Alex Segura's Secret Identity was one of the best books I read in 2022—a gripping thriller that followed a queer Latina woman struggling to make a name for herself in the comic book industry in the 1970s, whose attempts at breaking in end up getting her tangled up in IP theft and murder. Even if you don't care about comic books or the corporate exploitation of intellectual property, it was a perfectly executed crime novel, with plenty of rich, lived-in details that really brought the story to life.
Now Segura is back with a new book called Alter Ego—a stand-alone sequel of sorts, that exists in the same world as Secret Identity, but 50 years later. Whereas the first book explored the lives of the scrappy, underpaid artists who invented all of the most famous comic book characters of today while getting screwed over by the publishers that own the work, Alter Ego takes the opposite approach: it's about the film industry attempting to exploit these old forgotten comic book characters so that a few already-rich bastards can make a quick buck by exploiting the IP.
The story follows Annie Bustamante, a single mother and former comic book artist who went on to make a name for herself as a movie director. She's been in a bit of a rut ever since her last film got shelved as a tax write-off following some corporate studio mergers. But now she's been tapped by the resurrected zombie of a long-dead comic book publisher to work on a reboot of her favorite character, the legendary Lynx. The publisher is, of course, hoping to cash in on the Hollywood superhero trend, and has also paired Annie with a disgraced film director who's hoping the superhero movie can be his post-#MeToo comeback, or at least his ticket to retirement.
Naturally, the publishing company and the shady Russian woman who finances it do not actually care about the legendary Lynx, or either of the creators involved. They're just really, really eager to get this comic book reboot and subsequent movie off the ground before anyone realizes that they might not actually own the rights to the character.
Alter Ego moves a little slowly in the beginning—Annie's not quite at the bottom of the rung, and not as desperate from the start as Carmen Valdez in Secret Identity—but the world-building works because Segura is so damn familiar with the world he's lampooning. He's worked on licensed comic book properties; he's been an editor-in-chief, dealing with IP licensing; and he's worn just about every hat in the comic book industry. Segura is keenly critical of the flaws in corporate structuring, but at the same time, never slips into same cynicism as, say, Alan Moore's What We Can Know About Thunderman. Despite the bureaucratic and financial struggles, Segura genuinely loves comics, and the comics industry, and it shows. The relationships between rights ownership, publishers, and shady financiers is a labyrinthine house of cards, and he does a great job of making it make sense—or at least, makes you understand how the bullshit finance card tricks keep managing to trick everybody, make it hard for the people who make the stories to actually do the things they love.
And at the end of the day, that's what Alter Ego really is. It's a love letter to comic books, and to family. Once the the stakes are firmly laid out, it's the familial connections that carry the heart of the book—a surprisingly refreshing take for a crime story about corporation financial fuckery. It's not even just about physical harm; it's about legacy, both what we inherit from those who came before us, and what we leave behind. Including 4-color spandex superheroes in swankly little domino masks.
Which is all to say: you come to Alter Ego for a crime thriller about the comic book industry, but you end up with a touching story about family and artistry that also expertly skewers every AI NFT crypto smuggling grifting through the entertainment and publishing industries. And that makes for a wonderful reading experience.
Here's the official blurb:
Alex Segura, award–winning author of Secret Identity, returns with a clever and escapist standalone sequel set in the world of comic books. In the present day, a comics legend is given the chance to revive a beloved but forgotten character. But at what price?
Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she's never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available―until now.
But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle's father started Triumph Comics, and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie's inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.
Annie, who has been called a genius, a sell-out, a visionary, a hack, and everything else under the sun, is sick of the money grab. For the first time since she started reading a tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx #1 as a kid, she feels a pure, creative spark. The chance to tell a story her way. She's not about to let that go. Even if it means uncovering the dark truth about the character she loves.
Sharply written, deftly plotted, and with a palpable affection for all kinds of storytelling, Alter Ego is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.Alter Ego [Alex Segura / Flatiron Books]
