Help from the comic community

[kav]

Ps after looking at so many cosplayers I can say-they all have the same exact xpression. The 'cosplay' expression I guess.

[Doohickamabob]

Nothing in the videos why couldn't he have not been like half the people there

Are you monitoring local Craigslist ads? (As well as nearby cities?)

 

I found somebody selling New Mutants #98 in Kissimmee -- LINK

 

Doesn't look like your copy though. I assume you are doing regular searches on all your missing titles. If there is a way to turn them into easy links that you can just check daily or whatever, that would be a good thing to do.

[Doohickamabob]

P.S. It might be worth it to go to the photo galleries for the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Weekly, and other media and find out the names of the photographers who took the pictures in the galleries. Then email them and tell them your situation. Those professional photographers usually take hundreds and hundreds of high-res photos, then they select just a handful that really stand out. They are also very organized with their pictures and archive everything. I'm sure they would love to help you, and if they did and they helped you track down the thief, they'd have a great story for their newspaper or whatever, so there is a lot of incentive there.

 

Have you contacted local media to tell them your story? If you play up the angle of how your wedding/honeymoon plans are ruined, not to exploit it but to tell a sad fact about the situation that people will sympathize with, there is a fair chance you will end up being covered in a local story. If you get coverage that means people everywhere will be on the lookout for the comics. If the thief has a wife, a brother, etc. then they might have seen him with the comics. Or if somebody a year from now gets a chance to buy them, they will remember the story of the guy who had them stolen and put two and two together.

 

Okay well please post a follow-up sometime, and again very sorry for your situation.

[kav]

That's excellent advice. Play up the human interest angle. I wish I was there-I'd do a police sketch of the miscreant. I do really accurate ones.

[AntonioEstarke]

I have been looking on Craigslist not only locally but nation wide through searchtempest.com also I don't want it to seem like I am trying to get people's sympathy. I was already bashed pretty bad on fb because of it and even my fiancé was dragged into it. I do not wish to have my name branded the way it already has. Long story short I have a gofundme that I was planning on having an ironman suit build to go visit kids at the hospital and immediately people are assuming that I am trying to gain sympathy so that people will donate which is not at all what I want. So we got trolled pretty hard for it and well it's really kind of killed my spirit a little to be honest. Did not expect that treatment from people who have the exact same interest as me.

[dupont2005]

It's possible they weren't locals either. I've had a suspicion for a couple years now that a professional ring of thieves is traveling the convention circuit and targeting retailers and professionals. Probably not opposed to snagging a bag if the opportunity presents itself

[thecopperagekids]

What about getting a list of vendors at the show and calling them and asking if they bought any of these books at the show, since we already know that the thief sold at least one of them the next day?

 

 

 

 

A list of vendors would be on the show's website.Google the dealer's trade names and you'll find their contact info.

 

What Antonio should do next is to draft an email and send it out to every dealer's email.

 

Include the best pics of thr books available, in a seperate email, sent immediately after the first.

 

If someone gets an email with an attachment, they're less likely to read it.

 

A mass email to vendors at the show might prove helpful.

 

 

Other than thst, I also go to a lot of shows, I will keep an eye out.

 

I'll be at Eternal Con in NY this weekend, if I see any of those books, I'll definitely detain the thief.

 

 

[thecopperagekids]

It's possible they weren't locals either. I've had a suspicion for a couple years now that a professional ring of thieves is traveling the convention circuit and targeting retailers and professionals. Probably not opposed to snagging a bag if the opportunity presents itself

 

There is such a ring, 2 guys actually, that have been hitting dealers inventories very hard over the past year.

 

Pretty sure that there is concrete evidence, last I heard( when I spoke with a dealer who had thousands worth of SA keys stolen a couple months back.)

 

The thief picked over my partner's best box of keys/priced as marked stock at the NJ Comic Expo about 6 months ago....he got away with a stack of SA keys .

 

[dupont2005]

It's possible they weren't locals either. I've had a suspicion for a couple years now that a professional ring of thieves is traveling the convention circuit and targeting retailers and professionals. Probably not opposed to snagging a bag if the opportunity presents itself

 

There is such a ring, 2 guys actually, that have been hitting dealers inventories very hard over the past year.

 

Pretty sure that there is concrete evidence, last I heard( when I spoke with a dealer who had thousands worth of SA keys stolen a couple months back.)

 

The thief picked over my partner's best box of keys/priced as marked stock at the NJ Comic Expo about 6 months ago....he got away with a stack of SA keys .

I think they've been at it for several years now. For quite a while, seems every convention season at a small handful of the larger events someone is hit hard. Remember when they broke into a car and got a huge haul of OA, I think in San Diego? I think some high grade keys have gone missing here and there. I think at one convention they actually chased a guy down and got him, got the comic back, and security let him go. I also remember a pro having his portfolio swiped right from his table while he was signing somehow. From the way they were working the dealers it sounded like a small team. With one person piling up the good stuff in one section of a box and walking off, when another person just walks up and snags everything in that section real quick when nobody is looking.

[thehumantorch]

I have been looking on Craigslist not only locally but nation wide through searchtempest.com also I don't want it to seem like I am trying to get people's sympathy. I was already bashed pretty bad on fb because of it and even my fiancé was dragged into it. I do not wish to have my name branded the way it already has. Long story short I have a gofundme that I was planning on having an ironman suit build to go visit kids at the hospital and immediately people are assuming that I am trying to gain sympathy so that people will donate which is not at all what I want. So we got trolled pretty hard for it and well it's really kind of killed my spirit a little to be honest. Did not expect that treatment from people who have the exact same interest as me.

 

Not sure why you've been bashed. You were ripped off in a moment of inattention and it could happen to any of us. Hope you recover your books and this thief gets what he deserves.

[sacentaur]

It's possible they weren't locals either. I've had a suspicion for a couple years now that a professional ring of thieves is traveling the convention circuit and targeting retailers and professionals.

 

Several years ago a large theft occurred in New York, and the books soon thereafter showed up at a Long Beach Con (and were recovered).

 

Dealers are now starting to work together, exchanging information and cell phone pictures of suspected/known thieves. More plainclothes security is being hired for shows.

 

Another identified thief was traveling around the country, getting into shows with a dealer's badge from his friend (a frequent exhibitor). By grouping together, the dealers put a stop to that.

 

At WonderCon (L.A.) back in March, a known thief was followed for about a half-hour before security (with their camera system) took over (to my knowledge, nothing happened). Dealers communicated via cellphones to stay informed of the suspect's movements.

 

What I find unusual about this particular situation is that the books were stolen one day, and at least one of them was sold/recovered at the same show the next day. Risky, and doesn't fit the coast-to-coast patterns previously seen. Makes me think the thief is a local.

[dupont2005]

So a dealer was friends with the thief in one instance? That's no good.

[AntonioEstarke]

What's concerning is how some of the dealers there were so nonchalant about it when I asked them if someone had gone by with any of the books. i was even told that an Asm 1 was sold to one of them and when I asked them they were real quick to say it wasn't mine and didn't even let me see the book. They also were the first ones to pack up and leave which also felt off

[Doohickamabob]

What's concerning is how some of the dealers there were so nonchalant about it when I asked them if someone had gone by with any of the books. i was even told that an Asm 1 was sold to one of them and when I asked them they were real quick to say it wasn't mine and didn't even let me see the book. They also were the first ones to pack up and leave which also felt off

That dealer should be outed.

[MustEatBrains]

What's concerning is how some of the dealers there were so nonchalant about it when I asked them if someone had gone by with any of the books. i was even told that an Asm 1 was sold to one of them and when I asked them they were real quick to say it wasn't mine and didn't even let me see the book. They also were the first ones to pack up and leave which also felt off

That dealer should be outed.

 

Name please? I don't know a single dealer personally that wouldn't show you the book if a theft occurred. Most would expect the same courtesy would be extended to them if they had their books stolen. It's how it is, or so I thought.

[AntonioEstarke]

Don't know the name just know they pretty much had all graded books and in a glass wall case and glass retail display case

[Doohickamabob]

Don't know the name just know they pretty much had all graded books and in a glass wall case and glass retail display case

So you talked to a dealer who said they had recently purchased an ASM #1 on-site, they refused to let you see it, they acted suspicious -- and you didn't note their name or take a cellphone picture of them or anything? Why not? Could you look in a list of Megacon dealers, or something, and find out who it was?

[Chaseman210]

Don't know the name just know they pretty much had all graded books and in a glass wall case and glass retail display case

So you talked to a dealer who said they had recently purchased an ASM #1 on-site, they refused to let you see it, they acted suspicious -- and you didn't note their name or take a cellphone picture of them or anything? Why not? Could you look in a list of Megacon dealers, or something, and find out who it was?

 

Yeah, the seller would've been a major red flag for me.

[AntonioEstarke]

It was toward the end of the show tom from toms comics told me the dealer had purchased on me by the time I got there they were packing and before I could finish my sentence he said it wasn't mine. I guess in the moment the thought of getting the book back flooded my mind and then the disappointment clouded my judgement. But I mean this guy had crazy good keys mostly all high grade I doubt he would have bought my low grade books knowing they were mine and not told me

[Doohickamabob]

It was toward the end of the show tom from toms comics told me the dealer had purchased on me by the time I got there they were packing and before I could finish my sentence he said it wasn't mine. I guess in the moment the thought of getting the book back flooded my mind and then the disappointment clouded my judgement. But I mean this guy had crazy good keys mostly all high grade I doubt he would have bought my low grade books knowing they were mine and not told me

You said this dealer had purchased an ASM #1 at the show. It is reasonable for you to want to find out if it was yours, since you know for a fact that the thief had sold to other dealers at the same show. The fact that the guy had high-grade keys doesn't seem relevant to me, because an ASM #1 is a hot item no matter what the grade. Anyway, now it sounds like you're pretty sure it wasn't your book, so we'll let it go at that. Your earlier message makes it sound like you thought the dealer was very nonchalant and suspicious.

 

One thing that gets me about the earlier sale of the Giant-Size X-Men by the thief to the dealer is that this dealer, and probably other ones too, aren't paying much attention to who's selling to them. It sounds like he barely even looked at the guy. Recently on these boards, somebody posted a link to two guys in Colorado (was it?) who stole and were selling off their grandparents' comic collection. The LCS where they sold them had surveillance footage, got their names and I think driver's license info, and even made them provide a fingerprint.

 

There is a wide gulf between the dealer buying practices at cons and the way the LCS was purchasing in the story above. Why the discrepancy? At this point, knowing how often comics are stolen, why aren't ALL dealers taking steps to get identifying information from anybody who approaches them selling high-value books? Even something so simple as "I'd like to verify your name with your driver's license," or taking a photograph (possibly surreptitiously) of the seller, would make it much harder for thieves to sell without getting caught.

 

Also, the alleged lack of security cameras is disturbingly amateurish on the part of Megacon's organizers.