Michael Catron, former publisher of Apple Comics, co-founder of Fantagraphics and Grand Comics Database board member, was at the opening of Geppi's
My wife, Hilary, and I attended the opening of Geppi's
Wow! It will become the
It was a black-tie affair and quite a spirited occasion. Among the folks in attendance who I spoke to or recognized were Steve Geppi (of course) and his family, Jerry Robinson, Mort Walker, Brian Walker, Frank Frazetta, Milton Griepp, Maggie Thompson, Mark and Carol Wheatley, Marc Hempel, Adam Philips, John Snyder and his family, Don Rosa, Paul Levitz, Mike Richardson, Jim Shooter, Walter Wang, Doug Wheeler and his girlfriend, Melody (whose last name I missed), Bob Beerbohm, Mike Carbonaro, Bob Wayne, Mark Herr, Gary Dolgoff, Bill Schanes, Charlie Roberts, and -- I'm already forgetting too many (including Jim Shooter's guest, whose name, I think, was Ellen).
I was surprised and honored to meet Martin Luther King III and speak with him for a few minutes. I was working in the anti-poverty field until just recently so I had more to say to him than just what a great man his father was. While I was making the rounds, Hilary spent a half hour or so with David Lloyd. Coincidentally, we had just watched the V for Vendetta DVD about a week ago, so she had plenty to talk to him about. I also introduced myself to Robert Lesser, whose book on pulp art has a special place on my shelves. Steve Geppi also introduced me to Wendy Kelman, the museum's executive director.
I got to kid Wheatley and Hempel about being 'officially' old -- their 'Mars' comic is part of the exhibit. Which means my old pals are, literally, museum pieces!
Another joke making the rounds was that Steve Geppi had lost his marbles -- but he bought 'em back on eBay (there's a display of marbles valued at $2 million).
It's not only that Steve's museum has all this stuff -- the scope itself is breathtaking -- but it's all in such beautiful, perfect condition. Now, I'm not a condition freak, but seeing it all displayed like that, so pristinely, takes your breath away. Chronologically, the exhibits range from the original newspaper featuring Ben Franklin's famous 'Join or Die' chopped-up snake cartoon (for which Steve reportedly paid $185,000 -- and is the only known copy in private hands) through The Brownies, The Yellow Kid, dime novels, pulps, BLBs, Action #1 and the comic book explosion, on through TV and movies (a Kong-sized original King Kong 1933 movie poster) up through Star Wars. There's a heavy emphasis on character merchandising so there's lots of examples of toys, games, action figures, cereal boxes, premiums, etc.
A few of us were guessing that this still probably represents only 10-20% of Steve's holdings (although, surely, the best 10-20%). When we asked Steve, he shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't have any idea. One of the points he made in conversation, though, was that other significant collections never get displayed or made accessible to the public and just lie, unseen, in storage, awaiting some fire, flood, or other sad fall into oblivion. Not so, Steve's collection. Not with this museum.
There are online reports accessible at The New York Times (it was one of their top ten e-mailed stories for Sept. 6, 2006) and The Baltimore Sun, Sept. 8, 2006 (a limp report, kind of sad for the hometown paper). Google will give you lots of other hits, including an early preview Maggie Thompson wrote in June (with more photos).
