The blurb for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon makes me think I should have found out about this novel sooner, and with news that the project is heading towards film production and Natalie Portman may take a role, is suggesting I should read it sooner rather than later.

Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapes and evil nemeses, even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues the most important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pages lurid with longing and hope.

The blurb goes on, and you too might be hooked when you read about two kids who are pushed together and find that their talents can combine beautifully to develop their own comic book hero and join the golden age of comics.

Then I read the comments on the author's Blog through Coming Soon and was intriguied even more.

The fate of this project...will be decided on or around 12 July 2006. Miss Natalie Portman is a strong likelihood for the part of Rosa; other casting is ongoing, as are work on the script (a lot of cutting) and tests conducted by a number of top-drawer animation studios (for the comic book elements). Quick answers (as of this date): Golem: yes. Antarctica: yes. Gay love story: yes. Ruins of World's Fair: no. Long Island: no. Orson Welles: no. Salvador Dali: yes. Loving reference to Betty and Veronica: no. Stan Lee: no.

Eh? Did you catch all that is in there? This sounds like one hell of a story. Has anyone read it, and can it make the move to the big screen? Good news is that the author is working on the screenplay.