Kaiser Chiefs
Like the graphic novellas that are central to it, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is at once a wild, exciting ride and a deep, introspective experience. As someone who fancies himself a low-level geek, this couldn't make me happier. The comic book world has transitioned quite easily into film (naturally - both are heavily visual media), and I'm sure it's been well represented in traditional print, but Chabon's well-researched, carefully crafted "loose fictionalization" of the origins of Superman is my first venture into this particular area of cross-genrezation (it's a word if I say it is), and I can't say I could find a better representative.

Kavalier & Clay are Josef Kavalieri and Sammy Klayman, cousins who live in New York during World War II. Sammy's had a blessed life in that he's a long-time American; Joe comes to the country via an escape from Nazi-invaded Prague (his journey is outlined in the first hundred or so pages of the book). Though he has one foot firmly set in Czechoslovakia, where his parents and younger brother are stuck, Joe is somewhat swept up in the excitement that comes with living in America. Joe reveals his artistic skills to Sammy, who suggests that they team up (Sammy's got a penchant for pulpy fiction writing) to write comic books. Together, they form the publishing team of Kavalier & Clay and create, among a host of other exciting characters, the Escapist, a hero gifted with the ability to break out of any trap, a skill informed by Joe's childhood training as a magician and escape artist. The Escapist's goal is to set free all those who are oppressed by the chains of injustice.

Of course, the Escapist's skill set isn't the only thing that Joe infuses into his and Sammy's funnybooks. He takes the War personally, and to the behest of his publishers, continues to pit the Escapist against thinly-veiled carbon copies of Hitler and his Nazi Reich. Each of his successes in the comic book world Joe sees as a blow against evil, yet he can't feel completely satisfied when his family is still stuck in Europe. He lashes out against Jerry in any way he can, even finding anyone vaguely Aryan-looking and picking a fight. Meanwhile, Joe's bosses have to straddle the line between political correctness (yes, it existed in the 40s) and propaganda.

Talk about a capsule plot review...there's so much more to Kavalier & Clay that any attempt to fully explain the plot would rival the book's length. It's a story of love, money, art, war...basically the American Dream. And who better to tell it than Chabon? His prose, while certainly lofty enough in its vocabulary, is remarkably accessible. His sentences can go on for a hundred words, but you don't seem to mind, because they're so well put together. His craft of plot, characterization, action, history...hell, he's the kind of writer that makes you wonder why you even try.

More than anything, Kavalier & Clay is a blast to read. Set against the Golden Age of comics, the book features cameos by Stan Lee and other giants of the business. For Chabon, it's a matter of knowing his subject matter and his characters. There's no need to know his audience, because the end result is so good, the audience is a universal one. Now all I need to do is rush out and get some of his other books.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5