The Escapist (character)

The Escapist
Cover to Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #1 (Feb. 2004).
Publication information
Publisher	Novel: Random House Comics: Dark Horse Comics
First appearance	Novel: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Sept. 2000) Comics: Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #1 (Feb. 2004)
Created by	Michael Chabon
In-story information
Alter ego	Tom Mayflower

The Escapist is a superhero character created by Michael Chabon in the 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. In the novel, the Escapist is a fictional character created by the comics writer protagonists. The character later featured in the metafictional work Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist and Brian K. Vaughan's comic The Escapists.

Chabon created the Escapist as an homage to the heroes of the Golden Age of Comic Books. The character's abilities as an escape artist are inspired by escape artist Harry Houdini as well as Robin Hood and Albert Schweitzer. Another inspiration was the early illusionist career of comic book artist Jim Steranko.

Introduced in Chabon's novel in 2000, the Escapist is said to be the creation of the book's protagonists, the cousins Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, a pair of Jewish comic book creators in the 1930s and '40's. The character's modus operandi is part of a recurring theme of escapism in the novel, representing the imaginative and positive effects of escapism in superhero comics as well as Kavalier and Clay's attempts to escape from the troubles of their past. Joe Kavalier has fled to America from Nazi-occupied Prague in Europe, leaving the rest of his family behind. Unable to help them, he starts fleeing from himself and everyone trying to get close to him. Sam Clay also wants to escape from himself – both his polio-stricken body and repressed homosexuality.