I’m not sure what I expected from this book. Anyway, it was a fine read. As many others, I grew up with lots of superhero stories and the idea of reading a story about the beginnings of the comic book industry was pretty interesting. Besides, I’ve always liked historical novels, so I gave it a shot.

It was a very pleasant surprise, overall. While it is pretty long and I was constantly interrupted (things that happen when you’re in a house with other seven people), I never got bored at all when reading.

The protagonists are Joe Kavalier and his cousin Sammy Clay (Klayman, actually, but he changed his name to be in the comic book industry), two young men who are willing to do anything for their dream of creating their own tight-wearing superhero. Actually, it begins more like Sammy’s dream, as he is the one who was born in the US and has been reading comic books (which were a recent invention at the moment when the novel begins) for the longest time. Kavalier, on the other hand, is born in Prague and is forced to leave due to the Nazi occupation of his homeland. Before that, he was trained as a magician. I’ll admit that it was then where he began to grow on me: my dad is an amateur magician and I’ve grown between magic tricks and all that stuff. So Joe was pretty relatable with that. And I loved the references to Houdini’s life and tricks, of course.

When he arrives to New York, his cousin discovers how amazing an artist Joe is and proposes him to join him is his new project: creating a new superhero. So, Sammy and Joe end up going to Sheldon Anapol, Sammy’s boss, and suggest this idea. They end up creating the Escapist, a superhero that’s kind of similar to Batman (rich playboys with a hidden identity) but with magic. Of course, the comic books become a success and the guys get really rich.

One of the topics I found throughout the novel is escapism. Joe has trained to be able to escape different locks and bindings (just like his hero, Houdini), and Sammy tries to escape from his dreary reality with brilliantly-colored comic books. And as the novel goes on, they both get different instances of escaping at some point. Joe wants to escape the horror and dread that come from losing his whole family during the war, to the point of actually escaping New York and disappearing completely for twelve years. Sammy, on the other hand, tries to escape his own identity (understandable for an early 20th century gay man, though). They are both obsessed with escaping, and it ends up shaping everything in their lives.

Throughout the novel, also, there is confusion between comics and reality. The characters that the two cousins create get their own chapters, which tell the stories of their origins. And both Sam and Joe live lives that remind one about superhero’s lives. They get an arch nemesis and some sort of secret identities (Joe’s more straight forward than Sammy’s, but still).

Overall, is a fun and interesting book. I had lots of fun reading it and can totally recommend it to anyone. Great read!