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MICHAEL CHABON. Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, No. 1. Milwaukee, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2004.80 pages. $8.95.
Imagining The Escapist
The Escapist is one A of the oddest comic books I have ever read, and that is saying a lot from a fan who has collected comic books off and on for sixty years. It purports to be an anthology of early comics stories featuring one of comics history's most notable characters, and it possesses all the trappings of the conventional superhero genre - an idealistic and muscular costumed hero with a secret identity, a sinister international organization that plots to enslave humanity, and a colorful setting for the Escapist's adventures, Empire City in the 1940s and 50s, that matches up precisely with Superman's Metropolis or Batman's Gotham City. Furthermore, this first issue, "80 Pulse-Pounding Pages" splashed across its cover, leads off with the obligatory origin story that describes the mystical transformation of a crippled lad into the "Master of Illusion" who swears a sacred oath to "work for the liberation of all who toil in chains, whether of iron or ideas."
Why then "odd?" The answer lies in its provenance, hinted at by its full title - Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, Volume 1. Chabon is the noted author of several novels including Wonder Boys, which was made into successful film starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire, and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and clay. In this latter book, set at the outset of World War...