The long awaited Geppi’s Entertainment Museum opens this Friday, and George Gustines has a report:

If Steve Geppi has his way, his new Entertainment Museum will be a cultural institution that children must be dragged out of rather than into. And his idea of children does not mean 12 years old and under.

A grid of video monitors displays the first issue of Action Comics, introducing the Man of Steel in 1938, at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum.

“Whether you’re 8 or 80, you’ll find something here to light you up,â€? Mr. Geppi said during a recent tour of the museum, which opens here to the public on Sept. 8.

The 16,000-square-foot space takes up the second and third floors of the former Camden train station here, whose main floor is home to the Sports Legends at Camden Yards museum. Geppi’s Entertainment Museum celebrates the colorful characters and collectibles that have emerged from comic strips and comic books since the late 1800’s. Its packed displays — of movie posters, animation cels, action figures, board games, advertisements and more — chronicle the evolution of these characters, often reflecting the periods of American history from which they emerged.