Thief of Thieves vol. 6: Gold Rush

Now I’m really starting to think that this series should have wrapped up with vol. 4.  What was once a fun comic about pulling off elaborate crimes and sticking it to those who deserved it is quickly turning into a smug and predictable affair.  Things start out fine enough with a typically flashy heist from Conrad “Redmond” Paulson and his partner Celia only for them to be scouted by two Russian oligarch brothers for an exceptionally difficult job.  The item they want is a computer program called “Gold Rush” which was designed to crash the U.S.A. stock market and is currently in the hands of a Russian general in a very secure bunker.  However, there’s a catch.  The brothers have also hired two other A-list thieves, Fausto Delgado and Sally Pike, with the intent of letting the three of them compete to get the program and also determine who is the real thief of thieves.

Vol. 6’s biggest problem is the feeling that the events are basically being driven by Conrad’s ego at this point.  While he initially rejects the oligarchs’ offer, saying he has nothing to prove, he comes right back in to get the scoop on the heist after Fausto steals his keys.  That kind of pettiness gets him in all sorts of trouble throughout the volume and it’s not all that fun to read about.  Writer Andy Diggle also shows that while he’s delivered some of the best twists in this series prior to this volume, he’s starting to run out of tricks as clever readers will be able to realize what Conrad is planning before it’s revealed.  Also, the heist itself feels like it comes off too easily — even with the expected chaos afterward — with the bunker being set up as an impregnable fortress that needs the combined efforts of all three thieves to crack and only a third of the story winds up being spent on this.

If you shut your brain off then it’s possible that the book’s always stylish art from Shawn Martinbrough will be able to carry you through its length.  You’ll be in for a rude awakening at the end, as things wrap up with the title’s biggest cliffhanger yet.  Though this development is meant to be exciting, I can only hope that vol. 7 brings “Thief of Thieves” to a proper end before my patience and goodwill towards it are completely extinguished.