'A lot of stuff was taken': Wizard's Comics robbery nabs thousands in merchandise

A Garneau area store was broken into early Saturday morning, with the thieves nabbing thousands in comics and collectibles, including some that don't even belong to the store.

Dane McKay, Wizard's Comics and Collectibles owner, said display cases were emptied by the thieves sometime between midnight and nine in the morning.

The store is still tallying up what was stolen, McKay added, with a preliminary estimate of at least $40,000 in comic books, Magic the Gathering and Pokemon cards.

The worst part was that many high-value comics and issues the store had on consignment.

"A lot of stuff was taken," McKay explained. "Some of it wasn't even ours, which sucks."

"It hurts," he added. "Especially when we have a full case of Magic and we don't really have anything else anymore so to fill that case is going to cost so much."

Empty display cases at Wizard's Comics and Collectibles in Garneau seen on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Amanda Anderson).

The robbery was reported to the Edmonton Police Service and is under investigation.

Clint Nahayowski, an employee at the store, had several items on consignment that were stolen.

Empty display cases at Wizard's Comics and Collectibles in Garneau seen on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Amanda Anderson).

"I had a signed copy of Saga No. 1, it's a fairly popular book signed by the artist, that's around $300," he told CTV News Edmonton.

"Had some other books in there, some old Marvel books from the 60s and first Electra, which was a fairly important comic book and a couple hundred bucks each," Nahayowski said. "When you've got 10 or 20 in there, it adds up pretty quick."

He hopes since the comic community in Edmonton is small and close-knit that, whoever robbed the store will be quickly found.

"When something like this happens, we talk to each other and be on the lookout for this or that," Nahayowski said. "If someone's coming in to try to sell stuff, hopefully, some of this stuff will turn up somewhere."