Bill Crider (Author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mysteries)

"I would not bother with Fort Knox or some cash depository in the southwest. If I were to ever pull an 11-man group heist, I'd knock over Geppi's Entertainment Museum, which is packed with things that would look great on my office walls."  Read More

 Duane Swierczynski (author of the novels Secret Dead Men, The Wheelman, The Blonde.  Also Cable and Iron Fist comic series) 

Comics and crime: a dynamic duo Sarah Weinman

The news that major comics companies like Marvel and DC are having banner years when the rest of publishing struggles in the face of economic hard times would not surprise anyone who was in Baltimore last week for Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention.

"Spent a couple hours perusing the mind-blowing cases of American pop-culture artifacts at Geppi's Entertainment Museum.  You have to visit this place next time you're in Baltimore."

Ed Pettit (freelance writer and the instigator of the Poe Wars)

Geppi's Entertainment Museum (GEM) is a journey through 250 years of American pop culture, located in historic Camden Station at Camden Yards in Baltimore Maryland, just a few blocks from the city's famed Inner Harbor. Where else can you revisit your childhood and get back in touch with old friends that entertained you in the past through comic strips and books, radio and television shows, films, cartoons, and so much more? The museum exhibits nearly 6,000 pop culture artifacts including comics, toys, dolls, games and memorabilia of every conceivable category. Journey from the late 1700s to the present day and revisit favorite characters like Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Mickey Mouse, Barbie, G.I. Joe, and many more. Geppi's Entertainment Museum is the home of "pop culture with character!"

From its earliest days, America has been driven by people who want to do better than the previous generation and in turn want their children to have it even better than they had. Many of the artifacts you’ll see represented in the Museum are smaller versions of products originally aimed at adults. This has been a common pattern in toys through the generations. For example, first there were trains, then a few years later there were toy trains. Then there were cars and trucks, followed by toy cars and trucks.

Toys have always been first and foremost educational tools that teach children how to become adults. While there certainly have been many toys simply geared toward entertainment, the most long-lived and successful types have been those designed not only to entertain but to educate, to speed along the process of socialization. Personal grooming, use of money, even job skills have been among the areas initiated or reinforced through the use of toys.