Comics Crime Watch: Disturbing mutant connection

Typically, comics-related crime stories are about store break-ins, stolen collections or fraudulent sales. But this one's kind of creepy.

Inside Bay Area reports that the prime suspect in the 1994 murder of a Castro Valley teen-ager changed his name to emulate actor and screenwriter Sebastian Shaw, who's probably best known for the portrayal of the spectral form of Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.

But X-Men fans are even more familiar with his namesake, the leader of the Hellfire Club.

"A Marvel Comics supervillain — Sebastian Hiram Shaw, or 'Black King' — was named in the actor's honor in 1980," Inside Bay Area notes. "The character is a mutant who is obsessed with world domination."

The murder suspect, 38-year-old Sebastian Alexander Shaw, was born Chau Quong Ho. He's serving two life sentences in an Oregon prison for double homicide, and a 30-year term for sexual assault and attempted murder.

Police believe Shaw was in the Bay Area 12 years ago around the time 14-year-old Jennifer Lin was murdered.

(Pictured: Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Hellfire Club)