The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is rich with characters. The two protagonists of the title are fully supported by a cast that is vast and diverse, filled with fictional and historical figures alike. Indeed, the history in which the story situates itself is a character as well; historical events assist in shaping the path of the narrative and historical figures such as Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Eleanor Roosevelt, Estes Kefauver and many others make appearances of various significance in the novel, often to help make a point about Joe or Sammy or by coming to the plot's aid.

Seeing the premiere of Citizen Kane and meeting Orson Welles prompts Joe and Sammy to transform the comic book genre and create a new form for the medium, essentially paving the way for the graphic novels we know today. Max Ernst appears at the moment Joe...