James Strand Golden Age Comics Recovered by FBI on Sale

A total of 34 high-grade Golden Age comic books, most recovered by the FBI after they were stolen from a Portland, Oregon collector, will go on sale on June 15 at MyComicShop.com.

Collector James Strand died alone in his home in July 2023 just before his 88th birthday, and thieves swiftly ransacked the house, stealing a collection of Golden Age comic books and rare books estimated to be worth more than $3m. The FBI tracked down and seized most of the recovered comics from two sources which resulted in federal prison sentencing.

"Strand grew up in the 1940s reading crime and war comics at the Mount Tabor Drug Co. in Southeast Portland," said Scott Brown, of Downtown Brown Books who is coordinating the sale on behalf of the Strand family. "As an adult he started buying back fine copies of titles such as Crime Does Not Pay, Boy Comics, The Fighting Yank, and Crimes by Women. Some 27 are the finest known examples, the highest-graded condition copies in the CGC census registry."

Highlights from the sale include:

• Funny Pages #41 (CGC 9.4, highest graded copy), an early 1940 Centaur Publications title with a Paul Gustavson cover, recovered by the FBI during the search of a storage unit in Oregon City
• Boy Comics #11 (CGC 9.6, highest graded copy), also recovered by the FBI and featuring the definitive Iron Jaw cover by prolific Golden Age comic writer and artist Charles Biro
• Air-Fighters Comics #2 (CGC 9.2) describing the origin of the superhero Airboy which surfaced at a Portland comic shop, was purchased by a local collector, and was later returned to the Strand family
• Crime Does Not Pay #64 (CGC 9.0, highest graded copy) returned via a Portland man who had heard about the Strand theft from his father and was offered this comic for $100 outside a convenience store, guessed it belonged to James Strand, bought it, and returned it to the family who gave him a reward