Question:
What's up with the name?
Answer:
Vault of Midnight is an amalgamation of Captain Midnight (an old radio serial character-turned-comic-book-character from 1938) and Vault of Horror (EC Comics, 1950). We think the name evokes a sense of the Golden Age of comic books without directly infringing on any copyrights. Probably. Also, it sounds pretty cool.
Question:
How did Vault of Midnight happen? Who unleashed this thing on to the world?
Answer:
In the nether reaches of time, way back in 1996, childhood best friends Curtis Sullivan and Steve Fodale actualized their long standing dream and opened a comic shop together. At the time, this was neither advisable nor financially sound; the comic book industry was in the middle of one the biggest crashes in the history of the industry. Comic Shops were dropping like flies all over the country. Sullivan and his wife Elizabeth had just given birth to their second child and Fodale was staring down the beginning of what promised to be a long and lucrative career in finance. Fortunately for the rest of us, none of these very sound reasons were enough to convince the pair not to pursue making Vault of Midnight a reality.
The partners brought unique perspectives to opening a comic shop: Sullivan, with his background as a cook and restauranteur, Fodale with his aforementioned skills in accounting and finance. The upheaval of the industry at the time combined with professional backgrounds not normally applied towards specialty retail made Vault of Midnight a unique animal in the comic book industry from its earliest days. That strange recipe set the stage for Vault of Midnight to become the lauded, growing shop that it is today.
Question:
Didn’t you guys used to be somewhere else?
Answer:
In Ann Arbor, Vault of Midnight has moved four times. From 1996-99 we were located in a pink house on S. Ashley street; from 1999-2002 we operated out of an old gas station on N. 4th Ave. We spent the next few years on Liberty street beneath a Chinese restaurant (that some of us still miss very much) before moving to S. Main Street in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor in 2006.
In 2013 we opened our second location in Grand Rapids, Michigan, again in the smack-dab-middle of the downtown area on Monroe Center St.
And on May 2nd, 2016 we opened our third shop in sunny, downtown Detroit, Michigan on Library St.
Question:
What about the children?
Answer:
What about them?
Question:
Do you have comics for kids? My understanding is that comics are probably too violent and scary for my child, who is special and smarter than other children.
Answer:
We understand this concern. Some comics totally are too scary for "the children." But many, many more are completely all-age friendly! In every Vault of Midnight, we dedicate a pretty large section of shelf-space to such titles. We hand-pick the selection for our "All Ages" shelves and are confident we can find the perfect book for your kid. Ask us about it next time you're in! It's never to early to get your offspring excited about amazing art and compelling narrative.
