The Legendary Lynx - a Mad Cave graphic novel

What better way to kick off the new year that with a brand new collection of "vintage" comic books!  But, wait! This graphic novel collects a comic book that never really existed.  Rather, as the back of this graphic novel says, this book comes from the meta-fictional world of Secret Identity, a novel by author Alex Segura about a woman named Carmen Valdez, who helped create a character named "The Legendary Lynx" for the failing comic company, Triumph Comics.  The book (Secret Identity) is more than just the tale of how this woman created a best-selling comic back in the days before women were big in comics, but it is also a murder mystery, a story of friendship and betrayal, and a romance story.  Throughout that novel, there were pages of the "comic book" created by the fictional Carmen Valdez that were supposed to have come from the "original" comics published back in the 1970s.  At the end of my review for that book, I asked the question:  when are we going to see The Legendary Lynx in a real comic?  Well, my review was posted back in 2022 ... and two years later, my question was answered!

 

The Legendary Lynx was published by Mad Cave Studios in November 2024, and it purports to collect the first four issues of the "vintage" comic book created by the lead character of Alex Segura's novel. Segura even goes so far as to have an introduction by J.M. DeMatteis (from the "Bwa-Ha-Ha-Ha" Justice League era) that talks about the comic as if it were really published back in the '70s from the small, failing company, Triumph Comics.  Everything about this book is intended to give the reader the feel and belief that The Legendary Lynx did exist as a comic book series, and that the real creator and writer of the series has remained a mystery until recent years, when speculation regarding Carmen Valdez as that creator and writer has become verified.  The packaging, the look, even the coloring of the comics would lead one to believe these are actual comics from back in the day, if one did not know any better.  (Although, to be honest, there is one big thing that gives away the fact this is not vintage at all - and that is the number of panels on each page - back in the '70s, comics boasted quite a bit of story and more than just 2, 3, or 4 panels per page - these four issues collected in this trade paperback are formatted the same as today's comics, instead of mirroring the format of comics 50 years ago - and, as with today's comics, this story that is told in four issues would have been told back in the '70s as just one or possibly two issues at the most...)

 

That being said, Segura and artist Sandy Jarrell (who also provided the illustrations in Segura's novel, Secret Identity) do breathe life into the Lynx and her alter ego, newspaper secretary Claudia Calla.  The stories are exciting and the characters fresh - and the story actually takes a much darker turn as it progresses (with one of the main characters being killed off before the end of the fourth issue!).  The origin story is somewhat fresh and unique - Claudia's twin sister is murdered, and she is not able to prevent it.  At her sister's funeral, Claudia comes in contact with a ghost who agrees to train her so that she can track down the man that murdered her sister and bring him to justice.  Thus was born the Lynx!  And she has her own male version of Lois Lane in the form of Simon Upton, a reporter who will do anything to get a story - and one who believes he has figured out that Claudia is really the Lynx!  But there is no romantic entanglement for these two, as the Lynx has a job to do bringing the criminal element to justice and stopping super-powered villains such as Diesel, Void, and others.  

 

The trade provides faux covers for the four issues, and the stories are credited to Harvey Stern as the writer and Doug Detmer as the artist, with Rich Berger listed as the editor and Jeffrey Carlyle listed as the President & CEO of Triumph Comics (all of these names coming straight out of Segura's novel).  The tone of the stories definitely has a dark feel to them, much along the lines of DC's The Phantom Stranger or Marvel's Dracula or Werewolf by Night - nowhere near as light-hearted as the typical superhero fare of the time, but still not so dark as to cause problems with the Comics Code Authority.  The art and colors definitely fit that darker tone of the story, but it's not gory or filled with sexual situations as so many of today's indy comics seem to be.  I give Segura credit for creating a unique character that may seem familiar on the surface, but believe me, the Lynx is unlike any comic character you've seen to date!

 

The one drawback about this trade is that the fourth issue ends on a major cliffhanger, and so readers are left wondering what happens next! In Segura's fictional world, a new creative team took over with the fifth issue of The Legendary Lynx, so it's rather doubtful we will ever see any more "reprints" of issues of this comic, since this one specifically ties into Secret Identity and its title character.  I do love this cross-promotion of sorts (both the book and this comic can be read separately without any problem, but if you read them both, you find they truly compliment one another beautifully and give you a fuller picture of both stories!).  A part of me almost wishes Segura would go ahead and just introduce a REAL comic series for The Legendary Lynx - bring her into the present time and give fans an ongoing series (or a series of mini-series), so we can really enjoy the world of Clauda Calla and her justice-seeking alter ego.

 

RATING:  9 razor-sharp claws out of 10 for allowing the Lynx to jump out of the pages of Secret Identity and into her own "real" comic for fans to enjoy!