Comics Crime Watch: Hickory, N.C.

OK, maybe there is a comic-book crime wave after all.

The Hickory, N.C., Daily Record reports that someone broke into Time Tunnel Comics and Toys early yesterday, and made off with $17,000 in comic books. Store owner Edwin Price said the thief took nine boxes containing some 1,800 comics from the 1950s and '60s.

“This was surgically done,” Price told the Daily Record. “He went straight past the computers and the cash, and straight to the collectibles.”

Local police are examining the video-surveillance tape, which shows a man wearing blue jeans, a dark hood and dark gloves. A $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thief.