Chabon's The Escapist: From novel to comic book

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Has anyone heard about the fictional comic book hero of Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay being made into a real comic book? I just found out yesterday. Read the CBR news article here and the comic’s profile at Dark Horse here. Issue #1 came out last week. Has anyone read it? I’m going to stop by my comic seller tonight to see if he has it in. I really enjoyed the book and have high hopes of the comic.

(I’m posting this on I Love Books as well, so check there for replies as well.)

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh. "Proper Writer tries their hand at genre literature" is nearly always a bad idea, like "Proper Musician decides they can rap".

What's the last good thing that Chaykin has written? Note that anyone who says American Century is going to be put on my list of people to stop trusting.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 March 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Disclaimer: I'd have a stronger case if I'd read either The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, or that Thrilling Tales issue of McSweeneys, guest edited by Chabon, both of which are around the house somewhere. I bought Adventures on the advice of a friend, who said "all you people who like comics HAVE to get his book now", but my enthusiasm waned when she later asked who Neil Gaiman was.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 March 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I really enjoyed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. A dense novel but extremely satisfying.

I think Neil Gaiman is a perfectly good example of a "proper author" who can also pen wonderful storylines for comics.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 5 March 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

He's more a comics author who turned to "proper" books, I would have thought.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, it's safe to say that when he writes a comic book, the word "dabbling" doesn't spring to mind, unlike Chabon.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe you're right about that... I think he was writing comics first and then came out with Stardust, Good Omens, American Gods, etc...

And yeah, Gaiman doesn't "dabble".

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Andrew, VG is right - you really should give _Kavalier & Klay_ a chance. The only bit of Chabon's comic werk I've read - a back up Dr. Midnite story in the recentish JSA All-Stars mini-series (w/ Michael Lark art!) - was w/out a doubt the BEST thing to come from that mini-series, and it was above average in its own rights, too.

Lest we forget, Chabon also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Spider-Man sequel. If he's dabbling in comics (or comic-related stuff), he's making a sizable splash.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

You're right! Chabon did write the screenplay for Spider-Man 2. I've even more excited to see it now, so I probably won't be sleeping the entire week before it comes out.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

What about Brad Meltzer? Though he's a genre writer dabbling in another genre.

And I would call Neil Gaiman's book-books genre fiction. So step off.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I bought The Escapist today. It's not bad, actually.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 15 March 2004 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

If this had come out when it was supposed to last December, I probably woulda bought it. Now...I'll probably buy it! PSYCH!

― Huck, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 05:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The New York Times writes an article relating to this.

(Found via Bookslut)

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

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