Carmen Valdez eats and breathes comic books; ink flows through her veins. She’s moved away from her beloved Miami and her family to the rough streets of 1975 New York City in an attempt to create a space for herself in comics. And, she has, but not the space she wanted.

As the secretary to a cheap, not-quite-incompetent boss at a small third-rate comic book company, Carmen knows she can do so much more, if only she got the opportunity. Then something like the opportunity arrives – even knowing it’s the longest of long shots, she takes it.

When Carmen finds her writing partner’s body with a bullet hole in his head and only his name on their comic, everything comes crashing down around her. But, the Lethal Lynx is her character, too, and she’s not going to back down from trying to save the comic book, and herself.

Secret Identity by Alex Segura is a great read. With an all-around solid story that comics fans and insiders will love, it reads very much like a comics-industry version of Umberto Eco’s Focault’s Pendulum. There’s an incredible depth of knowledge and experience that Alex brings to the book.  Those of who remember NYC of the 70s will nod to the tense beat of life there, the smells and sounds of the streets, and the faces of the real names with which Segura sugars the story. Carmen feels like a character right out of an episode of Wonder Woman on TV, or any drama about women “making it in the big city,” with NYC as a backdrop.

What came as a pleasant surprise to me was the narrative about Carmen’s past and present. Her relationships (romantic and non) with other women are as critical to the narrative as the interactions she has with the men in the book, but they do not overwrite of obfuscate one another. Carmen is a lesbian and she’s got the effed up ex to prove it, but that is not at all the sum of who Carmen is as a human. In fact, Carmen’s friendship with her roommate was among my favorite developments. The ending of this book is spot on. I could not have asked for better.

One of the loveliest aspects of the book are the comic pages of the Lethal Lynx. They tell a subtle story of their own. The art is excellent – especially when it is bad. The badness was incredible, just such a skilled example of bad comics art in the 1975 (although I think it could have used more sleaze) that I have to give it props. The excellent pages create quite the punch. BUT, this leads me to the one criticism I have of this otherwise perfect book. Personally, I would have loved if Segura had chosen women as his artist and letterer as a hearty “Fuck you comics in 1975.” Alas, he did not. While he credits many woman with the making of his book, both artist and letterer were men. A petty complaint, but it rankled. Not enough to lessen how much I enjoyed this book. ^_^

It’s summer. It’s a perfect time to go read a great rollicking superhero comics-flavored mystery (and caperish and queer) novel written by someone who does right by all of those things. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 Nailed it. Every time.
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Rather, some good sexual tension where it needed.
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 9

Great book, fast-paced and fun, with an ending that nails the landing.