The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

It is April 1954 and the funny-book men, consisting of Stan Lee, Frank Pantaleone, Gil Kane, Bob Powell, Marty Gold, and Julie Glovsky, are having breakfast at the Excelsior Cafeteria on Second Avenue. The dialogue begins with them talking about a possible hoax, then about psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham’s scathingly pejorative book, Seduction of the Innocent, which is about the damaging effects of comic books on children. The book has already influenced the opinions of many, and “in several southern and Midwestern cities, local governments had sponsored public comic book bonfires, onto which smiling mobs of American children with damaged minds had festively tossed their collections” (479).

The conversation then returns to the rumor that some guy is going to jump from the Empire State Building. One of the men has the opinion that maybe the guy is Joe Kavalier. Rumors abound as to Joe’s whereabouts. All the men agree that before the war Joe was one of the best and that Joe and Sam were treated unfairly by the owners of Empire Comics. The conversation switches to Sam. Someone saw him recently and remarks that he didn’t look good, or happy. They all know Sam’s story.

Sam returned to the comic book business in 1947, working for Pharaoh Comics, after all of his other projects failed. Sam then went into advertising but quit that job just before his boss could ask him to quit. After that job, Sam tried to go into advertising on his own, but his business barely got off the ground before it, too, failed. Sammy then found work in the magazine business, “selling well-researched lies to True and Yankee and one miraculous short story to Collier’s” (480). The short story was about Sam and his father’s adventure to Coney Island. Many of Sam’s old friends offered him jobs during those years, but Sam turned them down every time. Sam tried his hand at industrial writing, but the pay was abysmal and the editor more bitter than George Deasey.

The men talk about how good Sam is at storytelling, but they criticize his obsession with sidekicks, especially his giving a character known as Lone Wolf a sidekick. They remark how unhappy Sam has been over the past several years.

Sam walks into the Excelsior and the men call him over to join them. Kane tells Sam that someone calling himself the Escapist wrote the Herald announcing his intentions to jump from the Empire State Building at five o’clock that afternoon, in protest of Empire Comics’ unfair treatment of their artists. They speculate that it’s Joe. Someone mentions that whoever it is will want a costume to look like the Escapist. This causes Sam to make a hurried exit. Julie follows quickly behind him.

Sam and Julie head over to Sam’s office at Pharaoh Comics. Julie wants to know what Sam is going to do; Sam deflects the question. The two of them take the elevator up to Sam’s office.

Pharaoh Comics was created by Jack Ashkenazy with the money he received in 1943 when Anapol bought Ashkenazy’s half of Empire Comics. After Jack left comics, he invested millions in Canadian real estate with the belief that after the war Canada and the US would join as one country. When that did not occur, he went back into the comic book business and formed Pharaoh Comics, which was never very successful. In response, Jack fired all his better talent and moved into a cheaper building, and Pharaoh Comics became something similar to his first business, Racy Publications. Jack died two years ago.

Sam is a workaholic with a long list of publications. He’s typed stories for comic books over the past seven years. Sam opens a cabinet in his office. Julie asks Sam if he has an Escapist costume. Sam confirms that he does. Julie wants to know where he got it from. Sam answers that he got it from Tom Mayflower. Sam takes a box out of the cabinet and opens it. The costume is missing. In its place, someone has left a card with two drawings of skeleton keys and a brief text: “Welcome, faithful Foe of Tyranny, to the LEAGUE OF THE GOLDEN KEY!!! […] ‘It’s him,’ Julie said. ‘Isn’t it? He was here. He took it.’ ‘How do you like that,’ said Sammy. ‘I haven’t seen one of those in years’” (487).

The police show up at Sammy’s office at lunchtime. They’re taking the threat seriously and want to question Sam about Joe. The police officer is Detective Lieber. Sam tells Lieber that he hasn’t heard or seen Joe since December 14, 1941, after he dropped Joe off at Pier 11, and that Joe was on his way to basic training. Towards the end of the war, Sam received a letter through his mother, since she was listed as Joe’s next of kin, saying that Joe was recovering in a hospital in Cuba and that he was on a ship bound for Newport, which would be arriving in two days. Sam took a bus down to Virginia to meet Joe and bring him home, but Joe never showed up. He had escaped somehow. Lieber wants to know what Sam means by “escaped.” Sam explains that the naval records indicate that Joe was aboard the ship all the way up to disembarkation in Newport, but after that no one knows where he went. Sam mentions to Lieber that Joe is a trained escape artist. Sam had to return alone to New York and inform everyone of the bad news. Rosa had baked a cake; Ethel and Tommy were there waiting. It took Sam years to get over his anger and shock at Joe’s betrayal for having run off again. After Lieber is done questioning Sam about Joe, Harkoo arrives in the elevator.

Harkoo’s first words are “He’s afraid you’ll be angry with him […] We told him you wouldn’t be” (491). Sam mistakes the “he” for Joe, which surprises Harkoo. Lieber notices someone standing behind Harkoo. It’s Tommy. Lieber makes a joke about there being another escape artist in the family.

The building’s cops are gathered on the 25th floor of the Empire State Building, where Empire Comics is still located. Firefighters ring the building below. A crowd begins to gather. By 5:30, no one has been found skulking in or around the building and the belief that it is all a hoax grows stronger.

Sam, Detective Lieber, Harkoo, and Tommy are in the building: “In the event that Joe Kavalier appeared, his cousin would be on hand for last-minute pleas and counsel” (494). They are all in the Empire Comics offices with Anapol. The crowd down below is growing. Anapol doesn’t like the publicity, especially since it is well-known now by the crowd that the commotion is a protest about Empire Comics cheating Sam and Joe. Lieber has experience with suicides and has never known one to be late before. Captain Harley, who is still chief of the building’s police force, wants to send his men home. Lieber winks at Tommy, who turns pale, setting off Lieber’s innate detective warning signals. Sam is talking about how he doesn’t understand why Joe would steal the suit if he wasn’t the one to have written the letter to the paper. Lieber is still wary of Tommy and engages him in conversation, saying he has heard that Tommy has been skipping school. Lieber “threatens” Tommy, saying he better not catch Tommy downtown again. Sam laughs and tells Lieber that Tommy has become adept at forging his mother’s signature for excuses. Lieber wants to know if Tommy has a letter ready to use for tomorrow. Tommy removes the letter from his satchel and hands it to Lieber. He reads through Tommy’s note.

Lieber says, “I’m afraid your boy was responsible for all this […] He wrote the letter to the Herald-Tribune” (497). Harkoo isn’t surprised: He had suspected it. Sam is shocked and wants to know how Lieber knew. Tommy tells Sam that typewriters are unique, like fingerprints. Lieber confirms this. Lieber informs Tommy that he has done something very serious; then, turning to Sam, Lieber expresses his sympathies: “I’m sorry about your cousin […] I know you were hoping he had come back” (497). Tommy blurts out that Joe is back. Sam wants to know how Tommy knows this. Tommy mutters something inaudible and turns and walks into the building. He then goes to the express elevators and presses the button for the one that goes all the way to the top.