The Escapist is a metafictional character, a comic book hero in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon, created as an homage to the heroes of the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books; the character's abilities as an escape artist are inspired by the early illusionist career of comic book artist Jim Steranko.
Introduced in Chabon's novel in 2000, the Escapist is...
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The Escapist is a metafictional character, a comic book hero in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon, created as an homage to the heroes of the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books; the character's abilities as an escape artist are inspired by the early illusionist career of comic book artist Jim Steranko.
Introduced in Chabon's novel in 2000, the Escapist is said to be the creation of the book's protagonists Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, a pair of Jewish comic book creators in the 1930s and '40's. The character's modus operandi is part of a recurring theme of escapism in the novel, representing the imaginative escapist nature of superhero comics as well as Kavalier and Clay's attempts to escape from the troubles of their past. Joe Kavalier has fled to America from Nazi-occupied Europe, while Sam Clay wants to escape from himself — both his polio-stricken body and repressed homosexuality.
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