Thief of Thieves #11

Writer: James Asmus

Artist: Shawn Martinbrough

Thief of Thieves #11 brings us to the point of no return for the team.  The issue shows a little bit more back story but mainly focuses on getting all of the pieces together for the final heist of the second major arc of Thief of Thieves.

This story as a whole is losing me. The first arc had a decent amount of surprises and fun action similar to an oceans 11 style heist feel. Now though the second arc is focused more on a simpler plot with fewer moving pieces, the cracks are beginning to show. With the main characters now being the front and center with a less interesting plot, they struggle keep up. Redmond and his son have really not made any progress in their relationship 11 issues in and it's frustrating to still see them at "square one" after all this time.  The side characters that complement don't fare much better. On both sides of the law, every character feels cliched and lacks personality.  The dialogue comes off as forgettable and rigid. There were a few lines in the flashback scene I enjoyed, especially during the police interrogation. I want to care about this cast of characters, but so far they've given me very little to bring me onto their side. I can't help but shake the feeling that this second arc was not well thought out. Kirkman has said he wanted ToT to have more a "television writer's room" feel with mapping out the main plots and then giving different writers the assignment of single issues. I think that strategy could work when characters are more well defined, but at this point with so many questions on how the characters should be portrayed it is too early to do writer switching. 

The art isnt special. It gets the job done and doesn't wow the audience at any time. It really feels like a storyboard for a television show. With Kirkman's previous comments on this series, I can't say I'm surprised. There is no unique qualities that make it stand out and it comes off as very bland. While a minor problem,I still want to bring it up to show that ToT is not paying much attention to detail. One of our female characters is tasked to be a "stake out" and stay in the background while she gets the information she needs. During the scene where she gets the info, she is wearing an extremely low cut dress exposing her goods for all to see. If a person was trying to "hide in the background" then why would they wear something that will instantly get every male eye to attract to them in a tiny restaurant. It's a small detail yes, but it shows a lack of planning and coordination that goes into making this look and feel like a crime heist story. 

I'm looking forward to this story wrapping up. I think Thief of Thieves still has potential has an ongoing series. At this though pace though, I don't expect many to stick around for the the long haul.