The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Joe leaves very early that morning. He thinks about everything he had planned to do with the money he had amassed in his savings account. Sam was right in his assumption about the popularity of superheroes, and Sam is probably correct again in his belief that superheroes that are more complicated, less childish, and “as fallible as angels” (601) would be popular as well. Joe catches the scent of the ocean; he associates the sea with his brother Thomas. Joe realizes that deep down there is still some odd sense of hope that someday he will see his family again, and this hope keeps him from touching the money in the bank. Joe borrows the Studebaker and drives into the city.

Along the way Joe contemplates the money and what he plans to do. When he gets to the bank, he drives around looking for a place to park but can’t find one. He stops in front of the bank and waits, thinking. Eventually, a policeman knocks on Joe’s window. Joe is startled and the car lurches forward, rolling over the tip of the policeman’s shoe. The cop isn’t hurt. The officer informs Joe that he has been blocking traffic for 10 minutes. Joe sees the fact that he can’t find parking as a sign not to get the money.

Joe drives to the cemetery where Houdini is buried and walks among the headstones. He finds Houdini’s burial place. Joe remembers a time when he was sitting in a library and a “Christian kook” told Joe that Hitler, not the Allies, had liberated the Jewish people. As odd as it sounded, Joe realized that all he would have to do was believe in the Christian’s words to be comforted. Someone has inserted a note between two stones lying atop Houdini’s headstone. There is a statue of a woman crying in front of Houdini’s grave. Joe steps away and thinks: “No; he could be ruined again and again by hope, but he would never be capable of belief” (607). Joe is aware of footsteps in the grass behind him. It’s his old teacher, Bernard Kornblum. Joe asks Kornblum what he should do. Kornblum answers exasperatedly: “For God’s sake. Go home” (608).

When Joe arrives back at Rosa and Sam’s, he is stunned and ashamed to learn that Rosa thought he had run off. Rosa asks Joe about the box. Joe doesn’t know what she means. Joe recognizes the box right away, though. He is surprised to hear about the weight. He remembers how light the Golem was when he and Kornblum carried it away. The viewing window is boarded shut. Joe informs Rosa and Tommy that the Golem of Prague is in the box. Joe then asks Rosa, if she had a million dollars, would she use the money to buy Empire Comics for Sam? Joe opens the crate. It is full of dirt. The Golem dissolved as some had theorized it would if it were to leave Prague and the conditions of the Moldau. Rosa asks Joe if he is thinking about buying Empire Comics. Joe remembers something Kornblum had once told him about how the Golem’s weight came from its soul, and without its soul, it was as light as air. Tommy finds an old business card of Joe’s father’s in the dirt.

Joe wonders at what point the Golem’s soul reenters its body, and whether more than one soul could reside therein.

The chapter opens with the following historical information: “The Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Senate Judiciary Committee was convened in New York on April 21 and 22, 1954” (613). The first day’s hearings were focused on the testimony of experts such as publishers, criminologists, and Dr. Frederic Wertham. The results of the first day’s hearings are well known. On the second day, Sam testified.

The two witnesses before Sam were “extremely reluctant” (613). The first was a publisher of educational books that he advertised on the backs of comic books, which he denied at first and then admitted to later on. The second witness was a notorious pornographer named Samuel Roth who stated that he couldn’t provide testimony as he was already under indictment for smut-peddling by the State of New York. When it is Sammy’s turn to testify, the committee members focus on the pretense that sidekicks represent a subtle nod to romantic relationships between men, as per Wertham’s theory that “the relationship between Batman and his ward is actually a thinly veiled allegory of pedophilic inversion” (615). Sam’s own history of adding sidekicks is brought up. Sam tells the committee that he inherited most of those characters and it is standard procedure to add a new character to a failing series. Senator Henderson addresses Sam’s sexual orientation. Sam is taken aback but has no chance to answer: Senator Kefauver wants to skip that line of questioning and move on.

After leaving the courtroom, before Sam can see how everyone will look at him, Joe and Rosa bundle him up and take him to a bar. Sam gets a bourbon with ice. The bartender recognizes Sam and antagonizes him with leers and taunts. Rosa expresses her dislike of the senators. Sam is surprised by his lack of shock at the day’s events and the personal revelations. He tells Rosa and Joe he can’t help but notice that neither of them is expressing any astonishment. Rosa and Joe look at one another and blush. Rosa makes a Batman and Robin joke. After a last round of drinks, Sam wants to stay and tells Joe and Rosa to take the train home; he will bring the car back in the morning. Rosa and Joe look concerned. Sam exasperatedly says he’s not going to drive the car off into the East River. Rosa gives Sam a huge hug and tells him everything will be all right. Sam says he knows. Joe and Rosa leave.

Sam nurses his drink for another hour. The bartender mocks Sam more about being gay. A man behind Sam accosts the bartender. It’s George Deasey. Deasey confronts the bartender to get him to leave Sam alone. Deasey then sits down with Sam and they chat.

After leaving work at Empire Comics, Deasey went into government intelligence. Deasey asks about Joe’s return. Sam begins telling Deasey about Joe, mentioning that Joe is probably sleeping with Rosa, at which point Deasey cuts in, not wanting to hear anything more personal about Sam than what he heard on the television. Sam says he knows he ought to feel ashamed but he doesn’t; he feels relieved. Deasey knows a thing or two about secrets, saying, “[A] secret is a heavy kind of chain” (623), and comments that the senators quite possibly just handed Sam his own kind of golden key.

Sam can’t quite imagine what it would be like to live a day without a giant lie. Sam asks Deasey if he has ever been to Los Angeles. Sam wonders if he could get work in television.

There are 102 boxes of Joe’s comics in the garage. When the boxes were delivered, Joe came out of the house through the garage in his bathrobe to sign for the boxes, and Rosa looked disheveled standing at the door to the garage. Now Joe and Tommy are standing in the garage looking at all the boxes. Joe tells Tommy the comics belong to him now. Tommy plans on building himself a Bug Nest.

After Joe leaves, Tommy sits down and begins to read books. He then moves all the boxes around, creating a fort-like structure. Towards the back of the garage, Tommy notices a box he has seen a thousand times before but never opened. It looks like an old wine crate, closed together with loops of thick wire and green string. Tommy opens the box, and “with the precision of an archeologist, mindful that he would have to put everything back just as he had found it” (626), begins to inventory the contents, which are a copy of the first issue of Radio Comics; a cellophane folder with news clippings about Tommy’s grandfather, the Mighty Molecule; a drawing of the Golem, though not as grand as Joe’s newer drawing of the Golem; a movie ticket stub and a grainy photograph of Dolores Del Rio; a box of unused Kavalier & Clay stationery; a picture of a man with hair that shone like chrome, signed Tracy Bacon; a pair of heavy woolen socks with orange toes; and a strip of four photographs of Joe and Rosa kissing.

The love displayed between Rosa and Joe in the photos is obvious even to Tommy. Just then Tommy hears Rosa and Joe talking. Rosa is telling Joe she needs to work. Their banter makes Tommy think: “Those two are in love” (627). Rosa wants to know if Joe has talked to Tommy yet. Joe says he hasn’t found the right moment. They hear Tommy make a sound. Rosa asks if Tommy is there. Tommy answers no, and then realizes how stupid that was. Joe crawls into the Bug Nest with Tommy’s permission. Rosa wants to join them; Joe asks Tommy if he thinks she should. Tommy agrees she should, and Joe helps pull her in. All three of them are sitting in Tommy’s fort, cramped. Joe tries to tell Tommy the truth about Tommy’s father in the form of a story. Tommy tells them he has already seen the pictures. Rosa remembers the night fondly.

After a while, Joe says he thinks they will be okay. Rosa asks Tommy if he’s okay and if he understands. “I guess so” (629), he says, but then he wonders about Sam: “What about Dad?” (629). Rosa says they will have to see.

It’s past midnight when Sam comes home. Joe is asleep in the chair but rouses when Sam comes in. Sam asks if everyone is all right. He then throws the old afghan over Joe, careful to cover Joe’s orange-tipped socks. Sam then quietly goes and checks on Tommy.

Sam is filled with memory and emotion looking down at Tommy. Sam is sad when he thinks that, because of all the work he has done, he has missed out on most of Tommy’s life. It makes Sam think about the true nature of the superhero and the sidekick:

Dr. Frederic Wertham was an idiot; it was obvious that Batman was not intended, consciously or unconsciously, to play Robin’s corruptor: he was meant to stand in for his father, and by extension for the absent, indifferent, vanishing fathers of the comic-book-reading boys of America (631).

Sam wishes he had had the presence of mind to have said that to the committee. But then again Sam feels that the fight would have been pointless. Yet, Sam cannot get himself to leave Tommy’s bedroom. He crawls in bed with Tommy. After a little while, Tommy says hi to Sam. They chat a little about the day and how Sam looked sweaty on TV. Tommy tells Sam, calling him Dad the whole time, that he is “squooshing” him. Sam says sorry and tries to make space. Tommy says Sam is just too big for the bed. Sam gets up and tells Tommy, calling him Tom, good night. Tom tells Sam good night.

Sammy goes to the bedroom and packs a suitcase in the dark, not wanting to awaken Rosa. While packing, Sam plans out the note he intends on leaving. As he enters the kitchen, Sam smells smoke. Rosa is sitting in front of a half-eaten cake, smoking a cigarette. Rosa notes that Sam has a suitcase. True, Sam says. She observes that Sam is leaving, but Sam doesn’t reply. Rosa says that for some reason she made a red velvet cake and that she couldn’t stop eating it. Sam sits down with her. They talk about whether Sam should leave. Rosa tells Sam she wants him to stay; Sam tells Rosa he is thinking of going to Los Angeles.

Joe enters the kitchen. He informs Sam that he made an offer to Anapol to purchase Empire Comics and that Anapol accepted. Sam wonders why Joe didn’t consult with him before making an offer. Sam wonders if he can write from Los Angeles for the comics. Rosa asks Sam to stay the night before making a decision. Sam agrees and says he’ll sleep on the couch. Joe and Rosa are startled, but Sam tells them he knows about them and that the sofa is just fine. Rosa remakes the sofa into a bed with fresh linens. She remarks how strange it all feels. Sam says that it has always been strange. Rosa gives Joe the dirty linens and heads to the bedroom. Joe stands by the couch for a moment, amazed at the “clever feat of substitution that Sammy had just pulled off” (636).

In the morning, Rosa and Joe awaken. Sam has folded up all the blankets and linen and is gone. On the stack is the old card that Sam has carried around in his wallet since 1948 when he bought the house. In the place of “The Clays,” Sam has written “Kavalier & Clay.”