This book was simply amazing. It caught me on the first page and never let go after that. The characters are well-drawn (haha) and the reader quickly begins to identify and feel with Joe, Sam, and Rosa and their struggles and daily lives. They evolve so organically on the page that the reader can't help but sympathise whenever a new facet to their characters is revealed. I found Sam's exploration of life as a gay man especially hard-hitting. It's not so long ago, we remember suddenly, that gay men could still be arrested for their love. The historical setting is depicted in a crystal-clear quality that leaves the reader thinking they could go to New York tomorrow and visit Empire's offices in the Empire State Building. The world of comic books at the time is at once familiar and strange, and I loved reading about it and about the characters themselves, the Escapist and Luna Moth. With every new page I kept thinking, what creativity and research must have gone into this. But what I think impressed me the most about this incredibly impressive book was the powerful writing, which left me glued to the edge of my seat, regularly forgetting to eat while I was reading.