Dark Horse Comics has posted online the solicitation for The Escapists #1, the spin-off of the canceled Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist. Here’s what you will (hopefully) get to enjoy July 12:

The Escapists #1

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Philip Bond, Eduardo Barreto
Cover Artist: Frank Miller
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime

From Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon!

Wizard Top Ten and multiple Eisner Award-winning writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) teams with critically acclaimed artists Philip Bond (Vimanarama, Vertigo Pop, Tank Girl) and Eduardo Barreto (Batman, The Long Haul) to deliver this knockout first issue!

Discovering his late father’s decades-spanning vault of Escapist memorabilia at the age of six, Max became a fan of the Master of Elusion almost overnight. After exhausting the extensive stash of Golden and Silver Age comics, he needed more-and started writing his own Escapist stories. Now nineteen, he’s determined to make the character a sensation once again, but where is he going to find an artist-in Cleveland? Meet Maxwell Roth and Case Weaver, latter-day versions of Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, in part one of The Escapists!

With cover art by multi-platinum superstar Frank Miller kicking off a round robin of stellar cover artists including James Jean and John Cassaday, this launch of the first Escapist miniseries can’t be missed!

• Special Introductory price: $1.00!

• “[Vaughan] turned in a script that caused grown men, or at least one grown man, to weep for joy. It is a script that well meets, and perhaps even exceeds, the expectations raised by the shadow of the parent novel…”

– Michael Chabon

Publication Date: Jul 12, 2006
Format: Full color, 32 pages
Price: $1.00

The film adaptation of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay recently moved into pre-production, Michael Chabon said Wednesday.

In a posting on his Web site, Chabon said Paramount Picture’s adaptation, produced by Scott Rudin and directed by Stephen Daldry, has begun design work.

“Though the production has by no means been greenlighted, prospects for this long-running, oft-moribund project are suddenly looking better than they ever have before,” Chabon said.

Production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein and costume designer Ann Roth have begun work, Chabon said. The film’s comic book elements, “of which there are many,” is being overseen by Paul Pope.

Casting has also begun, Chabon said, though not roles have been cast yet.

In other news, Chabon confirmed that Dark Horse Comic’s The Escapists, the six-issue limited series spinning-off from the now-canceled Michae Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, will debut this summer.

Writing for Disney’s Snow and the Seven is “ongoing,” Chabon said. And Chabon said The Yiddish Policemen’s Union will hit book stores in January.

“Really. No, really.”

Two stories that were completed for Dark Horse’s The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist series before it was canceled will not be in this summer’s The Escapists, a Dark Horse spokesman said Tuesday.

Lee Dawson, Dark Horse publicity director, said the first six-issue series of The Escapists will feature just Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Rolston’s story arc. Dawson said an official press announcement about the series will be sent out “soon.”

“I should have more info on the ‘missing’ stories soon as well,” Dawson said via e-mail.

Before it was canceled, The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #9 was scheduled to include two stories in addition to the on-going “Escapists” stories. Howard Chaykin and artist Jed Dougherty had completed a story featuring a battle between several decades’ incarnations of Luna Moth. Stuart Moore and Phil Winslade had finished a 1970’s story featuring the Escapist and a certain gonzo journalist.

The Escapists hits stores in July.

Dark Horse has pulled the plug on Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, making November’s issue #8 the last in the series, the anthology’s main artist revealed today.

Steve Rolston, in a LiveJournal posting and an e-mail to his fans, announced the series would be relaunched “in a series of more affordable packages,” including a six-issue mini-series, The Escapists, due in stores in July.

“While this does mean you’ll have to wait until the summer, it also means you won’t have to wait as long between issues and the price tag will be much more affordable for those who weren’t keen on the anthology format,” Rolston said.

Rolston’s announcement indicates The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #9, due in stores this Wednesday, will not hit shelves after all. No word on what will happen to the stories completed for that book.

Brian K. Vaughan, writer for The Escapists, said in a forum posting that the decision was made “because Dark Horse felt that our story deserved a wider audience, and Mr. Chabon agreed that a relaunched monthly series (with a significantly more affordable cover price) would help us reach exactly that.”

“It’s a drag that people will have to wait a few more months to see Steve Rolston and Jason Alexander’s stuff, but I honestly think this might be the best book I’ve ever been a part of, so I’m grateful that DH is working hard to get it into many more hands,” Vaughan said.

Michael Chabon, in an e-mail, said he was “just glad and grateful to Dark Horse that they’re sticking with it at all and impressed that they’re planning to honor all their outstanding commitments to the writers and artists who had already been hired to do work for the quarterly.”

He added he was happy more readers would get to see Vaughan’s story line, saying “it’s just such great stuff.”

Rolston indicated the first two issues of The Escapists would feature the first part of the story arc already seen in the current anthology. Issue #1 will feature Philip Bond’s art, and issue #2, due in August, will feature Rolston.

Chabon had indicated almost a month ago that changes were in the works, but had said at the time they would probably be “nothing as drastic as outright cancellation.” The Escapist had suffered poor sales since its inception, selling only 4,594 copies of issue #8, less than half of its first issue in February 2004.