In the early days of Gemstone Publishing – well before working remotely was a thing for us – Gemstone had more than one office. While we talked on the phone and conversed via email and even sent faxes regularly (yeah, it was that long ago), meeting up in person was a rarity frequently only reserved for Comic-Con International: San Diego.
Bob Overstreet, of course, had started The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide in 1970. That by itself was history-making.
Years later, Gary M. Carter started Comic Book Marketplace as an outlet for stories of comics history, great feature articles, and more.
Eventually Carter joined Bob’s company, Overstreet Publications. In addition to co-authoring the first edition of what is now called The Overstreet Guide To Grading Comics, he helped launch and edited different periodicals for Overstreet, including Overstreet’s Golden Age & Silver Age Quarterly and Overstreet’s Comic Book Monthly.
Once Overstreet Publications became part of Gemstone Publishing, Carter started work on a new volume of Comic Book Marketplace in San Diego, while Overstreet concentrated on the Guide and other publications from our Timonium, Maryland office.
Each year, though, Comic-Con International: San Diego would offer them a chance to catch up, as they did in this 1997 photo with Lisa Carter, Bob Overstreet, Carol Overstreet, and Gary M. Carter (left to right).