By: Robert Kirkman (story), Nick Spencer (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (art), Felix Serrano (colors), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor).
The Story: An art thief takes on a new apprentice.
Review: Nick Spencer is a very good writer. I tend to think that a lot of comic writers are a little overrated and they rarely impress me, but Spencer has a way of stringing his words together in a very agreeable manner. I like to read a comic and see sentence structure that is better than I could do myself and Nick Spencer fits the bill. His words add to the over story concept, and that is a rare thing in comics.
That overall concept is compelling enough too. I’m personally not much of a fan of art thief stories, but you could do a lot worse in your comic reading than to read a story about an experienced thief who takes on a younger and sexy female apprentice. Surely there will be some big caper coming down the road, some sleeping together and some double-crosses, etc. Maybe I’m speculating too much about the future of the story, but that’s a solid premise for any fictional tale and it is only common because it is good. And as I mentioned, most common set-ups aren’t going to be blessed by having a writer as smooth as Spencer.
The art also checks out. Shawn Martinbrough is an incredibly clean artist who has been around for a while. He’s often doing fill-in issues, but he always brings a nice clean look to his projects so it is nice to see him get an opportunity at an ongoing with some big name writers attached. If you like artists like Sean Phillips on Criminal you’ll probably like this.
So, if the writing checks out and the art checks out, what is left to hold the comic back? Well, I just don’t like art thief stories. I don’t like smart criminals; I like dumb and vicious criminals (Criminal or any Martin Scorsese movie). And, in all of my comic reading, by tastes run toward the visceral and away from the cerebral and I don’t see a lot of visceral in this comic. But that’s just me… I know there are lots of people who will enjoy a little less blood in their crime thrillers. If you ever read crime fiction and say/think, “Goodness, why do they always have to shoot each other at the end?” this is probably for you.
Conclusion: This comic has all the proper elements to be successful: excellent writing talent and snappy art that is appropriate for the subject matter. The only thing holding it back for me is the subject matter (cerebral thieves), but your mileage may vary.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
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