Michael Chabon's The Escapist: Amazing Adventures

Michael Chabon's the Escapist

by Michael Chabon

In the fictional world of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , the Escapist--the epitome of Golden Age superhero--was conceived. This anthology is a collection of the hero's history and his exploits, created by an all-star cast of comic book luminaries.

The Escapist and his associates are heroes to all who languish in oppression's chains. They roam the globe, performing amazing feats to foil diabolical evildoers. From preventing a prison break and attack on Empire City, to facing a demonic horde in Japan, to crushing a galactic takeover in the year 2966, and to surfacing a sunken submarine from 300 fathoms, the Escapist brings hope and liberation.

As the history of his creators, Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, was chronicled in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , now a multitude of the Escapist's adventures are collected here, along with the patchwork publishing history of the character. This volume also contains the adventures of the Escapist's associate, Luna Moth. The stories and art within are by amazing talent like Brian K. Vaughan ( Saga, Y--The Last Man ), Kyle Baker ( The Fifth Beatle ), Eduardo Barreto ( Batman ), Howard Chaykin ( American Flagg, Star Wars ), Gene Colan ( Daredevil, Howard the Duck ), Matt Kindt ( Pistolwhip ), Kevin McCarthy ( Circuit-Breaker ), Bill Sienkiewicz ( Assassin ), Jim Starlin ( Captain Marvel ) and, of course, Michael Chabon.

Containing a total of twenty-six tales, along with two never-before-collected stories, this volume also contains six never-before-published stories, as well as a robust gallery of pinups celebrating the world of the Escapist from artists including Brian Bolland ( Judge Dredd ), Jöelle Jones ( Lady Killer ), Mike Mignola ( Hellboy ), Eric Wight ( My Dead Girlfriend ), Jae Lee ( Before Watchmen ), and more!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Collections, Fiction, Superheroes

396 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2018

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a Pulitzer prize winning novel about two comic book creators in the 40's who create The Escapist. It has a lot of parallels to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's lives, the creators of Superman. Now we have a book full of "lost" stories of The Escapist. Filled with not only comic stories but articles on the history of The Escapist, the book gets very meta, citing real artists of the time and even DC comics. The Escapist stories are a lot of fun. I wonder how many people will be suckered into believing the "true" history just like I used to work with a guy who thought The Blair Witch was really a documentary.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the universe of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (a really great book I can highly recommend), this is presented as a collection of assorted Escapist adventures throughout the character's history. Think Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told. And many of these stories really do feel "of their era", even though that's entirely a fictional construct. At any rate, some fun stories in here, some that are just ok, none that are outright dreadful.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology from an anthology book, so obviously a mixed bag. The art is the highlight while the stories vary quite a bit (Which is the main conceit, I suppose.)

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

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).

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tie-in after reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . Beautifully illustrated, and though the stories do have a "Golden Age" feel, I hoped for a bit more from a few of them. The art more than makes up for it though. I found a couple of the "Ads" very funny and brought back childhood memories. It's all a highly creative piece of work, broadening the world of Kavalier and Clay.

[Mike Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you really like comic books, I mean the history of the Golden Age and all the lore that surrounds it? Then you'd probably rate this a solid 5 stars. The problem I had was this constant feeling as I read it that I wasn't "getting" most of the material, at least not to the extent that I would if I was a comics history buff. Interesting but for me not great.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommended this to someone looking for old-timey comic anthologies without having read it. Even though it's metafictional, I hope they end up liking it. I've read it now, and it was fun to read. My favorite story, and the one I read most earnestly (as not just a commentary on the history of comics) was "Luna Moth Encounters The Conformist."

[Luke John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially purchased purely on the basis of having enjoyed Kavalier and Clay, I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this volume. The tales inside never outstay their welcome and there are enough clever tricks, interesting angles and insightful commentary within them to add to the Kavalier and Clay experience in a way that feels, if not essential, then certainly recommended. Loved it.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology of The Escapist stories, a meta book for the fictional world of Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay where the Escapist comic exists, so it's stories of him. Some stories are cool! Others are boring! Most are normal, Golden Age type stuff.

[David Lum · Rating 3 out of 5]

A truly impressive work of art! I appreciated it more for the parts I didn’t understand than for the things I got. Though I’m reasonably well versed in comic book lore, this collection of alternate-history comic book output stretched me.

[Kyle Burley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A mixed bag but lots of fun.
Admittedly, it’s the meta-textural connection to one of my favourite novels, (Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of “Kavalier & Clay”) that make these stories of particular interest to me.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/episode-...

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as magical or evocative as the book on which it is based.

[David Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the varying styles used in this collection, and the fake history created for the comic series. Truly a great example of the fun a writing team can have rewriting the past.

[Jakub Jadwiszczak · Rating 2 out of 5]

never meet your heroes?

[Jason Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to stay in the parallel dimension of Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay novel.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting anthology! I love the essays in between and the correlations on the comics within. Beautiful artwork, gruesome at times, but well done overall.

[Mark Krugman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little uneven with some of the stories significantly better than others but overall it’s a fun collection that adds the Kavalier and Clay lore.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this collection certainly stands on its own even without having read Kavalier & Clay, it functions best as an incredible expansion of the universe Chabon creates in that work. The comics are less about their individual stories and more about crafting an extremely plausible and well thought out (and entirely fictional) publishing history. That being said, the comics themselves range (very intentionally) in quality and tone; some of which stand toe to toe with the golden age heroes they’re paying homage too.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.