Walking into Vault of Midnight, I could feel the energy buzzing around me. Even though I knew I had to get interviews done, I immediately raced to the back wall to see what new comics were out and picked out three. I turned around, and looked over the sea of people that were at the comic store and felt happiness inside of me.
Back in 1970, San Diego Comic Con started. It was the first huge comic con to pick up speed during that time. Now, over the years, comic cons start popping up all around. New York, Austin, Traverse City, and even our own Grand Rapids. Down in Grand Rapids, there are two well-known comic shops that are around: Vault of Midnight and Argo’s Bookstore. Argo’s has been around since 1975, whereas Midnight opened it’s original location 20 years ago in Ann Arbor. “We saw a big upswing in Ann Arbor and decided to expand.” said Brenda, a worker at Midnight. They moved a location to Grand Rapids about three years ago and had a Detroit location open up in May.
When I went into Argo’s, I talked to current owner James Bleeker about if he thought there was an upswing in comics, just like Midnight had been seeing. He said, “Movies might be big, but not the comics.” He talked about how the, “peak was in the early 90’s.” and it has not picked up again. As I looked around, I noticed that most of the comics were some of the older ones and not as new. Whereas, Midnight sells both old and new comics. That might be why the two different stores have seen such different numbers of people coming into buy comics.
While walking around Vault of Midnight, I noticed a couple of younger girls looking around and went up to them to see how they viewed the comic culture. I talked to Allison Olmstead about her comic book habits. Since Allison lives in a more rural part of Michigan, it is not often that she gets up to Vault of Midnight. She, “normally [reads] digital but likes physical.” Then I asked her why she started reading comics? What is the draw to comics? “[They] keep you wondering what is going to happen next. You finish an issue and you want the next one.”
As someone who has been in the culture for the past couple of years, I am always excited to see new people joining and branching out. I hold comic books close to my heart and to see new people starting to read or so many people out, excites me. As much as my social anxiety wants me not to enjoy that many people, I love it. As Brenda said, “There is always going to be lulls,” but, “This could last a while.” I hope you are right Brenda. I hope it lasts a while.
