John Steinbeck’s generational epic, East of Eden, introduced by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Dirda and illustrated by award-winning artist Edward Kinsella, was selected as Folio’s 2017 Reader’s Choice for Fiction.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Illustrated by Chris Samnee
Introduced by Michael Moorcock
Colouring by Matthew Wilson
Experience The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay with this special collector’s edition. Featuring illustrations by comic book artist Chris Samnee, Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is also introduced by Michael Moorcock.
£79.95
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A triumph of both cult and mainstream literature, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. Delivering all the thrills of Golden Age comics and a deeply humane story about hope and tragedy – all via an exuberant literary voice – it has become one of the defining novels of the modern age.
‘A novel of towering achievement’
- New York Times
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Bound in blocked coated paper
Set in Utopia with Scriptorama Markdown display
632 pages
Frontispiece, three single-page and six double-page spread colour illustrations
Blocked and die-cut slipcase
10˝ x 6¾˝
Dreams of Liberty
‘Perfection. There are perhaps four other books I’ve loved this much, and none of them has made me cry more.’
- Daily Telegraph
It is 1939, and Adolf Hitler casts a long shadow over Europe. Josef Kavalier has fled to New York, finding a kindred spirit in his comics-loving cousin Sammy Clay. Filled with dreams of liberty for those left behind, Josef and his new partner create the Escapist, a masked hero who can take the fight to the Nazis even as America remains reluctant to get involved. Yet in the real world, Joe’s family remain in enormous danger. Can the comic book hero deliver a near impossible feat: escape from the nightmare that is Nazi occupied Europe?
‘Absolutely gosh-wow, super-colossal’
- Washington Post
The Great American Novel
‘One of the three great books of my generation’
- Bret Easton Ellis
Michael Chabon’s pre-war New York is a place of optimism and art, of big band music and sharp suits – in his hands the city becomes a transformative place, taking lost souls and making them Americans; taking broken children and making them superheroes. By intertwining the stories of two Jewish boys with that of their liberty-inspired comic hero, Chabon tells not only the story of a fledgling art form, but that of America itself, as seen through the eyes of its immigrants.
An authentic comic book hero
In his introduction for this special collector’s edition, author Michael Moorcock describes The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay as ‘a modern classic worthy of its Pulitzer Prize as only a handful can be’. Having worked in the very ink-stained offices Chabon describes, Moorcock praises this visionary novel’s authenticity, noting that it creates a world so compelling it leaves us wanting to ‘remain in its aura just a little while longer’. Since its publication in 2000, the fictional superhero has escaped the confines of the novel, appearing in his own series of comics published by Dark Horse.
Bringing the Escapist to life
With comics art as the foundation of the book, it was vital that the right artist be chosen to illustrate this collector’s edition. With the author’s approval, Eisner Award-winning Chris Samnee has taken on the world of the Escapist. Having worked on iconic heroes such as Thor, Spider-man, Batman and Daredevil, Samnee brings a touch of ’30s noir to the page, deftly conveying the smoky, frantic world of the comic book studio. This majestic edition features six double-page spreads, and a blocked and die-cut slipcase, making it an essential volume for any devotee of American literature.
ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON
Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), A Model World (1991), Wonder Boys (1995), Werewolves in their Youth (1999), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000), Summerland (2002), The Final Solution (2004), The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007), Maps & Legends (2008), Gentlemen of the Road (2007), Telegraph Avenue (2012), Moonglow (2016), and the picture book The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man (2011). He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.
ABOUT MICHAEL MOORCOCK
Michael Moorcock is one of the most important figures in British science fiction and fantasy literature. His novels have won, and been shortlisted for, numerous awards including the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Whitbread Awards and Guardian Fiction Prize. In 1999, he was given the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award; in 2001, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame; and in 2007, he was named a SFWA Grandmaster. His tenure as editor of New Worlds magazine in the 60s and 70s is seen as the high watermark of SF editorship in the UK, and was crucial in the development of the SF New Wave. Born in London, he now splits his time between homes in Texas and Paris.
ABOUT CHRIS SAMNEE
Chris Samnee is an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic book artist known for his work on Daredevil, Black Widow and Captain America for Marvel Comics. He lives in St Louis, Missouri with his wife and three young daughters.
About Matthew Wilson
Matthew Wilson has been colouring comic books since 2003. In that time he’s worked on over 600 individual issues of comics for all the major comic book publishers, and has helped define the look and feel of some of their top-tier characters. He collaborates with many of the industry’s most in-demand writers and artists, and his work has earned him multiple comic-book industry award nominations. In 2017 he won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Coloring. Matthew and his wife live outside Atlanta, Georgia.
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