It takes a lot more than good stories to sell comics. So publishers/creators often opt for a social media blitz, or the relative “safety” of Kickstarter. But for Kid Maroon, writer Christopher Cantwell and Vault Comics invented this rich backstory about a disgraced creator (Pep Shepard), a lost comic, and a meta flourish that seems to be all the craze these days.
And there’s no arguing that the Kid Maroon campaign wasn’t exciting — heck, we bought into it pretty hard ourselves — but at the end of the day, all the razzle dazzle means nothing if the story isn’t good or meaningful.
Luckily, Kid Maroon is pretty dang swell.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
The actual story is that our titular hero (whose real name is Walden Maroon) is basically a kid genius, but rather than building robots and rockets, he’s a fast-talking PI from the 1930s. So, Kid Maroon leaves his hometown, relocates to Crimeville, and gets to solving all kinds of murders and corruption cases. He’s like Dennis the Menace if he wasn’t such a little shit.
But heavy is the pre-pubescent head that wears the fedora, and Kid is a tad weary after two years of working. When does he get to be a kid, and is this PI life all it was cracked up to be? And it’s in that pivot or focus that Cantwell proves why he’s such a compelling storyteller. Because “kid detective” would be a good story if not a little tedious (and perhaps short-sighted) if there simply wasn’t more. And in Kid Maroon, it’s not just that he’s a good soul trying to do right — he’s very much affected by his own savvy/intellect and the weight of the world.
In that way, Kid Maroon is a story about a lot of things: what it’s like to be a kid in an increasingly awful, complicated world; the pressures of virtuousness in a world that’s anything but; and how even the sharpest of us need to be human from time to time. It’s also very much a meditation or commentary on the detective and pulp stories; there’s something about a child (even a smart one) cracking wise and mingling with thugs that feels silly and demonstrative of something. (But then maybe that’s the point: it’s a goofy premise, and we must embrace it with joy to really wring out the most truth.)
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
But Kid Maroon isn’t just a story about layered themes and narrative explorations. We very much feel for Walden as a whole — he’s got so much promise and ability, but he doesn’t know how to enjoy the world he’s trying to make better. It’s a kind of sympathy that’s furthered when he meets his “sidekick,” Billy Beans, and how Kid so desperately wants to connect but keeps filtering himself through this PI “shtick.” In that way, it’s both another layer to the story but mostly just a way to connect us to this larger struggle of trying to simply live in a world where that’s often a massively taxing prospect. Some of that relatability grounds and contextualizes the work of Kid Maroon, moving it from something with a lot of bells and whistles to a simple story about a good kid in a truly mad world.
It’s that vein of emotion that runs through the story, and makes it feel not only more grounded and approachable but actually extends some of the title’s inherent gimmickiness. Echoing what I said earlier, this story simply wouldn’t work — the cheesy narration wouldn’t pop, the cases about wild tigers would feel overly silly, etc. — if Kid Maroon weren’t as rich and relatable as he is even early on into issue #1.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
Of course, Kid Maroon also wouldn’t work if it weren’t for Cantwell’s collaborators, writer-artist-co-creator Victor Santos (of Polar fame) and colorist Mattia Iacono. Because the whole thing hinges on playing with old-school crime gimmicks and tropes and making them feel appropriately silly and fun (without hampering that darkness and intensity). And while that happens in a few ways in the storyline (as mentioned), it’s really the artwork that’s the most obvious realization of this dynamic.
Santos’ whole style and approach is about perfectly riding the line between the vintage and the modern. From Kid Maroon’s own design (that haircut and bow tie are perfect) to the retro architecture and supporting cast, Santos understands the drama and specificity of these noir tales. And yet he’s got just enough of a cartoony style — everything feels bigger, bolder, and more exaggerated — that he’s able to make things feel oddly approachable and joyous without, yet again, ruining the seriousness of moments or making us feel like we’re not very much in this dark, complicated world.
Add in Iacono’s colors (again, it’s all about a vintage/retro feel and also embracing some of the cartoon magic and mania), and the world feels big and multifaceted and yet remains firmly in our grasp to hold and play around with as we see fit. It’s a melding of themes, places, and traditions, where the similarities and incongruities are compared and contrasted with exceptional power.
Courtesy of Vault Comics.
And there’s other aspects still that extend the reach of Kid Maroon. Shadow and lighting are a big part of noir and pulp; how else would we know that someone’s bad, or that it’s a terrible night in the city? That same dynamic gets to exist in this book even as there’s so much color and intensity across this debut. It’s another way in highlighting the “discrepancies” at the book’s core, and not only that, but doing so as a way that’s both humorous and still challenging to readers. When Kid’s in a darkened room and slams down his slingshot, the whole vibe gives space to a lot of big sentiments and ideas, and each one lands just as carefully and thoughtfully as the others.
It’s sort of like how violence is treated in this book: it’s bold and bloody, and thus entirely unflinching in complicating the story of this young man in crisis. It also exists in a greater context, and the fact that it’s not there for the sheer excitement of it, means that it has some even greater thematic value and purpose. (Likely to offset the humor in some key ways.)
Kid’s journey may be different for some — i.e. you may feel more aligned with one thematic goal over another — but it’s always a deeply relatable process that bypasses gimmickry, jokes, and anything else for the essence of a truly great story.
So, whether this is a story about goodness in a bad world, or trying to retain yourself amid the chaos, Kid Maroon is light years beyond its marketing ploys and gimmicks. It takes that initial, slightly crazy “birth” and becomes a powerful tale about a person trying to be good when it’s even a hassle sometimes just to be. This kid’s truly alright, I’d say.
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