The Escapists

January 4, 2010
Ambition outpaces execution in Vaughan and company’s graphic novel semisequel to Michael Chabon’s celebrated novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
. Most installments in the “Escapist” comics franchise to date have been perfunctory affairs; Vaughan raises the stakes by setting his story not in that character’s fictional world, but in a present-day setting in which nerdy Max Roth, son of the late king of Escapist collectibles, acquires the rights in order to publish a new comic book series with the aid of a love-interest illustrator and a burly letterer. The book’s plot—including an ill-fated publicity stunt and challenge from a charming corporate manipulator—is outlined with the same broad strokes as its characterizations, sometimes echoing the source text’s events, but achieving none of the novel’s texture. Rolston’s dominant cartoony visual style fails to credibly ground the book’s characters or setting, and alternates with darkly overwrought “Escapist” pages by Alexander. The book’s moral—that inspiration is best honored by total originality—is striking and seems to call for more inspired comics than this.

June 1, 2014

It's impossible to discuss 21st-century superheroes without mentioning Vaughan. Working with various artists over the past decade or so, he has written some of the finest creator-owned work in comics. His stories are deeply rooted in reality but incorporate an element of the fantastic, and they showcase human possibilities rather than superhuman cliches. This exceptional story treats the Escapist--a comic book hero invented by Michael Chabon in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay--as a forgotten property rediscovered by three young comic lovers who decide to bring their favorite hero back to life. In this case, the heroes are the creators themselves, who use comics to transform their lives.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.