Created by Robert Kirkman, the comic centers on Conrad Paulson, a highly successful thief who quits the business and begins a new life stealing from other thieves.

At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, Thief of Thieves was announced as one of the titles that would help launch Robert Kirkman's Skybound, an imprint of Image Comics.

[1][2] A year later, Kirkman told USA Today that working on AMC's The Walking Dead television series influenced his approach on co-writing Thief of Thieves: "Having worked on the Walking Dead TV show, I've really fallen in love with the way that TV shows are written, where a bunch of people get together and they plot stuff and people split off into their own little splinter groups and write episodes," he said.

[3] Kirkman wanted Spencer to write the first arc because of his "knack for good and interesting dialogue," and liked Martinbrough's "cinematic flair" and ability to "portray characters realistically."

[8][9] Erik Norris of IGN called the first issue "a satisfying introduction to this series that establishes the main cast with some great characterization and ends strongly with a cliffhanger that's sure to get me back next month.

"[10] Iann Robinson of CraveOnline, while critical of some of the first issue's artistic elements and dialogue, said "Thief Of Thieves works well enough to give it the benefit of the doubt.

"[11] Newsarama's Edward Kaye called the book's concept "solid [...] if not a bit clichéd, but I really don’t think that the premise is presented very well in [the] debut issue.