In the book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the author created a new superhero figure called the Escapist. The Escapist combines other comic superheroes such as Captain America and Batman and the famous Escape artist Houdini. Like all other superheroes, the Escapist is a powerful human that fights against evil. He could do anything he wanted and always defeat the enemy. However, life doesn’t work that way. Superheroes don’t exist in real life, so we can’t always expect someone else to come and save us from our nightmares. In the book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, use Joe and Sam’s tragedies to illustrate this point.

            Joe and Sam use the Escapist to help fight against the Nazis in WWII. They hope the popular character will act as propaganda against Nazism. Therefore, in the comic universe they create, the Escapist is a representation of justice who fights against the Nazis. Naturally, the Escapist can always defeat the Nazis with ease with his superpowers. However, outside the comic universe, Joe and Sam face a series of challenges and defeats against the Nazis, for example, being unable to mention Nazism. Then, the Nazis kill Joe's brother Thomas. Sam also faces challenges with his sexual orientation and discrimination. Joe and Sam can’t count on a superhero to come and save them. They have no other choice but to face the challenges themselves and combat the evil with their own bare hands.

           Real life is just like this. We can’t always count on others to help us. There are no superheroes, and challenges continue to exist. So we must be brave, face challenges without fear, and lend a hand to those in need.

           Superpowers aren’t a real thing. Someone extraordinary at something must have put in the same amount of effort behind the scenes. A gift is undoubtedly something solid. All of us receive unique gifts at birth. But how we use that gift and how we work to turn that gift into our “superpower” is different for everyone. If you don’t put in any effort, your talent will be wasted. Joe and Sam are gifted with artistic talent. They are successful in the end because they work hard on their story. Before the Escapist, Joe and Sam could draw well, but they were poor because they didn’t work hard for success. After they come up with the idea of the Escapist, they work day and night to compose the story, and their effort brings them success and wealth in the end.

           Superheroes with their powers always save the world in the comic universe. But, living in a world without them means that we can only count on ourselves. We have to work hard to build up our superpowers. We, are our own superheroes.