NYCC 2024: Talking Comic Book Writing With Alex Segura

Writer Alex Segura has no shortage of projects going on at any one time. In addition to his multiple Comixology originals – he has an unannounced project dropping soon – Segura is working on projects for Marvel and DC while also working on his novels. Comicon.com sat down with Segura during a Comixology mixer at New York Comic Con to discuss how he approaches his work and what’s next for the writer.

Tom Smithyman: Can you sum up you work with Comixology?

Alex Segura: Comixology Originals is where I launched my creator-owned stuff. We had two volumes of The Black Ghost. And then I did Blood Oath, which is horror/crime/historical. Basically it’s Boardwalk Empire meets vampires. So it’s been a nice home for really creator-driven ideas that I felt like I needed to not control, but have some real input in how things go.

And I have another book that we haven’t announced yet, but it’s going to be an original graphic novel coming out hopefully next year.

Smithyman: Comixology started as completely digital. Do you ever miss not having a physical copy of your work?

Segura: No, because one of the smartest things that Comixology did was to create this relationship first with Dark Horse, and then also Ablaze and other publishers to have a print component. I think the think that talent really wants is to be able to go to one publisher and having all your needs serviced in terms of outlets and channels like bookstore, comic shop, and digital.

And Comixology does that without overextending the oversight. They trust the creators to create these stories once they hear the pitch, and then they give it a great platform.

Smithyman: Do you think your works center around any recurring themes?

Segura: I’m not a theme writer. I know some readers who do this. “The theme of this will be found family.” And then they start. I don’t do that. I Iook back and think: “Oh, that’s what I was doing.”

So usually it’s about people overcoming their flaws and faults and demons to become something they were destined to be. And I think that goes back to my Pete Fernandez novels. The Black Ghost is about an alcoholic journalist who has to take on the mantle of this street-level vigilante. Blood Oath is about a daughter who has to reclaim her family’s legacy. And that applies to the next book we’re working on too.

Smithyman: How do you approach writing comics vs. a novel?

Segura: Novels are so solitary. You’re writing alone for months and months and months and creating 40,000 to 50,000 to 60,000 words on your own. So you are the screenwriter. You are the director. You are the costume director. Everything is on you.

Comics are much more collaborative in that you’re basically jamming with other people. So in terms of comics, I’m usually thinking about the artist. What does the artist like to draw? What are their strengths? How can we make something better than me doing it by myself?

Smithyman: With Comixology, do you typically have a say in which artist you’re working with?

Segura: It depends. Like for Comixology it becomes a package deal. I’ll say so and so and I are going to work on something.

Smithyman: Do you approach writing a graphic novel differently than a series that you know is going to be incremental?

Segura: In this day and age where everything is collected anyway you have to think of both. Could it work as a single issue? Is there a meaningful cliffhanger? How is it going to read as a whole thing? So with this the new project, it was going to be a miniseries with issues, but I think it works better as an original graphic novel. But it also has those cliffhanger moments which is good because it’s building suspense.

Smithyman: You need peaks and valleys in any story, regardless of the format.

Segura: You just have now a little more wiggle room. If you want to do the cliffhanger on page 18, it doesn’t have to be on page 20.

Smithyman: You obviously have a lot of irons in the fire right now. What other projects can you talk to us about?

Segura: My novel Alter Ego, which is a murder mystery set in the comic book industry. It’s a sequel to Secret Identity, which won the LA Times Book Prize. It comes out in December.

I’m doing Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku, with is three four-issue miniseries. It leads into the battle of Jakku, which was the end to the galactic civil war. I’m finishing up Spider Society at Marvel, which is a four-issue series.

And I’m launching The Question: All Along the Watchtower, with Cian Tormey on art. It’s a dream. I love Renee Montoya. It’s been a thrill to write her in a new setting. She’s on the Justice League watchtower. So it’s like noir in space.

Smithyman: That is certainly plenty to keep you busy! Thanks for taking time out of your NYCC schedule to talk to Comicon.com.