Sammy Klayman lives in Brooklyn, NY with his mother. One evening, his cousin Josef Kavalier is thrown into Sammy's bed, after arriving in New York. Josef has escaped Prague, Czechoslovakia with the help of his old magic teacher, Kornblum. He is concealed in the casket of the Golem of Prague, a lifeless clay body. Hundreds of years ago the Golem had been alive and a protector of the Jewish community. Sammy finds out that his cousin, now to be known as Joe, is an excellent artist. Sammy enlists Joe to draw comics and announces to his boss, Shelly Anapol, that he can produce a new Superman-type comic book. Their superhero, the Escapist is a combination of Joe's experience as an escape artist and magician, and Sammy's fantasies to be big, strong and powerful. Next, Sammy, now to be known as Sam Clay, recruits some of his...