Comic stores from Los Angeles to San Diego have been notified following the reported theft of 14 longboxes from a home in Eagle Rock, California.

Collector Adam Rose tells CBS Los Angeles that someone removed the garage-door opener from his unlocked car and entered his garage, making off with about 7,000 comic books he stored there. They represent three decades' worth of purchases.

"It sounds ridiculous but I’m kind of mourning a loss of my childhood," he says. "Like a significant chunk of my childhood was taken from me.”

Rose doesn't mention which comics made up the collection, whether anything else was taken from the garage or why, y'know, he left the garage-door opener in an unlocked car parked outside his house. But he's keeping an eye on Craigslist and eBay to see if any of the titles pop up.