Captain Comics
A discussion with Alex Segura, writer of ‘Archies’ and ‘Blackout’
“The Archies” is a fun, funny comic book miniseries focusing on the Riverdale gang forming the band everyone knows from the song “Sugar, Sugar,” and the 1960s cartoon from which it sprang. “Blackout” is a hard-hitting crime noir, the fourth novel about a troubled private detective who investigates a cold case that dredges up the squalid skeletons in his closet and the worst experiences of his horrific alcoholism.
They represent two poles on the spectrum of writing. And in between is Alex Segura, the co-president of Archie Comics, who wrote them both.
How can one guy write two such diverse projects? This week seemed like a good time to ask Segura that, since the final issue of “The Archies” (from Archie Comics) and “Blackout” (from Polis Books) both arrive in May.
There’s not a lot to ask about “The Archies,” though. This seven-issue series is so much fun to read, it had to be equally fun to write. While inventing an origin of sorts for The Archies, Segura allows the would-be band to meet a number of famous musicians—and even famous fictional characters like Speedy Ortiz, recognizable to any “Love & Rockets” fan.
In other words, I asked Segura, did this series scratch every childhood itch you ever had?
“Oh, it’s a blast,” Segura said. “I pitched the book to our CEO, Jon Goldwater, as basically Archie’s Avengers—you have every major character in one book, plus music. It’s a dream. I used to love Archie Comics growing up, particularly the band stories, so getting the chance to partner with my good friend Matt Rosenberg on scripts and see the art come in from Joe Eisma and Matt herms has been spectacular. The ability to also weave in real-world guest stars is a great way to make each issue an “event,” too, without losing the ongoing drama and fun we’re building with each single issue. So you have that narrative and you get to weave in people like CHVRCHES, The Monkees and more. Fun is an understatement.”
And then comes “Blackout,” which requires an entirely different set of muscles. How does a writer shift back forth from the brightness and innocence of “The Archies” to the bleak, shadowy world of Segura’s P.I. protagonist, Pete Fernandez?
“They’re kind of palate cleansers for each other,” Segura said. “While ‘Blackout’ was a dark, immersive thing—a book that required me to really research the worst in people, from cults to Miami cold cases to addiction—‘The Archies’ is just fun, and you could write an issue in a week or two. While there is some drama in the comic, it’s very light-hearted and often resolved in an issue. So it was a nice gear shift, and they kind of informed each other in ways I hadn’t realized until I was done with both. Comics move so fast, and novels are big glaciers, so sometimes it was nice to speed along and finish something, and that allowed me to dive back into the book with more energy—and be able to see the whole project in context.”
Which means “Blackout” was by no means as pleasant a job as “The Archies.”
“I’d be lying if I said writing a novel was fun,” he said. “It just came up on Twitter briefly, and my response was ‘you love your writing before you start and once you’re done.’ It’s just a massive undertaking and involves so many moving pieces. But it is rewarding, and we do it because we are compelled to. We write these stories because we need to get them out. All that said, I love Pete, I’m proud of him as a character and I’m curious to see what happens to him, which spurs me to write about him and Miami. If I wasn’t curious, I’d write something else. I’m glad readers seem to still be intrigued by what’s happening in his world.”
And writing about Fernandez means writing about the worst depths of alcoholism. That aspect informs “Blackout” at a cellular level, and almost becomes the story’s true villain.
“Research is a big part of my writing, so everything that’s in the book has filtered through my mind in some way,” Segura said. “When I first introduced Pete—and when we meet him in (the first novel) ‘Silent City,’ he’s a hot mess, passed out in his apartment—I knew he was going to go through this journey of addiction. And that’s not particularly new to private eyes—the hard-drinkin’ detective is tried and true. But I didn’t want it to be this open-ended thing. I wanted him to come to terms with his life and try to fix it, and so that involved figuring out what those steps would be, so they could feel genuine to the reader and realistic in terms of the story. Pete doesn’t wake up one day and feel cured, for example. The cloud of alcohol hangs over him to varying degrees throughout the series—so it becomes a question of ‘ how does he deal with it now that he’s progressed this far?’ Answering that question honestly took a lot of time and research on my part, but it was something I wanted to ring true.”
But despite the very different styles between comics like “The Archies” and novels like “Blackout.” The latter, for example, is a series of books, which means it is always “To Be Continued!” in a way.
“I love serialized storytelling,” Segura said. “When I created Pete, I knew I wanted him to evolve from book to book, and I also wanted to engage readers in the books as a series. While ‘Blackout’ is a functional standalone novel—and I write them all that way—there are elements that carry over, especially the ending. The goal is to have the reader experience the same feeling I did when I read a cliffhanger in comics— need to run to the store and get the next one. Hopefully it worked.”