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! 

Secret Identity - a novel about comic books and murder

Secret Identity is for the comic book community as Escaping Dreamland is for the children's series book community.  Escaping Dreamland mixed the real and fictional worlds with the story of an author who was researching some fictional children's series books, and along the way, there were tons of references to real series, authors, and publishers (such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Edward Stratemeyer, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and so on).  It started off a little slow, but the deeper you read into it, the more engrossed you get, and every reference to real series books and authors just brings more and more smiles to your face.  Well, this is exactly what I found while reading Alex Segura's latest novel, Secret Identity.  It starts off a bit slow, but the further I get into the story, the more invested in the main character I got and the more I enjoyed all of the numerous comic book references!

Secret Identity is the story of Carmen Valdez.  It is the mid-1970s, and Carmen works for a fictional comic book company known as Triumph Comics.  Carmen grew up reading comics, thanks to her father, and her love for comics inspired her to be a comic book writer.  If she can only get that one big break.  While working as a secretary/assistant for the owner of Triumph Comics, Carmen thinks she is about to get that big break.  One of the company's writers is desperate for a new idea, and Carmen shares some scripts that she has been working on with him.  The two collaborate, but Carmen's world comes crashing down around her when she finds the writer dead in his apartment and she discovers that he turned in all of their scripts with only his name associated with them!  Not only is her one chance to enter the field gone, but someone she thought of as a friend betrayed her in the worst way and is now dead, to boot!

While the story has a dark undertone of murder, lies, cover-ups, blackmail, and betrayal, it also has a lighthearted feel to it that any true comic fan will enjoy.  With plenty of references to comics from that era, as well as creators who are now well-known and established, but who were just starting out and relatively unknown back in the mid-70s, there is no doubt that Segura had a lot of fun with this open playground.  Marvel and DC, Paul Levitz and Jim Starlin, Bob Kane and Stan Lee, Metamorpho and Tigra, Defenders and House of Mystery, Trina Robbins and Ramona Fradon, and so many more pop up here and there throughout the story and Carmen tries to make sense of everything that is going on around her.  Because if you think it's only comic books that are monopolizing Carmen's time, you'd be wrong!  There's also the family background of an alcoholic mother and a father who wants nothing to do with a daughter who is "that way."  Plus, when Carmen is confronted by an ex that she thought was in her past, old memories are dredged to the surface, and she has to wonder whether this is truly another chance to make it right, or if she is simply being played again.

And what happens when another comic writer is attacked and nearly killed?  And it looks like Carmen's ex was at not only one, but both crime scenes? Could her ex truly be so vicious as to eliminate anyone that even appears to be interested in Carmen?  Or is the killer someone much closer, someone that has an ax to grind, going back to the days before Triumph Comics and the previous company that the current owner bought out?  This book definitely has a LOT going on, but rest assured - Segura handles it nicely, and everything flows, with no disjointed or unconnected plotlines, nothing left open, and everything definitely makes sense by the end.  Segura even throws in a number of pop culture references from the '70s, such as new bands who are just hitting the scene (such as the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Patti Smith, etc.).  The more you read, the more you really feel like you are in the '70s right along with Carmen and her co-workers, her boss, and her roommate.

Oh, and did I mention that throughout the books, there are "pages" of art from The Legendary Lynx comic book that the main character created and wrote?  The black and white art is by Sandy Jarrell, with whom I am not familiar.  However, in keeping with the book itself, the tag line below the pages of comic book art provides credits to Harvey Stern (writer) and Doug Detmer (artist), the characters with whom Carmen associated with the creation of the book in the story.  It gives a semblance of reality to the story, as if this is more than just a work of fiction, but the biography of a woman comic writer in the 1970s who was doing everything she could to break into the field and establish herself in a male-dominated field.  And, like Escaping Dreamland, the end of the book comes full circle, leading the reader right back to the beginning of the tale...

This book is a lot of things.  It is a murder mystery with an amateur sleuth trying to solve the crime.  It is a story of friendship and betrayal.  It is a romance filled with broken hearts and lies.  But above all else, it is a story of Carmen Valdez - a woman who is determined to make her dream come true, despite all the obstacles placed in front of her, and who will not give up at any cost.  It is inspiring, it is enjoyable, it is heart-wrenching, and it is a slice of real life put in fiction form.  Kudos to Segura for weaving such an amazing work of art into a thoroughly enjoyable read.  If you're a comic fan, you'll love it.  If you are a murder mystery fan, you'll love it.  If you simply like to read - you'll love it!

Now, the only question I have is - when are we going to see The Legendary Lynx leap out of this book and into a real comic of her own?!?!

RATING:  10 pack of Parliaments out of 10 for a magnificent tale of comic books and murder!