Book of the Week

I'll start off by saying it feels good to really be caught up on books. Now I can actually make posts such as these and engage in those ever entertaining twitter conversations we all love. No sarcasm there. Not completely anyway.

Jumping right to the book I'll say it took less than six pages before I was ready to name Thief of Thieves #5 my pick of the week. I wasn't even done reading all of my books and I had another strong contender, but Redmond's tale just happen to stick. I wasn't going to forget about the rest, they all got their fair shot.

I won't give too much away because you should definitely be reading this series, so I'll just briefly point out why you're reading this. As I said before, the first few pages definitely hook you in and you won't be disappointed. That first conversation between Redmond and James is classic. Their friendship and how the scene ends are something special. After that, we see Redmond and Agent Cohen discussing Augustus, Redmond's son. That talk makes an interesting turn when it ties into the another section of the book that deals with Celia forming a group of pros (with a previous ties to each other and Redmond) for a job. Is the next issue here yet?

Okay, so in an odd and probably surprising turn, I do have some problems with the book. The biggest of which is that the only female recruited has no role. And she's a stripper. If there were more to it, it might not be a problem. I have anything against strippers. I've known some and have visited strip clubs on several occasions. My issue with this is, as stated, she's the only female in the group besides Celia, who rounded them all up. That doesn't exactly help out the image of females in comics. And then, all she offers to the conversation is "mmph." The other members of the group each speak multiple times. And they actually use words. But she repeats "mmph" twice, that counts for something, right? You guys have to do better than that.

One other knock against this issue deals with Celia's recruiting effort. She catches up with them either during a job or some familiar setting. Okay, I can chalk up her finding them during a job to possibly her just having some knowledge of their current whereabouts and whatnot. That's all fine. It's the first one which is rather odd. One of the guys is a safecracker. He's using a torch to break into a safe. When he opens it, Celia is waiting inside. Think about that for a second. He had to use a torch to get it open. How did she get in there? If someone has an answer, I'm curious.

Now I know you might be thinking how could this be my book of the week with those two complaints. And that's understandable, but the book overall wins out despite these. It was quite difficult to detail why I picked this book without spoilers. Only you can determine if that effort was successful. I'll go out on a limb and say it was. I still recommend this series. And not because of all the talk about it possibly becoming a television show on AMC. Pick it up because it's a good comic book. So go out and pick it up. As in right now. I'll wait. No, not really, I have video games to play.

So what do you think of my pick? Have a different book in mind? Let me know. Happy reading to you all.

Thief of Thieves #4 Review

Thief of Thieves #4 follows Augustus, Redmond's son. In the previous issue, he was arrested and here we find out what he did. Readers will see that interrogation along with him setting up the job that landed him there. It's already been stated that he's not as good as his father and this issue just expounds on that a bit.

At the end of issue 3, I was curious to know more about Augustus. After reading this however, I don't really care about him and only wish to see how Redmond will interact with him in the next issue.

I do like this series, but this issue doesn't really do anything for me. If you want to know a bit about Augustus' past, you'll be fine here. If it held more details about him, I would easily recommend it. But it's really just a few bits. I'd say skip it.

Thief of Thieves #3 Review

If you have not been reading this book, which I recommend, you should be aware of something important. That being the books tagline is “there is nothing he can’t steal, nothing he can’t have…except for the life he left behind” and it’s creeping in as the story progresses. The previous issue featured Conrad chatting with his ex-wife, Audrey, and ended with him holding a picture of his son. This third book picks up right where that left off with him reminiscing about time spent with his son who has yet to be named.

The highlight of book three is the conversation, spread over several pages during breakfast, between Conrad and Special Agent Elizabeth Cohen. This scene, done quite well, reminded me of Al Pacino and Robert Deniro’s conversation in the film Heat. If you haven’t seen that, you should. You have two characters on opposite sides of the law having a sit-down. It's not a big heated situation, but still interesting in how they go back and forth. Cohen is telling him that she’s onto him and Paulson is denying it all. Would you expect more from a Special Agent and a career thief?

After that we see Agent Cohen and her partner Nate as they meet with their superior about their rather questionable methods which led to Redmond being arrested, but allowed to go free. Oh yeah, he’s suing them for four million dollars because of that situation. We’re left with Agent Cohen and Conrad’s son who is in custody. He’s still unnamed and we don’t know what he’s done.

It’s a solid book all around. Visually, I don’t have much to say about Shawn Martinbrough and Felix Serrano’s work. It's not ugly. It just seems to work here. I will say that emotion is conveyed well here.

I’m looking forward to the next issue to find out more about the son and to see what Kirkman and Spencer have in store for Redmond. This book has a couple things going for it. I still recommend it if you can find the previous issues. Thanks for looking my friends.