Robert Kirkman's 'Thief of Thieves' No. 2 Preview (Exclusive)

The creator of the new Image title tells THR that his experience on AMC's "The Walking Dead" inspired the way he approaches the book's storytelling.

9:00 AM PST 2/8/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

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"Thief of Thieves" No. 1

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman expands his comic credits Wednesday when his newest entry, Thief of Thieves, hits comic shops.

The heist story about a thief who turns his back on his lifetime of crime in a bid to recapture his lost family life, appealed to Kirkman in a way similar to the double worlds of superheroes like Batman and Superman. In this world, Conrad Paulson -- aka Redmond -- is a master thief who exists in a criminal world filled with characters and has a secret identity of sorts that exists in his home life, where he has a family and does his own thing.

"I like the way that mirrors superhero stories in a big way and thought this kind of story would appeal to a comic book audience," Kirkman tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We're going to have our high adventure and cool criminal stuff and also have the more dramatic everyday life."

While the title leaves the zombie world behind, Kirkman says it was his experience in the writers' room of the AMC drama that inspired his storytelling approach for Thief of Thieves.

"Watching six brains craft a story and watching individual people pitch ideas and other people tear those ideas down to only the purest, most essential nuggets and then build up those up to something that's better than what ever the initial idea was is a really cool to tell stories," Kirkman says. "I'm trying to bring that approach into comics as well with this series. I'm working with a group of writers to craft these stories."

Thieves No. 1 was penned by Morning Glories' Nick Spencer and features a taste of what Redmond's criminal family is like, while Thief of Thieves No. 2 will offer insight into his personal life, including his ex-wife, Audrey. Check out the cover and three inside pages, in images exclusive to THR, from March's second issue.

Kirkman will also be on hand at Image Expo on Feb. 24-26 at the Oakland Convention Center, where the weekend panels will include Image's 20th anniversary, Comics on TV and The Talking Dead Live, with The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun. For more on Image Expo, go to Skybound.com.