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Long time collector Joe Latino had over $200,000 of comics and two pieces of original art stolen from his supposedly “secure” storage facility sometime in the last 10 weeks. The theft has been reported to the police in the Bridgeport/New Haven area. He has also been contacting local Connecticut and NYC dealers, but it would be difficult to contact/find all of them. My hope is that someone on the board can give Joe a tip to break the case. I’m posting this on several of the CGC comic book boards to try to catch as many individual collectors as possible, so I apologize if you see this more than once. Joe is still inventorying the stolen comics, but the below should list about 90% of them. Joe and I have partial scans of the Marvel first appearance books, and he is locating as many images of the other comics as possible. This will help in positively identifying the books. Joe is offering a “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the comics and/or apprehension of the thief/thieves. Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. Marvel First Appearance comics (conditions vary, generally VG to F+. Can supply individual grades if needed) Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (clear magic tape on spine) Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 reprint with record Avengers No. 4 Daredevil No. 1 signed by Stan Lee 1991 both on the cover and the interior Splash page Fantastic Four No. 1 (clear magic tape on spine) Tales to Astonish No. 35 Tales of Suspense No. 39 (clear magic tape on spine) X-Men 1 Timely Golden Age Comics (some CGC slabs) Captain America 10 (8.0), 13 (8.0), 14 (8.0), 16, 53, 63, 66, 67 (8.0), 70, 72 (6.5), 76 Daring Comics 10 (2.5), 11, 12 Marvel Mystery Comics 47, 48, 51 Various Slabbed Comics (all CGC unless otherwise noted) Some Pedigree DC Action Comics 22, 138 (8 PGX), 173 (4.5), 216 (7.5), 277 (8.5) Adventure Comics 102 , 165 (5.5), 240 (6.5) Detective Comics 435 (9.6) The Flash 118 (8), 144 (9.4 Mohawk Valley) Flash Comics 52 (4.5) Green Lantern second series 8 (8), 20 (9), 34 (8 Fantucchio), 40 (7.5) More Fun Comics 15 (3) Mystery In Space 55 (7), 66 (8), 79 (8.5), 84 (8) Superman 76 (4 cbcs), 106 (5), 114, 138 (6) Superman Time Capsule nn (9) Tales of the Unexpected 48 (8), 68 (8.5) Marvel Avengers 7 (8), 8 (6.5 Nick Cage copy), 12 (8), 15 (8), 16 (8), 19 (9), 35 (9 Fantucchio), 100 (9.2), 141 (9.4), 171 (9.4), 500 Director’s Cut Finch (9.6 Signature Series) Captain America 1 vol 4 (9.8) Daredevil 8 (9), 48 (9.6 Fantucchio) Doctor Strange 5 (9.4), 7 (9.6), 22 (9.6), 35 (9.4) Fantastic Four 9 (5), 10 (6.5), 39 (8.5), 59 (9.4), 69 (9.4), 72 (9) Iron Man 1 (8), 85 (9.6), 94 (9.6), 241 (9.6) Iron Man and Sub-Mariner 1 (9.4 PGX) Journey Into Mystery 79 (6 Hall of Fame) Strange Tales 64 (6), 82 (4 Westport Collection), 86 (6), 90 (5), 93 (4.5), 95 (5.5 Westport Collection), 122 (7.5 PGX), 124 (8.5 Fantucchio), 132 (9.2), 136 (9.2), 154 (9.6), 156 (9.4 MA copy), 162 (9.2), 168 (9.4), 170 (9.4), 173 (9.4), 174 (9.4), 176 (9.4) Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos 13 (8,5) Tales to Astonish 3 (5.5), 30 (5.5), 33 (5.5), 39 (6.5) Tales of Suspense 27 (5), 73 (9.4), 80 (9.4 Fantucchio), 95 (9 Fantucchio) Thor 181 (9.6) Web of Spider-Man 1 (9.8) Various Raw Comics (Grades vary. Can provide individual grades if needed. Some comics have identifying characteristics) Charlton Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds 3, 4 DC Action Comics 14, 16, 18, 27, 32, 36, 41, 46, 52, 61, 63, 66, 67, 70, 91, 92, 93, 98, 103, 108, 112, 121 All Flash 11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 New York World’s Fair 1940 Superman 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 34-60, 62, 65, 67, 71, 74, 78, 83, 89, 102, 104, 107, 108, 110, 113 World’s Finest Comics 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 38, 46, 58, 71, 74, 75 77, 79-85, 87-89, 91-93, 99, 100, 108, 114 Fawcett Captain Marvel Adventures 4, 14, 100 Whiz Comics 22 Also one long box of Batman/Detective and misc Batman titles was stolen. Some Silver Age but primarily Bronze and Copper. The artwork stolen was the Marie Severin Strange Tales 154 cover and a Charles Flanders Lone Ranger drawing originally done for George Roussos in his famous book of sketches. Joe is offering a separate “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the original art. Again, Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. There is a $5000 reward for the successful recovery of the original art (no questions asked) and a separate $5000 reward for the recovery of the stolen comics (no questions asked) OR apprehension of the thief/thieves. Thanks for your attention and any help you may be able to provide. Mike

Long time collector Joe Latino had over $200,000 of comics and two pieces of original art stolen from his supposedly “secure” storage facility sometime in the last 10 weeks. The theft has been reported to the police in the Bridgeport/New Haven area. He has also been contacting local Connecticut and NYC dealers, but it would be difficult to contact/find all of them. My hope is that someone on the board can give Joe a tip to break the case. I’m posting this on several of the CGC comic book boards to try to catch as many individual collectors as possible, so I apologize if you see this more than once. Joe is still inventorying the stolen comics, but the below should list about 90% of them. Joe and I have partial scans of the Marvel first appearance books, and he is locating as many images of the other comics as possible. This will help in positively identifying the books. Joe is offering a “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the comics and/or apprehension of the thief/thieves. Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. Marvel First Appearance comics (conditions vary, generally VG to F+. Can supply individual grades if needed) Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (clear magic tape on spine) Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 reprint with record Avengers No. 4 Daredevil No. 1 signed by Stan Lee 1991 both on the cover and the interior Splash page Fantastic Four No. 1 (clear magic tape on spine) Tales to Astonish No. 35 Tales of Suspense No. 39 (clear magic tape on spine) X-Men 1 Timely Golden Age Comics (some CGC slabs) Captain America 10 (8.0), 13 (8.0), 14 (8.0), 16, 53, 63, 66, 67 (8.0), 70, 72 (6.5), 76 Daring Comics 10 (2.5), 11, 12 Marvel Mystery Comics 47, 48, 51 Various Slabbed Comics (all CGC unless otherwise noted) Some Pedigree DC Action Comics 22, 138 (8 PGX), 173 (4.5), 216 (7.5), 277 (8.5) Adventure Comics 102 , 165 (5.5), 240 (6.5) Detective Comics 435 (9.6) The Flash 118 (8), 144 (9.4 Mohawk Valley) Flash Comics 52 (4.5) Green Lantern second series 8 (8), 20 (9), 34 (8 Fantucchio), 40 (7.5) More Fun Comics 15 (3) Mystery In Space 55 (7), 66 (8), 79 (8.5), 84 (8) Superman 76 (4 cbcs), 106 (5), 114, 138 (6) Superman Time Capsule nn (9) Tales of the Unexpected 48 (8), 68 (8.5) Marvel Avengers 7 (8), 8 (6.5 Nick Cage copy), 12 (8), 15 (8), 16 (8), 19 (9), 35 (9 Fantucchio), 100 (9.2), 141 (9.4), 171 (9.4), 500 Director’s Cut Finch (9.6 Signature Series) Captain America 1 vol 4 (9.8) Daredevil 8 (9), 48 (9.6 Fantucchio) Doctor Strange 5 (9.4), 7 (9.6), 22 (9.6), 35 (9.4) Fantastic Four 9 (5), 10 (6.5), 39 (8.5), 59 (9.4), 69 (9.4), 72 (9) Iron Man 1 (8), 85 (9.6), 94 (9.6), 241 (9.6) Iron Man and Sub-Mariner 1 (9.4 PGX) Journey Into Mystery 79 (6 Hall of Fame) Strange Tales 64 (6), 82 (4 Westport Collection), 86 (6), 90 (5), 93 (4.5), 95 (5.5 Westport Collection), 122 (7.5 PGX), 124 (8.5 Fantucchio), 132 (9.2), 136 (9.2), 154 (9.6), 156 (9.4 MA copy), 162 (9.2), 168 (9.4), 170 (9.4), 173 (9.4), 174 (9.4), 176 (9.4) Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos 13 (8,5) Tales to Astonish 3 (5.5), 30 (5.5), 33 (5.5), 39 (6.5) Tales of Suspense 27 (5), 73 (9.4), 80 (9.4 Fantucchio), 95 (9 Fantucchio) Thor 181 (9.6) Web of Spider-Man 1 (9.8) Various Raw Comics (Grades vary. Can provide individual grades if needed. Some comics have identifying characteristics) Charlton Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds 3, 4 DC Action Comics 14, 16, 18, 27, 32, 36, 41, 46, 52, 61, 63, 66, 67, 70, 91, 92, 93, 98, 103, 108, 112, 121 All Flash 11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 New York World’s Fair 1940 Superman 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 34-60, 62, 65, 67, 71, 74, 78, 83, 89, 102, 104, 107, 108, 110, 113 World’s Finest Comics 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 38, 46, 58, 71, 74, 75 77, 79-85, 87-89, 91-93, 99, 100, 108, 114 Fawcett Captain Marvel Adventures 4, 14, 100 Whiz Comics 22 Also one long box of Batman/Detective and misc Batman titles was stolen. Some Silver Age but primarily Bronze and Copper. The artwork stolen was the Marie Severin Strange Tales 154 cover and a Charles Flanders Lone Ranger drawing originally done for George Roussos in his famous book of sketches. Joe is offering a separate “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the original art. Again, Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. There is a $5000 reward for the successful recovery of the original art (no questions asked) and a separate $5000 reward for the recovery of the stolen comics (no questions asked) OR apprehension of the thief/thieves. Thanks for your attention and any help you may be able to provide. Mike

No news at this point. I'll will try and keep the board updated if/when I hear more. Mike

Last I heard the storage company was still going through the video footage. Mike

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will forward them to Joe. Should I also post this in the CGC Golden Age Comic Books and Silver Age Comic Books boards? Or is that overkill? I don't know how many people read the Comics General board versus skipping straight to a more narrowly focused board. Mike

Long time collector Joe Latino had over $200,000 of comics and two pieces of original art stolen from his supposedly “secure” storage facility sometime in the last 10 weeks. The theft has been reported to the police in the Bridgeport/New Haven area. He has also been contacting local Connecticut and NYC dealers, but it would be difficult to contact/find all of them. My hope is that someone on the board can give Joe a tip to break the case. Joe is still inventorying the stolen comics, but the below should list about 90% of them. Joe and I have partial scans of the Marvel first appearance books, and he is locating as many images of the other comics as possible. This will help in positively identifying the books. Joe is offering a “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the comics and/or apprehension of the thief/thieves. Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. Marvel First Appearance comics (conditions vary, generally VG to F+. Can supply individual grades if needed) Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (clear magic tape on spine) Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 reprint with record Avengers No. 4 Daredevil No. 1 signed by Stan Lee 1991 both on the cover and the interior Splash page Fantastic Four No. 1 (clear magic tape on spine) Tales to Astonish No. 35 Tales of Suspense No. 39 (clear magic tape on spine) X-Men 1 Timely Golden Age Comics (some CGC slabs) Captain America 10 (8.0), 13 (8.0), 14 (8.0), 16, 53, 63, 66, 67 (8.0), 70, 72 (6.5), 76 Daring Comics 10 (2.5), 11, 12 Marvel Mystery Comics 47, 48, 51 Various Slabbed Comics (all CGC unless otherwise noted) Some Pedigree DC Action Comics 22, 138 (8 PGX), 173 (4.5), 216 (7.5), 277 (8.5) Adventure Comics 102 , 165 (5.5), 240 (6.5) Detective Comics 435 (9.6) The Flash 118 (8), 144 (9.4 Mohawk Valley) Flash Comics 52 (4.5) Green Lantern second series 8 (8), 20 (9), 34 (8 Fantucchio), 40 (7.5) More Fun Comics 15 (3) Mystery In Space 55 (7), 66 (8), 79 (8.5), 84 (8) Superman 76 (4 cbcs), 106 (5), 114, 138 (6) Superman Time Capsule nn (9) Tales of the Unexpected 48 (8), 68 (8.5) Marvel Avengers 7 (8), 8 (6.5 Nick Cage copy), 12 (8), 15 (8), 16 (8), 19 (9), 35 (9 Fantucchio), 100 (9.2), 141 (9.4), 171 (9.4), 500 Director’s Cut Finch (9.6 Signature Series) Captain America 1 vol 4 (9.8) Daredevil 8 (9), 48 (9.6 Fantucchio) Doctor Strange 5 (9.4), 7 (9.6), 22 (9.6), 35 (9.4) Fantastic Four 9 (5), 10 (6.5), 39 (8.5), 59 (9.4), 69 (9.4), 72 (9) Iron Man 1 (8), 85 (9.6), 94 (9.6), 241 (9.6) Iron Man and Sub-Mariner 1 (9.4 PGX) Journey Into Mystery 79 (6 Hall of Fame) Strange Tales 64 (6), 82 (4 Westport Collection), 86 (6), 90 (5), 93 (4.5), 95 (5.5 Westport Collection), 122 (7.5 PGX), 124 (8.5 Fantucchio), 132 (9.2), 136 (9.2), 154 (9.6), 156 (9.4 MA copy), 162 (9.2), 168 (9.4), 170 (9.4), 173 (9.4), 174 (9.4), 176 (9.4) Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos 13 (8,5) Tales to Astonish 3 (5.5), 30 (5.5), 33 (5.5), 39 (6.5) Tales of Suspense 27 (5), 73 (9.4), 80 (9.4 Fantucchio), 95 (9 Fantucchio) Thor 181 (9.6) Web of Spider-Man 1 (9.8) Various Raw Comics (Grades vary. Can provide individual grades if needed. Some comics have identifying characteristics) Charlton Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds 3, 4 DC Action Comics 14, 16, 18, 27, 32, 36, 41, 46, 52, 61, 63, 66, 67, 70, 91, 92, 93, 98, 103, 108, 112, 121 All Flash 11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 New York World’s Fair 1940 Superman 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 34-60, 62, 65, 67, 71, 74, 78, 83, 89, 102, 104, 107, 108, 110, 113 World’s Finest Comics 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 38, 46, 58, 71, 74, 75 77, 79-85, 87-89, 91-93, 99, 100, 108, 114 Fawcett Captain Marvel Adventures 4, 14, 100 Whiz Comics 22 Also one long box of Batman/Detective and misc Batman titles was stolen. Some Silver Age but primarily Bronze and Copper. The artwork stolen was the Marie Severin Strange Tales 154 cover and a Charles Flanders Lone Ranger drawing originally done for George Roussos in his famous book of sketches. Joe is offering a separate “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the original art. Again, Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. There is a $5000 reward for the successful recovery of the original art (no questions asked) and a separate $5000 reward for the recovery of the stolen comics (no questions asked) OR apprehension of the thief/thieves. Thanks for your attention and any help you may be able to provide. Mike PS Are there any other CGC comics boards where I should post this information (I've posted the original art on the OA board)? Not sure which would be the best to catch the eyes of people who might run across these books.

Long time collector Joe Latino had over $200,000 of comics and two pieces of original art stolen from his supposedly “secure” storage facility sometime in the last 10 weeks. The theft has been reported to the police in the Bridgeport/New Haven area. He has also been contacting local Connecticut and NYC dealers, but it would be difficult to contact/find all of them. My hope is that someone on the board can give Joe a tip to break the case. The artwork stolen was the Marie Severin Strange Tales 154 cover and a Charles Flanders Lone Ranger drawing originally done for George Roussos in his famous book of sketches. Joe is offering a “no questions asked” $5000 reward for the return of the original art. Joe can be contacted at SBL40@aol.com. Along with the $5000 reward for the successful recovery of the original art (no questions asked), there is a separate $5000 reward for the recovery of the stolen comics (no questions asked) and/or apprehension of the thief/thieves. The list of stolen comics is posted on some of the CGC comics boards. Thanks for your attention and any help you may be able to provide. Mike

Back in the mid 1980s I knew the guy who owned the ST 117 Ditko Dr. Strange art at that time. No connection to Marvel. I would put the odds of him being the owner of the AF 15 art at less than 1%. Much less. Mike

My recollection is it was a stat (again, with I believe original art under it), but that was a long time ago.

I briefly owned this cover back in the 1980s. I sent it back because the seller did not disclose Conan was a paste-up. I do believe there was an original drawing of Conan under the paste-up, however. Mike

While one can still see the written dedication in the Squa Tront photo from the auction, at some point someone erased "To Bob From" above the Frazetta signature.

The drawing being a bit too good is a tip-off.

Not from the art returned to Ditko. I used to know the guy who owned this story, and that was back in the early/mid 1980s. Mike

Not to be too pedantic here, and your main point is still accurate, but while some Ditko Dr. Strange stories were 8 or even 5 pages long, most Ditko Dr. Strange stories were 10 pages. I don't necessarily disagree with you, Scott, as I would also prefer Ditko on Ditko. And I am not an unbiased source as I own a page, but since Ditko and Bell (Roussos) both studied under Mort Meskin, their styles at least compliment each other. Unlike Kirby and Bell/Roussos, which was usually a horror show. The following is a post I made on this subject a couple of years ago: "Shortly before the original artwork was returned to the artists, Marvel still held, according to the inventory list, over 84% of Ditko's Spider-Man art. But in a brief span of time in the early/mid 1980s, so many pages were taken from inventory that Ditko got back less than 7% of his Spider-Man pages. Absolute best case scenario for Ditko is that he got back 61 pages of Spider-Man original art (I'm including the first two annuals as well) and worst case scenario is 57 pages. Information is more scarce on Ditko Dr. Strange art, but I estimate he got back all but 76-96 pages." So roughly 800 Ditko Spider-Man pages but fewer than 100 Dr. Strange pages are "out there." Mike

I know the Thor poster didn't sell too quickly, as it was still available at the 2005 San Diego Comic Con. There was a difference, though; the price had jumped to 40K. In 2005, still too expensive. Mike

I would guess this was done for a fanzine pre-pro Jones, but even if it was published in one, good luck finding it. It is also a swipe of this Frazetta image. Mike

Without going into all of the details, my best guess is that Ditko does not possess 850 Spider-Man pages and 76-96 Dr. Strange pages, so that explains some of the discrepancy in the market. Mike

And if you get a safe, be sure it is rated for paper items and that there is a mechanism for controlling humidity inside the safe! But yeah, even a proper safe doesn't do the art on the walls much good. Mike

Decades ago I was told UV resistant plexiglass released gasses slowly over time that could potentially damage artwork (maybe specifically watercolors?). However, I can find very little information online addressing that concern, so maybe the person was wrong or maybe UV plexiglass has a new manufacturing process that eliminates that concern. Or maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. Curious if anyone else has heard anything about this subject. Mike

The Fantastic Four 95 cover did sell at Hake's for $95K in 2013. https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/81110/JACK-KIRBY-FANTASTIC-FOUR-95-COMIC-BOOK-COVER-ORIGINAL-ART Mike

When it comes to comic art, I'm a comic fan first and an art critic a distant second. Even if it isn't the prettiest piece, even if it isn't a bigger artist than Herb Trimpe, it just doesn't matter to me, as it's so memorable and historic. I can't think of many other interior pages that I'd rather have than this one. I had drinks with another collector this evening and we played the "Would you rather?" game, comparing the Hulk #180 cover to the Kirby TOS #94 cover (let's call it a $175K+ cover), the ASM #121 cover (sold last year for $286.8K) and the McSpidey #1 cover (sold for $358.5K in 2012). As much as I love the gorgeous Kirby cover, I'd rather have the more important Hulk #180 page. ASM #121 cover vs. the Hulk #180 page would be a very tough choice - I could go either way on this one depending on the day. And I'd probably take the McSpidey #1 cover over the Hulk #180 page. So, I guess that would probably peg the value at around $250-$300K based on my chosen set of trophy OA comps. But, who knows...as you said, I wouldn't be surprised if this one went a bit mental. This is very interesting to me. I think my priorities are the reverse of yours Gene. I put aesthetics first (the art critic angle), nostalgia second and historical significance last. I wonder if I am in the minority in this hobby? It would explain why my collection is filled with "pretty pictures". Maybe it's the artist in me? I've passed on many "important" pieces because the drawing or inking is flawed in my view, and I can't justify expensive prices if something looks a bit "wonky". It's honestly never occurred to me to put history into such a place of prominence. I have to think about this some more. Scott I am one of the few who is in Scott's camp. Aesthetics (within the category of comic/fantasy/SF art) have always been far and away my primary consideration when buying original art. In fact, I used to put nostalgia dead last, although the older I get the more it creeps up on me at times. Buying for aesthetics has definitely been to the detriment of the value of my collection (the trades I could tell you about), but it has also been to the benefit of my enjoyment of my collection. Mike