Well, six issues in and they did it. They got me.

I have been reading this, enjoying it, but not falling in love with it. The first five issues were a pleasurable ride, sure, but they weren’t hooking me. I wasn’t finishing an issue and craving another. I wasn’t connecting to any of the characters. For a while, I wasn’t even really remembering the names of Conrad and the other major players in this story. But as I said before, this issue finally got me.

For starters, the art and layouts on the first five issues were just not doing anything for me. Usually, I am not a fan of cinematic comic books, in that, I don’t really dig wide angle shot after wide angle shot with only a few panels to a page. If it’s done poorly, it can feel really cheap and lazy.

This however, is neither.

The pacing on this issue is phenomenal. It definitely reads like a cinematic experience, jumping swiftly from moment to moment and plot point to plot point. That sort of story telling works brilliantly in this issue because the story we get here is all about tension.

We’re no longer building these characters, but instead watching their actions, and the consequences of their actions, play out. Panel by panel. So these wide framed shots, with just a face and minimal back ground work, have a really stark effect.

Thief of Thief scratches an itch that I didn’t even realize I really had. So often, we as readers get comfortable with the books we read. By that, I mean that we begin to understand how a writer works, how they plot their stories, and what direction characters and plots will take.
Even the unexpected can become, well, expected. It is incredibly refreshing to have a good ol’ switcheroo pulled on you. And maybe that’s why I am so in love with this issue. In a time were things feel either editorially mandated or contrived, a genuine “I didn’t see that coming” moment just feels nice. And to build to it? Over a few pages instead of just dropping it in at the last moment? That makes me one happy comic book reader.

I went in to this issue with few expectations. I was looking for a reason to drop it, if we’re being honest here. So it adds to the whole experience of reading this book that on the issue that turns our understanding of Redmond and his development around, my enjoyment and expectations for this comic were completely turned around. I really had the rug pulled out from under my feet, and I loved it.

I can now safely say I am in it for the whole ride with Thief of Thieves. And I can even more safely say, that you should as well. This book is going places.