Comic Con | Bookstr

It has been 20 years since Michael Chabon’s legendary novel was published on September 19th, 2000. In that short time, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay has won a Pulitzer Prize, and many many other awards.

The book follows two cousins, Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, as they reunite when Joe comes to America to escape Nazi Europe. The pair combine their skills, Joe the artist, and Sam the writer, to navigate the newfound world of comic books. It follows their careers, and intertwined love lives: Sam struggles with his queerness in a time when it wasn’t accepted and Joe falls in love with a woman he can’t have. Chabon lets readers into a world that is torn by war and patches it with the love and creative connection that the two cousins share.

It is incredible that in only 20 years the book has become a modern American classic. But, what is more incredible is the number of book covers that it has gone through.

There is a quote in the book that reads, “Forget about what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” Here are the TAAOKAC book covers. There are so many of them and they are all amazing. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but hopefully, after seeing these, TAAOKAC will be something you want to reserve your anxiety for and escape into.

Happy 20th.