Couple of days ago, I referenced Chabon’s Kavalier & Clay, because I was reading it for class. Wash Post has posted a couple of reviews that deal directly with that novel as well–one is a review of a biography about Joe Kirby, the comic book artist who was a main influence for the story of Kavalier & Clay. Kirby created a cover of Captain America slugging Hitler, which is what Kavalier draws the Escapist doing in Chabon’s novel. Also, Kirby was ripped off by his employers, which is also mirrored in Chabon’s Kavalier & Clay.
The second book reviewed confronts the idea of comic censorship, also dealt with in Kavalier & Clay.
In the class discussing Chabon, the professor noted how a student once said that Kavalier & Clay is “faction”–the use of a false narrative linked by true events. The hearings, EC comics, and Werthem’s Seduction of the Innocent are all mentioned in Chabon’s novel.
