Superman comic stolen from Nicolas Cage is found

A 1938 comic featuring Superman's debut that has been recovered in a storage locker in the US appears to be the copy stolen from Nicolas Cage, police say.

The 47-year-old actor, who accepted an insurance payout after the 2000 theft, said last week's find, in Los Angeles, was "divine providence".

He said he was hopeful the "heirloom", a mint condition copy of Action Comics No 1, would be returned to his family.

In March 2010, a copy of the comic sold for $1.5m (£920,000) at a US auction.

Detective Don Hrycyk, of the Los Angeles Police Department's art theft department, said an investigation into the theft and recovery - from a locker in the San Fernando Valley - was in its early stages.

He said a number of false leads had been generated over the years, including a 2002 tip-off that the comic was in a safety deposit box in Tennessee.

When detectives followed the lead, they found a replica of the comic's cover wrapped around a woman's underwear catalogue.

Detective Hrycyk said it was unclear if Cage would be reunited with the comic and that the actor would have to work out details with the insurance company.

Action Comics No 1 - of which 100 are said to still be in existence - sold originally for 10 cents.

Comic book fan Cage was once linked to a film version of Superman and has a son called Kal-El - the birth name given to the indestructible hero.

via BBC News - Superman comic stolen from Nicolas Cage is found.

Superboy (Kal-El) is a native of the planet Krypton, the son of Jor-El, Krypton's most brilliant scientist and inventor, and his wife Lara. Finding evidence that the planet is about to be destroyed, Jor-El fails to convince the ruling Science Council, so he conducts tests with model rockets to enable his own family to escape. His tests meet with mixed success. In one experiment, Kal-El's pet dog Krypto is lost when a test rocket carrying Krypto is knocked off course by a meteor.

As Krypton's destruction approaches, Jor-El still has not built a rocket large enough to hold his family. With the planet coming apart beneath them, Jor-El and Lara put their two-year old son in a model rocket, launch it just minutes ahead of Krypton's destruction, and send Kal-El to the planet Earth. Found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, an older couple with no children of their own, the child is anonymously left at a Smallville orphanage. Some days later, the Kents successfully adopt the toddler. They name the boy Clark Kent, using Martha's maiden name for his first name. ...

On his eighth birthday, Clark dons an indestructible costume woven by Martha from the Kryptonian blankets that accompanied him on his journey to Earth. He becomes the costumed hero Superboy, the first superhero of Earth-One. Around the same time as his public debut, Superboy learns of his Kryptonian origin, and several weeks later, he gives reporter Perry White the exclusive story about his alien background. Though most of Superboy's early adventures occur in the vicinity of Smallville, he becomes famous for his superheroics around the globe. Superboy's status as both Smallville's hometown hero and as a national/global hero are reflected in the emergency-signal system that he establishes with Chief Parker of the Smallville Police and the President of the United States. As Superboy repeatedly ventures into interstellar space, his super-heroics also bring him fame on other worlds.

In Smallville, Superboy uses tunnels from the basement of the Kents' house and general store to make quick, concealed exits when Superboy is needed. Superboy also maintains a secret lab in the basement of the Kent house, where he builds Superboy and Clark Kent robots to cover for him when he is busy elsewhere or otherwise unavailable. ...

via Wikipedia