A West Valley comic book store is in need of a hero
May 19, 2025, 2:00 PM
"Amazing Fantasy #15," where Spider-Man makes his debut, and "The Avengers #1," were stolen from a West Valley comic book store. (The Nerd Store)
(The Nerd Store)
WEST VALLEY CITY — A West Valley comic book store was hit by a villain on Saturday, when someone stole two vintage comic books worth a combined $70,000.
The comics stolen from The Nerd Store in Valley Fair Mall were “Amazing Fantasy #15,” where Spider-Man makes his debut, and “The Avengers #1.”
Both were released in the early 1960s with a rating of 5.5 and 5.0 out of 10, a relatively high score for how old they are.
Co-owner Roger Prows said the books were under lock and key. The store has security cameras up, but they’re just not working the way they need to. The store had a flood back in October, forcing them into a temporary location that’s not set up the way they are used to.
“The files effectively are coming over completely scrambled and there’s about a terabyte worth of video we have to look through, kind of in a random order, and sort through all of it,” Prows said. “It’s just slowing down the process substantially from what it would normally be.”
Prows believes the culprit is most likely someone familiar with their internal processes. That includes former or current employees and even regular customers. He said that, as disappointing as that is, they have to look at it from a different point of view.
“We have to remember that if there’s one involved, there’s hundreds that are not,” Prows said. “We have a really great community and a really great staff, and we can’t lose sight of that.”
The Nerd Store is asking the public to keep an eye out for the comics in the meantime.
“There’s a good chance they’ve made their way into someone’s collection at this point,” Prows said. “These are not common books, they’re unusual and very rare and having them show up right now is unlikely. ”
The store is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who can help recover the comics and has even offered to waive charges if they come back in good condition.
Prows said they don’t always buy these high-value comics with the hopes of selling them. They enjoy the looks on people’s faces when they see something unique.
“People have been collecting comics their whole life and have never been able to see or hold a copy,” Prows said. “It’s almost a museum quality where people can kind of come in and look at them, and can say they’ve been able to see or hold those kinds of things. We keep it for the fun of it and for people to have that experience.”
Related: Utah gamers spend hours in line for Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders
