Thieves stole an estimated tens of thousands of dollars' worth of comic books — many of them rare and historic —from a store in Falls Church, Virginia, police said.
A patrol unit responded to a call from the 500 block of S. Washington Street about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday and discovered Victory Comics' front door shattered, Falls Church police said. The owner was notified and went to the store.
The thieves took rare vintage comic books such as the first issue of the X-Men from the early 1960s; key comics that served as source material for the Marvel movies such as the eighth issue of Avengers, and books from the 1940s and the World War II era, said Jeff Weaver, Victory Comics' founder and president.
Victory Comics serves a community of hundreds of people in the local area, and it really was an attack on that community.
Jeff Weaver
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Weaver initially estimated the theft of comic books to be worth at least $40,000, police said. Weaver said he has increased his estimate of the stolen material to about $100,000, but police did not immediately confirm the new estimate.
Weaver believes the thieves knew exactly what they were looking for.
"They didn't touch the cash register," he said.
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Victory Comics is a small business with seven employees.
“Clearly you feel violated, and it’s not just a personal violation,” Weaver said. “But Victory Comics serves a community of hundreds of people in the local area, and it really was an attack on that community by hurting the viability of the store they love.”
The owner said he is offering a $2,500 reward for any information leading to the arrests of the thieves and another $2,500 for the recovery of the books.
“We just hope that somebody out there who knows where these books are will contact us and we can get the books back and go from there,” Weaver said.
Anyone with information should contact Falls Church police at 703-241-5053.
