Secret Id is the brand new novel by Alex Segura — a homicide thriller set amid the comics business of New York within the Seventies — and it’s an unqualified hit.
Printed earlier this yr, Segura’s e book made the Editor’s Selection part of the New York Instances E book Evaluation in March. That very same month, a very prestigious comics weblog gave it an equally glowing write-up, and now in current weeks, the novel has landed on many year-end Greatest Of lists, together with NPR’s Books We Love.
Writing for the New York Instances, Sarah Lyall known as Secret Id witty and wholly unique, with the paper occurring to explain it as a “intelligent homage to traditional noir — partly a love letter to New York Metropolis within the seamy Seventies, in addition to an immersive tutorial in comic-book publishing of that period.” A spot-on means of summing it up.
“Individuals outdoors of comics who learn the e book had been fascinated as a result of it pulled the curtain again,” Alex Segura says, “and confirmed you not simply what inks they used or how they couriered pages from the letterer to the workplace, but additionally what the dynamic was within the workplace on the time primarily based on my analysis and the folks I spoke to. I believe you want the slowburn of fiction to point out you that, as a result of you’ll be able to solely accomplish a lot simply actual estate-wise with a pair thousand phrases on a web site. Having readers expertise that by [the main character’s] eyes, it at the least makes you concentrate on it.”
This novel has actually captured the eye and reward of parents within the conventional literary world, a lot of whom had little familiarity with comics going into it, however on the identical time, Secret Id can be the uncommon prose work that appears more likely to be of curiosity to the overwhelming majority of comics fandom too, or at the least to anybody inside that fandom with a passing curiosity within the historical past of the medium.
There are just a few completely different artistic — and sensible selections — that make Secret Id work so properly.
The Comics Pages
One alternative that makes Secret Id work so properly as a novel is that the e book is a decent, grounded homicide noir pretty much as good as any the style has to supply. It reads properly from its first web page, possessing fascinating characters and an immersive take a look at a distinct segment business throughout a particular (and arguably formative) second. On the identical time, it additionally deploys a tool during which a part of its narrative work is completed by precise comics artwork. Artist Sandy Jarrell has illustrated comics pages as in the event that they had been those talked about within the novel. These pages are not any gimmick, transcending a easy try and seize the vitality of the ’70s for flare.
No, the comedian e book artwork in Secret Id contains precise particulars that push the novel’s plot ahead, laying a sturdy groundwork that can have seasoned superhero comics readers feeling as if these pages have been plucked from a misplaced work of the period, as if culled from a full seven-issue run.
The pages add layers to the novel because the novel provides layers to the pages, and thru this, Alex Segura and Sandy Jarrell appear to have achieved one thing that feels nearly unprecedented with this e book — utilizing fiction to place readers within the precise comics business of the time, an achievement that’s equally charming to individuals who know little about comics, in addition to volunteer writers for blogs like this one, who steep themselves in comics every thing.
“When Sandy and I had been engaged on the e book, all of the work that goes into making a comics sequence went into it, you simply solely bought these 14 pages,” Segura says. “I’m not saying we drew seven points price, however we positively needed to construct the world and create the characters. Sandy did the designs and the costumes, and by the primary few pages, I used to be saying — it is a comedian already. We created this comedian to serve the novel, but it surely’s additionally a comic book by itself. So, we’re going to do it as its personal factor, and just like the Darkish Horse Escapist books, it’s going to be very tongue in cheek. These are the misplaced problems with The Legendary Lynx that Alex, the editor, is compiling, and it’s the work of Harvey Stern and Doug Dettmer, in order that’ll be enjoyable too.”
And whereas Alex Segura might see the imaginative and prescient behind this — being not solely a fan of comics, however an business veteran himself, having labored at Archie, Oni Press, and DC — comedian e book pages in a thriller novel is a bit unconventional. When it got here to promoting this novel — Segura’s eighth — to a prose writer, he knew he wanted to do some work prematurely in order that others might see the imaginative and prescient, too.
“I knew I wanted to point out proof of idea after I despatched the pitch in,” Segura says, “and I knew I wished Sandy Jarrell to attract it, as a result of not solely is he an excellent artist and underrated and only a professional, he’s a historian too. He knew what I used to be making an attempt to do. He didn’t strive to attract like Frank Miller or Neal Adams or any artist of that period. He very a lot drew like himself, however he evoked the time interval. I wished him to strive to attract like he was simply one of many books out at the moment, in his model. We bought a web page that was all set-up and lettered, and that grew to become a part of the pitch when my agent shopped it round. We mentioned, that is what it needs to be and the comics pages are important to the story. Individuals have observed that with the comics pages I tip off issues that occur within the novel, and vice versa. That was very a lot by design. I wished it to be important. As soon as it was pitched as that, I believe [Wagman] was in a position to wrap his head round it.”
The Historical past of the E book, and the Historical past in the e book
The e book, Segura tells The Beat, was truly a really very long time in coming.
“The genesis began 20-some odd years in the past after I was in faculty, studying Kavalier & Clay, which I liked and was the overlap of my two passions — studying fiction prose, but additionally studying comics,” Segura says. “I used to be already a knee-jerk comics historian, and seeing all of the analysis [Michael] Chabon did for that e book was thrilling for me as a result of I like all that meta storytelling, the place you’re weaving by historical past. My one minor gripe was I wished to learn these Escapist books. Darkish Horse did them ultimately — that was its personal cool expertise — however I actually wished whereas studying that novel to hop into the comics. I put the concept away, and I wrote a brief story in a artistic writing class a few comedian e book firm worker who discovers a misplaced character. I at all times wished to play in that house, in comics historical past however within the enterprise, wanting below the hood a bit bit.”
Setting the e book within the comics business of the ’70s additionally pushed Segura to do extra — and completely different — analysis for this novel, than he had for his different prose work.
“After I realized it was a comic book e book historical past homicide thriller,” Alex Segura says, “I believed this could be the best analysis I’ve ever carried out, as a result of it’s all in my DNA. I’ve learn Marvel: The Untold Story. I’ve an entire shelf of books about comics historical past, which I ended up going by once more. Analysis turns into completely different when you could have an concept about what you’re on the lookout for versus studying as a fan of comics historical past, somebody who’s curious concerning the historical past of the medium they work in. I learn these initially as a fan, after which after I got here again to them it was with an agenda. I knew what I wished to cherry decide from completely different eras for the novel. I wished Triumph Comics — which is the place Carmen works — to be not a Marvel or DC competitor, however like High quality or Charleston. Atlas might be the most effective comp, an organization that tries in that house however by no means manages to. Re-reading these books, I had a watch out for particulars that might assist authenticate the story. A part of the problem to was that I wasn’t alive on the time. So, I did quite a lot of analysis into New York within the ‘70s and in addition simply historical past.”
One of the vital fascinating aspects of that historical past was interviews with real-life comics creators who performed main roles within the business through the ’70s.
Secret Id is wealthy with composite characters who borrow sure issues from real-life folks, a little bit of Alex Toth right here, a bit Steve Ditko there, and many others. However the folks within the e book are all fully-realized, unique creations. It’s the world and enterprise they kick round in that feels just like the one-for-one translation from precise historical past. The interviews Segura performed are a giant a part of the explanation for that.
“I additionally realized after re-reading all these books, I wanted to speak to individuals who had been truly there, particularly girls who labored in comics in or round that period, and people who find themselves historians however way more certified than I’m,” Segura says. “I talked to Paul Levitz just a few instances and he learn the manuscript, and I talked to Gerry Conway at size. He was so gracious along with his time, we ended up chatting for an hour and a half. There’s an anecdote within the e book that he truly informed me, and he’s name-dropped at that second. He was a celebration, and he realized it was not the social gathering he thought he was at. There’s additionally little bits about the place freelancers lived in Manhattan on the time. Simply quite a lot of little shade issues that we as readers don’t take into consideration. And likewise creators like Linda Fite, who wrote The Cat for Marvel. She was the primary girl to put in writing a feminine superhero for Marvel in their very own sequence. Louise Simonson and I had a pleasant cellphone dialog, and she or he walked me by her time at Warren and her early days in comics. I talked to Karen Berger, who began later within the early ‘80s, however might additionally give me context of her experiences coming into a male-dominated business. It truly turn out to be this actually journalistic endeavor.”
And whereas the choice to set the e book within the business’s previous did necessitate that extra analysis, it additionally does quite a lot of work for the story, serving to to form the world during which the principle character exists. Secret Id is the most effective type of historic fiction, the kind that grows proper out of the gritty really feel of the interval during which it’s set.
“I knew immediately that I wished it to be within the ‘70s as a result of 1975 is a very bizarre time for comics,” Segura says. “It’s earlier than the direct market begins, and it’s type of a low level for the business. Not creatively, however folks had been questioning if this was going to actually work, or if comics was going to go the way in which of the dodo. It’s cyclical. It at all times occurs. Comics is a medium and can proceed not directly, however the mid-70s had been a low level. I wished to point out the distinction between right this moment, when we’ve a Scarlet Witch and Imaginative and prescient present, Moon Knight has a present, Ant-Man has a film, Peacemaker has a present — there’s a popular culture consciousness to a level we’ve by no means been prepared for.”
Alex Segura on the way forward for Secret Id
Alex Segura just isn’t carried out with the world of Secret Id after this novel. No, there are plans for a sequel, in addition to for full comics that spring from the e book, not simply the person pages that readers first bought to see.
“We had been doing this and questioning, why don’t we simply make this a comic book too,” Alex Segura says. “We’re going to launch digitally on Zestworld. It’s going to be serialized there, after which the plan is to gather it in print. We’re going to deal with it as if these are the precise misplaced comics we’re accumulating and remastering and printing for the primary time. It’ll have an essay from a famous comedian creator — we’re simply going to deal with this as if it truly occurred. We’re principally manifesting this into historical past, which is type of a thrill.”
The mission is scheduled to launch this month on Zestworld, with the eventual print writer TBD. Working with Segura and Jarrell on it, will probably be Gray Allison on colours, Jack Morelli on letters, and Allison M. O’Toole modifying. You will discover a pair of preview pages from these tasks above.
As for the sequel, it can even have comics, solely they are going to be by a distinct artist and set in a wholly completely different time interval, identical to the e book itself.
“I went into the sequence pondering it was going to be a standalone, however then as I wrote it, I spotted there’s one other facet to the coin,” Alex Segura says. “If this e book actually occurred, theoretically, what’s the pure second beat? To me, that’s the following e book, which is about within the modern-day and is about somebody who will get employed to work on a relaunch of The Legendary Lynx, however the relaunch is a few leisure firm that’s purchased the property. They actually need to simply print the comedian to allow them to make a TV present. Then, this girl will get employed and she or he’s burnt out on comics, she’s pivoted to storyboards and films, however she begins to dig into this character and realizes there’s a sordid backstory. So, it’s the opposite facet of the IP. In actual life, somebody would have found the Lynx and realized there’s worth on this IP, let’s purchase it and make it into TV or a film. What if of their efforts to try this, they selected improper means to guard their IP. That’s type of what occurs within the first e book, and that is the darkish echo.”
Comics Bookcase, previously a comics weblog, is a brand new month-to-month column at The Beat.
