Geppi’s Entertainment Museum

Written by: Gary M. Kenny, CC2K Comics Editor

On my trip to “Charm City” a.k.a. Baltimore, I stopped into one of the most amazing pop culture museums that I’ve ever been to: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum. A 16,000-square-foot museum located in Camden Yards (where the Baltimore Ravens/Orioles play), Baltimore. Inside I revisited my childhood through endless displays of toys, T.V. show collectibles, film memorabilia, and one of the biggest rooms containing some of the worlds most popular comic books. They even had a mint copy of Action Comics #1!

Geppi’s Entertainment Museum consists of over 6,000 artifacts. They have separate themed rooms that guide the visitor through the past and the present history of popular culture. One room contains thousands of first appearance comic books such as the 1st appearance of Batman, Superman, Spider-man, etc. Another room consists of the first cartoon characters and the first commercially successful toy franchise. They have a room about Star Wars and other movies, a room about how comic and cartoon characters helped fight the War and helped the country survive the Great Depression, a room about the first children shows and child radio programs, a room filled with Mickey Mouse and Howdie Doodie. The Geppi’s collection is immense and the condition all these items are in are almost flawless, like they were trapped in time.

The museum is owned by Stephen A. Geppi, President and CEO of Diamond Comics Distributors. Mr. Geppi was born and raised in Baltimore, his love for comics and baseball brought him great success. He started with a small comic book shop in 1974 called Geppi’s Comiic World, that one shop turned into four shops, which then turned into a distribution company. His collection grew tremendously over the years and the majority of the museum’s exhibits come from Geppi’s private collection.

The mission of GEM is the “fulfillment of a lifelong dream to see pop culture entertainment in the setting it deserves.” “Take a look around the Museum and you’ll see that the history of popular culture is so tightly woven into the social fabric of the United States of America that it parallels and reinforces mainstream history.”

This is one of the best museum’s I’ve ever been to. Each room contains an educational program available on a touch screen video monitor. When you enter a room, a narrator tells you about the room and it’s purpose. The gift shop is a fantastic comic book store. Plus the location is right outside the ballpark (on game day admission is 1/2 off). Next time you’re in Baltimore or even if you’re driving right through, take some time and stop over by Geppi’s, it’s one of a kind.

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