Stephen A. Geppi (born January 24, 1950) is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

distributor, publisher and former

comic store The direct market is the dominant distribution (business), distribution and retailing, retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four ...

owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi founded

Diamond Comic Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other po ...

, the largest

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

direct distribution service in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, and has served as the company's head to the present. Diamond Distribution became the successor to direct market pioneer

Phil Seuling Philip Nicholas Seuling (January 20, 1934 – August 21, 1984) was a comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held ...

's distribution dream when Geppi took over

New Media/Irjax New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor of the era, Sea Gate Distributors, widened the fi ...

's warehouses in 1982. He further bought out early-distributor

Bud Plant Bud Plant was a wholesale comics distributor active in the 1970s and 1980s during the growth of the direct market. He also published a selection of comics and zines during the same period. Starting in 1970 as a mail-order distributor specializing ...

in 1988, and main rival

Capital City A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

in 1996 to assume a near-monopoly on comics distribution, including exclusivity deals with the major comic book publishers. Geppi became part owner of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in 1993, and in 1994 purchased ''Baltimore'' magazine.Geppi's Entertainment Museum Press Room: "Geppi's Entertainment Museum President/CEO Stephen A. Geppi Bio"
Accessed March 5, 2009 He is president and publisher of Gemstone Publishing Inc., through which he publishes

Russ Cochran Russell Earl Cochran (born October 31, 1958) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, having previously been a member on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is one of the few natural left-handed players to wi ...

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...

reprints,

Disney comics Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with ...

and

Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...

price guide ''

The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ''The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (or ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'') is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the ...

''. In 1995, he founded Diamond International Galleries, which acquired Hake's

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

Collectibles A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

auction house An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

(2004), and in 2005, Pennsylvania-based Morphy Auctions. In 2006, Geppi founded

Geppi's Entertainment Museum Geppi's Entertainment Museum was a 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) privately owned pop culture museum located at historic Camden Station at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. The museum chronicled the history of pop culture in America from the ...

in Baltimore.

Biography

Early life and career

Steve Geppi was born on January 24, 1950 in

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

and completed the 8th grade before leaving school.Resume for "Stephen A. Geppi" at BusinessWeek, September 8, 1998
Accessed March 5, 2009 Geppi's "first job was handling the comics for a local store," where the nine-year-old avidly read comics including "his favorite

Archie comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York."Sneak Preview Geppi's Entertainment Museum at Camden Yards – Baltimore, Maryland" in ''The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles'' (Sept. 2006)
. Accessed March 5, 2009 Ever the entrepreneur, Geppi "asked to be paid in comics ecause.. could sell them off to other kids and make a better buck." By 1960, Geppi was "doing tax returns for his neighbors," and later also "handled

football pools In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may encou ...

." Having left school to support his mother, between 1964 and 1969, he undertook a number of "manual-labor jobs," while "dodging

truant Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

officers." He "enrolled in vocational school," but did not feel challenged – later recalling that "I had missed 45 days at the half, and I was on the

honor roll An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their coursework at school. United States In the US, honors students may refer to: # Students recognized for their academic achievement on list ...

" – and again dropped out. Later he worked for Lester White's Detecto Electronics "install ng

burglar alarm A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusion, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas such as a home or school. Security alarms used in residential, commercial, industrial, and military properties protect against ...

s and

doorbell A doorbell is a signaling device typically placed near a door to a building's entrance. When a visitor presses a button, the bell rings inside the building, alerting the occupant to the presence of the visitor. Although the first doorbells were ...

s," before joining the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

as a

letter carrier A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

. Starting aged 19 with "the crap jobs," (loading trucks and substituting for other carriers), Geppi was "starting a family... ndneeded... solid, steady work, something with a future."Warshaw, Michael with illustration by

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

, "From Mailman to Tycoon" in DeGarmo, Scott (ed.), ''

Success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mig ...

'' (June, 1994) ISSN 0745-2489, pp. 28–32 A "few years" after taking the carrier exam, he was assigned a flat "route in suburban Maryland," while " e Postal Service kept raising salaries ndGeppi's pay tripled in five years," allowing him to move "his growing family out to the suburbs." In the early seventies Geppi was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and conducted many free home bible studies. Whether or not he is still affiliated with this organization is not known. Geppi and family vacationed every summer in Wildwood,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. In the summer of 1972, his nephew (Georgie Kues) was "reading an old

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

comic book" in the rain, and Geppi found that "reading that ''Batman'' brought ack his childhood memories of comics.. He still loved comics ndfigured there were a lot of guys who would feel the same way." Buying "a batch of old comics from a woman on his mail route," he was soon "spending weekends at comic shows, buying and trading with other fans." After "setting up at comic book conventions as a part-time dealer," he ultimately realised that he could make more money that way than at his job with the postal services.

Career in comics

In 1974, Geppi announced his intention to quit his job and "open a comic book store." Geppi recalls that his colleagues "all laughed their heads off," while ''The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles'' quoted him as saying: Already "making more money with the comics than as a mailman," he opened his first ''Geppi's Comic World''

"in a hole under a TV repair shop" in Baltimore, and – while personally specialising in "older, collectible comics," – "began carrying new comics, chiefly as a means of attracting regular customers to the store each week." Geppi "stocked his store with collections he found through the

classifieds Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...

, traveling the countryside in his beat-up blue

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

van." One of "the first specialty comic retailers in Maryland," Geppi built his business as the comics industry grew. Geppi recalls By 1981/82 he had four stores, "including a tourist development in

Harborplace Harborplace is a shopping complex on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. Description The property is composed of 2 two-story pavilions: the Pratt Street Pavilion and the Light Street Pavilion. Each of these buildings contains many stores an ...

, showplace of a reviving Maryland." Already "doing a little informal distributing... for smaller retailers," Geppi found himself "one of the biggest accounts" for

. When his distributor "relocated to Florida, he asked Geppi to service more accounts for a bigger discount." One of the "last loyal customers" when New Media began having fiscal difficulties, Geppi made a deal: " e owner was going into retail," so Geppi agreed to provide Schuster with "free books for a period of time in return for his account list," buying parts of the company, and founding Diamond Comic Distribution. In June 1994, ''

'' magazine featured Geppi on its cover, celebrating his "$250 Million Empire," and highlighting his co-ownership of the Baltimore Orioles.

Diamond Comic Distributors

Fore-runners

After

established the

direct market The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar ...

c.1972, he maintained a virtual (if ill-run) monopoly on comics distribution until a lawsuit brought by

in 1978.Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike (ed.s) " Direct Distribution" in ''Comics Between the Panels'' ( Dark Horse Publishing, 1998) , p. 126-130 Irjax, "a paper distribution company formed by Hal Schuster... his father, Irwin, and his brother, Jack" achieved "a sizeable chunk of the direct-distribution market," but ultimately "filed for Chapter Seven

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in early 1982."

Foundation

Described by

Mile High Comics Mile High Comics is an online retailer and a chain of three Colorado comic book stores founded by Chuck Rozanski in 1969 from his parents' basement in Colorado Springs, Colorado. History In 1969, when Chuck Rozanski was 13, he began working out ...

Chuck Rozanski Charles Rozanski (born March 11, 1955) is a German-American retailer and columnist, known as the President and CEO of the Denver, Colorado-based Mile High Comics Inc., and a columnist for the ''Comics Buyer's Guide''. Early life Rozanski was born ...

as "brilliant," Steve Geppi had been a subdistributor for Hal Schuster in the late 1970s. In what Rozanski describes as an "incredibly risky and gutsy move," Geppi took over New Media/Irjax's "office and warehouse space" and, recalled Rozanski, had to "sort out the good customers from the bad overnight" negotiating with creditors to continue Schuster's distribution business as Diamond Comic Distribution. Almost overnight, noted Rozanski, " went from being a retailer in Baltimore to having warehouses all over the place." Geppi himself, according to Mike Friedrich "was someone whose work you could trust, who had a good reputation for honesty in the field

s a collector, retailer and distributor S, or s, is the nineteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphab ...

" Geppi named his company 'Diamond' "after the imprint

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

used on non-returnable comics," and although the "publisher discontinued the symbol" months later, the name remained. "Diamond grew an average of 40 percent a year," as comics retail took off. Many fans "with little experience" started rival companies only to "find they were in over their heads," allowing Geppi to " uyout the smart ones or pick... up the pieces after the stupid ones went out of business," according to Geppi employee Mark Herr. Geppi was aided in his efforts by the publishers themselves. In the early 1980s, Marvel and DC Comics groups provided trade terms favorable for larger distributors and those with efficient freight systems, effectively "play nginto the hands of the major distributors such as Capital and Diamond," and hastening the demise of smaller distributors. In 1983, he hired an accounting firm, and in 1985 hired "no-nonsense CPA," Chuck Parker "as Diamond's first controller." Herr notes that this move was Geppi's "best decision," as Parker "cares nothing about the comics. To him, it's dollars and cents." Parker describes his role as "smooth ngthe emotion out of some decisions. Steve eppiis a visionary and a risk-taker... and I tend to be more conservative."

Expansion

After starting his business through buying New Media/Irjax's warehouses and offices in 1982, Geppi's distribution company has bought out many other distribution companies since. Most notably, Geppi bought up that of early mail order distributor

, who had himself "bought out Charlie Abarr in the early 1980s."Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike (ed.s) "Bud Plant" in ''Comics Between the Panels'' ( Dark Horse Publishing, 1998) , p. 356-357 Plant had, since 1970, been selling

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

(a field which Geppi and fellow-distributor

Buddy Saunders Jake "Buddy" Saunders (born 1947) is an American author and businessman, working in the fields of comic books and science fiction. Work Saunders started out in the world of fanzines. As part of the "Texas Trio" (with Larry Herndon and Howard Ke ...

) had tended to steer clear of. After making $19m in sales in 1987, Geppi's Diamond took bought West Coast distributor Plant's business in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

"and went national" thereby assuming control of "40 percent of the direct-sales market." (Diamond and Capital City had control of at least 70% between them.) By 1994, Diamond had "27 warehouses in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., employ ngbetween 750 and 900 people," owned its own trucking line and controlled 45% of the market, making $222 million in sales. In 1995,

challenged Diamond and main rival

Capital City Distribution Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin-based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comic Distributors. Under the name Capital Comics, they also published comics from 1981 to 198 ...

by buying the third distributor – Heroes World – and distributing its titles in-house.Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike (ed.s) "Capital City" in ''Comics Between the Panels'' ( Dark Horse Publishing, 1998) , p. 69 Diamond reacted by outbidding Capital City for exclusive deals with Marvel's main rivals

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, as well as

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

and

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

. Capital City's response saw it sign exclusive deals with

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

and

Viz Comics VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, but a year later faced the choice between bankruptcy and selling up. Diamond bought Capital City in 1996, assuming near-control of the comics distribution system. When Marvel's Heroes World endeavour failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel – giving the company its own section of comics catalog ''Previews'' (not least because the DC/Dark Horse/Image deal gave contractual prominence to those companies) – making "Geppi... the sole king of comics industry distribution in the summer of 1996."

Criticism

In 1983, Geppi was criticised for taking exception to certain 'adult' themed titles and scenes, effectively causing the cancellation of a series called "

Void Indigo ''Void Indigo'' was a short-lived and controversial comic book series written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Val Mayerik. It was published by Epic Comics from 1983 to 1984. ''Void Indigo'' focuses on an alien named Jhagur (he is known on Earth as " ...

" for its excessive violence. Later in 1987, Geppi responded to "a graphic childbirth scene in '' Miracleman'' #9 (written by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

), Geppi wrote to retailers that: Geppi lost customers with this approach, however, "and eventually backed down." He recalls compromising, and accepting "that as a distributor, I owed the retailers the product they wanted." Geppi's position in the comics industry, in which Diamond was "the sole source of most new comics products to comics specialty shops," ultimately saw the company become the subject of "an investigation by the

U.S. Justice department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

for possible

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

violations." The investigation was dropped in November 2000, "with no action deemed necessary."

Affiliations

Diamond Comic Distribution, in addition to having cornered the American comics distribution market, also includes a number of subsidiary and affiliated companies. UK and European comics distribution is served by Diamond UK, based in London, England.

Alliance Game Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other pop ...

, Inc. distributes

Role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

, "Collectible Card Games, Miniature Games,

Anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Board Games Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

," and other periphery elements for gamers. Alliance also publishes
Game Trade Magazine
'. In 2002, Diamond consolidated its book trade into Diamond Book Distributors, marketing comics-related books and

trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

to bookstores including "

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

, Ingram,

Baker & Taylor Baker & Taylor, a distributor of books to public and academic libraries and schools, has been in business for over 190 years. It is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and currently owned by President & CEO Amandeep Kochar. Before being acquired ...

WaldenBooks Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a ...

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

Publications

Diamond's monthly comics retail catalog,
Previews
', has been produced by Diamond for over twenty years for store owners to order products from. It is additionally available for sale to customers to facilitate personal orders. Comics publishers vie for space within the publication's pages, with Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, IDW Publishing, and Image Comics (four of the top five publishers) taking precedence. Marvel Comics has its own separate section of ''Previews'' available separately, for contractual reasons. Diamond also publishes (through Gemstone and Diamond International Galleries) a weekly e-newsletter dealing with collectibles, called
Scoop
'.

Diamond International Galleries

In 1995, Geppi "opened Diamond International Galleries," a showplace for comics and collectibles, part of Geppi's attempts to "see... collectibles attain serious respect." Nine years later, Diamond International Galleries purchased "one of the country’s first, and most respected, collectibles auction houses: Hake's Americana & Collectibles." In 2005, Geppi added the "

Denver, Pennsylvania Denver is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The population was 3,794 at the 2020 census, down from 3,861 at the 2010 census. History Denver was founded by in 1735, by Hans Bucher, a Swiss immigrant. It was originally known as ''Buch ...

-based Morphy Auctions" to his growing stable of parts of the collectibles market, which already included publishing the main comics price guide: ''

''. Geppi describes his International Galleries as being "at the heart of many significant opportunities to preserve, promote and present historical comic character collectibles," an endeavor that led to his establishing

. Geppi's galleries showcase much of his private collection, including comics,

movie poster A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...

s, toys, original artwork by individuals including "

Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck ...

, Gustav Tengren (sic),

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wi ...

Murphy Anderson Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster (; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992), professionally known simply as Joe Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 (c ...

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

and

Charles Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wid ...

." Through this, Geppi has assisted "in such projects as DC's Archive series," as well as hosting industry events.

Geppi's Entertainment Museum

Geppi's Entertainment Museum was a museum in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, tracing the history of

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...

in American over the last four hundred years. Its collections included

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

, including comic books,

s, toys, buttons, badges,

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

boxes,

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s, dolls and figurines. The majority of the exhibits came from Geppi's private collection. Geppi's daughter Melissa "Missy" Geppi-Bowersox became the executive vice-president of the museum in 2007, after Wendy Kelman left the museum on August 31, 2007 to start her own tourism consulting firm. In May 2018, Geppi announced that Geppi Entertainment Museum would be closing after Sunday, June 3, 2018. Much of the material was donated to the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Publishing

In 1994, Geppi purchased ''Baltimore'' magazine, "a 50,000 circulation monthly and one of the nation's oldest regional publications."

Gemstone Publishing

Geppi's publishing ventures in the field of comics saw him form Gemstone Publishing Inc., which was formed in large part from other purchases. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, Geppi and Diamond bought Ernst Gerber Publishing (publisher-author of the ''Photo-Journal Guide to Comics'').Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike (ed.s) "

" in ''Comics Between the Panels'' ( Dark Horse Publishing, 1998) , p. 125-126E. Gerber Products, LLC
is a Diamond-affiliated company started by Gerber in 1977 which sells

Mylar BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...

bags as well as "acid-free boxes and acid-free backing boards" for comics collectors to store their collection in.Diamond Comics Distributors, Inc. "Affiliated Companies"
Accessed March 5, 2009 In 1993, Geppi bought Russ Cochran Publishing. Long-term

fan Cochran auctioned

Bill Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...

' personal file copies of EC publications, as well as most pages of original EC artwork (which, almost uniquely, Gaines had maintained ownership and possession of), before being granted the reprint rights to the EC back catalog itself. Geppi included Cochran's publications – and Cochran himself – under his new imprint, Gemstone Publishing. In 1994, Geppi bought Overstreet Publishing, taking up the publishing reins of official-

priceguide ''

'', and other related publications, bringing them under the Gemstone imprint. Geppi's publishing activities with Gemstone Publishing consist primarily of reprints of classic titles and artworks, as well as publications (including professional

fanzines A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

"pro-zines") focusing heavily on the history of the comics medium. Many Gemstone publications revolve around ''

Comic Book Marketplace a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

''-editor and EC-shepherd

EC Comics reprints

Cochran, like Geppi, was a particular fan of

, and had previously-published EC reprints in association with Disney-reprinter Gladstone Publishing. In the early 1990s, Geppi's Gemstone embarked on a full series of reprints of classic EC titles, starting with new reprints of the Cochran/Gladstone-reprints of ''

The Haunt of Fear ''The Haunt of Fear'' was an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics, starting in 1950. Along with ''Tales from the Crypt'' and '' The Vault of Horror'', it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. ''Th ...

'', '' The Vault of Horror'' and '' Weird Science'' (all 1992). Gemstone also republished (in single issue and 'annual' – four issues per 'annual' – format) EC's '

New Trend Entertaining Comics, commonly known as EC Comics, was a major publisher of comic books in the 1940s and 1950s. The letters EC originally stood for Educational Comics. EC's ''Pre-Trend'' titles are those published by Max Gaines and his son William ...

' and ' New Direction' titles between 1992 and 2000. In 2005, Gemstone added to Cochran's earlier-published oversize, hardback, black & white slip-cased "The Complete EC Library" collections with the complete '' Picto-Fiction'' collection, comprising the EC comics: ''

Confessions Illustrated ''Confessions Illustrated'' was a black-and-white magazine published by EC Comics in early 1956. Part of EC's Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stories. The format alternated blocks of text with several illustrations per pag ...

'', ''

Crime Illustrated ''Crime Illustrated'' was a black-and-white magazine published by EC Comics in late 1955 and early 1956. Part of EC's Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stories. The format alternated panels of typography with panels of illus ...

'', ''

Shock Illustrated ''Shock Illustrated'' was an American black and white magazine published by EC Comics from late 1955 to early 1956. Part of EC's List of Entertaining Comics publications#Picto-Fiction, Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stori ...

'' and ''

Terror Illustrated ''Terror Illustrated'' was a black-and-white magazine published by EC Comics in late 1955 and early 1956. Part of EC's Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stories. The format alternated blocks of text with several illustrati ...

'', along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before". In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Gemstone began producing a more durable and luxurious series of hardback reprint collections; the

EC Archives The ''EC Archives'' are an ongoing series of American hardcover collections of full-color comic book reprints of EC Comics, published by Russ Cochran and Gemstone Publishing from 2006 to 2008, and then continued by Cochran and Grant Geissman's G ...

– similar to the

DC Archives ''DC Archive Editions'' is a line of hardcover reprint runs of early, often rare comic book series, titles, and stories which ran from 1989-2014. They include more than 160 Golden Age and Silver Age comic properties currently owned by DC Comics, ...

and

Marvel Masterworks ''Marvel Masterworks'' is an American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics, with the main goal of republishing classic ''Marvel Comics'' storylines in a hardcover, premium edition, often with ...

volumes – which reprint in full-color hardback ('archival') format sequential compilations of the EC titles. Designed by art director/designer

Michael Kronenberg Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

, a number of volumes have been released, with the entirety of the "

" and " New Direction" planned for eventual release. These EC Archives volumes have drawn praise for their quality, and feature introductions by such notable EC fans as

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies wit ...

and

Paul Levitz Paul Levitz (; born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn ...

, et al.

Disney comics

In December 2002, it was announced that "Gemstone Publishing had signed the license to publishing Disney comics in North America," with ex-Gladstone Publishing editor-in-chief John Clark joining Gemstone in the same position over its Disney line."Starting Over – The Return of the Disney Comics" online in Diamond's ''Scoop'', January 25, 2003
Accessed March 5, 2008 Launched with a title for

Free Comic Book Day Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to attract new readers to independent comic book stores. It usually takes place on the first Saturday of May and is often cross-promoted wit ...

2003, the line started soon after with ''

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American Comics anthology, anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mic ...

'' and ''

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer * Walt Bel ...

'', both described by Clark as "monthly 64-page prestige-format books at $6.95, which is the same price they were when last produced, in 1998." Other titles followed, although the status of the remaining Disney titles is unknown as of December 2008.

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide

The (Official) Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, first published by Robert M. Overstreet in 1970 as one of the earliest authorities on

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

industry grading and collection values. Overstreet sold his company to Gemstone in 1994, but continued to "serve as author and/or publisher of Geppi's Entertainment Publishing & Auctions' line of books." Publication of the ''Price Guide'' was taken over by Gemstone in 1998, Gemstone took over publication, and the twenty-eighth edition to the present have been (co-)published by Geppi's Gemstone publications. The guides 39th edition was published by

Gemstone Publishing Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet. Gemstone published licens ...

in 2009. Overstreet also produced a variety of smaller publications updating his yearly guides on a to-monthly schedule. The most recent of these – ''Overstreet's Comic Price Review'' – began publication from Gemstone in July 2003, and was a monthly publication designed to update the yearly price guide more regularly, as well as provide articles, analysis and various lists of comics prices. Gemstone published more than a hundred issues of the magazine ''Comic Book Marketplace'', a monthly magazine for comics fans focusing heavily on the

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

and

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

ages, while more popular magazines (such as '' Wizard'') skew more recent in focus.

Future

In early 2009, the future of Gemstone Publishing was unclear, after reports of unpaid printing bills, particularly from the EC Archives.Heidi MacDonald, "Steve Geppi’s debt woes growing" in ''The Beat'', February 18, 2009
Accessed March 5, 2009 In April, Geppi responded to the uncertainty, noting that while there had been "a reduction in staff at Gemstone," such moves did "not ignalthe end of Gemstone Publishing.""Rumors about Gemstone Publishing?" in ''Scoop'', April 18, 2009
Accessed April 19, 2009 Geppi hinted at "new developments" for the ''Overstreet Price Guide'' in 2010, and stated that while "no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney's standard characters... it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form."

Other work

In February 1993, he was profiled for "a local business magazine," and the article ultimately caught the attention of

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

. Geppi was thus awarded the regional 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award for 1993. Celebrating his win at the

Camden Club Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage resi ...

, Geppi was introduced to "prominent local

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

Peter Angelos Peter G. Angelos (born July 4, 1929) is an American trial lawyer and baseball executive from Baltimore, Maryland. Angelos is the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a team in the American League of Major League Baseball. Early life and educ ...

, who had also " rownup in one of Baltimore's ethnic neighborhoods," and the two had mutual friends.

Baseball

Having been an "avid

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

fan, who as a youngster dreamed of playing professional ball," " ring Diamond’s period of early growth, Geppi... was quoted as saying he dreamed of owning his hometown Baltimore Orioles." In 1993, Angelos was "assembling a group" to do just that, and thus helped Geppi " ealizehis lifelong dream," when Geppi joined the group. The group "paid $173 million for the team," and Geppi was "the third-largest investor" behind Angelos and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

. Geppi "attends almost every Orioles' home game."

Charity work

As well as his business interests, Geppi holds – or has held – positions on the board of "a number of local charitable organizations." Among them are "[the
Babe Ruth MuseumBaltimore Reads
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Make-a-Wish Foundation, Grant-A-Wish Foundation, House with a Heart, International Museum of Cartoon Art, National Aquarium in Baltimore, Pathfinders (scouting), Pathfinders, Port Discovery (museum), Port Discovery – The Children's Museum
U.S.S. Constellation Foundation

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

br>of Central Maryland
and the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

br>Foundation
"

Personal life

In 1998 Geppi was described in ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' as having been the " mpanion of Mindy Stout for eight years, with

t the time T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...

one daughter." Geppi also has a son with Mindy. In addition, Geppi has "four children from a previous marriage and

n 1998 N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

two grandchildren."

Notes

External links

Geppi's Entertainment Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geppi, Steve 1950 births Living people American publishing chief executives Comics industry