| Steve Geppi | |
|---|---|
 Geppi in 2000 | |
| Born | Stephen Andrew Geppi[1] (1950-01-24)January 24, 1950 (age 75) Little Italy,Baltimore, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Distributor, publisher |
Notable works | Diamond Distribution Gemstone Publishing |
Stephen A. Geppi (born January 24, 1950)[2] is an Americancomic book distributor, publisher and formercomic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops inBaltimore in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing business. Geppi foundedDiamond Comic Distributors, the largestcomicdirect distribution service in1982, and has served as the company's head to the present. Diamond Distribution became the successor to direct market pioneerPhil Seuling's distribution dream when Geppi took overNew Media/Irjax's warehouses in 1982. He further bought out early-distributorBud Plant in 1988, and main rivalCapital City in 1996 to assume a near-monopoly on comics distribution, including exclusivity deals with the majorcomic book publishers.
Geppi became part owner of theBaltimore Orioles in 1993, and in 1994 purchasedBaltimore magazine.[3] He is president and publisher ofGemstone Publishing Inc., through which he publishesRuss Cochran'sEC Comics reprints,Disney comics andBlue Book price guideThe Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.[3]
In 1995, he founded Diamond International Galleries, which acquired Hake'sAmericana &Collectiblesauction house (2004), and in 2005, Pennsylvania-based Morphy Auctions.[4] In 2006, Geppi foundedGeppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore.
Steve Geppi was born on January 24, 1950, inLittle Italy,Baltimore and completed the 8th grade before leaving school.[5] Geppi's "first job was handling the comics for a local store," where the nine-year-old avidly read comics including "his favoriteArchie comics" and others.[4][6] 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."[6] By 1960, Geppi was "doing tax returns for his neighbors," and later also "handledfootball pools."[6]
Having left school to support his mother,[3] between 1964 and 1969, he undertook a number of "manual-labor jobs,"[5] while "dodgingtruant officers."[6] 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 thehonor roll"[6] – and again dropped out.[6] Later he worked for Lester White'sDetecto Electronics "install[ing]burglar alarms anddoorbells," before joining theU.S. Postal Service as aletter carrier.[5][6] 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."[6] A "few years" after taking the carrier exam, he was assigned 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."[6] In the early seventies Geppi was amember 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 inWildwood,New Jersey.[6] In the summer of 1972, his nephew (Georgie Kues) was "reading an oldBatman comic book" in the rain, and Geppi found that "reading thatBatman 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."[6] 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."[6] 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.[4]
In 1974, Geppi announced his intention to quit his job and "open a comic book store."[6] Geppi recalls that his colleagues "all laughed their heads off,"[6] whileThe Journal of Antiques and Collectibles quoted him as saying:
"I remember when I left the Post Office, some of the people there said, 'See you in September,' since they were so sure I'd be back,” he said. But Geppi never returned to the postal job."[4]
Already "making more money with the comics than as a mailman," he opened his firstGeppi's Comic Worldcomic store "in a hole under a TV repair shop"[6] 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."[4] Geppi "stocked his store with collections he found through theclassifieds, traveling the countryside in his beat-up blueFord van."[6] One of "the first specialty comic retailers in Maryland," Geppi built his business as the comics industry grew.[6] Geppi recalls
"I would snowball one deal into another... [i]f I made $5,000 on a deal and another deal came up for $5,000, I would empty the bank account. I would take the risk."[6]
By 1981/82 he had four stores, "including a tourist development inHarborplace, showplace of a reviving Maryland."[5][6] Already "doing a little informal distributing... for smaller retailers," Geppi found himself "one of the biggest accounts" forNew Media/Irjax.[6] When his distributor "relocated to Florida, he asked Geppi to service more accounts for a bigger discount."[6] 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 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.[6]
In June 1994,Success magazine featured Geppi on its cover, celebrating his "$250 Million Empire," and highlighting his co-ownership of the Baltimore Orioles.[7]
AfterPhil Seuling established thedirect market c.1972, he maintained a virtual (if ill-run) monopoly on comics distribution until a lawsuit brought byNew Media/Irjax in 1978.[8] 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,"[8] but ultimately "filed forChapter Sevenbankruptcy in early 1982."[9]
Described byMile High Comics'Chuck Rozanski as "brilliant," Steve Geppi had been a subdistributor for Hal Schuster in the late 1970s.[8] 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.[9] Almost overnight, noted Rozanski, "[h]e went from being a retailer in Baltimore to having warehouses all over the place."[9] 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]."[8]
Geppi named his company 'Diamond' "after the imprintMarvel Comics used on non-returnable comics," and although the "publisher discontinued the symbol" months later, the name remained.[6] "Diamond grew an average of 40 percent a year," as comics retail took off.[6] 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.[6] 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.[8]
In 1983, he hired an accounting firm, and in 1985 hired "no-nonsense CPA," Chuck Parker "as Diamond's first controller."[6] Herr notes that this move was Geppi's "best decision," as Parker "cares nothing about the comics. To him, it's dollars and cents."[6] 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."[6]
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 distributorBud Plant, who had himself "bought out Charlie Abarr in the early 1980s."[10] Plant had, since 1970, been sellingunderground comics, a field which Geppi and fellow-distributorBuddy Saunders had tended to steer clear of.[10] After making $19 million in sales in 1987, Geppi's Diamond bought West Coast distributor Plant's business[11] in1988 "and went national"[6] thereby assuming control of "40 percent of thedirect-sales market."[10] (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.[6] In 1995,Marvel Comics challenged Diamond and main rivalCapital City Distribution by buying the third distributor –Heroes World – and distributing its titles in-house.[12] Diamond reacted by outbidding Capital City for exclusive deals with Marvel's main rivalsDC Comics, as well asDark Horse andImage. Capital City's response saw it sign exclusive deals withKitchen Sink Press andViz 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.[12] When Marvel's Heroes World endeavour failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel – giving the company its own section of comics catalogPreviews (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."[9]
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" for its excessive violence. Later in 1987, Geppi responded to "a graphic childbirth scene inMiracleman #9 (written byAlan Moore), Geppi wrote to retailers that:
"Diamond values its retailers too much to take chances on such a dangerous situation... We are notcensors. We no more want someone deciding for us than you do. We cannot, however, stand by and watch the marketplace become a dumping ground for every sort of graphic fantasy that someone wants to live out. We have an industry to protect; we have leases to abide by; we have a community image to maintain."[9]
Geppi lost customers with this approach, however, "and eventually backed down."[6] He recalls compromising, and accepting "that as a distributor, I owed the retailers the product they wanted."[6]
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 theU.S. Justice department for possibleantitrust violations."[8] The investigation was dropped in November 2000, "with no action deemed necessary."[13]
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.[14]Alliance Game Distributors, Inc. distributesRole-playing games, "Collectible Card Games, Miniature Games,Anime,Board Games," and other periphery elements for gamers.[14] Alliance also publishesGame Trade Magazine.[14]
In 2002, Diamond consolidated its book trade into Diamond Book Distributors, marketing comics-related books andtrade paperbacks to bookstores including "Barnes & Noble,Ingram,Baker & Taylor,WaldenBooks,Amazon.com [and]Borders.[14]
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 ofPreviews available separately, for contractual reasons.
Diamond also publishes (through Gemstone and Diamond International Galleries) a weekly e-newsletter dealing with collectibles, calledScoop.
In 1995, Geppi "opened Diamond International Galleries," a showplace for comics and collectibles, part of Geppi's attempts to "see... collectibles attain serious respect."[4] Nine years later, Diamond International Galleries purchased "one of the country’s first, and most respected, collectibles auction houses: Hake's Americana & Collectibles."[4] In 2005, Geppi added the "Denver, Pennsylvania-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.[4]
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 establishingGeppi's Entertainment Museum.[14] Geppi's galleries showcase much of his private collection, including comics,movie posters, toys, original artwork by individuals including "Carl Barks,Gustav Tengren(sic),Alex Ross,Murphy Anderson,Joe Shuster,Joe Simon andCharles Schulz."[14]
Through this, Geppi has assisted "in such projects asDC'sArchive series," as well as hosting industry events.[14]
Geppi's Entertainment Museum was a museum inBaltimore,Maryland, tracing the history ofpop culture in American over the last four hundred years. Its collections includednewspapers,magazines,comic books,movies,television,radio andvideo gamememorabilia, including comic books,movie posters, toys, buttons, badges,cereal boxes,trading cards, 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.[15]
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 StatesLibrary of Congress.[16]
In 1994, Geppi purchasedBaltimore magazine, "a 50,000 circulation monthly and one of the nation's oldest regional publications."[3]
Geppi's publishing ventures in the field of comics saw him form Gemstone Publishing Inc., which was formed in large part from other purchases. In1992, Geppi and Diamond boughtErnst Gerber Publishing (publisher-author of thePhoto-Journal Guide to Comics).[9]E. Gerber Products, LLC is a Diamond-affiliated company started by Gerber in 1977 which sellsMylar bags as well as "acid-free boxes and acid-free backing boards" for comics collectors to store their collection in.[14] In 1993, Geppi boughtRuss Cochran Publishing.[9] Long-termEC Comics fan Cochran auctionedBill 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.[3]
In 1994, Geppi bought Overstreet Publishing, taking up the publishing reins of official-Blue Book priceguideThe Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, and other related publications, bringing them under the Gemstone imprint.[9] Geppi's publishing activities with Gemstone Publishing consist primarily of reprints of classic titles and artworks, as well as publications (including professionalfanzines "pro-zines") focusing heavily on the history of the comics medium. Many Gemstone publications revolve aroundComic Book Marketplace-editor and EC-shepherdRuss Cochran.
Cochran, like Geppi, was a particular fan ofCarl Barks'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 ofThe Haunt of Fear,The Vault of Horror andWeird 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 completePicto-Fiction collection, comprising the EC comics:Confessions Illustrated,Crime Illustrated,Shock Illustrated andTerror Illustrated, along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before".[17]
In2006, Gemstone began producing a more durable and luxurious series of hardback reprint collections; theEC Archives – similar to theDC Archives andMarvel Masterworks volumes – which reprint in full-color hardback ('archival') format sequential compilations of the EC titles. Designed by art director/designerMichael Kronenberg, a number of volumes have been released, with the entirety of the "New Trend" and "New Direction" planned for eventual release.[18] These EC Archives volumes have drawn praise for their quality, and feature introductions by such notable EC fans asGeorge Lucas,Steven Spielberg,Joe Dante andPaul Levitz, et al.
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.[19] Launched with a title forFree Comic Book Day 2003, the line started soon after withWalt Disney's Comics and Stories andWalt 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."[19] Other titles followed, although the status of the remaining Disney titles is unknown as of December 2008.
The (Official) Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, first published by Robert M. Overstreet in 1970 as one of the earliest authorities onAmericancomic 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."[20] Publication of thePrice 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.[21] The guides 39th edition was published byGemstone 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 magazineComic Book Marketplace, a monthly magazine for comics fans focusing heavily on theGolden andSilver ages, while more popular magazines (such asWizard) skew more recent in focus.
In early 2009, the future of Gemstone Publishing was unclear, after reports of unpaid printing bills, particularly from the EC Archives.[22] 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."[23] Geppi hinted at "new developments" for theOverstreet 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."[23]
In February 1993, he was profiled for "a local business magazine," and the article ultimately caught the attention ofErnst & Young. Geppi was thus awarded the regional 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award for 1993.[6] Celebrating his win at theCamden Club, Geppi was introduced to "prominent localattorney"Peter Angelos, who had also "[grown] up in one of Baltimore's ethnic neighborhoods," and the two had mutual friends.[6]
Having been an "avidbaseball fan, who as a youngster dreamed of playing professional ball,"[3] "[d]uring Diamond’s period of early growth, Geppi... was quoted as saying he dreamed of owning his hometown Baltimore Orioles."[4] 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 andnovelistTom Clancy.[6] Geppi "attends almost every Orioles' home game."[3]
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 Orchestra,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 Wayof Central Maryland and theUniversity of Maryland, College ParkFoundation."[3]
In 1998 Geppi was described inBusinessweek as having been the "[c]ompanion of Mindy Stout for eight years, with [at the time] one daughter." Geppi also has a son with Mindy. In addition, Geppi has "four children from a previous marriage and [in 1998] two grandchildren."[5]
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| National | |
| Other | |
