Thief of Thieves #25 Review

It’s been a rough couple of issues, but Thief of Thieves #25 brings the conclusion to the long-winded “The Hit List” arc. So, now that it’s over, how was it and where do we go from here?

The official description from Image:

Down Mexico way, it’s kill or be killed…and a major player doesn’t make it out alive in the conclusion to “The Hit List.”

All in all, this is a pretty satisfying conclusion. It’s action heavy, yet what else could you do with such a story. It plays to its strengths and brings in an issue thats full of violence, light on emotions at times and manages to offer a down-to-earth ending. That said, it’s probably not what regular readers would expert, a problem with the story arc as a whole. Let’s not forget that this is a comic called Thief of Thieves… as much as I enjoy it, has it not strayed far from it’s original premise?

In terms of writing, Andy Diggle does a good job, even if the artwork does more of the talking. Some of the earlier emotional scenes could be improved, but Diggle delivers what he needs to near the end. It’s not perfect, but it’s acceptable, well paced and enjoyable to read. Diggle’s investment in readers and their understanding of the characters is one potentianl flaw; you really need to hate Lola, or understand the character, for their to be any sort of satisfaction to these events.

Visually, there’s nothing new here. Shawn Martinborough offers some great pencils and he’s really gotten use to the cast. His ability to portray complex poses and detail really helps this issue, even if Adriano Lucas offers far too many dark tones and shadows; the artwork almost gets hard to make out in the smaller panels.

In short, this isn’t a bad issue, but it does put the series at a cross roads. Is it going to remain dark and broody, or can we actually get back to a story about a retired thief?