‘Comic Book Men’ Star Robert Bruce Found Dead in Storage Unit
Robert Bruce, who featured in the AMC reality television series Comic Book Men, was found dead on Friday. He was 62.
Bruce was discovered inside a storage facility in Red Bank, New Jersey, which he also used as an office. According to NJ.com, Bruce’s family members believed he had been living in a basement unit at the facility — they contacted the police after they hadn’t heard from him in several days.
Police went looking for Bruce and found him dead at the storage facility. No foul play is suspected; however, the investigation remains open and is continuing.
Bruce was a big-time collectibles expert and from 2012-2018 appeared in 34 episodes of AMC’s Comic Book Men. The series was set at director Kevin Smith‘s comic book shop, “Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash,” in Red Bank, with each episode featuring experts appraising a selection of collector’s items. Smith starred in the show alongside his longtime friends Walt Flanagan, Mike Zapcic, Bryan Johnson, and Ming Chen.
As well as appearing in the series, Bruce also had producing and consulting credits on 82 episodes. In one memorable episode, Bruce reached out to comic book artist and writer George Pérez to create an original piece for a fellow collector who lost his Teen Titans poster in Hurricane Sandy.
Following the news of Bruce’s death, Smith took to Twitter to pay his respects, writing, “[Rob] was always a welcome addition to any episode of @ComicBookMenAMC, as well as a nice guy. I’ll miss Rob.”
My condolences! I’m truly sorry to read this John. @popculturizm was always a welcome addition to any episode of @ComicBookMenAMC, as well as a nice guy. I’ll miss Rob. (@AMC_TV shot a sizzle reel for a spin-off with Rob & his family before they got rid of all the reality shows.) https://t.co/rNeTxCFnHZ
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) January 2, 2022
Smith also revealed that AMC had filmed a sizzle reel for a potential spin-off series featuring Bruce and his family before the network decided to move away from reality television.
Bruce’s last Instagram post was made on December 22 and was taken at a New Jersey flea market. “The golden nugget,” the longtime collector captioned the photo.
