How do you start an article on Matthew Rosenberg?
Well, with music quotes, of course. Let me hit you with this Jake Bugg chorus.
Johnny deals a bit of blow on the side
Thinks that he's invincible, hates a fight
Jenny walks the streets alone, she was fine
But she got kicked out of her home in hard times
The messed up kids are on the corner with no money
They sell their time, they sell their drugs, they sell their body
And everywhere I see a sea of empty pockets
Beautiful girls with eyes so dark within their sockets
So far away
It's a washed out Saturday
The sky all pastel shades
Under breeze block palisades
Matthew is a comic book writer who captures messiness and the simplistic yet complex relatability and communality of that mess. With works from DC and Marvel, and indie work that spans crime novels with kids to post-apocalyptic nightmares and spy vs. robots sagas. Coming from the music industry, Matthew stories might as well be read as songs.
Let’s take a look at some of his best works.
His best creator-owned comics:
4 Kids Walk Into a Bank
You might see this on best-of-all-time lists. You might even find some people saying this is the funniest graphic novel ever.
You know that good heist movie with incredible timing for humour you love? Well, this is a love letter to the genre, but with a defining twist: what if it was Stand By Me as well?
Focusing on Paige, a fiery, unhappy girl, and her gang of loser kids who have to help her criminal father accomplish a heist. An absolute blast of the funniest and dumbest course of action you can imagine follows. It reeks of teenage rebellion at the same level it does of teenage dumbness.
This is a story of a generation begging for escape and not truly having the language for it. Matthew gives them that language by cracking the smartest jokes you're ever going to read on the same page as the stupidest pun possible. The end result is somewhere along the lines of a Daniel Clowes for the IPad generation.
The collaboration, born in heaven, with Tyler Boss is pure comic goodness. Every single page is developed to improve the jokes, like a schematic plan would.
It also features one of the best endings and final panels of all time. The sky, all pastel shades under breeze block palisades, after all.
What's the Furthest Place from Here?
The title question is an immediate insight into the characters here. A post-apocalyptic madness where kids are abandoned in nowhere to fend for themselves. Forming societies and groups that resemble a punk-futuristic version of the Sharks and the Jets from West Side Story, if Stephen Sondheim had a Green Day phase.
Our main group is the Academy, living in an old music store. The way they talk, the way they behave, it's all uncanny and terrifying in a way. They express themselves as violently and angrily as the places around them.
The secrets of this society are vast, and we can only be ignorant and angry, after all. And we can wonder, wonder how far those kids, and ourselves, can go without losing our minds. This is a rebel book about belonging.
What's The Furthest Place From Here? Vol 01 TP
What's The Furthest Place From Here? Vol 02 TP
What's The Furthest Place From Here? Vol 03 TP
What's The Furthest Place From Here? Vol 04 TP
They released variant issues that comes together with an actual vinil. And we still have some of those.
Whats The Furthest Place From Here #3 Deluxe Edition 7 Inch Record *rare variant*
We're Taking Everyone Down with Us
Not a question. A proclamation.
Sold as the first secret agent story in the Rook series, this very cleverly shifts the focus to the ones actually being hunted. A little girl and a robot uploaded with the memories and personality of her assassinated, abusive father.
Like many of Matthew’s kids, Annalise is not just a simple victim getting dragged along. There’s a complex violence and quiet anger about her that can only end badly.
Making use of the wolf-and-cub dynamics we’ve seen all around media recently, Matthew trusts us with the knowledge that things won’t fit whatever mold we might expect.
A world of video calls and assassinations, and how robotic love can be our doom or our only hope. Parents feel entitled to the future, and kids will definitely remind them they own this commodity. And they will do whatever they feel like with it.
We're Taking Everyone Down With Us TP
Matthew Rosenberg (We're Taking Everyone...) Signed Bookplate One Per Customer
We're Taking Everyone Down With Us TP w/ Signed Bookplate
His best work for Marvel and DC
For Marvel
My first contact with Matthew at all was in Multiple Man. I think Peter David’s X-Factor might be Marvel's best run ever (and Matthew kind of agrees). This is a love letter both to David's legacy and to the way comic media can extend and stretch.
Matthew also wrote an unbelievably underrated run with X-Men, including an Astonishing title, a Cyclops and Wolverine stint on Uncanny, and miniseries for New Mutants, as well as being responsible for reestablishing the original Jean Grey back into the fold. Why don't people talk about it enough? Well, it was right before Jonathan Hickman would revolutionize the line. I would argue some of Rosenberg's work here is better than most of the initial titles in the Krakoa phase (one that I also undoubtedly love).
He also has a run on The Punisher and a Secret Warriors formation that includes fan-favorites Kamala Khan and Moon Girl together on one team. Tales of Suspense and Hawkeye: Freefall continue in the legacy of Matt Fraction and David Aja, making everyone love Clint Barton.
It seems Matthew's history with Marvel is full of hidden, underrated gems.
For DC
WildC.A.T.s spins out of Grifter back-ups on Batman: Urban Legends, and it’s his best work for the Big Two. He is truly among the only recent successful attempts (maybe together with Morrison’s Superman and the Authority) to marry WildStorm with the DC Universe in a way that feels natural and actually takes the properties forward.
He writes a lot of Joker (and more importantly, a lot of good Joker) with his own solo series The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing and The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox.
His love for underdogs and cool horror continues in Task Force Z and lots of DC vs. Vampires miniseries.
F.A.Q:
What comics has Matthew Rosenberg written?
Matthew is famous for 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, What's the Furthest Place from Here?, Astonishing X-Men, Punisher, and many other series.
What are the best Matthew Rosenberg comics to start with?
4 Kids Walk Into a Bank is the best entry point into Matthew Rosenberg comics. For his superhero work, I would recommend starting with The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox.
Is Matthew Rosenberg known more for indie comics or Marvel/DC?
Matthew works with both indie and Marvel/DC. His most acclaimed work, though, is his indie work, especially his collaborations with Tyler Boss.
What should I read after 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank?
After you read 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, read What's the Furthest Place from Here?. It carries and evolves many of the themes in the graphic novel.
What is Matthew Rosenberg’s most popular comic?
Matthew's most popular comic is definitely 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, including being adapted into a movie starring Liam Neeson.
New series!
If Destruction Be Our Lot
His new series is out in May 2026.
What if Steven Spielberg directed Lincoln and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence at the same time?
This is a striking new sci-fi series about what remains of humanity when humans no longer do. Plus, a very funny bus.
Not only that, Matthew is the new author of Spawn. We’ve interviewed Matthew about all of it:
