AWK&C: Will Escapist return to comic books?

The Amazing Website of Kavalier & Clay - News: "Can the Escapist escape the end?

That's the question following the final issue of The Escapists, published earlier this month. Dark Horse still has the rights to publish a new book, and while nothing has been announced, editor Diana Schutz says plans are afoot.

'Our commitment remains firm to the character,' she said via e-mail.

Just last week, Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson talked to Schutz about creating a new Escapist-related series, 'though I can't give you any details at this point and probably not for some time,' she said.

'Don't forget that Mike went out of his way to get the rights to publish comics based on Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-winning novel; he is still totally passionate about Michael's novel and about our comics,' Schutz said. 'As am I. It's the market whose support we need!'

At the stands, Escapist series have stuggled. The final issue of Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, which hit stands in November 2005, sold only 4,594 copies, according to ICv2 data. Schutz said they 'learned the hard way that a nine-dollar eighty-page anthology was perhaps not the right direction to take.'

Retooled and repriced at $2.99, The Escapists faired better; issue #5 sold 12,190 copies, ICv2 says. Still, that issue ranked only 172 out of 300 comics in November.

At the very least, fans should expect to finally see the so-called 'missing' Escapist stories, according to Schutz. When Dark Horse abruptly pulled the plug on the anthology in January, issue #9 was all but done and scheduled to hit shelves that week. Howard Chaykin and artist Jed Dougherty had finished a story about a battle between several decades' incarnations of Luna Moth, and Stuart Moore and Phil Winslade completed a 1970's tale featuring the Escapist and Hunter S. Thompson. Neither have seen print."