(Beck's "Mixed Bizness" playing)
* I'm mixing business with leather *
* Christmas with Heather
* Freaks flock together
* Makin' all the B-boys scream *
(camera shutter clicks)
* All right
* All right *
* Turn it up, now
* Turn it up now *
* All right
* All right... *
* Turn it up now
(over PA): Now, at the Sklar Graphics booth,
Miles Sklar will be unveiling Ultraworld number one,
the world's rarest and most valuable comic book.
* I'll comb your hair, rewrite your diary *
I present...
the long lost, and only copy
of Ultraworld Number One.
(applause, cheering)
* She can look right through me *
* And make all the B-boys scream *
And that completes the greatest
comic book collection in existence.
(applause, cheering)
MAN (shouting): Okay, everybody!
On the ground! Now!
(several gunshots)
Open it! Open it!
Do it! Okay, okay.
Let's go, let's go!
(over walkie-talkie): What's going on over there?
(gunshots, screaming)
(people screaming)
...how game theory can be applied to casual relationships.
Between friends,
what's the strategic goal?
After all, there's no commodity being sought, right?
Let's think about this.
Even the most causal relationship
is built around a very important commodity.
Thank you.
Information.
When a friend shares information, they place a value
on our intention not to use it against them.
And we, in turn,
are expected to share our information with them.
We can call this symmetrical information,
and it's the foundation
of partnerships between countries,
corporations, lovers and friends.
You are very popular.
You have 17 new text messages.
Okay, so for next week,
chapter 15 of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.
So... you're done. Thank you all.
Uh, Professor Eppes?
Yeah, hi. Peter Lange.
Yeah, uh, biochemistry, right?
Uh, no, uh, Vanity Fair.
I'm writing a profile on you.
So, um...
have you always taught game theory?
Uh, yeah, yes. It's applied mathematics.
I don't always
have this many students.
That's due to the popularity of the book.
Right. Oh, I'm also gonna
have to talk to friends and your family members.
Really?
Well, because your book,
The Attraction Equation, is on the best-sellers list,
you're seen as, you know, a friends expert,
a kind of, uh... relationship guru.
So I want to know about your own relationships.
(sirens wailing)
DAVID: Private security guard. Christopher Jenssen.
Off-duty cop?
High school football coach.
Wife says he moonlights to make extra money.
Has four kids, one starts college next year.
Robber shot Jenssen,
then he fired into the crowd and hit one.
This is all for a comic book?
Worth lots of money.
This Sklar has one of the biggest
comic collections in the world.
Including the ashcan edition of Ultraworld number one.
What's the what?
Ashcan edition of a comic,
it's when a publisher, he only prints one copy,
never intended for sale.
Often times, it was thrown in the ashcan.
This one in particular, the one that was stolen,
was drawn in 1962 by Ross Moore.
He's a visionary.
He's a legendary artist.
How do you know all this?
(chuckles)
I started my first collection when I was nine.
I still have a few thousand.
Aha.
A comic book geek in the FBI.
Sweet.
Oh, man.
Absolute pleasure to meet you, man.
I'm a big fan of your work.
I have a first edition of NanoPunk. Mint.
Oh, yeah? Well, I'm a big fan of your work, too.
Bank robberies and stuff.
(chuckles)
Don, this Seth Marlowe.
He's an incredible artist,
and he's also an expert in comic history.
Ah...
You know this guy Miles Sklar?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
He is, uh, everything that's wrong
with the comic book industry.
How's that?
He started out as a promising young artist,
but he said that there wasn't enough money
in comic books, and so he created a character
that he would sell to TV and, uh, the toy companies,
and he made millions.
What would you say this... What is it?
Ultraworld number one.
What's that worth?
Uh, maybe $2 million.
If it's actually authentic.
He never had it authenticated?
So, what, you're saying it could be fake?
Yeah.
If it's real, it belongs to the guy who created it, Ross Moore.
business.legend in this
Ross Moore, that hack?
Yeah, he wrote it-- decades ago.
Look, he sold it, he lost it, whatever.
I paid for it, so it's mine.
He can't come around now asking for it because it's valuable.
- How did you get it? - I found it.
It was at an estate sale in Syracuse, New York.
It was in a box with 300 other comics.
And you got it for an investment?
Yes, I will sell it
when it's at its peak value,
which should be right after Moore dies.
He's not doing very well,
so that shouldn't be very long.
Nice for you, I guess.
Comics are a business.
I'm rich because I understand that.
And this was the first time it was shown?
Yes. I normally keep it in an undisclosed location
in a locked safe.
I only brought it to the convention
because there were these rumors that it's fake.
In retrospect, a bad idea.
MEGAN: Talk about arrested development.
You can't deny the cultural impact
that comics have had on this country.
You got Lichtenstein, Warhol...
Hugh Jackman in a Wolverine outfit--
that was hot.
Agent Sinclair! There's a wild rumor
that Ultraworld just sold on the black market
for 50,000 bucks.
What? Who bought it?
MAN: Who says they bought it? That's impossible.
- How would you know? - Because I know.
Hey, sir? FBI.
We need to speak to you for a second.
Uh, I don't know anything.
He didn't ask you anything yet.
Three guys are fighting over there-- they all say
they bought Ultraworld. - No way! I...
You what? Let me see your hands.
Oh, God.
There's copies everywhere.
So much for our rare one-of-kind comic.
So people bought a stolen comic, even though a man died.
That's just obsessive collecting.
Three hours after the robbery,
buyers got an e-mail from someone claiming
to have acquired the actual comic from the robbers.
Mm, hey there.
- You with us? - Yeah. What?
I mean...
How did the buys go down?
It was cash only, ranging from five to 40,000 dollars.
The seller met with buyers over a six-hour period,
each at a different public place.
General description is a white guy, mid-20s.
MEGAN: Is there any chance that the real one
was sold along with the fakes?
Tech said all the copies are of similar quality,
all done in old paper.
But because Sklar never had his authenticated,
there's no way of knowing
if it's the real Ultraworld number one.
Well, someone thought it was worth killing for.
MEGAN: You know, that shooter
reacted to minor resistance with rage.
Maybe there's an aggression disorder.
There'd probably be a violent record.
Yeah, and check it out.
Those locations are
pretty evenly spaced, huh?
We know what that means.
Somebody tried to make them
look random, but they're not.
Yeah, why don't you run it by Charlie?
All right.
You doing okay?
Yeah.
CHARLIE: So the fakes were sold
at 14 locations within a five-mile radius.
Well, that's excellent,
because I can get you a probable base for the seller.
All right, how about the copies themselves?
Dude, I love forgery problems,
because I can compare the copies,
see if they're drawn by the same person.
I just wish I knew more about comic books.
Well, you've come to the right place.
Hey, you're the, uh, FBI math guy.
Yeah, yeah, that's me.
I've been getting a lot of press.
I'm Charles Eppes.
Seth Marlowe.
All right, Seth.
And I guess you're an expert on comic collecting and history.
And I see that you're an artist yourself.
Yeah, these are my people.
(chuckling): All right.
What do you want to know?
What makes a comic valuable?
Rarity, age and condition.
Which is why a lot of collectors don't even read them.
They just buy them and seal them up.
The book's condition.
This one's mint, perfect. Never been read.
And now it never will be.
It's only good for showing off.
And, uh, what does this... this yellow sticker mean?
That it's been doctored. Cuts the value.
People paint faded copies,
spray them with cooking oil
to make them shiny, use tape on smudges,
which takes off some of the original ink.
How about forgery, is that common?
If you're good enough to fake a comic,
you're good enough to be drawing your own.
CHARLIE: Highly rare comic is valuable,
that'd be motivation for forgery?
Rare ones are well-known to the collectors.
All right, so all I'll need is copies of Ross Moore's work
drawn around the same time that he drew Ultraworld number one.
You know Ross Moore?
He's a friend. I'll talk to him.
MOORE: That's the old stuff you want.
That's from 1962.
Two weeks after I drew Ultraworld one.
It's exactly what we need.
Thank you so much.
How are you feeling today, Ross?
(groans) All right, as long as
I don't try to do anything too fast.
I got emphysema, kidney problems...
I beat the big "C"
a couple years ago.
Mr. Moore, it's a real honor.
I've always loved your books.
I own a lot of them.
Probably more than I do.
I sold most of my collection, years ago.
Hey, you had no way of knowing
how crazy the market was going to get.
Threw old books out. Gave them away.
We left behind boxes of stuff when we moved offices.
I didn't mean to lose Ultraworld,
but somewhere back then, it got misplaced.
I'd sure like to have it back.
Why that one?
Well... Iris...
supported me when I was getting started,
stuck with me all this time.
With my health problems, we're pretty broke.
But after I'm gone,
she could sell it, live well the rest of her life.
And that'll happen.
If there's any justice in this world.
Huh... justice?
Kid, you read too many comic books.
Charlie's sending over a hot zone map
so we can target the seller's locations.
That's great.
You asked for these files from Karen Silver
in the Art Crime Unit?
Um, yeah, it's just some stuff on known forgers in the area.
Mm.
Hey, what do you know about Karen?
Does she, uh... she got a boyfriend?
What's her story?
She's married.
Oh, really?
Why? You looking to meet someone?
You know, it's just back in Idaho
it was pretty easy to meet girls.
Knew just about everybody
who lived in the town where I grew up.
I know some pretty interesting women.
Hmm, I'm sure you do. Smart, successful,
great sense of humor,
but you'll leave out "big-boned, owns 17 cats."
I will bet you 20 bucks I can set you up
with someone and you'll like it.
20 bucks? All right, you're on.
ALAN: You know what I really liked?
I loved those Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
or anything by R. Crumb or Harvey Pekar.
Yeah? Me, no, I wanted adventure.
The quest for cosmic answers.
Oh, you were into superheroes.
Well, Daredevil, Fantastic Four.
Of course, my favorite was Galactus.
That's the guy who ate planets.
Yeah, well, he was stellar Darwinism.
He was necessary to the survival of the universe.
Huh?
Yeah, he was the third force along with eternity and death.
Larry, he wanted to eat the Earth.
But he didn't.
Hey, David, I found a printing house
that deals in vintage paper.
They had a request for '50s-era pulp paper.
That's what the forgeries are printed on.
Yeah, and the guy used a fake name and paid cash,
but I got a description, and he was wearing
a Dr. Strange T-shirt.
"By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth!"
What?
Uh, Dr. Strange's catchphrase.
You know, when he'd use... Yeah.
Charlie's map shows an area that's central
to all the forgery sales.
All right, we can run down records
of all the male residents in the area.
Might not need to.
I checked out the businesses in the hot zone.
There's a comic book store right there.
So I called to see
if there was any unusual activity recently.
Like the way you're thinking.
Day after the robbery, a guy walked in,
he bought $20,000 worth of collectible comic books.
He was wearing a Dr. Strange T-shirt.
Same as the guy who bought the vintage-era paper.
Yep. He might be trying to launder
the money from the forgery sales.
This guy a regular customer?
The kind they might know by name?
He's the kind that puts in in an order for more books.
You're kidding me.
So they not only know his name...
...they have his home phone number.
(knocking)
I think I hear water running.
MAN: Gentlemen, I'm in the shower!
(glass breaks)
He's going out the back.
Man, who's gonna tackle this guy?
Whoever gets there last.
Hey, give me the keys to your car now!
(blows landing)
(suspect groaning)
Ladies, ladies, FBI!
Please, let him go, okay?
Please, let him go.
Thank you.
You dropped your cape, Super Boy.
So we know you bought vintage paper.
Same paper you used to make the forgeries of Ultraworld #1.
It's not a crime to buy paper.
You don't have anything else.
How about indecent exposure?
What?
Naked carjacking.
It's the worst kind.
Mark Vaughn, gentlemen, classic con personality,
goes along with the mail fraud and the scams.
Yeah? You think robbery?
Yes, but he's not our shooter.
He knows how to control his emotions.
He's not our forger.
He's got no background in art.
I'm kinda thinking he might be on a team,
maybe two other people.
Right, maybe one's an artist...
...and the other's the killer.
Yeah, so we run down his associates,
look for the trigger-happy psycho?
Yeah, that sounds good.
Thanks, guys.
Anybody else think Don's been a little off these days?
Kinda hard to say, but maybe a little.
Especially since he broke up with Liz.
Maybe one of us should go and...
you know, see if he wants to talk about it.
You volunteering?
Hell, no.
(laughs)
I'd spent my entire life with comic-book art,
especially Ross Moore's
and I can't tell if this is real or not.
Well, that's 'cause what you do is you look at the style,
the form of drawing techniques.
Silly me. What do you do?
Fractal number estimate.
It's based on Mandelbrot's use of fractal dimension
to measure the jaggedness of a coastline.
So what's going on in here?
Oh, hello.
Other than a very hot woman looking very hot?
Charlie, I'm sorry, I've been swept off my feet.
I'm going to have to run off with this man
because he is so smooth.
Oh, you mock me.
Seriously, what are you doing?
I am using the fractal-dimension analysis
to evaluate the wrinkliness of these lines.
The wrinkliness?
An authentic piece of handwriting or drawing
will have a smoother ink edge than one that is forged.
So for instance, when I sign my own name,
the pen moves quite rapidly.
The movements of my hand are fast and fluid,
thus minimizing the contact between paper and pen.
The faster the hand movement,
the smoother the edge of the ink.
However, when someone copies my signature,
it's an imitation of my movement.
It's not as natural for the forger, so it's slower.
The slower the pen,
the longer the contact with the paper,
the more time for ink to be absorbed into the paper
which creates an irregular or wrinkly edge.
Fractal dimension allows us to compare the wrinkliness
and detect the fake.
These fractal comparisons are telling us the same thing.
That none of the copies we analyze
were drawn by Ross Moore.
Yet there are similarities
across multiple points of edge comparison.
Which means?
The same artist drew all the forgeries.
And we can try to match
the forger's style
to a specific comic book artist if you can get us samples
of artists that are capable of copying Ross Moore.
He did inspire an entire generation of artists,
but, uh, yeah,
I-I can help you round up the usual suspects.
Great.
This guy you got, Mark Vaughn, he's your basic grifter.
Any real bad guys he knows
he met courtesy of the state of California.
In prison.
During a stint a couple years ago,
he bought protection
from Gordon Garrity, 44.
A real sweetie.
Armed robbery, home invasion,
assault with intent, voluntary manslaughter.
I ran a check for you.
He skipped two parole appointments.
There's a warrant out.
Well, thanks very much.
Thanks for running the check.
Appreciate it.
This guy is not going to be easy to find.
Doesn't sound like it.
But, um, what about her?
She your type?
Of course, form flourished
all through the '30s and '40s,
particularly during World War II, you know,
when people felt so frightened and futureless.
The comic book heroes embodied the hope
that good would triumph,
power was in the hands of the right.
With great power comes great responsibility.
That's right, and the way of the hero
is the path of self-sacrifice.
CHARLIE: Hey, Seth, you got anything for us?
Yes, sir.
These are all done by artists
who could draw like Ross Moore if they wanted to.
Oh, it's surely not Harry Hoodle.
Come on. I've read all his books.
This is all based on drawing style.
Look, man, I'm giving you stuff
from some of my best friends here.
I see you bought my book.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
You want to sign it for me?
Might be worth something someday.
Yeah. I'll tell you what. I'll sign one of mine
if you sign one of yours for me.
How about a NanoPunk?
Cool.
LARRY: You know that magazine writer called me?
Do you think I should talk to him?
Oh. Both my publisher
and my publicist think you should.
Yeah, but do you?
Larry, it was never my intent to go down
in history as some crackpot expert.
There's something to be said
for being an expert.
So, have you found your mystery forger?
No, not yet.
There's still a lot of artists to test.
I think you should consider economics.
What was the result
of the robbery and the forgeries?
Uh, somebody made money on those forgeries
and at this point,
Sklar's copy has been totally discredited.
So fake books, a real book.
Now, what does economic theory say about the value
of false goods commingled with genuine.
Genuine goods lose value, right?
Okay, so putting our thinking caps on here,
who would want to devalue Ultraworld and discredit Sklar?
I think I know whose art I need to analyze next.
(crowd cheering over TV)
Hey.
Oh!
Hey, I know who the forger is.
Yeah.
It's Seth Marlowe.
Yeah? Can you prove that?
No, but I have a theory.
And it's far too elegant not to be true.
It's elegant because it all fits.
It's not just about theft,
it's about making people doubt
that Sklar's Ultraworld was real.
Well, we know that Seth hates Miles Sklar.
Right, and if Sklar's was fake,
then he can't claim the real one when it shows up,
and it will.
You think the real one is in Seth's possession?
He's gonna try and make his ownership look legitimate?
He didn't steal it for himself.
He wants to give it to Ross Moore.
Charlie's telling me his theory on Seth Marlowe.
It's "elegant."
Yeah, I know all about it,
but he doesn't have any proof. It's a hunch.
You have hunches. You follow them.
Yeah, well, Charlie, you know, look,
we don't exactly think of you as our hunch guy.
Hey, you know, I had a hunch about the Eppes Convergence
way before I had the math.
Einstein had a hunch about relativity
decades before it could be proven.
Hey, I don't want to get
in the middle of a brother thing here,
but, um, do you want my professional opinion?
- Of course. - Seth doesn't fit the profile.
He has no criminal record.
He's a really well-known artist.
He's a historian, a collector.
He stands more to lose than he stands to gain.
Those are both excellent professional opinions
to consider, however once considered...
they don't change my hunch, but thank you.
Hunch.
Gordon Garrity,
our robber's prison buddy-- he's not turning up.
We're going through his known associates
trying to put together a geographical map
of his past crimes.
So, what's Charlie got?
Elegance, no proof.
Uh, excuse me.
I'm Peter Lange.
Yes.
I'm writing the piece on Charles Eppes.
I was unaware that Vanity Fair has a mathematics section.
LANGE: Well, we don't.
Culture, society, media, celebrity--
where Professor Eppes now finds himself.
Around here,
he was famous before he wrote the book.
I, uh...
I want to write about... you and his other friends.
Okay, well, he's well-liked on campus.
- Wherever he goes... - Yeah, I know,
he's the most popular professor on campus,
but he has few close friends.
A former teacher, a former student.
Yeah, well,
I think he just chooses to live
by Benjamin Franklin's old adage:
"Be civil to all,
social with many, known to few."
Few. Being... two?
Come on.
You know, I was a total geek in high school.
I know what it's like.
You know, Charlie's passionate about the world,
but he thinks about it in terms of numbers and patterns.
How many people can he share that with?
Other mathematicians?
Yeah, but few of us started college at 13.
Charlie wasn't part of a social peer group
until he was an adult.
So the fact that he's as compassionate
and engaged as any of us...
I mean, I think that's his greatest accomplishment.
Hey, Seth,
this is Charlie.
Charlie, yeah, we... we know each other.
He's helping the FBI find Ultraworld.
Trying to.
Yeah, you've been great.
So, um...
what brings you here?
I could use a couple more samples of Ross' work.
I wanted to meet the man everybody's talking about.
These kids today, they make too much about us old guys.
We were just trying to make a little money,
have some fun.
You created a new art form.
What, comic books?
What's all this?
This guy, always bringing stuff.
Seth, I don't know what Iris and I would do without you.
You give us so much of your time.
I know you've got more important things to do.
No, not more important than this.
You guys, we found something on Garrity.
Let me guess-- he's a fan of comic books.
Yeah. How'd you know?
'Cause I was just telling Don
that some of Seth Marlowe's fans live in state prisons.
And they write their favorite comic book artists letters.
Yeah, we found the same link.
Garrity wrote a letter a year ago--
sent it from the High Desert State Prison
to Seth Marlowe.
Right, well, I'm sure the guy
gets a thousand of these a year.
Yeah, but how many of them are from inmates?
And how many are from guys
who have a direct connection to Mark Vaughn?
SETH: What do I think of Miles Sklar?
I think he got a mega-dose of vitamin K.
K for Karma.
(laughing)
Parades around claiming he owns
Ultraworld #1--
but he never got it authenticated.
I wonder if that's because he knew that it was fake.
It's not a fake.
I'm an artist, not a forger.
Come on, if you were a real artist
you would have given the comic back to Moore.
But you were waiting for him to die,
ya freakin' vulture.
An artist... like you,
the creator
of that lame NanoPunk?
Oh, yeah, and your Mr. Bobble Head
is a superhero for the ages.
(laughter)
SKLAR: Hey, I was robbed.
I was robbed and a man died,
and it's all a big joke to you.
I don't think it's a joke.
In fact,
I have an idea about how some good can come of this.
The final event of this convention is the comic auction.
Let's add some items to that list, shall we?
Everybody who bought a fake Ultraworld
can put it up for sale.
Yeah, I know, they're forgeries,
but, hey, come on, they're famous.
And the money that we raise can be split between the buyers
that got ripped off,
and Ross Moore.
I'll buy one myself.
(applause)
What do I get out of something like that?
(crowd grumbling)
Hey, I'm not a bad guy!
I'm a victim!
(chuckles)
Interesting proposal.
An auction.
It wasn't too "we-are-the-worldish"?
No, not at all. It's great.
So what brings you back to the land of the Uber Nerds?
I just came down to let you know
that my analysis is close to identifying
the forger in this case.
How exactly does a mathematical analysis
turn into a criminal conviction?
I mean, you're working
with probabilities, right?
It's not like hard physical evidence.
Given the right circumstances, it can lead to that.
Yeah, but, in that case,
even if he math does implicate someone,
if there's no evidence, if there's no...
no link to the crime,
you can't prove anything.
Yeah. I guess you're right.
Although,
if you're not privy to the FBI's case files
and you're not part of the actual crime,
you can't know that there's no evidence.
Yeah. I guess I wouldn't know that.
The ballistics report on the nine millimeter
used at the robbery.
Stolen from a retired cop's apartment
in an assisted-living residence.
How does that help us?
Well, it wouldn't if it weren't
for this other piece of information here.
Garrity's mom-- look where she lives.
Rancho Vista Assisted Living. Same address.
This guy stole a gun while visiting his mother?
Maybe he was doing more than just visiting.
Oh, yeah.
Violent ex-con who wants to get back
into his old ways of doing business.
Can't hang out with his former associates.
Doesn't want a residence with his name on the lease.
He can say he lives with his mom.
Mrs. Garrity, ma'am, we need you to come with us, okay?
- What the hell?! - It's okay, we're FBI.
You can just come with us over...
Gordy! Gordy!
A little help, please.
- Gordy, it's the damn feds! - Ma'am, stop with the cane!
Ma'am, ma'am please, please.
Let's do it.
Guys, go that way.
(indistinct shouting)
Garrity, freeze!
(grunts)
Tell them I'm on the other side of the building.
That's not going to happen.
- Do it. - No way.
I said do it!
(gunshot)
He shot himself.
Yeah, he's dead.
- You okay? - Yeah, yeah.
David, I found this at the mother's apartment.
Oh, great, let's get it to Charlie.
Right. Hey, how you doing?
I'm okay, man. Thanks for asking.
You know, for a minute there,
I almost believed a man could fly.
So, I analyzed the copy that you guys found with Garrity.
What'd you come up with?
It's not authentic.
It's another forgery.
Okay, was it done by whoever made the other forgeries?
Yeah, same artist.
Okay, well, assuming it was a copy
stolen from Sklar, that means Sklar owned a fake.
No, I just think that's what Seth wants everyone to believe.
(footsteps approaching)
So, uh, are you doing a slam job on my son?
No, but I am profiling the man behind a self-help book
supposedly based on real science
that offers a simplistic fix to difficult issues.
Well, let me say this right off, it's not a supposed science.
Yeah, but we're talking about people's emotional lives,
talking about making money on their desire for easy answers.
There's nothing simplistic
about Charlie's thinking, I can tell you that.
And he didn't write the book to make money.
Then why did he write it?
You mean now or when he was nine?
Both.
Okay...
Charlie was an awkward kid.
But he trusted math.
I mean, he felt safe with math,
so I guess it was natural to try to use math
to help him get along with other kids.
Did it work?
Uh, no, not at all.
(chuckles) Well, then...
Why write the book now? It's not like it's gonna add
to his professional standing, and it could even diminish it.
You know, uh, to be honest,
I don't think he really thought that one through.
- Really? - He just thought it was
an interesting application of game theory,
and that everyday people would read it.
So, he wanted to write it for a wider audience.
Charlie thinks math is beautiful.
And he wants everyone
to love it the way he does.
Hmm.
DAVID: You found something?
CHARLIE: Yeah.
You know, most forgers want their forgeries
to fool everybody forever. Right? Not Seth.
Yeah, 'cause at some point,
he wants the real copy to be acknowledged.
Right, he has to prove that the fakes are fake,
so you know what he did? He marked them.
You found this mark?
Only 'cause I went looking for it.
See these lines of varying length?
Yeah.
They are identifiable as a simple representational code.
Each length represents a different letter or number.
And look what it spells out.
(chuckles)
"Miles Sklar 2007."
Why would he put Sklar's name on it?
Ah, 'cause Seth's got a wicked sense of humor.
Charlie, this is really wild stuff, but you understand
it really doesn't give us evidence against Seth Marlowe.
That evidence'll come at the auction.
Oh, you think that's how he plans to launder the real copy--
throw it in with the fakes.
A genuine good commingled with false goods.
In auction theory, we talk about equilibria or symmetry.
All the bidders have the exact same information,
except Seth knows something the other bidders
don't know, which is that the original copy
of Ultraworld #1 will be an item up for bid.
So, asymmetrical information creates asymmetrical bidding.
Charlie, this guy,
he already knows that we suspect him, right?
So, he's gonna have to use a straw man
or a proxy to do the bidding for him.
Right, and that straw man will be bidding
off of Seth's information.
Now, this asymmetry will
almost certainly create a situation
called jump bidding, which is when
a person enters a far larger bid than necessary
to be the current winning bidder.
I don't understand. What's the advantage of that?
It's like a bike race.
Typically, there's no advantage
to jumping ahead of the pack,
so racers tend to stay clustered together
and switch off the leads.
But there is a strategy of taking the lead early
to exhaust the competition.
Jump bidding is like quickening the speed of the race.
It encourages the early exit of some bidders,
and discourages the late entry of others.
So, when someone makes a big bid during the auction...
That Seth's straw man.
And you're going to be able to tell the real one?
It's the one without Seth's code drawn into it.
Okay.
(overlapping chatter)
Hiya, Seth.
Professor Eppes.
You come here to catch
the evil mastermind?
I'm here to bid on one of the famous forgeries.
Who knows? The real one could be here.
I think they're all fakes, if you ask me.
What, exactly, are you looking for, Charlie?
Just looking.
AUCTIONEER: Okay, let's get started on this special auction
of 14 versions of the famous Ultraworld #1,
proceeds to benefit the sellers, and the renowned artist
Ross Moore.
Item one: Ultraworld #1.
Not authenticated. Believed to be a forgery.
We'll start the bidding at $500. Do I have $550?
- $550! - I have $550.
- $600. - $600. I have $600.
Do I hear $650?
I have $650.
$650 going once, twice and sold.
Moving to Item number two.
$650 going once, twice and...
This is item number five.
Moving to item number five.
Again, we'll start the bidding at $500. I have $550.
I have $700. Do I have $750? Sold.
Moving now to item number nine. Sold.
Going once, twice and sold.
This is item 11, Ultraworld #1,
again unauthenticated, possible forgery.
- What do I hear? - $700!
I have $700. Do I have $750?
$750. Do I have $800?
$2,000.
Here we go.
- $2,050. - I have $2,050.
$3,000.
I have $3,100 over here.
$4,000.
- I have $4,000. - $5,000.
$5,500.
$8,000.
- $10,000. - I have $10,000.
Do I hear $10,500?
- $15,000. - $20,000.
$20,000. Going once, twice,
three times, and sold!
(alarm chirps)
You figured it out.
Your math stuff worked.
Sklar had the real one, huh?
The authentic copy of Ultraworld #1,
and then you stole it.
Ultraworld #1 belongs to Ross Moore.
Not to me, and certainly not to Miles Sklar.
A man was killed.
Unfortunately, nothing can change that.
But giving the comic back
to Ross is going to change a lot.
Your fan from prison almost shot my brother.
Charlie, please. Come on. Please, man.
I know you understand what this is all about.
Why I did this. Let me give
the comic back to Ross.
It doesn't work like that, Seth.
Charlie.
Okay, Seth, get your hands behind your back, please.
We're taking you in for some questioning.
Vaughn and Garrity, both fans, read my stuff in prison.
How did you sneak the real copy into the auction?
I'm the Ross Moore expert, right?
Everybody
let me examine their Ultraworld #1.
I swapped the real one for a fake
owned by a guy who promised to sell it in the auction.
What were you going to do with it, genius?
Give it to Ross.
And then,
in six months or so,
I'd pretend to have found the hidden message
with Sklar's name in the forgeries.
Well, if it isn't
the crime-fighting professor.
Come to help me engineer my escape?
No.
Yeah, it was kind of a long shot.
You heard that Miles Sklar
got the real copy of Ultraworld #1 back?
Figured that would happen.
He gave it to Ross Moore.
What?
Why?
Partly the intense public pressure.
I mean, the guy was being vilified.
That never bothered him before.
And, of course, he made a big publicity splash
over giving it to Moore,
just in time to promote his new comic.
Okay, that's... that's the Sklar I know.
Still...
he gave it back.
Hey, boys. Good job.
Thanks.
What are you guys doing this weekend?
Anyone want to grab a bite
or something?
Yeah. Sure. Sounds good.
We haven't done anything
outside of work for a while, right?
There's life outside of work?
News to me.
Colby Granger,
someone at my desk for you to meet.
Her name's Simone Voray.
She's in my Krav Maga class.
She's French. She has a little accent.
And a degree in literature.
She was a star gymnast in college.
Now she's an acrobat.
You say she's a professional acrobat?
Yeah. Cirque du Soleil.
Ready?
Guess it might just be me and you this weekend, huh?
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
I remember reading all those comics when I was a kid,
but I never saw anyone drawing one.
Well, this one should be fun.
Reminds me a little of the comics I wrote in the '60s.
I wrote under the name
Paisley McNasty.
Really?
I have a little trouble picturing you as a hippie.
What?
Right.
You know, Charles,
you have a rather distinguished chin there.
He's going
to be a superhero,
along with his brother.
Hold on. Wait a minute.
You think someone actually might publish this?
An FBI agent who solves crimes
with the help of his mathematician brother?
(laughing): It's great!
Aw, nobody would believe it.
Oh, that reminds me. Charlie, look
what came in the mail from that magazine.
That's the proof of the article?
I don't even know why I'm looking at this.
This guy was totally out to get me.
No, no, no, no. It's not a hit piece.
Sure, he makes some jokes at your expense,
but, actually, they're quite funny.
"His brother Don, a special agent
"in the Los Angeles office of the FBI,
"believes Charles Eppes has recently conquered
"the greatest challenge of friendship.
'Charlie and I had our issues growing up.'"
Yeah, to say the least.
"But if there's anything stronger
"than the bond between brothers,
"it's the bond between brothers who have become friends.
'Charlie's my friend.'"
ALAN: Donnie. CHARLIE: Aw...
I didn't even know the writer wanted to talk with you.
I had to get my name in the magazine somehow, right?
ALAN: Yeah, yeah. Right.
You can keep your disposable media.
A magazine is old in a week.
A comic book... well, that's forever.
DON: That's right.
Well, let's get back in our Charlie's Angels pose.
This is more like Tango & Cash.