Episode #5: We Explore 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank

Listen to the Episode

News of Note: George Perez and the return of cons.

3 Amazing New Books

Tyler:

Crimson Cage #1, John Lees, Alex Cormack, AWA

Daisy #1, Colin Lorimer, Dark Horse

Devil Tree #1, Keith Rommel, Wolfgang Schwandt, Blood Moon Comics

Honorable Mentions: Devil’s Reign #1, Fantastic 4: Life Story #5, Inferno #3

Tad:

What’s the Furthest Place From Here #2, Matthew Rosenberg, Tyler Boss, Image

Crimson Cage #1, John Lees, Alex Cormack, AWA

My Bad #2, Mark Russell, Bryce Ingman, Peter Krause, Ahoy

Honorable Mentions: Devil’s Reign #1, Fantastic 4: Life Story #5 (another Mark Russell), Knighted #2, One Star Squadron #1 (a third Mark Russell), All mainline Star Wars titles - Crimson Reign Event, The Good Asian #7, The Silver Coin #7

Great Responsibility - 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank: A Masterclass in Storytelling

Four days before Pitchers and Catchers reported for the greatest Cubs season of my lifetime (or really anybody's) I saw this headline at The Nerdist:

4 Kids Walk Into A Bank is Wes Anderson Meets Reservoir Dogs

And that's all it took, I was hooked. I knew I NEEDED to read this book, and the first issue couldn't come soon enough. The story was good enough to keep me hooked through a release schedule that involved 3-6 months between issues. Good enough for me to buy digital copies so that I would have easy access anywhere I went. Good enough to buy it in hardcover to showcase it on my bookshelf. And when Tyler asked me to do this podcast, planning our first episode for the week that Matthew Rosenberg & Tyler Boss were to release their reunion What's the Furthest Place From Here? It immediately popped into my head as the first book that I wanted to take a deep dive on for our show. Then as I re-read it I realized that it was not just the story but the ways in which that story was told that made this book not just good, but truly among the greats. With that in mind, Tyler and I decided that we would discuss the things we liked most about how the story was told rather than just the story itself.

***CAUTION SPOILERS AHEAD***

The Opening Sequences of Each Issue

At the beginning of each issue there is a sequence where we read the dialogue of the titular 4 Kids over a game that they are playing. In this way Boss and Rosenberg ground their character development in the fact that they are KIDS, no matter how serious the story may otherwise become. In issue 1 they are playing Dungeons & Dragons, and the game conceit is carried on even after the imagery has shifted to the real word in the way the characters are introduced:

The concept is repeated with a different aspect of childhood in each issue. Here we see video games, radio controlled vehicles, and action figures:

Maps & Info Graphics

Before Jonathan Hickman made them a mainstay of the X-Men Tyler Boss used them to enhance the story was told in 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank. First with insets to go along with the D&D style introductions of the story's villains:

Then full on infographic flowchart to show Paige surreptitiously using her Uncle's computer to get more information on said villains:

Indiana Jones style as the kids practice their thievery:

To comic effect as Paige recovers the box stolen by her bully:

And as an added bonus for the collected edition, an annotated bank map (the variant cover of issue 2):

Masterful Use of Both 9 Panel and BENDIS! Grids:

I'm not certain that the first time I saw the use of a small panel, headshots and dialogue grid page was in Powers, but it feels like it. And since then they have become a regular thing in American comics. Bendis most often uses them to comedic effect and/or to express the tedious nature nature of detective work. In 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, Rosenberg and Boss definitely bring the comedy, but also use them to add depth to their characters. First a playground insult war:

It's almost lost in the back and forth, so let's take another look at that last line, shit gets very real:

I particularly love how well Boss is able to set the mood by subtle changes in facial expressions.

It's the perfect tool to display the kids talking to each other after hours on their CB radios, both comedically:

and more seriously:

And a little of each as Paige and her father have a heart to heart in the front seat of the car, oblivious to the foreign exchange student in the back:

Jaime Hernandez used a 9 panel page to great effect in early issues of Love & Rockets, inspiring Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to make it the dominant page layout in Watchmen, which in turn made Tom King decide to use it in, well, everything. Here Tyler Boss uses it along with his fantastic ability to use subtle facial changes to great comedic effect:

They Never Let Us Forget That The Protagonists Are Kids

Here Paige cases the bank and tries not to get TOO bored before rapid fire asking all the questions that no bank manager in their right mind would answer: