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Michael Chabon's the Escapist
Michael Chabon's The Escapist: Pulse-Pounding Thrills
Golden-Age superhero, the Escapist--master of elusion, champion of liberation--was conceived in the fictional world of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. This comic book anthology contains a variety of the Escapist's exploits, and details on the history of the character.
Master of elusion and foe of tyranny, from his secret headquarters beneath the majestic Empire Theater, the Escapist and his associates have been defeating the crooked and coming to the aid of those in need for generations. From obstructing the endeavors of post-war Nazis, to protecting the innocent from an attack on the World's Fair, to infiltrating behind enemy lines to free prisoners of war in Vietnam, and even to stymieing a hypnotizing saxophone player, the Escapist does not suffer oppression of any kind. A multitude of the Escapist's pulse-pounding adventures are collected here along with details of the publishing history of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay's creation. This volume also contains a story torn straight from the pages of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay written by Michael Chabon, the tale of the mysterious Mr. Machine Gun. Also featured, from another Kavalier & Clay classic publication, Weird Date, are two stories of romance, crime, and mystery. This collection features comic book creators of legend, including Will Eisner (The Spirit), Eduardo Barreto (Batman), Jeffrey Brown (Star Wars: Darth Vader and Son), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Star Wars), Paul Gulacy (Master of Kung Fu), Jeff Parker (Bucko), Marv Wolfman (The Tomb of Dracula), Thomas Yeates (Prince Valiant), and so many more!
Containing a total of twenty-two tales, along with three never-before-collected stories, this volume also contains five never-before-published stories, as well as a robust gallery of pinups celebrating the world of the Escapist from artists including Gabriel Ba (The Umbrella Academy, Casanova) Brian Bolland (Judge Dredd), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Fabio Moon (Serenity, Casanova), Tim Sale (Batman, Superman), and many more!
Master of elusion and foe of tyranny, from his secret headquarters beneath the majestic Empire Theater, the Escapist and his associates have been defeating the crooked and coming to the aid of those in need for generations. From obstructing the endeavors of post-war Nazis, to protecting the innocent from an attack on the World's Fair, to infiltrating behind enemy lines to free prisoners of war in Vietnam, and even to stymieing a hypnotizing saxophone player, the Escapist does not suffer oppression of any kind. A multitude of the Escapist's pulse-pounding adventures are collected here along with details of the publishing history of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay's creation. This volume also contains a story torn straight from the pages of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay written by Michael Chabon, the tale of the mysterious Mr. Machine Gun. Also featured, from another Kavalier & Clay classic publication, Weird Date, are two stories of romance, crime, and mystery. This collection features comic book creators of legend, including Will Eisner (The Spirit), Eduardo Barreto (Batman), Jeffrey Brown (Star Wars: Darth Vader and Son), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Star Wars), Paul Gulacy (Master of Kung Fu), Jeff Parker (Bucko), Marv Wolfman (The Tomb of Dracula), Thomas Yeates (Prince Valiant), and so many more!
Containing a total of twenty-two tales, along with three never-before-collected stories, this volume also contains five never-before-published stories, as well as a robust gallery of pinups celebrating the world of the Escapist from artists including Gabriel Ba (The Umbrella Academy, Casanova) Brian Bolland (Judge Dredd), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Fabio Moon (Serenity, Casanova), Tim Sale (Batman, Superman), and many more!
416 pages, Paperback
Published June 19, 2018
16 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Michael Chabon
142 books8,871 followersMichael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 17, 2019
I came to this book with a lot of anticipation and excitement. I had read with great pleasure the novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay also by Michael Chabon. The novel tells the story of the fictional creators of the fictional comic book hero, The Escapist. All three characters are tied to the history of the Comics and the years that lead into World War II. For me the novel was great and therefore the comic, The Escapist was something of the completion of the dream. It could have been. I think it became a victim of too many, attempting to do too much and producing too little.
On the positive side, The Escapist does showcase many of the finest artists in the world of comics and presents a lovely effort to honor the various periods and styles of American Comic Book History. In this light, Chabon is creating an in depth homage to the history of comics and its best artists, writers, inkers and publishers. As styles and technology change Chabon gives us a few pages of Comic History, in a “the story so Far” format. The people and companies are correct it is only the mention of their participation in the production of Escapist titles that is fictional.
It is this part that could lead others to suspect that Chabon’s actual intention is to falsely tie his invention to the names of the best people who did and are doing their best in a real world that has no real history of a character called Escapist.
If this sounds confusing, it is only a tad more so than following the various direction of the various parts of this graphic novel cum not exactly real history.
My bottom line is that:
Beginning to end the art work is fabulous. Each era and style captures that era and that person’s style. The color palette and the inking technology seem proper to the times.
The comic books stories are too short, abrupt, implausible and forced. No writer is given the time to do more than mark that section as belonging to its times. Stories had to be short to fit them all in, but the result are too many unreasonable over hasty wrap-ups. Very few sections are worth the time to do more than scan the art.
On the positive side, The Escapist does showcase many of the finest artists in the world of comics and presents a lovely effort to honor the various periods and styles of American Comic Book History. In this light, Chabon is creating an in depth homage to the history of comics and its best artists, writers, inkers and publishers. As styles and technology change Chabon gives us a few pages of Comic History, in a “the story so Far” format. The people and companies are correct it is only the mention of their participation in the production of Escapist titles that is fictional.
It is this part that could lead others to suspect that Chabon’s actual intention is to falsely tie his invention to the names of the best people who did and are doing their best in a real world that has no real history of a character called Escapist.
If this sounds confusing, it is only a tad more so than following the various direction of the various parts of this graphic novel cum not exactly real history.
My bottom line is that:
Beginning to end the art work is fabulous. Each era and style captures that era and that person’s style. The color palette and the inking technology seem proper to the times.
The comic books stories are too short, abrupt, implausible and forced. No writer is given the time to do more than mark that section as belonging to its times. Stories had to be short to fit them all in, but the result are too many unreasonable over hasty wrap-ups. Very few sections are worth the time to do more than scan the art.
December 6, 2018
An extended history of a fictional character, played absolutely straight. If one is unaware that all of the 'essays' about the Escapists publishing history interspersed between the 'lost' or 'obscure' comics are pure fiction, there is no wink, nudge or other 'look how clever I am' asshattery to tip the reader off. Well done.
February 8, 2019
I hate to say it, but I think The Escapist started scraping the bottom of the barrel here. There have been many metaverses that mirror the history of comics (Supreme and Astro City come to mind immediately), and the work done with the Escapist has been well done in the past. But they seem to be trying too hard here, pulling in the indie era and modern war stories with exceedingly tangential relationships to the main plot. That's highlighted by the final story, a three-issue WW2/70's crime and vigilante story about a man with a machine gun hand. It references the Escapist once in its 70+ page story.
That's not to say that it's all bad - there are some decent stories here, although nothing I consider must-read. It does manage to keep the idea that the Escapist is a real historical title well in hand, although some of the explanations for things like the blaxploitation title seem a bit convoluted.
There are enough good stories in here to offset the couple of terrible ones, and some of the articles add a nice accent to Kavalier and Clay, but unless you're a huge fan of the book, it probably isn't worth reading.
That's not to say that it's all bad - there are some decent stories here, although nothing I consider must-read. It does manage to keep the idea that the Escapist is a real historical title well in hand, although some of the explanations for things like the blaxploitation title seem a bit convoluted.
There are enough good stories in here to offset the couple of terrible ones, and some of the articles add a nice accent to Kavalier and Clay, but unless you're a huge fan of the book, it probably isn't worth reading.
November 4, 2019
Wonderful variety, and the fictional history bit still works great. I've never really been a comic book person, and I wish I knew more about the really history of the genre. I particularly wish I knew more about the Golden Age of comics, as I'm not 100% sure whether certain parts of this are mocking the past or imitating it, but either way it works great.
February 8, 2024
A moderate amount of fun. Brings to life a number of stories in the faux history of the comic book life of The Escapist, the Superman-ish book created by the equally fictional The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
June 25, 2018
It was nice to revisit these stories, and this time in a larger more complete volume (and with never-before published stories). However, reading all of these Escapist stories together can be a little more "burdensome" than taking them in in the shorter, earlier collections (and individual comics).
June 1, 2019
A cool way to go through the history of comic books. Much of it was lost on me, but most of the stories were still pretty good. I liked Mr Machine Gun it was by Michael Chabon and felt most like a supplement to the novel. A good story about the corrupting power of firearms. The romance comics introduced me to a genre I wasn’t aware of, and they were good. I also liked the Indy escapist, the royal festival of magic and the black escapist. The escaping from war stories were good too. Such a versatile character.
What I learned: Sneaky Pete was G.I. slang for special forces.
What I learned: Sneaky Pete was G.I. slang for special forces.
September 18, 2024
Another collection of Escapist tales, this time leaning more towards independent comics. Whilst perhaps the weaker of the two volumes, there is still a lot to love here, with some great stories told well (including the final few Mr Machine gun issues). More good stuff.
March 16, 2019
This is a personal rating because I don't particularly care for Golden Age type stories, because they are usually so simplistic, but if you like that, then this book is for you!
April 3, 2025
A mixed bag of stories loosely related to Michael Chabon's character from the Pulitzer-winning "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay."
July 8, 2023
Interesting stories, some are quite gruesome. I can understand why one of them was never published. It turned my stomach.
I really enjoy the Escapist adventures, no matter who published them.
The essays and articles in between are amazing. Plus Michael Chabon's 2004 Eisner Awards speech - phenomenal.
I really enjoy the Escapist adventures, no matter who published them.
The essays and articles in between are amazing. Plus Michael Chabon's 2004 Eisner Awards speech - phenomenal.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews