I really enjoyed this rather long Pulitzer Prize winning novel about two Jewish cousins who get into the comic book business during its Golden Age in the 1930s. First of all, I grew up reading comics in the 60s and doted on the exploits of The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Superman, et al. so this book was really right up my alley. In fact, Stan Lee, the creator of many of the Marvel superheros and who just died recently, was actually featured in this novel and was a source of information for the author.
The book starts out when Sammy Clay meets up with his cousin, Joe Kavalier, who has escaped from Prague and the Nazis in 1939 to arrive in New York via a very circuitous route through Russia and Japan. Sam finds out that Joe is a very talented artist while Sam can come up with some interesting story ideas that they end up pitching to a novelty company that Sam works for. Thus, "The Escapist" is born and becomes one of the big hits of the comic industry in the late 30s. But Joe is really not happy and is trying to come up with some way to rescue the rest of his family from the Nazis in Prague. And then WWII happens sweeping Joe off to try to single-handedly defeat the Nazis while Sammy stays home and tries to deal with his sexuality.
The novel is long (over 600 pages) and full of adventure and surprises. It almost reads like a comic book with the various adventures and mishaps that happen to Kavalier and Clay. It was also very informative giving loads of information about the comic business and what happened in the early 1950s when censors came down on the business. Overall, a high recommendation for this one.
The book starts out when Sammy Clay meets up with his cousin, Joe Kavalier, who has escaped from Prague and the Nazis in 1939 to arrive in New York via a very circuitous route through Russia and Japan. Sam finds out that Joe is a very talented artist while Sam can come up with some interesting story ideas that they end up pitching to a novelty company that Sam works for. Thus, "The Escapist" is born and becomes one of the big hits of the comic industry in the late 30s. But Joe is really not happy and is trying to come up with some way to rescue the rest of his family from the Nazis in Prague. And then WWII happens sweeping Joe off to try to single-handedly defeat the Nazis while Sammy stays home and tries to deal with his sexuality.
The novel is long (over 600 pages) and full of adventure and surprises. It almost reads like a comic book with the various adventures and mishaps that happen to Kavalier and Clay. It was also very informative giving loads of information about the comic business and what happened in the early 1950s when censors came down on the business. Overall, a high recommendation for this one.
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