Posted in: Comics | Tagged: alex segura, zestworld

Fiction Within Fiction, Legendary Lynx by Alex Segura & Sandy Jarrell

Published Wed, 19 Oct 2022 09:58:13 -0500

Alex Segura describes his novel Secret Identity, released as an ebook back in March, and going to print in February 2023, thus: "the story of a queer, Cuban-American woman trying to break into the comic book industry in the mid-70s. In the novel, she co-creates The Legendary Lynx, a street-level crimefighter that becomes an instant hit for the fledgling comic publisher she works for – Triumph Comics. Unfortunately for her, no one knows she had a hand in the character's creation – because she did it anonymously in tandem with a colleague. When said colleague ends up dead, it's up to Carmen Valdez to solve the crime and reclaim the Lynx."

The novel features pages and panels from the fictitious comics that Carmen and artist Doug Detmer create,l drawn in real life by artist Sandy Jarrell. Alex Segura says " he did a stupendous job on the art, really channeling the time period without imitating it, if that makes sense. And though it only amounted to fourteen pages of comics, we poured our hearts and souls into creating the backstory and visuals for Claudia Calla, and her alter ego, the Lynx." And that "One of the ongoing conversations we had while working on those sequences went along the lines of "Wow, this is fun" and "Yeah, we need to keep doing this as a comic."

He's not alone in that. In April, Ben Blacker asked "Congrats to @alex_segura on Secret identity! A page turner. Go get it. Now when do we get the Lynx series?"

Well, that's what Alex Segura is working on next, posting on his Zestworld newsletter (like Substack, just without the transphobia) "The Lost Adventures of The Legendary Lynx will debut digitally here on Zestworld in the coming months, as Sandy and I unearth issues that have been out of print for decades, collecting them and curtating them for new readers. (wink, wink). It'll be very much tongue-in-cheek and meta, as we bring the seminal stories Harvey Stern, Carmen Valdez, and Doug Detmer created back into the conversation for the first time since they were initially released by Triumph in 1975-76. This'll be a nice primer for what's also in the hopper – a modern-day "spiritual" sequel to Secret Identity, starring a new protagonist and a new set of comic book murder problems. That book will also feature a chunk of modern-day Lynx tales that I hope everyone will enjoy. But, anyway – here's an absolutely jaw-dropping piece of art that opens up our "reprint" of The Legendary Lynx #1, featuring art by the dearly departed Doug Detmer. More on the series (and the sort-of sequel!) soon!"