EVERETT — Holy smithereens! The caped crusader has gone missing.
The 4-foot Funko Batman statue in the window of Everett Comics at 2831 Wetmore Ave. was stolen in a “smash and grab” early Sunday, leaving a trail of shattered glass behind.
There is no reward for the Dark Knight’s return.
”You hate to reward a criminal,” shop owner Charlie Knoedler said Monday. “We put a plea out if you’re feeling guilty and finding out you can’t sell it, bring it on back.”
He said surveillance video shows two men breaking the plate glass window and loading Batman into a red hatchback around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
This 4-foot Funko Batman statue in the window of Everett Comics at 2831 Wetmore Ave. was stolen in a “smash and grab” early Sunday. (Submitted photo)
The statue weighs about 150 to 200 pounds, Knoedler said. In Funko fashion, the head is as big as the body.
The comic shop is down the block from the Funko headquarters, flanked outside by figures larger than the stolen Batman. Villains without superpowers might have a hard time stealing those, even with no glass to smash.
Knoedler and his wife, Tracy, opened Everett Comics 37 years ago.
“We sold Funko products back in the old days when they were first starting,” Knoedler said. “They’d walk down to our store with a box of bobbleheads and we said, ‘Really, there’s a market for these things?’ And sure enough we would put them out and they would sell.”
Ten years ago, the comic shop relocated from a 800-foot space on Colby Avenue to quarters three times larger at the corner of Wetmore and Hewitt avenues.
It was a positive when Funko opened its flagship store and showplace steps away in 2017, making the street a pop culture destination.
Knoedler jumped at Funko’s offer of the big Batman as an advertising display piece.
“It was a few thousand dollars. We signed a statement saying we wouldn’t sell it,” he said. “The window will cost just as much as the Batman.”
Nothing else was taken Sunday from the shop, which has been the target of petty thefts over the years. In a prior unsolved case, a door was destroyed in a $40 hoodie heist.
The shop received an outpouring of support on social media after the Batman caper. Though still trying to get up to speed from the impact of the pandemic closure, Knoedler turned down offers for a GoFundMe crowdfunding to replace the window. Those wanting to support the shop can come in to buy a comic book, he said.
He doesn’t know what will go in the window when the boards come down.
“We’re big Batman fans. It was a good attraction. We will miss him and our customers will, too,” he said. “He is irreplaceable.”
He offers this invitation to the thieves: “Bring him back and set him right in our doorway.”
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
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