Originally published at: Gentleman charged with stealing $13,774 worth of rare comics from Boulder comic book store (video) | Boing Boing
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Given the relatively small number of comic book resellers out there I can’t imagine there was much chance the other stores hadn’t heard about the theft either before or shortly after this crook showed up to peddle his stolen goods. Not the brightest villain in the rogues’ gallery.
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I heard about the theft and books to look out for from a KC comics group. So word got around pretty fast.
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Yeah when it comes to stealing rare items there’s always the problem that the most theoretically valuable goods are the ones that are hardest to sell without getting caught. That’s why people who steal famous works of art generally only have two potential revenue sources: either blackmail the legitimate owners to give the thing back or have a rich asshole collector lined up ahead of time.
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Mile High was the only place to go in Denver for quality comics in the 80’s. Just like Tattered Cover was the best bookstore and Wax Traxs was the best used record store.
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Yep. With slabbed comics, you might play the long game of cracking them, and either selling them raw (for significantly less money) or submit them for regrading somewhere, then it has a different number and you have some plausible deniability.
Haven’t been to either even though I have been to Denver once (as well as a layover at the airport). The Mile High comics guy has a blog where he tells the story of how he found, saved, and got rich over this mother load of golden age comics. And sadly, there was a lot of pulps and other ephemera he couldn’t save!
I only JUST learned the original Wax Trax is in Denver, and I haven’t been there either. I must go someday!
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I worked at Time Warp in the early 90s and still get my comics there. I was so glad that they caught the guy. I figured that, since the comic book shop community is so tight, the person would have a hard time moving them without someone catching on, but the guys at the shop weren’t too hopeful. Wayne’s a good guy and a huge supporter of the comic community, so I’m glad other shop owners had his back.
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Indeed. Rozanski bought the famed Edgar Church collection which included an original Superman #1 and the first Marvel Comics #1 along with thousands of others in perfectly preserved, mint condition.
It is believed that the collection is valued in excess of $50 million dollars. For example Edgar Church’s copy of Action Comics #1 is believed to be the best condition copy in existence and alone worth in the neighborhood of $3 to $5 million, it currently is held by a private collector.
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No costume? Not even a domino mask and stripy t-shirt? What and amateur!. I hope they catch the offender and throw the Overstreet Price Guide at them. 
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I had a pull list at the Time Warp for years when I lived in Boulder. I remember looking into that expensive rare comics display many times, and watching this is kind of surreal. Glad they caught this guy.
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It’s still so strange to imagine in the late 1980s that I had essentially unknowingly lived a few blocks down from the guy who later started the website I spend so much time on every day, while now being thousands of miles away.
To think that some of the nerds I spent so much time with back then might actually know Mark.
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