Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist - various artists/writers
As I mentioned in the previous review, the Escapist, a nonexistent comic book superhero, has now been brought into existence, along with essays and stories about his colorful history. This book, the first of possibly many volumes, is a collection of a few Escapist episodes, including: the origin of the Escapist, the never-before-published conclusion of the "Dark Lady" story, a story from Escapist-themed manga, and a few stories of Luna Moth, another creation of Kavalier and Clay.
While somewhat entertaining, I felt the comics themselves didn't live up to the made-up history. They purport to be examples of the Escapist from the past, but for the most part they look like newly-drawn comics. Granted, if they were truly Golden Age comics, they would be pretty poorly written, with unvarying rows of drawings, and dated-looking illustrations ... but that's what I was expecting.
The most entertaining part, sadly, is the cover, designed by Chris Ware. He manages (on the back cover) to capture the look of old advertisements, the sort you'd expect to find in the back of Amazing Midget Radio Comics, but with his famed depressing humor. ("Also included, completely FREE, to ALL purchasers of this book: Midget Radio, Deluded Sense of Efficacy, Absentee Father..." and so on.)
If you enjoyed Chabon's novel, you might want to take a look, but be forewarned: the novel was better.
Fed to jhliu's brain | July 12, 2004
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