A review by rbreade
The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 1 by Howard Chaykin, Eric Wight, Michael Chabon, Steve Lieber, Glen David Gold, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gene Colan, Kevin McCarthy

I thought I would enjoy this more than I did, having found Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay amazing in every way. However, Chabon's only involvement here is the introduction, after which a number of artists and writers present stories of the Escapist, the hero written and drawn by Chabon's eponymous duo. The trouble seems to be that the stories here are all so brief, none has the time to develop anything more than the most obvious plot. The parts I enjoyed most were the essays written--including one by novelist Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil-- about the character and the history of the fictional publishing company that presented the Escapist stories; these essays are written as if the company, Empire Comics, and the Escapist comic book had actually existed, a conceit that's pulled off well in each case.