It didn't seem like there could be a better ending to the case of Mike Meyer than the return of his vast collection of Superman comic books and collectibles following their alleged theft by a man who pretended to be his friend, but we think you'll agree this is it. As we reported previously, the comics community rallied in support of Meyer, a 48-year-old lifelong Superman fan who lives on part-time work at McDonald's and Social Security for a mental disability, by organizing a drive to replace the items that had been so cruelly stolen. With his collection now recovered by police and the alleged thief in jail, Meyer took a cue from the selfless superhero he idolizes by donating to a local children's hospital the excess items that were donated to him.

A resident of Granite City, Illinois, Mike Meyer is surely among America's most dedicated fans of Superman, the DC Comics superhero created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Over the course of his life, Meyer amassed a collection of Superman comics and other merchandise that can only be described as massive and worth many thousands of dollars. A man called Gerry Arville Armbruster allegedly stole a valuable portion -- more than 1,800 items -- of Meyer's collection by befriending Meyer with the intention of gaining access to his home. A ComicsAlliance reader appears to be the party who unwittingly purchased the stolen goods from Armbruster and turned the items over to Granite City police, but not before fellow comics fans worked together to apparently double the size of Meyer's original collection.

In response to that incredible generosity, Meyer made an equally touching gift of the redundant donations to St. Louis Children's Hospital. "I've been blessed with a lot of things, so I wanted to share them," Meyer told STLToday.com. Indeed, as horrible and humiliating as the ordeal has been for Meyer, the upshot of it all could be seen as a net gain for the now universally beloved Superman fan. As he said on Facebook last month, "I have never felt so much love in my life; I no longer feel like the Frankenstein monster. I feel that people understand me now, for the first time in my life."

STLToday.com reports that six boxes of Superman items were made available to the St. Louis Children's hospital's Wednesday bingo game last week, which quadrupled the number of prizes usually available to the facility's sick and injured kids.

"When you make somebody happy, it does something for you, too," said Meyer, in the best tradition of the Man of Steel.

[Via CA reader Stephen]