The Black Ghost: superhero noir comic starring an antiestablishment vigilante and a hacktivist sidekick

[Before he was a crime writer, Alex Segura was busily overseeing the edgy, amazing reboot of Archie Comics. Now, he's murging his murder-mystery career with his comics life, in The Black Ghost, a new noir comics collaboration with Monica Gallagher. It's a delight to offer this conversation between Alex and Monica. -Cory]

When we first announced plans to launch The Black Ghost - a crime/vigilante comic series from Comixology Originals, co-written by Monica and I, with art by George Kambadais, colors by Ellie Wright, letters by Taylor Esposito, and edits by Greg Lockard - we knew the kind of story we wanted to tell: a story about a woman overcoming her own demons to become the hero her city needs - vigilante mask and all.

The crux of the narrative was about how our eventual hero, Lara Dominguez - a grizzled cops reporter thats battling two obsessions: alcohol and her city, Creightons, lone vigilante, The Black Ghost - makes it from zero to hero. Our tale mixes elements from our own past works - including the acclaimed iHeart podcast, Lethal Lit, and our respective gigs writing the Pete Fernandez Miami Mysteries and the webcomic Assassin Roommate - with the tropes of the street-level vigilante genre: the fictional city, the masked protector, the eager sidekick. Blended together, the end result was The Black Ghost - a book that hopefully feels like the perfect balance between classic, gritty vigilante comics and hardboiled crime fiction.

ALEX SEGURA: First off, have you been surprised by the response to the book? Read the rest