By: Peter J Mellini

Nick Spencer, Shawn Martinbrough, and Robert Kirman’s new crime series Thief of Thieves evokes the storytelling and coolness of Ocean’s 11.

Created by Robert Kirkman, Thief of Thieves tells the story of master criminal Redmond as he attempts to get out of the life of crime and yearns for something normal. Unfortunately leaving that live behind isn’t that easy, especially when he’s already agreed to set up a multi-million dollar heist.  His only ally is Celia, a fellow thief and his apprentice that he met while she attempted to ineffectively steal his car.

As usual, Nick Spencer’s script is character driven and full of witty and clever dialogue.  The constant banter between Redmond and Celia really gets you into these characters heads quickly and gives you a real person look into who they really are. Spencer’s use of flash backs keeps the story moving forward without dragging things out.

Shawn Martinbrough’s wide screen style for this book helps give it that cinematic look and feeling this story demands. Martinbrough’s style and storytelling is remnant Eduardo Risso’s work on a 100 Bullets, focusing his details on the characters as opposed to the backgrounds. The subtle details of expression on each character show an emotion not normally seen in comic books.

Spencer, Martinbrough and Kirkman have created a story that reads and feels like a great heist movie. Issue one is a great introduction to the series that smoothly establishes all its main characters and sets things up for something much bigger.