Yeah yeah, I know, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is not one of those fancy picture books that we’ve all come to be so enamored with. (And if records and other things can be slipped into this column, I’m pretty sure 640 page novels can too.)
However, just because one needs to use their imagination to formulate the book’s imagery, that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most important, impeccably crafted, beautifully written pieces of literature about super heroes and the people that bring them to life ever seen (and I do mean ever).
Let’s get started, shall we?
The book takes place during the point in American history known as The Golden Age of Comics (roughly 1938 to 1950) and follows the exploits of two young and very fictional creators (Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier) as they co-create The Escapist, the most popular and well liked super hero of that era. Much like Kavalier and Clay combine the experiences of several early creators (Kirby, Simon, Eisner, Schuster * Lee, amongst others)into fictional amalgamations, so too does the Escapist combine elements of some of our favorite super heroes (most noticeably Captain America, The Spirit, Batman and Spider-Man).
Throughout much of the book, readers are provided a very sobering, almost heart breaking portrayal of the creator experience during the time when all of the characters we know and love were created. How racial, religious and gender bias was the name of the game, and how little power or control creators had over how their characters were used. Another aspect of the industry that the book plays up is the rivalry between companies, with representatives engaging in immense smear campaigns and other shady dealings in order to get their books to sell.
However, as much as the book made me realize and reinforce everything I love about comics and their rich, exciting and more than a little troubling history, it accomplishes so much more for me as a young Jew that relates to the world through his art. In fact, the Jewish cultural aspects of this book are just as (sometimes more) important than all of the comic historia thrown in there. Kavalier escaping Prague shortly before the German invasion and using The Escapist as attempt to raise public awareness of the horrors of Nazi Germany, the inclusion and expansion of the legend of the Golem of Prague and Samuel Klayman changing his name to Sam Clay in order to come across as less of a Jew are just the most obvious examples of the Jewish side of the books motivations. A lot of people forget (or never knew or don’t at all care) how steeped in Jewish culture and history comic books are given the almost entirely Jewish crop of creators that brought the industry to life (mostly because more “legitimate” publications wouldn’t offer them work due to their background). Of course, thats just one reading; to others, Superman could very well be Jesus.
Therein lies the true beauty of this book, this medium and pop culture on the whole: when literature develops as wide and multi-faceted of a history and level of cultural significance as comics have, anyone becomes able to read into things as much or as little as they want and find connections that, often times, are entirely unique to their experience. This book is living proof of that and while the thing certainly reads a little closer to home with those that can relate to the Jews of the 1930s and 40s and/or those familiar with the history of comics, it is my no means a “Jews only” or “dorks only” kind of book. Certainly a grasp of those histories helps, but without it, the book still holds up as a compelling, funny, depressing and hopeful read that, provided you don’t have a heart of stone, you’ll want to pick up again and again.
That said, I wouldn’t be doing this recommendation justice if I didn’t mention the third major focus of the book: escapism. You see, the character of The Escapist wasn’t just an escape artist’s assistant turned crime fighter. As a fictional being, he exemplified not only Sam Clay’s escape from a polio-stricken existence and Joe Kavalier’s escape from Europe, but also became a signifier of human escapism through art. While in my younger and more reckless days, I held the human ability to escape the trials and tribulations of the every day world through the consumption and production of art as a given and those who did not to were CHOOSING not to and were therefore complete idiots. I now realize that for some people, it’s hard for them to unlock their minds in that way and find their escapes in other ways. However, for those of us who, on a regular basis, take mental vacations in worlds of fantasy, then this book will probably resonate just as much with you as it did with me.
