Thief of Thieves, Vol. 1
Conrad Paulson is secretly Redmond, the titular thief, who has finally come to see the emotional toll his life of pilfering has exacted. Yearning to reconnect with his ex-wife and extricate his neglected son from prison, Paulson weaves a skein of betrayals against old compatriots and a law force prepared to make a bargain. Watching the skein unravel and determining just who has been betrayed and who has been outsmarted is part of the fun, of course. Spencer, working with a story by Kirkman (Walking Dead), echoes the sort of smart, gritty crime tale Ed Brubaker has perfected in his Eisner-winning Criminal. Paulson’s redemption, headed off at every corner, makes for a classic emotional stake, and the complexity of the plot, often flashing back to the past to explain the present, holds steady interest despite the lack of action set pieces the format usually relies on. Martinbrough’s visuals support the cinematic atmosphere of the story with their own slick, urban-noir settings; grizzled men with five o’clock shadows; and determined expressions on the hard, driven characters. --Jesse Karp