TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Thousands of comic books and literature are nowhere to be found at their home at Florida State University's Strozier Library.
As part of the Robert M. Ervin Jr. Collection, most of the books were from the 1950s to the 1970s and could have gone missing anywhere from March 17 of 2020 to Feb. 10, 2021.
ABC 27 emailed Florida State University throughout Tuesday. When asked if the books went missing throughout that time period, or gone all at once, the University Communications office said:
"This is an ongoing investigation and the information we provided is what we have at this time."
FSU said they do not have an official estimate on the missing books because that information will have to be verified through an official appraiser; however, Cosmic Cat Comics owner Ned Stacey said from the list that he's seen, the value could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.
"The list of books is absolutely amazing. It's some of the most hard to find comic books and what comic book collectors would call as their grail," said Stacey.
Various issues from Batman to beetle bailey, to Connan the Barbarian, are all missing.
One comic book, in particular, stands out to Stacey, The Incredible Hulk Number 180 and 181.
"It's the first appearance of Wolverine," said Stacey. "A book in like-new or mint condition-- anywhere from 80 to 100 thousand dollars for that book alone."
The university has not specifically said if the comic books were stolen or not-- but Stacey said as a lover of art and comics if they had been taken, would be hard to sell on the open market.
"It's surprising to take such a large collection because that would be extremely hard to get rid of if that's what they wanted to do," said Stacey.
