His amazing adventure

Batman, Spiderman and a slew of other tights-wearing superheroes have taken a flying leap from page to screen in recent years. But this week, in what may be a literary first, the superhero will jump from novel to comic book with “The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist,” a quarterly comics anthology based on Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize winner, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.”

A master illusionist who performs amazing feats of magic, the Escapist character is the creation of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, the pair of comic book pioneers whose lives are chronicled in Chabon’s novel.

The new anthology follows the masked do-gooder as he roams the globe aiding the oppressed.

“The idea behind the comic is that the rights to the Kavalier-and-Clay-created characters have been sold and transferred and lost time after time after time over the last 60 years. All kinds of variants and versions of the characters have existed depending on who controlled the rights, so there are all kinds of stories that can be told,” said Chabon, who lives in Berkeley. “I was trying to give the artists and writers as much freedom within the limitations of the costumed superhero genre to tell whatever kind of a story they felt like telling.”

Set in the ‘30s and ‘40s, the original text pits the redheaded superhero against Hitler and the Nazis, but the character is freed from time constraints in the new series, battling a corrupt U.S. senator in one story and an evil prison warden in another.

There are five stories in the anthology’s debut, beginning with “The Passing of the Key,” the original story penned by Chabon and inked by animator and illustrator Eric Wight. The remaining stories were written and drawn by comic book legend Howard Chaykin, who contributed to the series his first original story in seven years, and Kevin McCarthy, who is also overseeing the project.

Chabon, who is writing the screenplay for his 2001 novel, says he may write stories for future issues, too. “But that was sort of the role I wanted to have: To write when I had time, when something came to me. There was never the idea to have just me be writing all the stories.”

The second anthology, due next spring, will again feature a rotating cast of contributors, but in addition to known names in the comics industry, it will begin to fold in writers who are entirely new to the genre. Author Glen David Gold is already on board, and future editions may include even more literary heavy hitters. According to Chabon, Dave “Staggering Genius” Eggers and Native American novelist Sherman Alexie have expressed interest.

“I’m trying to mix it up a bit,” Chabon said. “I was interested in trying to involve writers ... who have confessed to me that they are comic book fans and try to give them the opportunity to write for comics.”

Fusing the comic book and film worlds has been a commercial success, but the commingling of comics and literature is a venture into the unknown. While forward thinking, it’s a concept that may or may not succeed commercially.

“In general, folks that are well received in other areas don’t always translate into comics unless they have a background. There’s a certain sensibility that you need,” said Bill Liebowitz, owner of Golden Apple Comics on Melrose.

That won’t be a problem with Chabon, he said, because “he has comic book credibility. He has a following that even supersedes the comic book fans.”

“The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” has been more than a steady seller at his store. “The more copies we bring in, the more we seem to sell,” said Liebowitz, who’s stocked the book since it was first published in 2001.

It was right around then that Chabon was approached to do a comic book takeoff -- not only by Oregon-based Dark Horse but also by DC Comics, publisher of “Batman” and “Green Lantern.”

“It wasn’t something I really thought about,” said Chabon, who decided to work with Dark Horse because they gave him more creative control. “I’m not generally in the frame of mind where I’m thinking, ‘I know! I’ll call a comic book company and do a project with them,’ but as soon as I heard the idea, it sounded like a good one.”

*

The Escapist

Author: Michael Chabon

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Sale date: Late January

Cost: $8.95

Susan Carpenter can be contacted at susan.carpenter@latimes.com.