Stack of superheroes stolen in Vancouver heist, caped avenger needed

The theft of a valuable stack of rare comic books has Vancouver police calling onsuperhero fans to help solve the crime.

The theft was reported by a comic book collector who came home Monday at lunch to find the backdoor was open, say police.

Inside the East Vancouver home not much was amiss, except for a missing 45-kilogramsafe.

And inside that safe was a stack of rare comic books valued by the owner at more than $10,000.

The rarest was a 1961 Fantastic Four: Issue No. 1 featuring "The Thing, Mr. Fantastic! Human Torch! and Invisible Girl!"

On eBay bids for damaged copies of the first issue range from $3,000 to $5,000 US, but a pristine version sold for $300,000 a few years ago.

Why is this comic so valuable?

The 1961 comic book is described by experts as the genesis of the Marvel Comics universe.

The legendary Stan Lee spent monthswriting westerns, which he hated, after superheroes were killed off and stopped selling after the war.

Lee begged to go back to what he loved whenDC comics re-introducing super heroesin the late 1950s.

"Stan Lee was kind of looking over the fence jealously wondering why he couldn't do this," said Ashley Cotter-Cairns of Sell My Comic Books in Montreal.

He said Lee'spublisher relented and the Fantastic Four superheroes were born.

"It started what is known as the Marvel Age of comics. It's a very important comic book," said Cotter-Cairns.

Then came the Hulk,Spiderman andIron Man, superheroes who continue do battle on movie screens even today.

Have you seen this comic book?

Police are hoping if the unique comic pops up for sale somewhere it will be recognized as stolen by experts.

"It was traumatic enough that they contacted the police. The main goal here is to get these comics back to the owner," said Const. JasonDoucette.

Other titles missing from the safe include Avengers comics issues 1 to 3 and Tales of Suspense No. 41.

"I was surprised. I don't have any experience with comic books. Wow. It's quite a community," he said.

"Someone knows the location of these valuable comics," said Doucette. "We hope they do the right thing."