How to Use This Site

  1. Register for an account on this site by clicking here. All new users will automatically be assigned the role of Contributor, which will allow you to make a post regarding your stolen comic item. This post will need to be approved prior to being published on the site and images need to be emailed to us, but we will do our best to get to them very quickly. If you have a large number of items to submit or are an established comic book dealer or collector, feel free to contact us and we may increase your capabilities on this site.
  2. Please follow the following format when listing your stolen comic book.
  • The title of the post should always have the town and state it was stolen from first, followed immediately by the Title (as written in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide), the CGC grade and barcode number or general grade if known and date of the theft. As this title is tweeted on our Twitter feed, it is important to limit this title to the information as described. Example:

Indianapolis, IN – Iron Man #1 CGC 9.2 BarCode #0027536003 – Reported stolen May 4th, 2010

  • Give as much information as you can regarding the theft – but just stick to the facts. Do not accuse anyone of stealing your book – that’s for the police to handle. Just describe the book in detail, point out flaws that will make it easier to identify and the approximate time you feel the item was lost. Once your stolen item is listed, we strongly suggest sharing the link to your item with all the comic book stores in your area so they can be on the lookout for it. All posts will be moderated so keep it clean and to the point as done with the other examples of books on the site. We reserve the right to not allow a post if we feel it does not meet our code of conduct.
  1. Send us an email. Please include an image of your stolen item or items (which we will immediately upload and Tweet) and your name and telephone number if you want (which we won’t upload and Tweet!…obviously for privacy reasons.) This way we can contact you and obtain information related to your missing items and also contact you if your item is  recovered. At this time, this website is volunteer based and there is no fee for this service.
  2. If you have a scan or photo of your item, open Microsoft Paint if you have a PC or a similar program if you have a MAC. Load your stolen item image into Paint and save it as an image file. It would help if you used the following format when saving the file – TitleIssueNumber.JPG – As an example, the comic image file below would be saved as fantasticfour49.jpg. (Please note the Blue Beetle #1 featured here is NOT stolen.)
  3. Email us that file by clicking here.
  4. Call the police and file the police report! We mention this as the 4th thing to do because, if you spend an hour or more filling out police reports the thief will probably have sold your book to an unsuspecting comic shop or collector by then, and they will be left holding the bag. Doing steps 1 and 2 first will get the word on the virtual comic street right away! Of course, your own personal experience will dictate what you should do.
  5. Now reopen the same file mentioned in 1 above using Paint and immediately save it as TitleIssueNumberFingerprint.jpg. Again, the example below would have been saved as FantasticFour49Fingerprint.jpg. Obviously, be sure you remember where this file is saved. Now you will have two copies of the same image on your computer and your original image of the item will not be damaged.
  6. Without closing Paint, use the program to highlight and mark what you consider to be clear identifying characteristics of that item as we have done with the Fantastic Four #49 featured below and with other stolen comics on this website. These identifiers are the items “fingerprint” and are what will help potential buyers or police determine if a recovered item is yours. If you have a mint condition copy of the book and do not see any visible flaws, focus on the spine, corners and centering. If it is CGC graded, highlight the labels BarCode number. If you can’t find any identifying marks, we will try to assist you with this.
  7. Save the file and email it to us by clicking here.
  8. WITHIN 2 WEEKS – Email us scans of the police report within two weeks of your original submission and any other information you think will help us recover your stolen item. We need the police report to verify the item was actually stolen (yes, people do send us items that aren’t actually stolen for whatever reason). If we do not receive a police report within two weeks of your original submission, the book may be taken down and removed from our site. We reserve the right to make our own determination on the validity of your claim. You can block out parts of your police report if you feel they are too private, but we must confirm your books were stolen through some verifiable method.

Remember, be prepared to give us information that will help us – including police report numbers, the police station phone number where the property was reported stolen and the names of any detectives or officers to be contacted should your book(s) be recovered. We strongly suggest getting scans of the book to us as soon as possible so these will be available to potential buyers or “searchers” of your book. Thieves have a tendency to want to sell stolen goods quickly – often within minutes of their crime – so it is a good idea to get the “word on the street” as fast as possible.

Comic books or related items will be divided into categories based on the period they are from, which are:

A) Platinum Age
B) Golden Age
C) Silver Age
D) Bronze Age
E) Copper Age

How To Search For Stolen Items on this Site

To search for items that have been reported missing or stolen, simply click the appropriate category on the top and search through the postings. You can also type the title of the book into the search box at the top right. We use the The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide spelling of a title, so make sure you type it correctly or a book might not appear. However, you don’t have to type the word “The” at the end of a title (such as Mask of Dr. Fu Manchu, The) Just type “Fu Manchu” or “Fantastic Four” and it should show up if it is on our site.

The title above the reported theft (or discovery) on the StolenComic.com website will contain the city and state (or country) it was stolen from, the title of the book, the issue number and, if available, the CGC grade. This will be followed by the date or estimated date of the theft.

Example: Nashville, TN – Captain America #100 CGC 7.5, May 6, 2010 (NOTE: THIS COMIC IS NO LONGER STOLEN AND WAS RECOVERED!

For now, we are going to stick to books with a value over $25. Books must be identifiable somehow – mainly through a detailed scan. Almost every book has distinct identifiable marks, circled in yellow and red as on the copy of Fantastic Four #49 below this paragraph. While we will also post CGC Barcode labels. We are not going to list information about the victim on this site for privacy reasons. To contact this person, please send us an email by clicking here and we will forward your information to them.

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To search and see if a book you are considering purchasing has been reported stolen, simply enter the title of the book in the search bar to the left. Spelling is very important, so please make sure you are spelling it properly. Example: Captain America should be spelled just like it is at the beginning of this sentence – you shouldn’t write Cap. America or Capt. America or it might not show up.

MORE TO COME AS THE SITE IS DEVELOPED!

DISCLAIMER: This website only posts reports from outside submissions from victims of theft or just victims of loss (i.e., simply misplacing a book) and trusts these submissions to be accurate and based on fact. There is no way for StolenComic.com to know if these submissions are fraudulent or not and can not be responsible for any damages this information may cause.

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