JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- Bringing fantasy to reality. Many are left questioning if that is what James Holmes was trying to do during a shooting rampage in a Colorado movie theater police say he was responsible for.
Police say he is responsible for 12 deaths and injuring another 58 people.
Inside Universe of Super Heroes in Riverside, comic book sales are climaxing. Everyone wants to get their hands on one comic in particular from 1986; Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
"That's actually hard to keep in the stores, it sells out every week we gotta keep trying to order it each week," said Manager Jonathan Sanders.
Sanders guesses Holmes had read it. Perhaps he even tried bringing the pages to life.
"There's just one page, one or two pages in the comic where this guy, he's disgusted by heavy medal and pornography and goes into a porn movie theater and just decides to start shooting up the place," explained Sanders.
A video has even surfaced of a younger Holmes years ago at science camp where he's seen giving a presentation on the difference between fantasy and reality.
"I would say he's probably a fanatic and he was probably trying to live his dream," said Stephen Todd, a comic collector. "Most likely a villain."
Todd wouldn't be surprised if Holmes really was trying to live in a fantasy land.
"The human mind is very fragile and I could see someone without sanity and somebody with a fixation towards Batman could do that," Todd said.
Sanders just hopes this tragedy doesn't leave a permanent black cloud over his shop and what it stands for. Something he says is meant to be a break from life -- not a part of it.
"It's supposed to escape from reality. Not do the opposite," Sanders said.
He says they've already placed an order to get more copies of the Batman comic in. He anticipates having to make an even bigger purchase in the next few weeks to meet demand.
