| Title | : | The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 159307171X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781593071714 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 159 |
| Publication | : | First published April 28, 2004 |
The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 1 Reviews
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If you have read Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, this book (I believe it is the first of 3 or 4) of cartoons and backstory on The Escapist comics is a fun and entertaining companion. I liked how they used lots of different styles (classic 60's comix, manga, contemporary graphic novel, watercolour, crumpish pastiche) in writing it and of course LOVE Luna Moth. A fun comic but read Chabon's book first!
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Awesome literary nostalgia!
The character 'The Escapist' is actually a serious imitation of a fake historical comic character. So. This book - 'Michael Chabon Presents....The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist Volume 1: v. 1' - is a bogus collection of supposedly previously published Escapist issues. Each included issue in this collection has been drawn meticulously in the genuine style of whatever comic Art representation actually dominated the comic publishing industry of every decade since the 1940's.
This fake collection is a brilliant parody of an anniversary book issue of a beloved comic character. If The Escapist had been a genuine comic character first developed in the 1940's, and if the character had survived for decades through the changing art styles and artists and publishers that comics have undergone in real life up to the present, this particular graphic novel collection would serve as a genuine commemorative publication. Fans would have stormed their local bookstore to buy a copy and run home in a rush to encapsulate the book in a protective plastic jacket, hoping to sell it in 20 years for thousands of dollars. However, despite that it is a falsified historical collection about a fake historical super hero, the issues are drawn in the genuine style and the hero, 'The Escapist' is played straight like a real fictional comic Hero reminiscent of the genuine made-up heroes in the fantasy comic fiction we actually grew up reading.
My head is hurting, gentle reader.
The 'Best of The Escapist' comics which have been included are:
The Passing of the Key - origin story
Escapism 101 - written history of how the comic began
Followed by what I am sure would have been favorite top sellers representing the various epochs of 'The Escapist':
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
Sequestered
Prison Break
Three Hundred Fathoms Down
Divine Wind
The Escapegoat
Luna Moth
Reckonings
Old Flame
The Lady or the Tiger
I think people who enjoy literary jokes will like this fake collection best. It is well done, picture perfect actually, but, you know, fake. -
Video-review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCasP...
A collection showcasing the narrative and creative potential of the costumed-hero genre. A must-read for fans of Chabon's Amazing Adventures, it works great the other way round too: if you're on the fence about reading Chabon's masterpiece, this comic book might be what you need to land on the right side of that fence. -
To be honest, I read The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist out of a sense of obligation. I read Kavalier and Clay and even though I hated that book, I felt that I needed to give the graphic novel inspired by the story a chance. I didn't mind the parts of K&C that were actually about comics and the Escapist was an interesting idea for a super-hero. This graphic novel is unfortunately not volume one in the Escapist series, this is a faux-non-fiction book about the history of the Escapist and the other characters mentioned in K&C. The entire book pretends that K&C was a legitimate biography of two real life comic book creators and Anapol, Ashkenazy, and Radio Comics were actually real things in our world. That pissed me off a little bit. We get an introduction where Michael Chabon talks about finding his first copy of The Escapist and all of the hard work he put into researching Kavalier's and Clay's lives and the The Escapist's future with other writers. Then we get our first actual comic, The Escapists's origin story. It is fun and the art work is good, but it comes off as indulgent and pretentious. Then, we get the history of The Escapist's creation and development in the world of K&C. After that, it's just random one-shot stories staring different writers and artists versions of The Escapist and Luna Moth. This isn't a graphic novel. It's the equivalent of a "best of" book. Each writer gives The Escapist and Luna Moth a different personality and different motives. This is paired with vastly different art styles, some of which look pretty nice and others are absolutely terrible. I bought this book expecting to read the first chapter in The Escapist story, but instead I got this indulgent, self-righteous meta-book. We get a couple of stories that don't connect in any way or have anything to do with K&C. It's labeled as volume one, giving the indication that this is the start of a series. The only way I see this happening is the way Reader's Digest releases new books in its condensed novels "series." This wasn't about The Escapist, it was about Chabon's ego.
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Originally from
In Lesbian With Books
I told you, I'm shamelessly obsessed with
Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I can't seem to move on with the book hang-over after reading it and to make the matter worse, I discovered the graphic novels entitled The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist by Michael Chabon featuring Kavalier and Clay's brainchild, the Escapist. It has different fictional news, history, and essays about the comic books during the birth of comic books and the Escapists, the Depression, the WWII, and the Golden Age which made the book somewhat real (and I really thought the history the book was telling was true because the contributor writers mentioned a LOT of famous comic book artists). Aside from that, it included the main attraction of the book: the story of the Escapist. If you don't know, the Escapist is an escape artist (you know, like Houdini) showing amazing feats of escapology and he's a part of the League of the Golden Key that fights tyranny (Iron Chain gang) and save the oppressed and bounded by the chain!
(please continue to read
HERE . The pictures don't seem to fit the layout of the Goodreads site. -
Esse “As incríveis aventuras do Escapista” é um belo complemento à leitura “As aventuras de Kavalier e Clay”. O Escapista, o personagem de quadrinhos que só existia nas páginas do romance de Chabon, ganha aqui – haja metalinguagem – vida própria, como se fosse um autêntico produto da Era dos Quadrinhos, lá dos anos 1930 e 1940. E mais. Ganha vida ao ter, ainda, uma cronologia fictícia própria, com uma ‘carreira’ que se estendeu pelas décadas seguintes. E alguns artigos sobre a sua história.
Além desses artigos, os quadrinhos são bem interessantes. Alguns são realmente muito boas.
Os meus favoritos: A passagem da chave, escrita pelo próprio Chabon; Os libertadores, com estória e arte de Howard Chaykin (fiquei com vontade de reler American Flagg); Reinar no inferno, de Brian K. Vaughn (o cara não é um superstar dos quadrinhos à toa); A última cortina, escrita por Jason Hall, com arte de Eric Wright, uma provocativa estória sobre eutanásia; e, finalmente, O Escapista e o Spirit, escrita e desenhada pelo próprio Will Eisner, em sua última obra.
Para quem leu e gostou d’O Escapista, essa é uma leitura que vale muito a pena. -
Erstaunlich gutes Begleit-Comic zum Buch
Die unglaublichen Abenteuer von Kavalier & Clay. Hatte mir erst Mal nur den ersten Band besorgt, um zu schauen, ob das überhaupt was ist.
Ist es. Das Format ist kleiner als man das von aktuellen Comics oder Graphic Novels so kennt. Auch die verschiedenen Zeitalter, die der Charakter über die Jahre in seiner Comic-Welt durchläuft sind sehr vielschichtig. Luna Moth bekommt auch ein-zwei Panels mehr, was ich überraschend fand. Hatte erwartet einen schlichten Sammelband mit männlichen Charaktere zu bekommen. Zwischendurch gibt es immer Informationen zur "ausgewählten" Story.
Ich stecke jetzt nicht so tief in der Comicwelt drinnen, aber soweit ich weiß entstammt hier alles der Fantasie von Michael Chabon und die Kollektion dieser "alten" Comics ist allein sein Kopfkind. Mir gefällt's. Es wäre aber hilfreich, das erwähnte Buch gelesen zu haben. -
This review can also be found on my blog:
https://graphicnovelty2.com/2020/03/2...
“The Escapist- dazzling Master of Elusion, foe of tyranny, and champion of liberation! Operating from a secret headquarters under the boards of the Empire Theater, the Escapist and his crack team of associates roam the globe performing amazing feats of magic and coming to the aid of all those who languish in the chains of oppression.”
Having just finished the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2001) novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay written by Michael Chabon, I was intrigued enough by the fictional comic book hero to find this metafiction graphic novel about The Escapist. To continue the charade that Kavalier and Clay were real men this parody recreates the supposed decades-long publishing history of the character, starting in the Golden Age of Comics. This companion book is a homage to the comics of past eras and showcases The Escapist (plus Luna Moth) in many different styles and moves forward chronologically to how comics are typically drawn today. The collection included a manga type story, a simply drawn gag style strip that would appeal to children, watercolors for Luna, plus all the Golden, Silver, Bronze and modern era types of illustrations and storytelling.
Some of my favorites:
The Passing of the Key– origin story as found in the novel. Written by Michael Chabon and illustrated by Eric Wright in a perfect Golden Era vibe.
300 Fathoms Down– an elderly Escapist still has it and shows amazing abilities to withstand water pressure. Written by Mike Baron and drawn by Val Mayerik, a favored artist of mine, who illustrated Of Dust & Blood and The Legion of Monsters.
Old Flame– Luna Moth has a battle of the wits with the Devil himself. Written by Kevin McCarthy with a lovely painterly approach by Dan Brereton.
The Lady or the Tiger– gritty what-if story about how the Escapist must forgo love to continue fighting crime. Very emo. Written by David Gold and illustrated evocatively by Gene Colan.
Taking on a life of its own, in another book by Chabon, his essay collection Book-Ends, author Brian K Vaughn (famous for Saga) writes a brief story of fictionally meeting an elderly Sam Clay at a comic convention, and how Clay inspired him to become the “comic book genius” he is today. Vaughn takes it further by writing the graphic novel series The Escapists.
But to understand ALL of this, you must first read the original novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay! (I actually liked this anthology better than the novel) -
Yuh, not bad I guess
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If you conisder yourself a hardcore fan of Chabon's Kavalier and Clay, then this is for you. The premise is that The Escapist really WAS some long-forgotten Golden Age character that Chabon "rediscovered" and wrote about. This book collects alot of key issues of The Escapist from his long life. Chabon himself even writes an opening where he discusses the first Escapist book he ever read (which was later re-created in the newest mini-series...it all gets very meta). The first story in the collection is an exact recreation (scripted by Chabon) of the first comic that is laid out in the novel. All in all, it was this series of books that led to my confusion for years over which came first - Chabon's book or the actual character The Escapist.
So how long until Michael Chabon does what so many others before him have done (like Brad Meltzer and Greg Rucka) and start writing actual superhero comics?!? Imagine what he could do with some third-tier characters! -
I thought this was fun, even though I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The stories are written and illustrated like vintage comics, so you'll get a lot of puns and KA-POW! type sequences that are entertaining. I was expecting something more... I dunno?... just more? Brilliant, maybe? from Chabon, but this book was full all-in-all. My favorite part is actually the cover of the book. The front cover is gorgeous simplicity and the back is fantastic. I wish all those gimmicky items for sale really existed! :)
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Fun book, that gives the history of the fake comic book characters that the characters from
Michael Chabon's book
the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay made up (the Escapist, Luna Moth, etc). It also gives, basically, a history of the comic book and, to illustrate the evolving comic book style, employs multiple talented comic book artist that, I imagine, if you are familiar with comic books are artists of note. -
Not really one for comics/graphic novels, but having read 'Kavalier and Clay' earlier in the year, this was a must. Nice to see both The Escapist and Luna Moth in drawn form. I would have liked to see the Luna Moth story regarding her origins, but maybe that will be in one of the later books?
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No, no i no.
Tot allò que a Kavalier i Klay era la promesa d'un heroi clàssic, aquí es transforma en un còmic de pega amb pretensions i sense xixa. Avorrit, amb historietes insofribles. Només se salva la de Kyle Baker. -
In
Michael Chabon's
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay we follow the rise and fall of the two creators of the comic book The Escapist. Presented as a history of the two creators and their publishing career, the novel follows them both across several decades and the various challenges they face.
This addendum to Kavalier & Clay is a collection of brief comics drawn from the fictional back-catalogue of the Escapist. Punctuated with essays explaining the history and development of the central character of the comics—the Escapist himself—and some of his side-kicks, the essays add to the overall metafictional sense that Chabon was perhaps writing about real people, real stories.
I appreciated the diverse collection of artists selected to present various phases of the Escapist's adventures, but some of the stories were quite forgettable. They tended to end with a clever little twist, but in most cases felt severely truncated in order to fit the overall collection. The essays were brief and good for world-building. Still, the idea and its execution was, on the whole, an enjoyable addition to the original book. Not worth reading if you haven't read it or did not much care for it. And not interesting enough that'd I'd go through the trouble of finding the others in the series of similar graphic novels. Still, worth an hour or two of reading. -
The concept here is interesting: take the characters of The Escapist and Luna Moth from Chabon's
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and create actual comic book stories featuring them. There are some really great creators here, including Gene Colan, Howard Chaykin, and Kyle Baker. The stories themselves are a mixed bag. They're all at least mildly entertaining. And the art on most of them is great.
If you've read the novel and like the idea of reading actual Escapist and Luna Moth stories, then you'll probably like this. If you haven't read the novel, this might still be a fun collection of oddball stories, but you'd be missing some context.
I read the TBP version of this, and have one complaint about it. It's printed at a much smaller size than a standard comic book, so some of the stories suffer from being printed at that reduced size. If your eyesight is as bad as mine, maybe get the digital version, or look for the original comics. -
Hmmmm. I was not a comic book reader as a kid. We didn't have any money "to waste" and I think my mother thought comics were lower class and perhaps anti-Christian. As a result, I would read one or two at another kid's house. Walking to the local library (after school) became a habit and I found that I could imagine some pretty wonderful visions (in my head) when reading "Swiss Family Robinson," without resorting to explicit pictures. Nevertheless, I loved Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" and, so, when I found this little paperback first edition of "Michael Chabon Presents....," I snatched it up. It turns out I still don't like comics much. But, the fact that this copy is signed "To Bob Bason. Michael Chabon" means it is going to go in my stacks, comfortably close to all the rest of the Chabons, right between the signed copies of "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "The Yiddish Policeman's Union."
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It was cool to read actual Escapist and Luna Moth comics, being a huge fan of Kavalier and Clay . But for me, the comics part of this volume was somewhat underwhelming - art, story, everything, just O.K. The little essays of fake comics history which present this volume as a collection of kind of found Escapist stories doesn't work at all for me. I'm not sure what the point is. It's kind of meta but not in a way that is interesting to me. What would I even classify this as? I have a historical fiction shelf, maybe I should have a fictional history shelf.
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What I found interesting reading is I thought the prose descriptions of the comic would obviously work better as a comic... I now think they worked better as prose. More depth, more analysis, whatever it was, this fell flat. I liked the history that was supplemental to the book, knowing what happened to the characters, but the comics themselves just weren't that special. I appreciate the different writers and art styles, which is consistent with a long running comic, so points for effort, but that's about it.
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The exact book I read isn't on Goodreads, but is bigger than this one and called "The Escapist: Amazing Adventures." Being a collection of comics and a few stories, it's a mixed bag, with some very very good stuff, and other stuff that's meh. On the whole, though, I like that they've taken the fake comics of the Kavalier and Clay novel, and made them real. It feels like a alternate history kind of thing.
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I read "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" years ago and read this when it was selected by my book club. I asked my comic book-loving pre-teen to read it with me, turning it into an opportunity to discuss a book we both read.
I cannot say that I love comics but the detail in this one is very thorough and the illustrator and editor managed to keep the general ideas on the page while bringing the characters very much to life. -
I think I like the idea of this collection more than the collection itself. It's a clever conceit and some of the stories are fun, but I'm not sure the Escapist stands alone outside of Kavalier and Clay. Props to the various writers and artists here -- I did escape for an hour and enjoyed myself -- but I think this collection has sufficiently mined most of the "escape" twists and puns.
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A collection of stories by some very well-known comics creators based on characters from Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay." There are some nice-looking styles respresented, but the stories struck me as a bit too campy.
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It was OK. The artwork is not bad, but the styles change frequently, which is a little jarring in reading a volume. The origin story of the Escapist is OK. But most of the "adventures" fell a little short of amazing, and I found myself getting bored with the story.
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Tem Harvey Pekar sendo Harvey Pekar, Will Eisner sendo Will Eisner (na sua última história) e acima de tudo tem um jogo delicioso de verdade e mentira. O único ponto fraco é a história sobre o Vietnã.
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A nice read to follow The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, this is a "collection" of strips of their greatest creation. While imaginative in its use of various styles in cartooning from the 20th century, this book is designed for enthusiastic readers of the novel only.
