Neal Adams CGC Signature Series Stolen at San Diego Con

[Jason Spyda Adams]

I am really not sure where it's best to post this, so if the moderators wish to move it to another place, that's cool with me.

 

Me and my family had a big booth at the San Diego show. To one side was my sculpture work, to the other was my brother's pin up work, and in the center was my Dad's. Since dad gets such a big line of people, I help out as much as possible with his books and such, collecting money and keeping things moving along. Unfortunately, this means I have to turn my back on me tables for a moment or two now and then. I keep a standing back drop behind the pieces for better viewing which makes them easier to view by the public but obstructs my own view so I keep anything I am selling on the side where thieves can't grab them. Oddly enough, I have never thought that anyone would swipe the painted prototypes.

I had my new Demon Tower assembled but not painted on a battery operated turn table and on a stand next to that was another turn table with the "Next..." barbarian kit I had painted up for display. The next shelf down had the painted Frankenstein and my other pieces were here and there. I really was pleased with the way it looked.

At one point someone asked me about the barbarian piece and I asked "which one?" and the guy said "You have more than one?" and as I leaned over to show him both pieces, I found the "Next..." barbarian was gone and in it's place was the Frankenstein piece. I stormed about the gigantic convention in a hopeless attempt to catch the mother f'er who took it but obviously couldn't find him. The Convention refuses to make announcements, so I couldn't alert anyone to watch for the guy. (The announcement thing is kinda funny. They refuse to make announcements because last year there was so many prank announcements for fake names like Mike Hunt and things like that.)

So the sculpt was lost. The thief was kind of smart, I have to admit, because by placing another sculpture on the stand, it didn't look to people like there was a statue missing, so no one asked about the empty turn table.

Security took a report, but told me there was no hope of finding it.

So, needless to say, I was incredibly pissed off. But, by the end of the day, I found that the thief came back to steal 2 things from my father worth a couple hundred dollars each. He had a Superman CGC graded comic which he had drawn an original Superman portrait on and a Green Lantern with an original Green Lantern and Green Arrow portrait on. Both were on stands and both were gone while lower priced items were put in their place.

I gotta say, I was pissed when my own property was stolen but when someone steals from my Dad or anyone in my family, my head spins.

As the day came to a close, I found out my friend Donna at Art Asylum had a Battle Star Galactica prototype ship stolen, and another guy had expensive comics stolen while cheaper comics were put in their place.

There's some thief out there with quite a collection of stolen property and I am going to do my best to gather a list of what was taken so that if any item is found, the trail will lead us to the thief.

So anyway, below you will find a photo of the three items stolen from our booth. It's not easy to identify the Next... statue from others since, hopefully, people who bought them from me have painted them, but I figure I can identify mine accurately since you can't paint two the same exact way. The photo of the Green Lantern book is he exact one missing and only one exists. My father did 8 of the Superman's with sketches, but we have the other seven and have decided not to sell them at this time so if you see one being sold on ebay or anywhere, that will be the one stolen. The picture I have is one of the ones we still have though. I don't have a scan of the one that was stolen.

 

Jason Spyda Adams

 

[AlexH]

I hope you get your stuff back Jason. That really sucks to hear about.

 

Alex

[Aces]

[Darrell F]

I will keep my eye out Jason.

[thedarkknight]

I hope they string up the B#@&*RDS once caught!

[jimjum12]

This is particularly disheartening as I always got the impression that your dad was a good man who truly cared about the next guy.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[sckao]

 

Sad to hear... I'm not sure if there was a lot more theft this year in San Diego, but it sure seemed like it.

[CW]

That's crappy. I can't understand the mind of someone that would steal the work and property of others. Scum. I hope you get yours and your Fathers stuff back. I will keep a look out.

 

Sckao,

I guess there was more theft. It seems like the show has become a high profile target. There are probably theft teams working the floor. I have seen this happen at other collectable shows. A few people walk up 2 of them completely distract and engage the booth personel and the 3rd goes after the goods.

[SignatureSelect]

This is really sad Jason. I had dinner with your father on saturday and you helped me out with getting a sketch for the 3 minute sketch book. I heard about this at the end of the show on sunday. This is really upsetting to hear that 2 great people got ripped off. I will watch ebay.

[Red Hook]

Can you post the CGC #'s of the two slabs? That would help.

[Tatterdamillion]

This really stinks. I am usually in my own world when at a convention but if there is one thing that can be done by any of us it is keeping an eye out for scumbags who do these deeds. It is in all our interests to keep our wits about us when at these conventions so these type things become less frequent. In many regards both dealers and artists are being generous with their time and merchandise. That is to say letting complete strangers handle items that are rather valuable and in general giving the benefit of doubt to the customer. I myself am happy when I am let behind the tables to look at the "wall" books. I've also been barred from doing so which as much as I dislike it, I understand. With a little vigilance by the everyday man we wont have to read about another stolen piece of art/comic on these pages.

 

..but there is another kind of evil...which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good

-Boondock Saints