Steve Geppi Meets the President

[ComicBookGuy]

No joke here:

 

Hello, Mr. President

 

My favorite quote here is, "He [The President] seemed to truly enjoy hearing about the comic book industry and our accomplishments.”

 

Text of article:

 

Hello, Mr. President

Industry News, Scoop, Friday, November 17, 2006

 

Steve Geppi, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Diamond Comic Distributors family of companies, was one of six executives from medium and small size businesses invited to meet with President George W. Bush and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson at a conference on business development on October 6, 2006.

 

The event was hosted by FedEx at one of their facilities in the District of Columbia, and during the meeting the President announced the national unemployment rate was down to 4.6 percent and 6.6 million new jobs had been added since August 2003.

 

Geppi reported that President Bush said business needs less regulation and easier access to world markets in order to continue the healthy U.S. and global economy.

 

“I don't necessarily want to speak for the Secretary, but I will tell you that it does my spirits good to be able to talk to risk-takers and dreamers and doers,” the President said. “And one of the jobs of government is to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong by creating an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, which means low taxes, less regulation, rational spending at the government level, opening markets overseas so that the entrepreneur can trade, but is treated fairly, and making sure that foreign countries don't steal products -- that's called intellectual property rights. It's to really say to the good folks in America that government will help you, as opposed to impede, your ability to expand your company. And the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America; our economy is strong.”

 

Geppi said each of the participants were able to tell their own stories of how they got started and succeeded in business, and that the President, Secretary Paulson and the other attendees were enthusiastic about their efforts to develop their businesses both domestically and internationally.

 

“After the President's comments, I couldn't help but think of all of the comic book and gaming specialty retailers in this country and their success stories. Since the majority of jobs are created by small business, they are symbolic of what the President was speaking about,” Geppi said.

 

“I was honored to be able to share my story with President Bush, Secretary Paulson and the other business leaders who attended this mini-summit at FedEx,” he said. “It was also an opportunity to step aside from politics and personally thank the President for all he has done since 9/11 to keep our country safe. Whether we're talking about our private lives or our working environment, safety is really something we can't take for granted, and I was happy to be able to talk with him about it.”

 

Geppi added that this wasn't his first meeting with the President.

 

“The first time I met him, he wasn't even Governor Bush yet. It was at a Major League Baseball owners meeting in 1994 while he was still Managing General Partner of the Texas Rangers,” Geppi said. “It was nice to meet him again in such an intimate setting. He seemed to truly enjoy hearing about the comic book industry and our accomplishments.”

 

Geppi also presented President Bush with a copy of Pop Culture With Character - A Look Inside Geppi's Entertainment Museum, the new book from Gemstone Publishing detailing the newly opened Baltimore attraction. The President responded a few days later with a thank-you note and the picture accompanying this article.

 

In addition to giving the President the book, Geppi invited the Commander-in-Chief to tour all of our childhoods in person by visiting GEM.

 

 

 

[ciorac]

Don't I feel stupid...I thought Steve Geppi WAS the President!

[action1kid]

Hes not?

[ciorac]

Hes not?

 

According to the article, no. It is kind of like when I found out about the Easter Bunny not being real. Well, at least I still have Santa Claus.

[action1kid]

I dont want to ruin that one for you too, but Steve Geppi is Santa claus.

[action1kid]

Well, in the Comicbook business anyway to alot of people.

[ciorac]

I dont want to ruin that one for you too, but Steve Geppi is Santa claus.

 

[mica]

Good article.

[esquirecomics]

No joke here:

 

Hello, Mr. President

 

My favorite quote here is, "He [The President] seemed to truly enjoy hearing about the comic book industry and our accomplishments.”

 

Probably because his Presidency is not much different from a humorous comic book story, except of course he actually tries to be serious.

 

Couldn't resist.

[gpanalysis]

No joke here:

 

Hello, Mr. President

 

My favorite quote here is, "He [The President] seemed to truly enjoy hearing about the comic book industry and our accomplishments.”

 

Probably because his Presidency is not much different from a humorous comic book story, except of course he actually tries to be serious.

 

Couldn't resist.

 

... one sec, there's a knock at the door....

[Aces]

I dont want to ruin that one for you too, but Steve Geppi is Santa claus.

 

 

Dear Santa:

I wanna FF 1... and a ASM 1... and I wanna Hulk 1...

[binarysunrise]

No joke here:

 

Hello, Mr. President

 

My favorite quote here is, "He [The President] seemed to truly enjoy hearing about the comic book industry and our accomplishments.”

 

Probably because his Presidency is not much different from a humorous comic book story, except of course he actually tries to be serious.

 

Couldn't resist.

 

Funny, I did always picture him in a cape and tights as he planned his attacks against the axis of evil....

 

[skinny_white_boy]

[markseifert]

There was a pic of Geppi meeting Clinton in Fan magazine many years ago, while Clinton was in office. Bill was holding up a copy of Fan with a goofy smile on his face.