Sunday, September 25, 2016

Read This! - Thief of Thieves (Vol. 1)


Read This! is made possible by The Gauntlet Comics and Games

Thief of Thieves, published by Image Comics, tells the story of one Conrad Paulson, aka Redmond, a master thief on the FBI's most wanted list.  Interestingly enough, Redmond has decided to get out of the game.  While we see various flashbacks of his old life, we discover that Redmond's son Augustus is in prison.  In order to get him free, Redmond works out a deal with Elizabeth Cohen, one of the FBI agents assigned to track him down.  He agrees to do one last job, and assembles a team to rob one of the biggest players in his business.  Things don't go quite as planned on either side, and Redmond is left to make some serious decisions about his future.
Creator Robert Kirkman, best known for The Walking Dead, shows with this book that he can do more than capes and zombies.  Thief of Thieves contains a number of familiar character types and situations, but there are enough surprises to keep things interesting.  Writer Nick Spencer delivers appropriately hard-boiled dialogue and narration, along with some memorable action scenes.  The art style of Shawn Martinbrough matches the tone of the book very well.  The thick ink lines bring to mind newspaper detective comics of old.  One of the things I found most interesting about this book was the panel structure, which one could say is the cinematography of comics.  The majority of panels are full-page width (widescreen for comics, in other words), mixed with a handful of full-page splash panels that enhance the dramatic effect of key story moments.
Thief of Thieves seems tailor-made for an episodic medium like television, which is likely why it's currently in development with AMC.  If the success of The Walking Dead is any indication, Thief of Thieves could be the next big thing, so now's a great time to discover the original material for yourself!

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