Steve Geppi
Encyclopedia
Stephen A. Geppi is a comic book
distributor, publisher and former comic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in Baltimore
in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors
, the largest comic
direct distribution
service in 1982
, and has served as the company's head to the present. Diamond Distribution became the successor to direct market pioneer Phil Seuling
's distribution dream when Geppi took over New Media/Irjax's warehouses in 1982. He further bought out early-distributor Bud Plant in 1988, and main rival Capital 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
in 1993, and in 1994 purchased Baltimore magazine
. He is president and publisher of Gemstone Publishing Inc.
, through which he publishes Russ Cochran
's EC Comics
reprints, Disney comics
and Blue Book
price guide The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.
In 1995, he founded Diamond International Galleries, which acquired Hake's Americana
& Collectibles auction house (2004), and in 2005, Pennsylvania-based Morphy Auctions. In 2006, Geppi founded Geppi's Entertainment Museum
in Baltimore.
and completed the 8th grade before leaving school. 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" and others. Ever the entrepreneur, Geppi "asked to be paid in comics [because]... [h]e 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
."
Having left school to support his mother, between 1964 and 1969, he undertook a number of "manual-labor jobs," while "dodging truant
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
" - and again dropped out. Later he worked for Lester White's Detecto Electronics "install[ing] burglar alarm
s and doorbell
s," before joining the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. Starting aged 19 with "the crap jobs," (loading trucks and substituting for other carriers), Geppi was "starting a family... [and] needed... solid, steady work, something with a future." A "few years" after taking the carrier exam, he acchieved the "mailman's dream" of a flat "route in suburban Maryland," while "[t]he Postal Service kept raising salaries [and] Geppi'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
. In the summer of 1972, his nephew (Georgie Kues) was "reading an old Batman
comic book" in the rain, and Geppi found that "reading that Batman brought [back his childhood memories of comics]... He still loved comics [and] figured 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.
Already "making more money with the comics than as a mailman," he opened his first Geppi's Comic World comic store "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, traveling the countryside in his beat-up blue Ford 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 one a the tourist development in Harborplace
, showplace of a reviving Maryland." Already "doing a little informal distributing... for smaller retailers," Geppi found himself "one of the biggest accounts" for New Media/Irjax. When his distributer "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: "[t]he owner was going into retail," so Geppi agreed to provide Shuster 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, Success
magazine featured Geppi on its cover, celebrating his "$250 Million Empire," and highlighting his co-ownership of the Baltimore Orioles.
established the direct market
c.1972, he maintained a virtual (if ill-run) monopoly on comics distribution until a lawsuit brought by New Media/Irjax in 1978. Irjax, "a paper distribution company formed by Hal Shuster... his father, Irwin, and his brother, Jack" acchieved "a sizeable chunk of the direct-distribution market," but ultimately "filed for Chapter Seven
bankruptcy
in early 1982."
' Chuck Rozanski
as "brilliant," Steve Geppi had been a subdistributor for Hal Shuster 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 Shuster's distribution business as Diamond Comic Distribution. Almost overnight, noted Rozanski, "[h]e 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 [as a collector, retailer and distributor]."
Geppi named his company 'Diamond' "after the imprint Marvel Comics
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 "[buy] out 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[ing] into 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[ing] the emotion out of some decisions. Steve [Geppi] is a visionary and a risk-taker... and I tend to be more conservative."
"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[ing] between 750 and 900 people," owned its own trucking line and controlled 45% of the market, making $222 million in sales. In 1995, Marvel Comics
challenged Diamond and main rival Capital City Distribution
by buying the third distributor - Heroes World - and distributing its titles in-house. Diamond reacted by outbidding Capital City for exclusive deals with Marvel's main rivals DC Comics
, as well as Dark Horse
and Image
. Capital City's response saw it sign exclusive deals with Kitchen Sink Press
and Viz Comics, 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."
" for its excessive violence. Later in 1987, Geppi responded to "a graphic childbirth scene in Miracleman
#9 [written by Alan Moore
]," 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
for possible antitrust
violations." The investigation was dropped in November 2000, "with no action deemed necessary."
, Board Games," 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 to bookstores including "Barnes & Noble
, Ingram
, Baker & Taylor
, WaldenBooks
, Amazon.com
[and] Borders
.
Diamond also publishes (through Gemstone and Diamond International Galleries) a weekly e-newsletter dealing with collectibles, called Scoop.
-based Morphy Auctions" to his growing stable of parts of the collectibles market, which already included publishing the main comics price guide: The Overstreet Comic Book 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 Entertainment Museum
. Geppi's galleries showcase much of his private collection, including comics, movie poster
s, toys, original artwork by individuals including "Carl Barks
, Gustav Tengren (sic)
, Alex Ross
, Murphy Anderson
, Joe Shuster
, Joe Simon
and Charles Schulz."
Through this, Geppi has assisted "in such projects as DC
's Archive series," as well as hosting industry events.
, Maryland
, tracing the history of pop culture in American over the last four hundred years. Its collections include newspapers, magazines, comic books, movies, television
, radio
and video game memorabilia, including comic books, movie poster
s, toys, buttons, badges, cereal
boxes, trading card
s, dolls and figurines. The majority of the exhibits come from Geppi's private collection, while 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. The museum's curator is Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, former editor at Geppi's Gemstone Publishing
.
, "a 50,000 circulation monthly and one of the nation's oldest regional publications."
, Geppi and Diamond bought Ernst Gerber Publishing (publisher-author of the Photo-Journal Guide to Comics). E. Gerber Products, LLC is a Diamond-affiliated company started by Gerber in 1977 which sells Mylar bags as well as "acid-free boxes and acid-free backing boards" for comics collectors to store their collection in. In 1993, Geppi bought Russ Cochran Publishing
. Long-term EC Comics
fan Cochran auctioned Bill Gaines' 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-Blue Book
priceguide The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 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 "pro-zines") focusing heavily on the history of the comics medium. Many Gemstone publications revolve around Comic Book Marketplace-editor and EC-shepherd Russ Cochran
.
' Disney comics
, 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 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' 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
, Crime Illustrated
, Shock Illustrated
and Terror Illustrated
, along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before".
In 2006
, Gemstone began producing a more durable and luxurious series of hardback reprint collections; the EC Archives
- similar to the DC Archives
and Marvel Masterworks
volumes - which reprint in full-color hardback ('archival') format sequential compilations of the EC titles. Designed by art director/designer Michael Kronenberg, a number of volumes have been released, with the entireity of the "New Trend" 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
, Steven Spielberg
, Joe Dante
and Paul Levitz
, et al.
2003, the line started soon after with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge
, 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.
comic book
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
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
and Silver
ages, while more popular magazines (such as Wizard
) skew more recent in focus.
In February 1993, he was profiled for "a local business magazine," and the article ultimately caught the attention of Ernst & Young
. Geppi was thus awarded the regional 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award for 1993. Celebrating his win at the Camden Club, Geppi was introduced to "prominent local attorney
" Peter Angelos
, who had also "[grown] up in one of Baltimore's ethnic neighborhoods," and the two had mutual friends.
fan, who as a youngster dreamed of playing professional ball," "[d]uring 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 "[realize] his 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 Tom Clancy
. Geppi "attends almost every Orioles' home game."
, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
, Grant-A-Wish Foundation
, House with a Heart, International Museum of Cartoon Art, National Aquarium in Baltimore
, Pathfinders, Port Discovery - The Children's Museum, U.S.S. Constellation Foundation, United Way of Central Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park
Foundation."
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
distributor, publisher and former comic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. is the largest comic book distributor serving North America. They transport comic books from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to the retailers. Diamond dominates the direct market in the United States, and has exclusive arrangements with most...
, the largest comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
direct distribution
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
service in 1982
1982 in comics
-Year overall:* San Diego-based independent publisher Pacific Comics makes a strong push in the marketplace, following Jack Kirby's Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers with four new ongoing titles, Starslayer, Ms...
, and has served as the company's head to the present. Diamond Distribution became the successor to direct market pioneer Phil Seuling
Phil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling 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 in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
's distribution dream when Geppi took over New Media/Irjax's warehouses in 1982. He further bought out early-distributor Bud Plant in 1988, and main rival Capital 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
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
in 1993, and in 1994 purchased Baltimore magazine
Baltimore magazine
Baltimore is a regional monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C. It is the oldest continuously published city magazine in the continental U.S. and was first printed in 1907....
. He is president and publisher of Gemstone Publishing Inc.
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
, through which he publishes Russ Cochran
Russ Cochran (publisher)
Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor....
's EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
reprints, Disney comics
Disney comics
Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring Walt Disney characters.The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on . In 1940, Western Publishing began producing Disney comic books in the United States...
and Blue Book
Blue book
Blue book or Bluebook is a term often referring to an almanac 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 the United Kingdom.- Government :* At the European...
price guide The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.
In 1995, he founded Diamond International Galleries, which acquired Hake's Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
& Collectibles auction house (2004), and in 2005, Pennsylvania-based Morphy Auctions. In 2006, Geppi founded Geppi's Entertainment Museum
Geppi's Entertainment Museum
Geppi's Entertainment Museum is a privately owned pop culture museum located in Baltimore, Maryland. The museum chronicles the history of pop culture in America from the 17th century to today as made popular in newspapers, magazines, comic books, movies, television, radio and video games...
in Baltimore.
Early life and career
Steve Geppi was born in 1950 in Little Italy, BaltimoreLittle Italy, Baltimore
Little Italy is a neighborhood located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.Situated just east of the Inner Harbor, it has one of the city's busiest restaurant districts. It is so named because of the large number of Italian immigrant families that moved into the area during the 20th century. The...
and completed the 8th grade before leaving school. 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" and others. Ever the entrepreneur, Geppi "asked to be paid in comics [because]... [h]e 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
Football pools
A football pool, often collectively referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of top-level association football matches set to take place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, with the potential to win huge money. Entries were traditionally...
."
Having left school to support his mother, between 1964 and 1969, he undertook a number of "manual-labor jobs," while "dodging truant
TruANT
Truant is Alien Ant Farm's second album. It was released on August 8, 2003 by DreamWorks Records. The producers of the album were Stone Temple Pilots' guitarist and bassist Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo....
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
Honor Roll
Honor Roll may refer to: HIGH GRADE STUDENT* Grade Point Average over 3.5* A list of honors students.* A similar academic honor, such as a Dean's List.* Honor Rolls of Baseball* Honour Roll Clasp of the Army – A decoration of Nazi Germany...
" - and again dropped out. Later he worked for Lester White's Detecto Electronics "install[ing] burglar alarm
Burglar alarm
Burglar , alarms are systems designed to detect unauthorized entry into a building or area. They consist of an array of sensors, a control panel and alerting system, and interconnections...
s and doorbell
Doorbell
A doorbell is a signaling device typically placed near a door. Most doorbells emit a ringing sound to alert the occupant of the building to a visitor's presence, when the visitor presses a button. Many modern doorbells are electric — they are actuated by an electric switch...
s," before joining the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. Starting aged 19 with "the crap jobs," (loading trucks and substituting for other carriers), Geppi was "starting a family... [and] needed... solid, steady work, something with a future." A "few years" after taking the carrier exam, he acchieved the "mailman's dream" of a flat "route in suburban Maryland," while "[t]he Postal Service kept raising salaries [and] Geppi'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
Wildwood, New Jersey
Wildwood is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a popular summer resort destination. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's year-round population was 5,325...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. In the summer of 1972, his nephew (Georgie Kues) was "reading an old Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
comic book" in the rain, and Geppi found that "reading that Batman brought [back his childhood memories of comics]... He still loved comics [and] figured 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 comic store "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, traveling the countryside in his beat-up blue Ford 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 one a the tourist development in Harborplace
Harborplace
Harborplace is a festival marketplace in Baltimore, Maryland, that opened in 1980 as a centerpiece of the revival of downtown Baltimore. As its name suggests, it is located on the Inner Harbor....
, showplace of a reviving Maryland." Already "doing a little informal distributing... for smaller retailers," Geppi found himself "one of the biggest accounts" for New Media/Irjax. When his distributer "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: "[t]he owner was going into retail," so Geppi agreed to provide Shuster 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, Success
SUCCESS (magazine)
SUCCESS is a business magazine in the United States published by SUCCESS Media, a company owned by VideoPlus L.P. According to the company the magazine is "designed specifically to serve the growing entrepreneur," and the magazine's primary focus is in providing information and content in the areas...
magazine featured Geppi on its cover, celebrating his "$250 Million Empire," and highlighting his co-ownership of the Baltimore Orioles.
Fore-runners
After Phil SeulingPhil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling 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 in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
established the direct market
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
c.1972, he maintained a virtual (if ill-run) monopoly on comics distribution until a lawsuit brought by New Media/Irjax in 1978. Irjax, "a paper distribution company formed by Hal Shuster... his father, Irwin, and his brother, Jack" acchieved "a sizeable chunk of the direct-distribution market," but ultimately "filed for Chapter Seven
Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
in early 1982."
Foundation
Described by Mile High ComicsMile High Comics
Mile High Comics is an online retailer and a chain of 4 Colorado comic book stores founded by Chuck Rozanski in 1969 from his parents' basement in Colorado Springs, Colorado....
' Chuck Rozanski
Chuck Rozanski
Charles Rozanski 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:...
as "brilliant," Steve Geppi had been a subdistributor for Hal Shuster 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 Shuster's distribution business as Diamond Comic Distribution. Almost overnight, noted Rozanski, "[h]e 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 [as a collector, retailer and distributor]."
Geppi named his company 'Diamond' "after the imprint Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
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 "[buy] out 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[ing] into 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[ing] the emotion out of some decisions. Steve [Geppi] is 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 Bud Plant, who had himself "bought out Charlie Abarr in the early 1980s." Plant had, since 1970, been selling underground comics (a field which Geppi and fellow-distributor Buddy Saunders) had tended to steer clear of. After making $19m in sales in 1987, Geppi's Diamond took bought West Coast distributer Plant's business in 19881988 in comics
-Events and publications:* Jack Binder, creator of the original Daredevil, dies at c. age 86.* Tarpé Mills, creator Miss Fury, dies at c. age 73....
"and went national" thereby assuming control of "40 percent of the direct-sales market
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
." (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[ing] between 750 and 900 people," owned its own trucking line and controlled 45% of the market, making $222 million in sales. In 1995, Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
challenged Diamond and main rival Capital City Distribution
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 Comics Distributors...
by buying the third distributor - Heroes World - and distributing its titles in-house. Diamond reacted by outbidding Capital City for exclusive deals with Marvel's main rivals DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, as well as Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
and Image
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
. Capital City's response saw it sign exclusive deals with Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
and Viz Comics, 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 IndigoVoid 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....
" for its excessive violence. Later in 1987, Geppi responded to "a graphic childbirth scene in Miracleman
Miracleman
Marvelman, also known as Miracleman for trademark reasons in his American reprints and story continuation, is a fictional comic book superhero created in 1954 by writer-artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & Son. Originally intended as a United Kingdom home-grown substitute for the American...
#9 [written by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, 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
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
for possible antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
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, Inc. distributes Role-playing games, "Collectible Card Games, Miniature Games, AnimeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, Board Games," 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 to bookstores including "Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, Ingram
Ingram
- Places :* Ingram, Northumberland, England* Ingram, California, community in Mendocino County, California, USA* Ingram, Pennsylvania in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA* Ingram, Texas, city in Kerr County, Texas, USA...
, Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor is the world's largest distributor of books and entertainment, in business for over 180 years. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and privately owned, in 2006 it had $2.2 billion in sales, employed 3,750 and was # 181 on Forbes list of privately owned companies...
, WaldenBooks
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks , operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware as well as a children's edutainment chain under Walden Kids...
, Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
[and] Borders
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....
.
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 DC, Image and Dark Horse (three of the big four 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, PennsylvaniaDenver, Pennsylvania
Denver is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,332 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Denver is located at ....
-based Morphy Auctions" to his growing stable of parts of the collectibles market, which already included publishing the main comics price guide: The Overstreet Comic Book 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 Entertainment Museum
Geppi's Entertainment Museum
Geppi's Entertainment Museum is a privately owned pop culture museum located in Baltimore, Maryland. The museum chronicles the history of pop culture in America from the 17th century to today as made popular in newspapers, magazines, comic books, movies, television, radio and video games...
. Geppi's galleries showcase much of his private collection, including comics, movie poster
Movie poster
A movie poster is a poster used to advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s,...
s, toys, original artwork by individuals including "Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
, Gustav Tengren (sic)
Gustaf Tenggren
Gustaf Adolf Tenggren was a Swedish-American illustrator. He is known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces...
, Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
, Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson is an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who has worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the 1930s-'40s Golden Age of Comic Books...
, Joe Shuster
Joe Shuster
Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1...
, Joe Simon
Joe Simon
Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is 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 first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...
and Charles Schulz."
Through this, Geppi has assisted "in such projects as DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
's Archive series," as well as hosting industry events.
Geppi's Entertainment Museum
Geppi's Entertainment Museum is a museum in BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, tracing the history of pop culture in American over the last four hundred years. Its collections include newspapers, magazines, comic books, movies, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and video game memorabilia, including comic books, movie poster
Movie poster
A movie poster is a poster used to advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s,...
s, toys, buttons, badges, cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
boxes, trading card
Trading card
A trading 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 and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
s, dolls and figurines. The majority of the exhibits come from Geppi's private collection, while 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. The museum's curator is Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, former editor at Geppi's Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
.
Publishing
In 1994, Geppi purchased Baltimore magazineBaltimore magazine
Baltimore is a regional monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C. It is the oldest continuously published city magazine in the continental U.S. and was first printed in 1907....
, "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 19921992 in comics
-Year overall:* Image Comics explodes onto the scene, releasing eight ongoing and limited series, starting with Youngblood in April; followed by Spawn in May; Savage Dragon in July; and Brigade, Shadowhawk, and WildC.A.T.S. in August....
, Geppi and Diamond bought Ernst Gerber Publishing (publisher-author of the Photo-Journal Guide to Comics). E. Gerber Products, LLC is a Diamond-affiliated company started by Gerber in 1977 which sells Mylar bags as well as "acid-free boxes and acid-free backing boards" for comics collectors to store their collection in. In 1993, Geppi bought Russ Cochran Publishing
Russ Cochran (publisher)
Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor....
. Long-term EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
fan Cochran auctioned Bill Gaines' 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-Blue Book
Blue book
Blue book or Bluebook is a term often referring to an almanac 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 the United Kingdom.- Government :* At the European...
priceguide The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 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 "pro-zines") focusing heavily on the history of the comics medium. Many Gemstone publications revolve around Comic Book Marketplace-editor and EC-shepherd Russ Cochran
Russ Cochran (publisher)
Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor....
.
EC Comics reprints
Cochran, like Geppi, was a particular fan of Carl BarksCarl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
' Disney comics
Disney comics
Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring Walt Disney characters.The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on . In 1940, Western Publishing began producing Disney comic books in the United States...
, 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
The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue...
, The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies...
and Weird Science
Weird Science (comic)
Weird Science was a science fiction anthology comic book that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. Over a four-year span, the comic ran for 22 issues, ending with the November–December, 1953 issue...
(all 1992). Gemstone also republished (in single issue and 'annual' - four issues per 'annual' - format) EC's 'New Trend' 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
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 page....
, Crime Illustrated
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 illustrations...
, Shock Illustrated
Shock Illustrated
Shock Illustrated was a black and white magazine published by EC Comics from late 1955 to early 1956. Part of EC's Picto-Fiction line, each magazine featured three to five stories. The artists drew one to four panels per page with the text overlaid onto the artwork...
and Terror Illustrated
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 illustrations per page....
, along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before".
In 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
, Gemstone began producing a more durable and luxurious series of hardback reprint collections; the EC Archives
EC Archives
The EC Archives are a 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....
- similar to the DC Archives
DC Archive Editions
DC Archive Editions, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. With more than 100 titles, this series began in 1989 with Superman Archives Vol. 1...
and Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks are a American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics. They are printed in full color and feature various titles from the Golden Age, Pre-Code , Silver Age, and Bronze Age of comics.The collection started in 1987 with volumes...
volumes - which reprint in full-color hardback ('archival') format sequential compilations of the EC titles. Designed by art director/designer Michael Kronenberg, a number of volumes have been released, with the entireity of the "New Trend" 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 Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
and Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles...
, 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. Launched with a title for Free Comic Book DayFree Comic Book Day
Free Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
2003, the line started soon after with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and...
and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge
Uncle Scrooge
Uncle Scrooge is a comic book with the stingy Scrooge McDuck "the richest duck in the world" as the main character. The series also featured Donald Duck and his nephews as supporting characters. The first 70 issues mostly consisted of stories written and drawn by Carl Barks, the creator of Scrooge...
, 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 AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
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
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
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 Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
and Silver
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
ages, while more popular magazines (such as Wizard
Wizard (magazine)
Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
) 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. In April, Geppi responded to the uncertainty, noting that while there had been "a reduction in staff at Gemstone," such moves did "not [signal] the end of Gemstone Publishing." 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."Non-comics life
Geppi was, in 1998, described as having been the "[c]ompanion of Mindy Stout for eight years, with [at the time] one daughter." In addition, Geppi has "four children from a previous marriage and [in 1998] two grandchildren."In February 1993, he was profiled for "a local business magazine," and the article ultimately caught the attention of Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
. Geppi was thus awarded the regional 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award for 1993. Celebrating his win at the Camden Club, Geppi was introduced to "prominent local attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
" Peter Angelos
Peter Angelos
Peter G. Angelos , is an American trial lawyer.Angelos is also the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a baseball team in the American League East Division.-Career:...
, who had also "[grown] up in one of Baltimore's ethnic neighborhoods," and the two had mutual friends.
Baseball
Having been an "avid baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
fan, who as a youngster dreamed of playing professional ball," "[d]uring 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 "[realize] his 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 Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
. Geppi "attends almost every Orioles' home game."
Charitable works
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 Museum, Baltimore Reads, Baltimore Symphony OrchestraBaltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a professional American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland.In September 2007, Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s twelfth music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.The BSO Board...
, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a non-profit organization in the United States established to provide the means to cure and control cystic fibrosis . The Foundation provides information about cystic fibrosis and finances CF research that aims to improve the quality of life for people with the...
, Grant-A-Wish Foundation
Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization founded in the United States that grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions. The charity now operates in forty-seven countries around the world through thirty-six affiliate offices.The president & CEO of this...
, House with a Heart, International Museum of Cartoon Art, National Aquarium in Baltimore
National Aquarium in Baltimore
The National Aquarium, Baltimore is a public aquarium located at 501 E Pratt St. in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was constructed during Baltimore's urban renewal period and opened on August 8, 1981. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.5 million and a collection of...
, Pathfinders, Port Discovery - The Children's Museum, U.S.S. Constellation Foundation, United Way of Central Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
Foundation."