Theft

[BachelorOfComix]

Get the word out to all local comic book shops & take a look around at the upcoming shows in your area. The ppl who stole them will be looking to "pawn off" the goods & they do not have many options for comic books. Have Peter leave his number @ your local comic shops. Possibly even contact your local tv station or newspaper & get some free press.

 

Cheers,

 

Bachelor of Comics

[comicwiz]

Hey Bob

 

I know Peter well, and it makes me sick to my stomach that something like this would happen to a guy like him. I will refrain from offering my insights on this forum, as I too concur with Methesulah and ComicInvestor that this reeks of an inside job.

 

I recieved a call from him yesterday (Friday) on a non-related matter, and although I had my opinions, I decided not to reveal them until things blew over. He's terribly upset about this, and understandably so. I won't go into the details of the insurance claim, but I do know without a degree of doubt that he's going to get SKUNKED on any compensation he recieves for his loss; based on my own experience, I've learned that insurance companies are only in the business to TAKE and not to PAY!

 

Nonetheless, Peter's situation raises some very important issues about loss prevention for collectors, and the dilemma of how to protect your investment in the event of a loss. I have (in the last year) invested a great deal of time and money into cataloguing my comic collection (just about half-way through), and in this catalogue are front cover scans (select rear cover scans), with the title and issue number (mainly for searching), as well as the value of the book. I also have a seperate catalogue for CGC graded books, magazine, pulps and tabloids, and generally these books are catalogued similarily except for instance, I've included the CGC bar code and some other marked differences. Providing a CD-Rom of this catalogue to my insurance company, with a market value will of course mean that I will require seperate coverage for my collection, but skimping on coverage is not something with which I would want to take any risks.

 

As I mentioned previously, 6 years ago, I lost about 2500 comics in a storage facility that burnt down. Although I had all those books catalogued and was able to prove they were burned in that storage center, I still got the shaft on a technicality. The shaft meaning I wasn't able to recoup their true market value because insurance companies did (and probably for the most part, don't) recognize phenomenoms such as attaining multiples of guide for high grade, or for more obscure comics in great demand. For instance, I lost a Zap Comix 1, first printing, in that fire, and because there were no updated guides when the fire occurred, they almost wouldn't even give me the US $100 that a Zap 1 lists at in Jay Kennedy's 1982 guide. The book was as rare then as it is today, but good luck trying to explain that to an insurance adjuster... moreover, with the advent of an online person-to-person trading community like ebay, I might well have provided them a link like this:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=730942766

 

 

For Peter's sake, I hope he does better than I did

[comicwiz]

Possibly even contact your local tv station or newspaper & get some free press.

 

BachelorOfComix

 

That's a fantatic idea; when I spoke to Peter yesterday, he had indicated that he just finished calling a good chunk of the shops across Canada... imagine that! But the first thing that came to my mind was; what if the dealer is falling across tough times, and no disrespect to Peter, but money is money, kind of thing. The other thing is, not even a guy as well-known as Peter, and as well-liked, could have that much influence on a dealer to not be tempted to pick-up a collection that just happens to make its way through their store.

 

A year after my books were burned in storage, my home was burglarized and some key comics stolen without me even knowing about it. The sordid part of my story was that I had a falling out with my bank, and asked them to yank all my books out of the safety deposit box. They were at my home for no more than 3 days (I was shopping around for the best rates) before the books were stolen, but with no trace of forced entry or burglary, I didn't come to realize the loss until later. After making my choice about which bank to use, I went home to find that 21 books were hand-picked out of my closet, among those books were my FF 1, 3, 48, ST 1-3, 135, TTA 39 and Hulk 181, and a slew of valuable hockey cards. A month passed before I began piecing together who the culprit was -- when I confronted the culprit, he told me exactly who the the books went to -- I'm burning-up just thinking about this as I write. When I went to "Yesterday's Heroes", a store located at Bathurst and Bloor, and confronted the owner with my dilemma, he denied every having purchased any such books.

 

Since reading your post, I called Peter and mentioned that he should contact "Crimestoppers" which is a serial covered by a local TV station (which incidentally gets coverage across Ontario); the premise of the serial is that if a crime is reported to the TV station, they air the incident, with a redramatization of what occured, and often times, offer a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the invidual (s) involved. In some cases, if the story is compelling enough, the station will actually offer the reward on the victims behalf. The best part of the CrimeStoppers program is that they offer a telephone number where they will accept tips, and they claim to keep all tips and information anonymous.

[Guest]

Funny stuff? See attatchment!

[AlexH]

I really hope you aren't implying that he did this for the insurance money...

[Guest]

"I suspect everyone, and I suspect No one.....I suspect everything and I suspect nothing"! ...Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in "A Shot in the Dark"

 

Possibly, the books disappeared in, as Sellers would say, "in a rit of fealous jage".

 

Anyway, it doesn't matter what I think. I'm not the insurance company or the local Constable. I'm not implying anything, it's just a cartoon about insurance company claims and I thought it humorous. Anything for a laugh I and Roger Rabbit always say!

Were the locks on the rental truck/van broken or jimmied open? The glass broken?

Did the detectives come up with any ideas on how? Neighbors hear anything?

[Kevin Boyd]

As Mr. HIgh Grade mentioned, I was part of Toronto contingent that was coming down to the National Show to assist Peter at Paradise Comics at his booth. Since we had already bought the plane tickets and were set to go when we heard the news we decided not to cancel and went to the con. Luckily, CGC was nice enough to let us keep our bags at their booth while we wandered around the show.

 

Yes, the theft is quite a loss and quite suspicious.

 

Here are the details as explained to me:

 

On Wednesday night, Peter loaded up the rental van with his table stock (17 long boxes of bronze and silver as mentioned by Bob) and supplies (plastic and cardboard long and magazine boxes, backing boards and comic bags (silver, gold and current size). Because the back laneway was blocked I think he loaded the van on the street in front of the store.

 

He then drove the truck to his townhouse (about 1 mile from the store) and parked it in the parking lot of the townhouse complex. Some time during the night someone smashed in the back window of the van and stole ONLY the 17 long boxes. No supplies were taken. As well, his sunglasses and daytimer were taken from the van.

 

I spoke to Peter that morning and he was in the process of dealing with the police, the insurance company, the rental company as well as trying to contact all local stores to warn them if anyone approached them with a collection. He was unsure as to whether or not he was going to try to get another van, restock at the store and still make an attempt to drive down to NYC.

 

Alas, the police told him not to leave town so he had to cancel.

 

As many of you have suggested I do believe that there is something strange about this robbery. I do not think that this was an inside job at Paradise Comics itself, as Peter only has two employees, and neither Doug or Simon would have any reason to steal the books. Nor would Peter have any reason to fake the theft. It is entirely possible that a customer or a casual shopper could have overheard Peter's plans and arranged for the theft.

 

It is not easy to walk off with 17 long boxes without someone seeing or hearing something but that is exactly what happened according to the police.... so the thief either had a truck or lives in the same townhouse complex.

 

Peter seemed in better humor when I spoke to him yesterday when I got back from NYC, but I'm sure he's more than a little frustrated and down about the whole experience and that he got to miss the National Con. I made sure to pass along the condolences of many of the dealers who were upset to hear about Peter's loss.

 

Kev

 

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

He's certainly welcome to come over and beat me up if he wants. I certainly wouldn't discount me if I were compiling a list of suspects, as I did know his schedule, but so would anyone else who knows Peter and shops at Paradise Comics on a regular basis. I know I didn't steal his books and he's welcome to come and search my place.

 

As I stated in another post, he has only two employees, Doug and Simon, and neither are being considered a suspect.

 

As for the shows, some of his friends, like myself, pitch in and help out so that we can get into the show for free and crash at his hotel room. He knows who we are and can arrange for the police to question each of us. I don't really think that that was the case, as I know everyone pretty well I can safely say that none of these people had a motive for stealing the books.

 

When we do the Toronto shows together, my books are usually the ones that are stored in the truck overnight, so the thief could very well walked off with 25 boxes of my books instead.

 

What we've learned the hard way is that we cannot load the truck up the night before and leave it unattended overnight. At least he did not load the expensive books (high grade and CGC graded).

 

Kev

[mr_highgrade]

Hey Kev, It was a pleasure meeting you at the big show.

How was dinner with the CGC gang?

[Kevin Boyd]

Same here Juan. It was nice meeting you and a couple of the forum members in person. We really should try to have some kind of meeting in San Diego next summer.

 

Dinner with CGC was fun. Got to meet some of the NYC dealers and went to a pretty cool pool hall/bar after dinner.

 

Kev

[mr_highgrade]

You mean Steve didn't didn't take the boys out to Scores?!

[Kevin Boyd]

If he did he went without me...

 

I did however get to see some of the sad excuses for strip clubs you guys have in NYC and New Jersey.

 

The strippers didn't even strip! The just hung around behind the bar begging for $1 bills to be stuffed in the straps of their outfits.

 

Maybe I'm just spoiled in Toronto with the free floor shows and quality lap dances (full nudity), aptly named by my American friends the "Canadian Ballet" .

 

Kev

[sborock]

I went to bed after dinner, but what a dinner it was! Shun Lee rules!

[aardvark88]

That's how we sell the city of Vancouver as a comicon site. Best strippers & peelers in Canada. How else do u get the creative talent out of CA, NY or NJ to visit Canada?

[FlyingDonut]

NYC is VERY over rated for strippers. Best, IMHO, and some of this is anecdotal:

 

1) Las Vegas, specifically Olympic Gardens. So far above the others as to be in a different league. The Yankees vs. the Boise Skyhawks.

 

2) Atlanta.

 

3) Montreal (and the bonus of always being able to say "I don't understand")

 

4) Dallas, but only the "juice bars"

 

5) Anywhere in Southern California

 

and for the women on the board, my wife highly recommends The Hanger Club, just outside of DC.

 

[Darthdiesel]

The Hanger Club, just outside of DC.

 

I thought chrisco mentioned working here.

[Guest]

Most definitely, NYC is NOT over-rated for strip clubs...you just have to know the right "watering-holes" to visit! If you're going to stick to mainstream, upscale clubs, like Scores and the like..yeah..they're VASTLY over-rated as far as entertainment/dollar value. Conservatism rules. These are the most HIGH-profile clubs and have to keep bending rules to a minimum to remain in business in the Ultra-tough NYC "anti-sex", post Dinkins regime.

On the other hand, high quality dancers can be found in the many dozens of other than Up-scale clubs in NYC and Queens, where you can pretty much get anything you crave in the way of entertainment, not to mention dozens of PRIVATE all-nude strip clubs called "spots" (especially in Brooklyn and Queens), that don't advertise but operate with a closed door policy (if you "look" OK, you're in, if not..Bye!) and are always PACKED with customers and loaded with gorgeous dancers.

You just have to know where to go in NYC and the "World is Yours".

[FlyingDonut]

been to a few in Queens and Brooklyn, and Meth's right - they are SO MUCH better than the ones in Manhattan as to be shocking. BUT they don't hold a candle to Vegas. Its a different league, mes amis.

 

And I, upon reflection, should put Montreal higher.

[keithdagen]

4) Dallas, but only the "juice bars"

 

Dallas ought to be higher, you just need to know the right clubs. AC/DC evern wrote a song about them.

[FlyingDonut]

COMPLETELY off topic now, but did you see that AC/DC was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then the song they used to illustrate them was "For Those About to Rock..."

 

I nearly drove off the road. The reason AC/DC was great was Bon Scott, NOT that slappy Brian Johnson. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

And sorry, can't put Dallas above Vegas, Montreal and Atlanta. Its a tough list.