4 Kids Walk Into a Bank

From the Publisher:

4 KIDS WALK INTO A BANK is the darkly comedic story of four burgeoning child criminals and their elaborate plans. When a group of bumbling criminals show up in her father's life looking to pull one last job, young Paige has two choices - let her father get caught up in their criminal hijinks or enlist her three best friends to do the job first. Paige picks the bad one.

180ish pages of full color comic-booking about friendship, family, growing up, and grand larceny from rising star writer Matthew Rosenberg (WE CAN NEVER GO HOME, KINGPIN, SECRET WARRIORS) and equally rising star artist Tyler Boss (LAZARUS, CALEXIT, Vice Magazine). This vollume collects the complete series that Kieron Gilled (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, DARTH VADER) described as "Imagine Tarantino does Goonies. And excellent." and Brian K. Vaughan (SAGA, Y THE LAST MAN) said was "Exploding with ambition and love of the medium!"

My Thoughts:

The premise is this:  a group of gaming nerd boys in their tweens (11-12), led by a 12 year old girl, Paige, aka Sir Manly, who has the ability to beat up all her friends, decides to rob a bank so that her father does not rob a bank. This is Paige's way of saving her father and the boys go along with it despite the fact that science geek Walter, who does not speak louder than a mumble, continues to throw up every time things get a little intense. 

Rosenberg does not need to come up with a better title. The title is shocking enough and it got me reading because guess what, this really is about 4 kids who walk into a bank. It is so funny and so dark, this is cowboy coffee with a shot of whiskey. This book hit me in the guts and I knew in my brain that I should not be laughing but it was so macabre and I couldn't help it. From the chapter headings - "Chapter One: As far bask as lunchtime I always wanted to be a Gangster" to the acknowledgments at the end "And most importantly, thank you to all the real child bank robbers out there for letting us tell your story. . ." this book is darkly hilarious. 

I loved the tween logic of planning the heist, including their choice of disguises and the fact that Pat gets to drive the getaway car to the bank because he is tallest. Berger, who is the one that stole the family car insists that he gets to drive but his legs do not reach the pedals, so he has figured out by the end of the heist that if he ties blocks on his feet he will be able to drive. 

In the end, this is a no sacharine, no happy ending, real guns, real blood comic. That is what makes this so refreshing, so yes, thank you  to all the real child bank robbers for letting your story be told.