Comic books and magic tricks can mean more that just ballooning muscles and gag gifts — or so Michael Chabon thinks, as he brings us to a time and place where intellect and mystery find their way into these two often-overlooked art forms. Jewish mysticism meets Americana in this novel, and we find all this in the comic-book superhero, the Escapist, who is the creation of the wonderful pair of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay.
Josef Kavalier first makes the acquaintance of his cousin, Sammy Klayman, late one night in 1939. He has managed to escape from German-occupied Prague, but has had to leave his family behind.
Josef and Sammy discover their compatible artistic and narrative talents. Desperate to help his family escape, Josef hits upon an idea for a new superhero with Sammy. Their hero is the Escapist, who can perform daring acts of chain-breaking, lock-loosening and other feats of liberation.
The Escapist, while a typical superhero in appearance, serves an additional purpose: he fights Hitler and the Nazis to liberate the Jews and other oppressed peoples. The Escapist takes off — and Josef and Sammy become Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, Americanising their names to become a great comic book team.
Best known for Wonder Boys, his novel turned film, Chabon’s greatest skill lies in his combination of imaginative fiction and practical research. His prose is neither fluid nor flawless, and some of the secondary characters blur in the background. But Chabon has written an adventure story that keeps you up until 4am, eager to learn if the Escapist, and Chabon himself, can free the enslaved and lead them home.