From the hard boiled crime worlds of the Pete Fernandez series to the galaxy far, far away to chart the young life of Star Wars’ Poe Dameron, Alex Segura might be better known to comics fans for his work at Archie Comics and now Oni — but his latest novel is combining both sides of his professional career, and now we’ve got a look inside.
We’re excited to reveal a look at the cover of Secret Identity, Segura’s latest noir adventure. Published by Flatiron Books, Secret Identity brings Segura’s penchant for mystery thrillers to the comics industry. “Secret Identity combines two of my passions — comic books and noir — into one narrative,” Segura said in a statement provided to Kotaku. “I knew when the idea first popped into my head that I wanted to not only tell a novel set in comics, I wanted comics themselves to be part of the story, with actual comic book sequences interwoven into the narrative.”
Secret Identity follows a queer writer named Carmen Valdez, who has aspirations to break into the comics industry with an idea for a new female superhero series, The Lethal Lynx. But when Carmen’s partner is murdered and her idea for Lethal Lynx stolen, published without her name on it, Carmen finds herself thrust into a tangled web of old grievances and secrets among a field of fellow comics creatives, battling her own demons to uncover who killed her partner and stole her story.
As well as weaving Carmen’s tale through a traditional novel, Segura teamed up with artist and letterer Sandy Jarrell and Taylor Esposito to bring Carmen’s heroine, Lethal Lynx, to comic book life within Secret Identity with a series of comic pages inserted throughout the book — a few of which you can also see below.
“So as we experience Carmen and her collaborators create and tell the Lynx’s story, we’ll actually read pages from the fictional Triumph Comics’ Lynx comic book — with astounding, timely art by the wonderful Sandy Jarrell and letterer Taylor Esposito,” Segura said of the art. “Like me, Sandy loves comic book history — and he understands perfectly what we’re going for with Secret Identity. He evoked some of the greats of the time and brought his own voice to the pages. It gives Secret Identity a unique, fun hook and I can’t wait for people to experience it in full next March.”
Secret Identity is available to pre-order now, ahead of its release on March 15, 2022.
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