The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

It’s six o’clock on a Monday morning in October 1940. Joe is feverishly working on the next issue of the Escapist. Over the course of the last week, the Escapist, and therefore Joe, has flown all over Europe, battling the nefarious Steel Gauntlet, the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, and even Adolf Hitler himself. In the end, the Escapist subdues them all. Hitler is condemned to death for his crimes, and the peoples of Europe (and, implicitly, the Kavalier family of Prague) are set free.

Joe doesn’t feel at home in New York City because he won’t let himself feel that way. He has already saved up $7,000 toward getting his family out of Europe. Over the radio, Joe learns that the Vichy government in France has enacted a set of laws similar to the Nuremberg laws (the laws that essentially illegalized Jews in Germany). The positive feelings of victory that he feels after finishing his drawings are fleeting. Joe knows that it’s all imaginary. He feels shame and frustration.

Anapol enters the studio wearing a new suit. His face is sunburned. Anapol and Joe have a short conversation about the new issue Joe has been working on. The previous January, the first issue of Amazing Radio Midget Comics debuted and sold out its print-run of 300,000 copies.