Comic Books and Original Art Stolen (Connecticut). Reward Offered 0

[mxs7]

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

[LDarkseid1]

Wow, sorry to hear!! Very scary to, because if they've had up to a potentially 10-week head start than who knows what could be sold by now and in other hands! Good luck and I hope you catch the bast***s.

[mxs7]

I can't go into detail at this time, but I am thrilled to report it appears all of the comic books have been recovered, although it will take some time to get a full accounting due to various circumstances. The Strange Tales 154 cover has been recovered as well. The Lone Ranger piece is still missing, but outside of that, the news is about as good as could be hoped for.

Mike

[DanCooper]

1 hour ago, mxs7 said:

I can't go into detail at this time, but I am thrilled to report it appears all of the comic books have been recovered, although it will take some time to get a full accounting due to various circumstances. The Strange Tales 154 cover has been recovered as well. The Lone Ranger piece is still missing, but outside of that, the news is about as good as could be hoped for.

Mike

Happy to hear this!

Thanks for the update Mike!

[jimbo_7071]

On 10/25/2019 at 6:53 PM, mxs7 said:

I can't go into detail at this time, but I am thrilled to report it appears all of the comic books have been recovered, although it will take some time to get a full accounting due to various circumstances. The Strange Tales 154 cover has been recovered as well. The Lone Ranger piece is still missing, but outside of that, the news is about as good as could be hoped for.

Mike

Did Joe ever get his Lone Ranger piece back? Were the thieves prosecuted?

(I've never met Joe in person, but I bought a Diamond Run book from him way on eBay way back when.)

[mxs7]

Sorry, just saw this recently. The Lone Ranger art was misfiled and found. Believe it or not, the case has not quite yet come to trial. The wheels of justice do indeed grind slowly. 

[KCOComics]

3 hours ago, mxs7 said:

Sorry, just saw this recently. The Lone Ranger art was misfiled and found. Believe it or not, the case has not quite yet come to trial. The wheels of justice do indeed grind slowly. 

But most importantly, everything has been recovered at this point? 

I would love to hear an update as soon as it's appropriate. 

[mxs7]

6 hours ago, KCOComics said:

But most importantly, everything has been recovered at this point? 

I would love to hear an update as soon as it's appropriate. 

To my knowledge everything has been recovered, but the police still have a substantial amount of it, perhaps until the trial is over. 

[jimbo_7071]

On 3/11/2021 at 7:01 PM, mxs7 said:

To my knowledge everything has been recovered, but the police still have a substantial amount of it, perhaps until the trial is over. 

What happened with the trial?