|
Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 3, 2024 12:48:21 GMT -5
Escapist: Amazing Adventures, Escapist: Pulse-Pounding Thrills(Dark Horse, 2018) On the heels of reading the novel that inspired these comics, I decided to pull these two hefty tpbs off of the shelf and finally give them a read as well. Near as I can tell, they collect all of the material original published in the eight issues of the Escapist series that Dark Horse published on a more or less quarterly basis in 2004 and 2005. The underlying conceit of the series is that it pretends that the Escapist comics described by Chabon in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay actually existed, and purports to reprint various Escapist comics published over the years – although with the exception of the origin story, they are those published in the late 1950s and afterward, after the demise of the fictional Empire Comics, when the ownership of the Escapist and associated characters changed hands from one questionable publisher to another over the course of several decades (and even ‘illegal’ Escapist stories appeared). There are also text pieces discussing various aspects of this period in the Escapist’s publication history by the likes of, e.g., cat yronwoode or Roy Thomas, and even Chabon himself (meanwhile, his novel is referred to by others as a ‘monograph’). The contributors are a veritable a who’s who list of writers and, esp. artists, including Howard Chaykin, Ron Randall, Marv Wolfman, Joe Staton, Paul Gulacy, Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Jeff Parker, Eduardo Barreto, Norm Breyfogle and so, so many more. Will Eisner even contributed a short piece featuring a meeting between the Spirit and the Escapist which was apparently the last comics work he ever did prior to his death. However, like any anthology type series, it’s a mixed bag. Some of the contributions are really good, others are solid, while there were a few that I just didn’t like very much. All in all, though, I’m glad I have this – it’s a great companion to Chabon’s novel.
|
|