Comics crime wave: thief jumps from 2nd floor of Midtown Comics; the thieving handyman and more

A mini crime wave seems to have hit the comics world, perhaps harbingers of the apocalypse to come, or maybe a slow news day elsewhere.

• Just today, a man jumped from the second story of the Times Sq. Midtown Comics, crashing to the ground and leaving broken glass behind him. He was taken to Bellevue with (amazingly) minor injuries. According to the above news report, it’s not clear if he had actually stolen a comic or not, but whatever te reason for his Zora-in-Blade Runner type escape, it made an impression.

• In Sparta New Jersey, a handyman made away with $200,000 worth of comics and art while repairing a flood damaged house – and fled with it to Italy.

Sparta police Lt. John Lamon said Monday the theft happened earlier this year when a 64-year-old handyman from Brooklyn, New York, was hired to repair a New Jersey home that had sustained water damage. Sparta police say Francesco Bove made off with $239,000 in comic memorabilia from the unoccupied home. Authorities say the homeowner reported the theft after a friend told him his pieces were on the market. Investigators say Bove sold multiple pieces from the collection before travelling to Italy. Authorities say the homeowner has since located most of his stolen art.

Bove has just been apprehended in NYC. But he’s not the guy who jumped out the window.

• In more alarming news, a man coming home from NYCC still in costume was slashed in the face – perhaps the victim of a man who has been committing similar crimes.

Durden said the A train attack near Rockaway Beach Sunday at 1:30 a.m. was unprovoked — and sudden.

Durden had volunteered to sign up donors at the comic festival for the nonprofit group Oxfam, which works to fight hunger and poverty and had a booth set up there.

He dressed the part, wearing a gray T-shirt and a headband with the symbol of an anime character, Itachi Uchiha.