written stories featuring well-known characters such as Poe Dameron from Star Wars (Poe Dameron: Free Fall), comic book legend Spider-Man (Spiderman 2099-Dark Tomorrow), and other Marvel and DC characters. Do you have a favorite fandom? And what inspired you to write these stories?
I’m always a fan – so the idea of adding to these wonderful universes is like catnip to me. I was a big comics kid in Miami, but I also loved sci-fi like Star Wars and Star Trek and pulp heroes and mysteries. I was a voracious reader, so I’d burn through a series of books or comics and then look around for the next thing.
When I write in a shared universe that I love, my first goal is to make sure I get it right – the tone, the voices, the canon – but I also want to add my voice in a way that feels unique but also true to my kind of storytelling, which often revolves around character-driven stories and mysteries.
In Alter Ego, the follow-up to Secret Identity, readers will return to the world of comic books and The Lethal Lynx, this time following a new protagonist. Did you always expect that another book would follow Secret Identity? What were the challenges and surprises in creating a brand new protagonist and premise for this stand-alone novel?
I had no idea we were going to do another one until close to the end of the Secret Identity process – when I started writing a new epilogue to the novel that sent readers forward to the present day. Without spoiling too much, that section gave me a sense of what things were like for Carmen in the present, and opened the door for the adventure of Alter Ego. But the big challenge, for me, was mostly self-imposed.
I think the easy path would have been to just write another mystery that directly picked up from Secret Identity, with Carmen solving crimes over the years. But that didn’t interest me as much as trying to really create a new story and mystery that was in conversation with Secret Identity – with a new protagonist.
I think sequels are very hard, because you have the built-in expectations from the original, so I want to subvert that in a way and create a story that was more of a companion to the original, and a story that could stand alone, rather than Secret Identity part 2.
It’s clear that diversity and inclusion are of utmost importance when it comes to your characters and stories. Why is this something that you prioritize in your writing?
Writing and stories should reflect the world we live in. If we only see a certain kind of character – if every story stars a white male, for example – then you’re limiting your narrative opportunities – but you’re also telling young readers that these are the only people that can star in books or movies or whatever.
When I was a kid, seeing a Latino hero or protagonist who wasn’t a sidekick or comic relief was eye-opening, and it spurred me on to write my own stories. It’s important to me to show readers that stories don’t have to be just one way.
Do you have writers and graphic artists that you admire and who inspire your stories?
Oh, for sure. I love the work of Los Bros. Hernandez, who do the long-running Love & Rockets comic from Fantagraphics. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Greg Rucka. Kelly Thompson. Julia Wertz. David Lapham. George Pelecanos. Megan Abbott. The list goes on!
What are you currently reading?
I just started Rachel Kushner’s wonderful Creation Lake while on tour and I can’t put it down. Her prose and voice makes me very jealous as a writer!
What’s next for you in the creative world? Is there anything that you can share with us?
I’m writing a Daredevil novel for Harper Avenue, featuring the Marvel Comics hero, and putting together a draft of my next crime novel, which will be an organized crime standalone with a female protagonist.
About Alex Segura:
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Mystery of the Year. He’s also the author of the Pete Fernandez series, as well as the Star Wars novel, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and the YA Spider-Verse adventure, Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow. In 2024, he published a sci-fi/espionage novel, Dark Space, co-written with Rob Hart; the graphic novel The Legendary Lynx, illustrated by Sandy Jarrell; Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños; and Alter Ego, a standalone sequel to Secret Identity. In addition to his prose writing he has written a number of comics for Marvel and DC, including Star Wars: Battle of Jakku, Spider-Society, and The Question: All Along the Watchtower. With Michael Moreci he is the writer behind the noir re-launch of Dick Tracy. He lives in New York City with his family.
Alex Segura on the Stories You Can’t Ignore
Novelist Erica Wright interviews author Alex Segura on finding the end of stories, writing comics vs novels, collaborative writing, and more.
Erica WrightDec 22, 2024
Alex Segura is a chameleon, transitioning between genres with enviable dexterity. Or perhaps a better metaphor is his own creation, the Lynx, 1970s secretary by day and superhero by night. The Lynx was introduced in his award-winning crime novel Secret Identity and now springs to life in a graphic novel. In a fun wink to the reader, The Legendary Lynx is being marketed as a reprint but is a wholly original creation (written by Segura and illustrated by Sandy Jarrell) to accompany Segura’s latest novel, Alter Ego. This metamorphosing author has also recently co-authored science fiction with Rob Hart and completed a Daredevil novel, the second entry in Marvel’s new crime fiction series.
(Stan Lee's 1947 Guide to Writing and Selling Comics.)
Segura has been open about the demands of being a full-time writer, and some of his productivity must stem from those outside pressures. But he’s also passionate about a wide variety of styles, finding unique ways into new spaces. Alter Ego confronts the realities of making a living from art with unexpected honesty. Protagonist Annie Bustamante explains, “Comics had chewed me up and spit me out, and at the moment I wasn’t sure I wanted to go for another twelve rounds.” Still, Segura's own love of comics shines through in every chapter of this enthralling mystery novel. For Writer’s Digest, we talked about moving between genres, overcoming writing fears, and learning from other artists.
Alex Segura on the Stories You Can't Ignore, by Erica Wright
You made a bold choice to set the sequel to your award-winning Secret Identity decades in the future. What prompted that decision?
I think it was the feeling that the story had more to unfurl, if that makes sense. Without spoiling too much about the ending of Secret Identity, it felt like the protagonist's story, Carmen's story, was mostly resolved—but there was one thread that needed to be touched on. So my editor, Zack Wagman, suggested an epilogue to Secret Identity. When I wrote that, though, I realized there was an entire, other chapter to the saga that needed to exist—but also couldn't be from Carmen's perspective. So that's where Alter Ego came from.
Comic book readers and mystery readers are voracious—and can be particular. Did you have any worries about combining these two worlds in either Secret Identity or Alter Ego?
I didn't have any worries, and I was actually really grateful to hear from readers of comics who weren't mystery fans but found themselves transported into the genre by the book, and similar feedback from novel readers who had a limited comic book experience. If there was one big worry with Alter Ego it was making sure the story not only counted—but needed to exist. I think, as a culture, we're wired to think every story merits a sequel or trilogy or series, and I'm a firm believer that stories can end, and things can be resolved. So I struggled with that—and my answer was to make Alter Ego feel like its own thing, with some connective tissue to Secret Identity, but also the ability to stand on its own and have its own story to tell. I think we succeeded, but it's up to the readers!
Early in Alter Ego, you write, “Comics were meant to be read, not embalmed.” It made me wonder how you see the comic book industry changing as new writers and illustrators emerge. Or—I almost hate to even mention this—AI interferes.
Well, AI isn't art—it's a mish-mash of art that makes something else. It cannot create an original idea or thought, and will never replicate that creative spark that artists create. But I think that was more me referring to collector culture—which is a big part of comics: getting your book signed then slabbed in plastic and forever frozen in time. It appeals to a lot of readers and I'm happy to sign those books for them, but for me—and for Annie, I believe—as a fan, it was always about reading the comics and enjoying the story. I rarely thought about the value of my comics or keeping them in pristine condition. Maybe I'm not good at business!
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Your books seem to be love letters to the creators of comic books but also send-ups of the industry at large. How do you strike a balance between these impulses?
I think I just try to reflect it honestly. Every industry is flawed and has bad actors and not-great moments in its history. Comics is no exception to that. But there is a wonder and power that keeps readers connected to the medium, so I didn't want to discount that. In fact, it's the wonder and awe that propels the book, I think.
We did an event together recently, and an audience member had a compelling question about intellectual property. He wanted to know about the responsibility you might feel while writing an entry in a beloved series like Star Wars or Daredevil.
It's a huge responsibility, because you've been handed the keys to this nice toy or car or whatever metaphor you want to use, and it's your job to not only do something cool with it, to entertain, but to not break it or mess it up. It's a balancing act—but also a fun writing challenge. My default is to usually go back to the core of the character, to what appeals to me as a reader or what brought me into that character's world as a fan, and try to recapture that. Because I think everyone's attraction to a story or character is slightly different, so that might present a unique opportunity for people to engage with your take. So many of these characters and worlds have complex and detailed canons and continuities, so the bigger challenge is sifting through those stories and trying to see what matters most and what should be reflected. What are the stories you can't ignore? Which are the stories you can use to make your own? It's a really wonderful and unique way to write.
What’s it like to move between writing genres? What do you take from comics into crime fiction and vice versa?
I love writing in different mediums and genres, and comics and novels are quite different—but they help each other. I think writing in comics has helped me write more visually with my prose, in that I write to the imagination of the reader. I don't over-describe or fall into hyper detail with my prose, unless the plot demands it. Like, I won't spend pages describing someone's clothes, unless it's material to the plot. In comics, the artist brings that to life, and in my head, the reader does it for prose. With comics, prose has taught me to value each word, and that's extra valuable in comics where you have a certain amount of space per page, per panel, per balloon—so you have to make those count. It's almost like a structured poem. So they all feed into each other which is fun when you realize it's happening.
You’ve also recently published a science fiction novel, co-written with Rob Hart, Dark Space. What was new about that experience?
I think the world-building, and the level of time and detail that went into that, before Rob and I even got to the bigger plot, was a surprise—but it shouldn't have been! We had to think of every aspect of life, from scientific to geopolitical to social. It was fascinating and a lot didn't necessarily make it onto the page, but it had to exist.
Any other genres you might like to try?
For sure! I've got a few nonfiction things in the hopper, and I'd love to take a stab at a horror novel at some point, if I can get over my own fears. Ha!
You seem to be turning the loner writer stereotype upside-down. What appeals to you about collaborative ventures, which coincidentally are also central to Alter Ego.
I love learning from other writers and artists. I love peeking into their processes and, selfishly, adding new things to my own toolkit. My hope is that I pass along my own fun tricks of the trade to them, too.
Interview With an Author: Alex SeguraDaryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, Thursday, December 5, 2024
Author Alex Segura and his book Alter Ego
Photo credit: Irina Peschan Photography
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Mystery of the Year. He's also the author of the Pete Fernandez series, as well as the Star Wars novel, Poe Dameron: Free Fall , and a Spider-Verse adventure called Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow. He lives in New York City with his family. His latest novel is Alter Ego and he recently talked about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What inspired you to return to Carmen Valdez and The Lynx in Alter Ego?
It started as I was finishing up Secret Identity, which I’d initially envisioned as a standalone novel. But while going over the manuscript with my amazing editor at Flatiron, Zack Wagman, he asked, "Is there more here? Is there another story?" That got me to thinking about how the waves from what happened in Secret Identity would reverberate in the modern day. I ended up writing an epilogue to the novel, where we get a sense of that, but there was more to talk about, I felt like. I wanted to explore the story of the Lynx and Carmen but through the eyes of a new protagonist—and a new era, one where character creation and art vs. commerce were central. Once Annie came together and appeared to me in my mind, I knew we had something.
Are Annie, Danny, or any of the other new characters in Alter Ego inspired by or based on specific individuals?
No, I don’t do one-for-one stories like that. I didn’t want comic book fans or historically-minded readers to be distracted wondering if Annie or whoever was actually a stand-in for so-and-so. I wanted to write this story, like Secret Identity, as if it actually happened in comic book history. Something a lot of writers won’t say, though, is that every character in a given book is a piece of the writer—so there are bits of me in all of the people in the story. I wanted them to feel human and relatable and also to be compelling guides for readers enjoying the story.
Arturo Spinoza seems like he MUST be based on someone (or several someones). Are you at liberty to name any names (or provide a few hints) as to his inspiration?
I’d actually argue that the tragedy of someone like Spinoza—or rather, the world that supports him—is that he could be so many entitled male artists who are marred by scandal and desperate to find their way back to work.
How did the novel evolve and change as you all wrote and revised it? Are there any characters, scenes, or stories that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published version?
I don’t have those kind of regrets. The final novel is the story I wanted to exist, and I’m grateful for that—I’m really happy with the final novel and thankful for the support Zack and Flatiron gave me during the entire process, which was challenging. I didn’t want Alter Ego to feel like Secret IdentiTWO or some continuation for the sake of continuing, you know? I wanted it to do what sequels rarely do—stand on its own as a good story, feel different from the first installment, and push the overall narrative forward without retreading ground Secret Identitycovered.
The IDEA for the novel existed for a while, but I needed a character to pull me through it. So, there was a stretch of time where I struggled because I knew that I wanted this story to exist, but I hadn’t seen it through a character’s eyes yet. But when I put more on paper, Annie came to be, and Alter Ego crystallized into much more than just a mystery in comics, but a story about art vs. commerce, generational trauma, parenting, and the lengths we’ll go to when it comes to being an artist or creator. It ended up making for a much more textured and complex story wrapped in a thriller bow, I think.
In your Acknowledgements, you state that while Alter Ego didn’t require the types of research that were necessary for Secret Identity, you did have to do some "homework." What was the most interesting or surprising thing that you learned during your research?
Secret Identity was almost a journalistic endeavor in that I had to talk to people who were alive in the 70s and working in comics to make sure my facts were right, and I had the textural details I needed to really tell a great story. With Alter Ego, I was writing about a time—and an industry—I was intimately familiar with, so it became more about talking to creators, mostly women, who worked in comics and adjacent industries to get a sense of what it’s like navigating them. Many of these conversations were just natural outgrowths of friendships and discussions, but they ended up feeding the novel. I’m thankful to folks like Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Gail Simone, Tini Howard, Liana Kangas, Kelly Thompson, Sara Century, Erica Shultz and so many more for just engaging with me and giving me a peek into what it’s like to be an artist or writer in comics and entertainment.
In the novel, several characters describe Doug Detmer’s artwork as being of the same caliber as real artists like Alex Ross, Frank Miller, and/or Jack Kirby. In your mind, is there a real artist that comes closest to what you think Doug Detmer’s art would look like?
Sandy Jarrell, probably!
But seriously, I guess if Detmer were around today—and he wasn’t Sandy, who is much nicer and more professional than Detmer, and did the art pages for Secret Identity and Alter Ego —I’d probably liken his work to folks like Chris Samnee, Tom Reilly, Evan "Doc" Shaner, or Dan Mora. Timeless artists who still manage to make their work feel vibrant and modern.
Do you have a favorite obscure comic book character, from the Golden through the Bronze Age (since the 70s straddle the Silver and Bronze eras) that is little known (but may have a small but fervent fan base) that you would like to see revived?
I don’t know if she’s considered obscure since she had a notable mini-series in the last thirty years, but I love DC’s Black Orchid and would honestly love to write her!
You’ve written works of fiction for both adults and young adults. You’ve also written short stories and comic books/graphic novels. Is there a format that you prefer over the others?
I love them all. Each of them works for me in different ways, depending on the kind of story I want to tell. Novels feel so intimate and insular, so they’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Is there something you haven’t done yet but are hoping to have the opportunity to try?
I’d love to write for television or the screen in some way if that’s in the cards.
When I interviewed you for Secret Identity in 2022, you expressed a desire for there to be a bigger and continuing conversation about greater diversity and inclusion in crime and/or mystery fiction. Can you name a few crime or mystery authors that you feel are writing about the world in which we live?
I still have that desire, especially now, in this time of political division and fear. I think writers like Cheryl Head, Robert Justice, Kellye Garrett, SA Cosby, KT Nguyen, SG Wong, Yasmin Angoe, Jennifer Hillier, and Amina Akhtar are all writing amazing stories that reflect different aspects of the marginalized experience, while not being limited to telling solely stories based on trauma. Writers of color can write anything and tell any kind of story, and we should embrace and seek those out.
What’s currently on your nightstand?
I’m currently enjoying the new Ballard/Bosch book by Michael Connelly, a writer I’ve been a fan of for years. I also really enjoyed Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway, picking up where his father, John le Carré left off. I really enjoyed Carrie Carolyn Coco, a true crime/memoir by Sarah Gerard. I’m in the middle of The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet.
What is the last piece of art (music, movies, TV, more traditional art forms) that you’ve experienced or that has impacted you?
Music-wise, probably Chappell Roan’s last album? It just feels so immediate and raw. I also find myself going back to Bill Evans’s jazz piano often. Cate Blanchett’s Tar was also intense and a big influence on Alter Ego.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a lot of comics, including The Question: All Along the Watchtower for DC, Spider-Society, Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku for Marvel, and a Daredevil crime novel for Disney/Hyperion Ave.
The Black Ghost
Alex Segura, Monica Gallagher, and George Kambadais. Dark Horse, $19.99 trade paper (136p) ISBN 978-1-5067-2446-1
This breezy superhero noir from crime and comics writer/editor Segura (Miami Midnight) introduces a heroine who pulls up the pulp roots of masked hero adventures to plant a smart contemporary context. Small-city journalist Lara Dominguez is Lois Lane by way of Sam Spade, taking breaks from street fights and drinking binges to report on the exploits of the Black Ghost, a vigilante described as "Robin Hood meets James Bond." After she witnesses the Black Ghost's assassination, Lara investigates the criminal conspiracy responsible and considers taking on the hero's mantle herself, but her personal vices threaten to destroy her before the villains do. Punchy writing ("Deep in the dregs isn't exactly the safest spot.... Glad to see my hunch-o-meter is still working") adds flavor to the street-level superhero action and hard-boiled intrigue. While none of these elements are especially original on their own, together they blend into frothy noir entertainment. The workmanlike art, cleanly inked with bright, flat colors, may not stand out, but it's serviceable and well suited to action scenes. Never pausing long enough to get bogged down in its own twisty plot and gritty mythology, this series has what it takes to grab both crime fiction fans and superhero readers looking for something just off the beaten path. (May)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"The Black Ghost." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 15, 12 Apr. 2021, pp. 61+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A659340692/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1ed961e1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
The Black Ghost. By Alex Segura and Monica Gallagher. Illus, by George Kambadais and Ellie Wright. May 2021.136p. Dark Horse, paper, $19.99 (9781506724461). 741.5.
Reporter Lara Dominguez has a serious drinking problem and a knack for blacking out. She's in the middle of a breakthrough story involving a shady corporation and masked vigilante, The Black Ghost, when everything she thought she knew about the events of her past is turned upside down. Dominguez moved to Creighton from Miami after the tragic loss of her brother, and ever since, she's been receiving communications from a sketchy character named Lone, who's been feeding her information dealing with local crime and The Black Ghost. And in the midst of fighting to keep Creighton free of corruption and dirty dealings, she struggles with her own demons. Segura and Gallagher have teamed up to create a thrilling pulp hero story with big Batman vibes and visuals that feel like they are straight out of Batman: The Animated Series. Fans of hero tales and noir crime dramas will enjoy this nuanced twist on the hero trope. Hand to Batman fans looking for something off the beaten path.--Jonathan Khan
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Khan, Jonathan. "The Black Ghost." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 18, 15 May 2021, p. 39. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A663199003/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c3c42af6. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.'
Secret Identity. By Alex Segura. Mar. 2022. 368p. illus. Flatiron, $27.99 (9781250801746); e-book (9781250801753).
It's 1975 in New York City. Patti Smith is at CBGB. Carmen Valdez learned to read English with Archie and Betty and Veronica. She leaves her Miami home to pursue a career in the comics industry but finds herself struggling in a mostly male world of obnoxious editors and fading superheroes. Finally, a break. One of the male writers asks for her help with creating a new character, a female street vigilante called "The Lethal Lynx." Carmen's contact submits the first issue without her name in the credits, and then she finds him murdered. Lynx becomes a smash hit. Carmen dares not implicate herself, although the police are relentless. Armed only with her grit and sarcasm, she stalks the killer, lynx-like, through the city and the surprisingly treacherous community of her colleagues and competitors. She wants justice, yes, but she also craves an opportunity to establish her ownership of the character. Darkest noir meets the vibrant world of comics in the hands of Segura, author of the acclaimed Pete Fernandez mystery series. No surprise that he also writes graphic novels (The Black Ghost, 2021). His reverence for the medium comes across vividly here, most pointedly through the book's mesmerizing illustrations and in the revelation that Patricia Highsmith initially wrote freelance for comics to support her literary endeavors. A superlative one-of-a-kind novel. --Jane Murphy
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Murphy, Jane. "Secret Identity." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2022, p. 43. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A692710695/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2e9a74b9. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Secret Identity
Alex Segura. Flatiron, $27.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-80174-6
Set in 1975, this outstanding novel from Anthony Award winner Segura (the Pete Fernandez series) stars Carmen Valdez, an obsessive comic book fan since her childhood in Miami, Fla., who now lives in New York City and works on the periphery of her dream as an assistant at Triumph Comics, an afterthought in the then flailing comics industry dominated by Marvel and DC. When Triumph junior editor Harvey Stern approaches the creatively gifted Carmen to help him pitch a new series, it's the opportunity to finally see one of her ideas come to life. Carmen agrees to Harvey's request that she ghostwrite until he can leverage her involvement. They create the company's first female superhero, the Lethal Lynx, who's an immediate hit, though Harvey's erratic behavior and the sudden arrival of an old flame from Miami complicate matters. When Harvey is murdered before he publicly acknowledges Carmen's role, she's forced to look for answers as she seeks to prevent someone else from transforming the Lethal Lynx into something soulless. Carmen navigates the shifting loyalties within the industry with aplomb. Segura's infectious passion for supetheroes shines in this page-turning mix of murder mystery and coming-of-age story. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
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"Secret Identity." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 2, 10 Jan. 2022, p. 38. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A690146743/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b6d31cc1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex SECRET IDENTITY Flatiron Books (Fiction None) $27.99 3, 15 ISBN: 978-1-250-80174-6
A secretary at a comic book company tries to track down a co-worker's killer in this taut thriller.
For nearly as long as she can remember, Carmen Valdez has loved comic books. The superhero stories sustained her during her rough childhood in Miami--they were "an intangible thing that got her through her own day-to-day." When she moves to New York in 1975 and finds a job at Triumph Comics, she sees a chance to get her big break in the industry, but it doesn't turn out well--her co-workers turn out to be "a squad of over-the-hill assholes," and her boss has no interest in letting her try her hand at a writing gig. When a writer named Harvey Stern approaches her to collaborate with him on a project, unbeknownst to their boss, she warily accepts; they come up with an idea they think will surely be a hit. And it is, but Harvey is murdered, and Carmen finds out that he failed to credit her for her work before his bloody demise. So she sets out to track down his killer, all the while trying to figure out how to be recognized for her work by her oblivious, sexist boss. Meanwhile, she's forced to deal with the sudden reappearance of her ex-lover, who's shown up in New York under mysterious circumstances. Segura's book works on so many levels, it's almost hard to keep track--as a love letter to comic books, it's as powerful as anything since Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000). And as a thriller, it's smart, perfectly paced, and wonderfully atmospheric--Segura captures the intense, grimy milieu of 1970s New York with aplomb. You don't have to be a comics fan to love this novel; it's a masterful book filled with real heart and soul.
A triumph.
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"Segura, Alex: SECRET IDENTITY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A690892158/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3f29aab1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex ARAÑA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099 Marvel Press (Teen None) $17.99 5, 2 ISBN: 978-1-368-07900-6
Two Latine superheroes in the Spider-Man multiverse team up to face time travel, parallel universes, and scary villains.
Brooklyn high schooler Anya Corazon, aka Araña, has only recently been imbued with spiderlike superpowers, but she already feels the weight of the responsibility of being a superhero and using her abilities for the good of those around her. But keeping up with schoolwork and friends while doing good in secret so Papi doesn't find out is taking a toll--especially since her mentor and teacher was killed. When a near-death encounter with a new supervillain strands Araña, who is Mexican and Puerto Rican, on a futuristic Earth with her powers on the fritz, the only person she thinks she can count on is another Spider-Man. Billionaire CEO Miguel O'Hara was Spider-Man in the year 2099, but he retired after tragedies that killed people he loved. Now a kid from the past needs his help, and together they confront Judas Traveller, the villain who haunts them both. With a narrative that follows both Anya and Miguel, this funtastic novel sees both protagonists face their internal demons and struggle with what it means to be a superhero. Despite some repetitive beats in the main characters' inner monologues, this is an exciting entry into the Spider-verse for newcomers and old fans alike that features other delightful Spidey cameos.
Two friendly neighborhood Spider-Heroes save the multiverse with the usual Spidey flair. (Science fiction. 12-18)
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"Segura, Alex: ARANA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A740905196/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cd50f532. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex & Rob Hart. Dark Space. Blackstone. Oct. 2024. 350p. ISBN 9798212218795. $27.99. SF
Segura (Secret Identity) and Hart (The Paradox Hotel) offer a thrilling space adventure that mixes real-world politics and space exploration to dramatic effect. The intergalactic spaceship Mosaic is not the Enterprise and is not just out there to boldly go but instead is a ship of compromises between American and Chinese interests that is barely holding together. The novel splits its time between the heroic Lieutenant Commander Jose Carriles and the begrudging bureaucrat Corin Timony back on New Destiny. Carriles just wants to get there in one piece after a terrifying breakdown nearly scuttles the ship. Timony learns of the mishap, meets a cover-up, and hunts for the truth. The novel's point is to play with expectations; as once it is clear this is not a standard exploration story, then it can become what it is really about--the horror of both what humanity brings to the universe and the terror waiting in the unknown. The fun comes in watching those expectations come crashing down and seeing what remains. VERDICT This clever science-fiction novel is a perfect choice for readers looking for a perilous adventure with a dash of coziness.--Jeremiah Rood
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Rood, Jeremiah. "Segura, Alex & Rob Hart. Dark Space." Library Journal, vol. 149, no. 7, July 2024, pp. 81+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A800536096/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2bc61e93. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Dark Space
Alex Segura and Rob Hart. Blackstone, $27.99 (324p) ISBN 979-8-212-21879-5
Segura (Secret Identity) and Hart (The Paradox Hotel) interweave their styles seamlessly in this stellar blend of space opera and spy thriller, set after Earth has become almost uninhabitable. With humanity concentrated on the lunar colony of New Destiny, hopes for a sustainable future rest with the spacecraft Mosaic, which has traveled over four light-years from Earth to ascertain whether the planet Esparar can serve as a new home. Mosaic's pilot, Jose Carriles, must scramble to avert disaster when, without the vessel's alarms going off, its engines begin powering down, threatening the failure of essential protective shields. Meanwhile, disgraced spy Corin Timony is at her headquarters when an alert comes in from Mosaic, followed a moment later by a message calling it a false alarm. The authors alternate between Carriles's attempts to keep the crew alive and the mission on track, and Timony's search for answers about why the alert, which readers know was legit, was canceled. The universe feels remarkably well-developed and the tension is palpable. James S.A. Corey fans will want to check this out. (Oct.)
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"Dark Space." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 26, 8 July 2024, p. 157. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A801800214/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=01f1ff2a. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex. Alter Egc. Flatiron. Dec. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781250801777. $28.99. SUSPENSE
Anthony Award winner Segura follows up his 1970s comic-book mystery Secret Identity with this sequel set in contemporary times, during an effort to reboot the Legendary Lynx, the comic book character at the center of Secret Identity. To carry on the legacy of the Legendary Lynx, Triumph Comics taps Annie Bustamante (an uncompromising comic book artist and filmmaker with a childhood connection to the original material) and Arturo Spinoza, a cancelled, once-influential film director. As Annie and Arturo butt heads with a publisher more interested in milking intellectual property than artistic integrity, Annie receives cryptic warnings that make her question Triumph's claims of creation. It sends her on a dangerous exploration into the past. Fans of Secret Identity will be interested to learn where the future took its protagonist, Carmen Valdez, and learn how her story intersects with the narrative. Readers new to Segura will also enjoy this book without the context of its predecessor. VERDICT This entertaining sequel vividly depicts the IP-obsessed contemporary comic book world and its threats to comic artists, such as being replaced by artificial intelligence. It's a compelling setting for Segura's richly complicated characters, who make up for some clunkiness and contrivance in the plotting.--Jon Jeffryes
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Jeffryes, Jon. "Segura, Alex. Alter Egc." Library Journal, vol. 149, no. 10, Oct. 2024, p. 94. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A813629131/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a090d18a. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex THE LEGENDARY LYNX Mad Cave Studios (Fiction Fiction) $17.99 11, 12 ISBN: 9781545814000
Segura brings the "lost" comic book described in his novelSecret Identity(2022) to four-color life with illustrator Jarrell in this 1970s super-hero throwback graphic novel.
In this work, the Legendary Lynx (aka Claudia Calla) is allowed to operate free from her metafictional origins as a character from the mid-1970s stolen from newbie writer Carmen Valdez (neither the character nor the creator ever existed in real life), prowling the shadowed streets of Triumph City clad in a domino mask and cheetah-print bell-bottoms, "sleek, dangerous, and eager to take out Triumph City's trash." Trained as an acrobatic, claw-wielding vigilante by the ghost of a prolific cat burglar to avenge her murdered sister, Claudia becomes a hero who both protects and supports women. Lynx stands apart from other characters of the time due to an absence of the racial or gender stereotypes common to the era. This approach makes her noteworthy even today as the narrative inverts tropes, provides queer subtext, and positions the supposedly "mild-mannered" Claudia as the only hope for intrepid reporter Simon Upton, who is stalked by the vampiric Mr. Void and his translucent skeletal army of Voidoids. Jarrell's dynamic pencils bring the action on faux-faded, yellowed pages, drawing loving inspiration from Sal Buscema's work on Steve Englehart'sSecret Empireand giving the book a "dated" look that cleverly helps to frame the story as ahead of its time. Comic-book Easter eggs abound, including The Apparition's Dr. Manhattan-esque word balloons, a muscular medieval villain straight out of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, and locations referencing creators like Duffy Vohland. These references are a blast and not just a gimmick; a tongue-in-cheek framing device that pulls in comics legend J.M. DeMatteis andComic Book Resourcesreporter Brian Cronin also offers frank commentary and a short but thorough history of the comics industry. The end result is a companion piece to a celebrated novel (and its sequel,Alter Ego) that doesn't just dither in meta-commentary--it's actually a fun super-hero period piece that stands on its own.
Not just a tie-in, this throwback builds on the weirdness of its era and offers something more.
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"Segura, Alex: THE LEGENDARY LYNX." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A811898310/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0db278c7. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex ALTER EGO Flatiron Books (Fiction None) $28.99 12, 3 ISBN: 9781250801777
Segura explores the world of comic books and film in his latest thriller.
Segura's standalone sequel toSecret Identity (2022) brings back the Lynx, a comic book character co-created by Carmen Valdez in the 1970s. Decades have passed, and the Lynx--originally published by a company called Triumph--has faded into obscurity, though she still has her admirers. Chief among them is Annie Bustamante, a comic book writer who turned to film after having become disenchanted: "Comics had chewed me up and spit me out, and at the moment I wasn't sure I wanted to go for another twelve rounds." But now Annie's movie career has stalled, too, after her studio declined to release her latest, an "artsy superhero thriller" calledMiss Midnight, turning it into a tax write-off instead. She's approached by Bert Carlyle, the son of Triumph's founder, who wants her to work with Arturo Spinoza, a filmmaker, to reintroduce the Lynx across a wide range of media. Annie can't bring herself to say no; the Lynx was a formative character for her as a young woman: "It was one of the first and few comics I could remember not only featuring a woman in the lead, but one that--at least for a brief time--was written by a woman, too. A Cuban woman like me, no less." Things are looking up, until Annie starts to get messages saying "BE CAREFUL," and realizes that her involvement with the Lynx might be putting her in real danger. While the novel doesn't quite live up to the heights ofSecret Identity--the dialogue here can come across as forced--Segura has lost none of his talent at building suspense. Readers will need to come with their disbelief fully suspended, but Segura is charming enough to make it work, and, as in his last book, he sticks the landing beautifully.
A ride worth taking, especially for comic book fans.
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"Segura, Alex: ALTER EGO." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A811898589/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=56453547. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex ENCANTO Disney Press (Teen None) $18.99 12, 3 ISBN: 9781368097901
This prequel to Disney's animated filmEncanto centers on the mysterious outcast Bruno Madrigal.
Bruno, who's a triplet, has a lot on his mind. He wants to be supportive of his hermanas: Pepa, who's getting married, and Julieta, who's still deciding among suitors. Then there are his mother's expectations that they should be helpful to the townspeople, making the most of the magical gifts his family's been given. Bruno, who's socially out of step, struggles with anxiety and wonders who he really is. Is he just a broody social pariah who only predicts bad news? Could he alter his fate by dressing differently--changing his style and sharing the hopeful news people want to hear, even if it's not entirely true? And what if, the entire time, someone is waiting on the periphery, threatening Bruno's family and the Encanto? The dialogue often casually includes Spanish phrases that are easily comprehensible in context, fleshing out the Colombian setting. The book includes some characters who do not appear in the movie, and the plot and setting walk a line between following the canon of the movie and presenting an original world (for instance, there's no mention of Bruno's room being a sandy cavern). Unfortunately, the text relies too heavily on overexplanatory narration, which takes away from the fun of learning more about these characters naturally over the course of the story.
May satisfy diehard fans of the original movie.(Fiction. 12-17)
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"Segura, Alex: ENCANTO." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A811898399/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b1fc8c92. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex THE LEGENDARY LYNX Mad Cave Studios (Fiction Fiction) $17.99 11, 12 ISBN: 9781545814000
Segura brings the "lost" comic book described in his novelSecret Identity(2022) to four-color life with illustrator Jarrell in this 1970s super-hero throwback graphic novel.
In this work, the Legendary Lynx (aka Claudia Calla) is allowed to operate free from her metafictional origins as a character from the mid-1970s stolen from newbie writer Carmen Valdez (neither the character nor the creator ever existed in real life), prowling the shadowed streets of Triumph City clad in a domino mask and cheetah-print bell-bottoms, "sleek, dangerous, and eager to take out Triumph City's trash." Trained as an acrobatic, claw-wielding vigilante by the ghost of a prolific cat burglar to avenge her murdered sister, Claudia becomes a hero who both protects and supports women. Lynx stands apart from other characters of the time due to an absence of the racial or gender stereotypes common to the era. This approach makes her noteworthy even today as the narrative inverts tropes, provides queer subtext, and positions the supposedly "mild-mannered" Claudia as the only hope for intrepid reporter Simon Upton, who is stalked by the vampiric Mr. Void and his translucent skeletal army of Voidoids. Jarrell's dynamic pencils bring the action on faux-faded, yellowed pages, drawing loving inspiration from Sal Buscema's work on Steve Englehart'sSecret Empireand giving the book a "dated" look that cleverly helps to frame the story as ahead of its time. Comic-book Easter eggs abound, including The Apparition's Dr. Manhattan-esque word balloons, a muscular medieval villain straight out of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, and locations referencing creators like Duffy Vohland. These references are a blast and not just a gimmick; a tongue-in-cheek framing device that pulls in comics legend J.M. DeMatteis andComic Book Resourcesreporter Brian Cronin also offers frank commentary and a short but thorough history of the comics industry. The end result is a companion piece to a celebrated novel (and its sequel,Alter Ego) that doesn't just dither in meta-commentary--it's actually a fun super-hero period piece that stands on its own.
Not just a tie-in, this throwback builds on the weirdness of its era and offers something more.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Segura, Alex: THE LEGENDARY LYNX." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A817945734/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=68fa17ce. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Dick Tracy
Alex Segura, Michael Moreci, and Geraldo Borges. Mad Cave, $17.99 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-5458-1228-0
Dick Tracy returns in this bold graphic noir from writers Segura (Secret Identity) and Moreci (the Barbaric series) with stylish art by Borges (the Nightwing series) and colorist Mark Englert. In 1947, the decorated WWII vet turned detective patrols the City. Following a gangland execution carried out by vicious hit man Flattop, he joins forces with spitfire reporter Tess Trueheart, daughter of murdered alderman Emil Trueheart, to dig up the truth. Their investigation leads them into criminal conspiracy, betrayal, and the line of fire. All the trademarks established by creator Chester Gould are on display, from Tracy's yellow fedora and trench coat to his square jaw, no-nonsense approach to law enforcement, and state-of-the-art watch radio. But shifting Tracy's timeline to postwar America brings surprising depth and poignancy to the character's backstory--haunted by his battlefield experiences, he suffers from "shell shock," decades before the term PTSD was coined. Borges and Englert's cinematic art is more evocative of Chinatown than the 1990s film adaptation, resulting in a gritty reimagining that may surprise fans of that slick hit. This does Gould's creation justice by bringing Tracy back to his pulp fiction roots. (Dec.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 PWxyz, LLC
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"Dick Tracy." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 48, 16 Dec. 2024, p. 49. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A820624827/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a506c378. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Segura, Alex DICK TRACY Mad Cave Studios (Fiction Fiction) $17.99 12, 17 ISBN: 9781545812280
Segura and Moreci's graphic novel, with artwork by Borges, reimagines iconic 1930s-era detective Dick Tracy in a post-World War II narrative with a familiar cast of villains, including Pruneface and Flattop.
Set in 1947, Tracy is a recent war veteran and the youngest cop ever to make detective in "The City." He's still struggling to come to grips with the horrors he experienced while in battle. After a crime reporter and an alderman are among those gunned down during an apparent robbery at a diner, Tracy investigates and discovers that the killings are tied to a complex conspiracy. The detective vows to identify the people behind the horrific crime, which included more than a dozen murders, and he eventually joins forces with the late alderman's daughter, Tess Trueheart, and old war buddy Pat Patton, who's looking for answers regarding his brother's mysterious death. Patton's also looking into the disappearance of numerous war veterans who worked as laborers on an ambitious waterfront development project. Ignoring directives from his chief, Tracy and company continue to dig, and soon find themselves the targets of numerous underworld thugs; Tommy gun-powered violence ensues. Borges' masterful ability to convey a gritty, hardboiled atmosphere in action-packed, blood-splattered, and visually stunning illustrations is an obvious strength, as is Segura and Moreci's talent for intricate, deeply developed, and emotionally intense storytelling, largely through dialogue. Tracy and Patton's war flashbacks, and their current inability to seamlessly reassimilate into society, are particularly powerful: "One day they give you a gun, they tell you to go kill people. Then they take the gun away. They tell you the war's over. But for some men, it's not that easy."
A must-have reboot for anyone who calls themselves a Dick Tracy fan.
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"Segura, Alex: DICK TRACY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A823102254/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=114bcef1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
The Legendary Lynx
Alex Segura and Sandy Jarrell. Mad Cave, $17.99 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-5458-1400-0
This entertaining and self-aware graphic novel spotlights the Lynx, star of the comics series at the center of Segura's novel Secret Identity. After reporter Simon Upton disappears, office secretary Claudia Calla springs into action as the Lynx, a roof-hopping, butt-kicking action heroine in a leopard print bell-bottom jumpsuit. She's soon chasing supervillain Mr. Void, a demonic immortal who feeds upon his modern-day descendants, and his glowing skeletal henchmen the Voidoids. The action teases a fully populated comics universe with characters like glowing ghost girl Apparition, swordsman El Cid, and sexy information broker Scarlet Snake as Calla uncovers a sinister plot and makes startling discoveries about herself. The conceit that this is a reprint from the novel's universe is upheld expertly in design; it looks just like a 1970s comic, with Jarrell's art reminiscent of Frank Miller's early Daredevil issues, zippy kinetic action paired with period-accurate off-white pages, and Ben Day color dots. Segura's script plays on comics tropes: flashbacks, editors' notes referring to past (fictional) issues, plot-convenient amnesia, and an inner monologue worthy of peak Spider-Man. Catnip for Segura's existing readers, this also has enough in-jokes to appeal to fans of Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and Bandette. It's a brisk thrill ride that begs for a sequel. (Nov.)
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"The Legendary Lynx." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 44, 18 Nov. 2024, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A817760142/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ff1a37a1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.