NORTHRIDGE : Artist Mourns Theft of Prized Sci-Fi Statues

Northridge sculptor Joe Sid said he felt his temperature change Monday morning after he pushed open the door of his apartment storage locker.

Inside, eight science fiction figurines, worth $14,750, were supposed to be locked securely. Instead, the shelf they were stored on was empty.

A burglar had apparently cracked the deadbolt and made off with the most coveted fruit of Sid’s labor: foot-high statues of cartoon and movie characters.

Sid, who was busy Tuesday taping reward flyers around his complex, said the sculptures are irreplaceable.

“Oh man,” he said, trailing off.

“I put so much time into it,” he said finally. “Another one just won’t be the same.”

The 30-year-old former designer and silk screener began to concentrate on making figurines out of clay about three years ago. The figurines take about a month to make and are sold at comic book specialty stores and shown at science fiction conventions.

They represent without irony, and with meticulous detail, such subjects as The Terminator, Spiderman, Batman, and various space aliens and monsters. Dynamic poses, muscular thighs and diabolical grins are recurring themes.

Sid, who moved here from Thailand at age 18, makes the sculptures in the apartment where he lives with his three small children. He bakes the figures in his oven, then paints them with water-based acrylic paints.

Barbara Lubbers, general manager of Things From Another World, a comic book specialty store in City Walk, said Sid’s figurines sell from about $100 to several thousand dollars.

Lubbers said pop star Michael Jackson bought one of Sid’s works. Actor Nicolas Cage has bought two, Sid said.

“I’ve had crowds around his artwork at the store,” Lubbers said. “There are very few people that do that, very few who are as good as he is. . . . It’s incredible. You can tell that he loves his work. It’s amazingly detailed.”

Sid, the son of a cartoonist who had no formal artistic training, grew up with comic books and said he loves the power of comic book characters.

LAPD Detective Sandra Palmer said police took a report on the burglary, which apparently occurred Sunday night or Monday morning. Police say they have no leads.