The Associated Press is reporting the discovery of a copy of Action Comic #1, Superman’s debut. This specific comic, found in a storage unit in southern California, appears to be the one actor Nicholas Cage reported stolen eleven years ago. Stephen Fishler, who sold the comic book to Cage in 1995, identified it.
Detective Donald Hrycyk, head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Art Theft Detail, has been working on this case since the actor filed a theft report 21 January 2000. The actor said the book was stolen from his home in Los Angeles. He reportedly received insurance money for its loss, according to Hrycyk.
Mark Balelo, a collectibles expert in Simi Valley, California, said he was contacted by a man who said he found the comic in a storage locker in San Fernando Valley. The man bought the locker’s contents through American Auctioneers, a company based in Riverside, California.
Hrycyk said the comic book is legally the property of the actor’s insurance company but the actor is trying to regain ownership of it.
Cage’s publicist released a statement from the actor that said: “It is divine providence that the comic was found and I am hopeful that the heirloom will be returned to my family.”
Cage’s other Superman connection, according to the Christian Science Monitor is that he “was slated to play Superman in a Tim Burton movie in the ’90s, around the time his first-edition Superman comic was stolen.”