The Case of the Jilted Jedi

After a long night at my sister’s house, listening to my know it-all nephew go on and on about the superiority of graphic novels over comic books, I tried to defend the relics from my childhood.

“What about the Incredible Hulk? Fantastic Four? Spiderman?” I queried.

“Those aren’t comic books, they’re movies,” he retorted.

Obviously he needed to see the real things, so the following afternoon, after picking up some Kung-Pao tofu at my favorite carryout, I ducked into Aftertime Comics to find a few classics.

The store held a scattering of balding men in their late 40s who most likely still lived with their mothers. Being a manly man, I stood out among them like a model eating a sandwich backstage at a Victoria’s Secret show.

I scanned the comics, thumbing past characters I never heard of, such as Odoron, the foul-smelling superhero, and Hemorrhoidus, the dinosaur who couldn’t sit down. Just as I found an old Aquaman, a young guy burst into the store. He eyed everyone up and down before making a bee-line straight to me.

“You,” he said.

“Me,” I asked.

“Yeah, you. I can tell by the way you’re dressed that you have a job,” he answered.

The other customers all sighed in unison.

“And I’m guessing the only kind of guy who has a job and likes comic books is in insurance. Are you in insurance?”

I looked around for Candid Camera. “Actually, yes. Ace Insura, claims detective.”

“I knew it! Okay, my name is Lucas and I sell Star Wars figures on eBay.” I chuckled, for the young man stated his occupation with the earnestness of a divorce lawyer.

“You can make a living doing that?”

“I made seven figures last year,” he responded.

“Impressive. Most impressive,” I said, wondering if my Barbie doll collection was still tucked away in mom’s attic.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I recently accepted an order online. I have a service that verifies orders, and they verified this one. Then, several days after I sent the product—a mint condition 1984 Anakin Skywalker still in the box—that same service told me the credit card had been stolen. So now I’m without the product and the income. Is there any insurance out there to cover this exposure? Help me Ace Insura, you’re my only hope.”

“Lucas,” I said, “there may be a solution in a galaxy far, far away, but unfortunately not in this one.”

Why was Ace giving up so easily?

For help solving this mystery and to check your solution against Ace’s, click here.

Jonathan Hermann (hermannism@gmail.com) is an IA contribution editor.