Bent Corner

Things are not looking good for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon promoter Michael George.

From this morning’s Detroit Free Press:

Allegations that Michael George cheated on the wife he is accused of killing will be allowed in his upcoming trial, a Macomb County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday.

George, 47, is to go on trial Feb. 26 in the July 13, 1990, death of his wife, Barbara George, 32, who was shot in the head in the couple’s Clinton Township comic book store.

Judge James Biernat made several other rulings Thursday: He denied George’s request to exclude testimony about his behavior after his wife’s death — such as witnesses’ accounts that he wore sunglasses to and flirted with other women at his wife’s funeral. He also denied George’s request to quash charges of insurance fraud.

His own lawyers admit he committed acts of adultery with more then one woman. I would say this is a very bad development.

A trial date has been set for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George. His trial has been scheduled to begin February 26 in Michigan. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.

George stands accused of murdering his wife, Barbara George, 17 years ago execution style in the comic book shop they both owned. Investigators initially believed that that the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad. George claimed at the time that many high-value comic books were missing from the store. He filed an insurance claim against the missing books and received $13,000 from his insurance company.

It’s the prosecutor’s contention that no comic books were stolen and that the story of missing books was made up by George to make it look like a robbery. Both cash registers in the store still contained money and Barbara George still had all of her jewelry when they found her. A witness will testify that George was in the shop at around the time of the murder. The witness is claiming that he called the comic book shop at around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George.

Michael George claims that he was asleep on his mother’s sofa at the time of the murder. His mother and his then 4-year old daughter will testify that he was asleep on the sofa. Neighbors will also testify that they remember Michael George’s vehicle parked in front of his mother’s house at the time of the murder.

No physical evidence links Michael George to the murder. The weapon used to kill Barbara George has not been found.

Comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George was ordered by judge Linda Davis to stand trial for the 1990 murder of his wife Barbara George. Davis ruled that although most of the evidence against George was circumstantial, it was sufficient to warrant the case proceeds to trial.

Barbara was murdered in the comic book shop that she and Michael both owned. The prosecution has a witness that puts Michael George at the scene at the time of the murder. Comic book collector Michael Renaud testified that he placed a call to the George’s shop around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George. Renaud testified that Michael George sounded “sounded busy”.

Janet George, Michael’s mother testified that Michael was taking a nap on her sofa at the time of the murder.

A woman that worked at a nail salon near the comic book shop testified that she witnessed Michael and Barbara arguing outside the comic book shop the day of the murder.

A probable cause hearing began Friday for Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George. George is charged with murdering his first wife Barbara George execution-style 17 years ago in Michigan.

Some of the evidence emerging from the first day of the hearing included the fact that Michael George told police that the killer was really out to get him, not Barbara.

He also admitted to having “emotional” affair with another woman at the time of his wife’s murder.

Even though George told the police that boxes of expensive comic books were missing from the store, police could find no other evidence that a robbery had taken place. Money was found in the cash register along with money and jewelry found on Barbara’s body.

Friends of the George’s testified that Barbara told them her marriage was in trouble and that Michael had a gambling problem.

Witnesses described Michael George’s behavior around the time of his wife’s funeral as strange. One woman told of Michael George showing his grief by “hugging the vacuum cleaner his wife used”.

Two woman testified that Michael George made unwanted romantic advances toward them, both before and after the murder. On one occasion, Michael George told one woman that he considered his wife unattractive and wanted to move to Florida with the children. Barbara and the children where in the store only a few feet away when Michael said this. The same woman testified that about six weeks after his wife’s murder, Michael George put a note in her hand that stated she “looked very pretty today.”

Witnesses also testified of making telephone calls to the store around the time of the murder and speaking to Michael George. Macomb County assistant prosecutor Steve Kaplanin told the court this places Michael George in the store at the time of the murder.

Two years after the murder, Michael George relocated Comics World from Michigan to Windber, Pennsylvania. Some have written that George owned and operated a comic book shop in Pittsburgh. Windber is about 100 miles outside Pittsburgh. I think part of the confusion comes from the fact that George is the organizer of the Pittsburgh Comicon. Michael George later opened another Comics World in the Chambersburg Mall located in Scotland, Pennsylvania. Though he later sold the Chambersburg Mall Comics World store, the store remains today retaining it’s original Comics World name.

It’s where I buy my comics. I live in Hagerstown, Maryland, but I work in Scotland.

I didn’t really know Michael George when he owned the comic book shop in the Chambersburg Mall, but I knew who he was. I knew that he was the owner. I certainly didn’t think he was capable of murdering someone, especially his wife. Then again I didn’t think he was the type of guy that would hug a vacuum cleaner either. It just goes to show you that you never know someone as much as you may think.

In a surprising move, comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comic-Con organizer Michael George is waiving his extradition hearing and will go to Michigan where he will stand trial for for the 1990 slaying of his wife.

George had been fighting the extradition from Pennsylvania. No word yet why he is waiving the right to a hearing that would force the Michigan prosecutor to present the evidence they have connecting him to his wife’s murder.

This whole story just gets weirder and weirder.

Link

The prosecutor in Michigan is charging Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George with new charges.

George, 47 — who is accused in the slaying of his 32-year-old wife, Barbara, in his Clinton Township store — faces two new charges: insurance fraud and obtaining money under false pretenses.

“The proofs will show that nothing was taken,” said Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan.

He acknowledged that the murder charge is more pressing, but he said that George received $13,000 in insurance money.

George reported that two boxes of valuable comics were stolen from a back storage room during his wife’s murder. The police now contend that no comics were missing and that George simply made the whole thing up to receive insurance money and to make the police believe that the his wife’s murder was the result of a robbery gone bad.

Link

I’ve been trying to keep up with news concerning the 1990 murder case involving comic book retailer and con organizer Michael George and his first wife Barbara. As I wrote in my previous blog post about this whole mess, he used to own the comic shop in Chambersburg I buy my comics from.

From the Daily American:

The July 13, 1990, killing was the result of an extramarital affair George was having with a store employee, said Macomb County prosecutor Eric J. Smith. George also stood to benefit financially, Smith said, with a six-figure pay out on Barbara’s life insurance policy.

“It’s a classic case of domestic murder,” Smith said. “One partner wants out of the marriage the quickest way possible. Loved turned to hate.”

From The Detroit News:

The Georges’ two children were 3 and 5 years old when their mother died. Police believed robbery may have been a motive, but nothing was missing from the store, the body or the cash register.

Within months of his wife’s death, Michael George moved in with an employee of the store.

“Evidence does exist she was unhappy in the marriage,” said Macomb Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan. “She had strong suspicions of his infidelity.”

George married his employee and moved to Pennsylvania with his two children and his new wife’s five children.

I’m sure a lot more information will come out concerning this whole story as time goes on. A lot of the information so far just does not make a lot of sense. For instance, if it was a robbery gone bad, why didn’t the killer take the money out of the register? Also, George claimed at the time that $30,000 worth of comics was stolen. That’s a lot of comic books, especially considering it was 1990. The shop in Windber doesn’t seem to be the type that would have a lot of high-end premium comics in stock.

Update: Someone claiming to be Mike George’s stepson has posted on Newsarama that seems to contradict some of what was reported in The Detroit News. He writes:

For instance, my mother did not “leave” nor “abandon” my siblings and me in Michigan. She attempted to take us to Pennsylvania with her, but this move was fought by my father, who eventually won the ensuing custody battle. I chose to rejoin her in 1995 at age 15, and my siblings followed later. I’m sure all this could have been discovered with a FOIA request or two. But then, television journalists are not known for their competence.

This contradicts the story that Mike George and his new wife moved to Pennsylvania with his two children and her five children. Her children evidently remained in Michigan with their father for at least three years.

The man behind the annual Pittsburgh Comicon has been arrested for murdering his first wife execution-style 17 years ago in Michigan.

His 32-year-old wife, Barbara Marie George, was shot in the head in 1990 in the Comics World store they owned in Clinton Township, north of Detroit.

Her body was found in the shop she had closed that day to surprise Michael George on his 30th birthday, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported.

Comic books valued at $30,000 were taken.

Michael George moved to Pennsylvania following his wife’s death. He opened another Comics World shop in Windber, Pa.

Clinton Township detectives reopened the case in January.

Not only did he open another Comics World in Windber, he also eventually opened one in Chambersburg. It’s where I buy my comics every week. George eventually sold the Chambersburg store, but it retained the name.

Continued Reading

• Detroit Free Press
• Tribune-Democrat
• Fox Channel 2 Detroit
• Comic Book Resources
• Newsarama

We had a rocking good time at the 2007 Pittsburgh Comicon. The Expo Mart is actually a fantastic place to hold an event like a comic book convention. The Expo Mart is connected to the Radison Hotel. It literary takes only 30 seconds to walk from the lobby of the hotel to the convention floor. Unlike any other funny book convention I’ve been to, parking is free. This means I had more money to spend on the convention floor.

If you entered the convention floor from the Expo Mart side, you were forced to walk by a table staffed with rude women that asked you to support “the troops”. Evidently the only way one could do this was to give them some money. I show my support to “the troops” by being against getting into costly and never ending wars under false pretenses. I don’t do it by giving to obnoxious people that ask for money as soon as I step foot into a comic book convention. To each his own though.

There were two dealers selling bootleg DVD’s. Both were selling copies of the South Korean monster movie THE HOST. It’s not out on DVD here in the states. I was very tempted to pick one up. I’m looking forward to seeing this movie, but I guess I’m willing to wait till I can purchase an actual legal copy. I was surprised to see anyone selling bootlegs after the raids at a comic book convention in Detroit last year. Not only were the two dealers selling bootlegs, it didn’t appear they were selling anything but bootlegs.

Probably one of the most peculiar things I witnessed at the con was STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 actress Chase Masterson. She didn’t look anything like what she looked on DS9. She didn’t look like any of the photos for sale at her table. It appears the years haven’t been overly kind to Chase Masterson. It also appears that she has developed quite a fondness for all-you-can-eat buffets. Not that the same could not be said for me. The difference is that I don’t dress like a hooker.

Some time early Friday afternoon, Chase Masterson stormed out of her booth barefoot while talking very loudly on her cell phone. It was obvious that she was highly agitated about something. I thought maybe the convention organizers told her to go and put on some more clothes. Maybe they told her to go put on some clothing that actually fit. I could hear her yelling on her cell phone about something being paid in full as far as she was concerned. Something like that. I didn’t see her back at her booth the rest of the day. On Saturday, she still wasn’t at her booth. All of her stuff was there. I asked Marc Singer, famous actor from major motion pictures such as THE BEASTMASTER and the hit television mini-series V what happened to her. He was sitting in the booth next to her. Mark informed me that he didn’t know what happened to her and that he hadn’t seen her all day. I wondered if she had at least returned to get her shoes. When we watched her storm out the day before, she was barefoot. As this photo shows, she didn’t come back for her shoes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the shoes were to end up on eBay. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the eBay seller was somebody that went by the eBay username “BeastMaster7667″.

One of the highlights of the con was the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund quick sketch raffle. That’s where comic book artists sit at a huge table on stage and draw giant comic book related quick sketches. Some of them were quite funny such as anything drawn by Chris Moreno. Some were much more artistic such as anything done by Rags Morales. People purchase raffle tickets for a dollar each and when artists are done with all of their numerous sketches, raffle tickets are drawn for each sketch. It was really quite fun. We attended both Friday and Saturday’s quick sketch event. Saturday’s event alone raised over $1800 for the CBLDF.

Looking through the long boxes at one vendor’s booth, I happened to spot a huge quantity of CIVIL WAR #7 books for $1 dollar each. There had to be at least 80 copies in the bin. One dollar each? How long until they make their way to the .50 cent bins? This is something to think about when reading the various online comic book best seller lists. Just because comic book shops order a certain amount of books doesn’t mean all those books are ever read. Many of them just might be collecting dust in a dollar bin. Like CIVIL WAR #7.

This was the best comic book convention I have ever been to. I enjoyed it immensely and will make it a point to go again next year.