It's the second episode of my new series Let's Talk Shop on the Cryptid Creator Corner podcast. My first three jobs, not including mowing lawns, were in comic book shops and the community and friendships I made there have lasted a lifetime. As the format goes, each episode features a favorite shop from comics creators I’ve talked to on the podcast. This one is brought to you courtesy of friend of the show and Michigan State University Comic Art and Graphic Novel professor Ryan Claytor. Ryan said there was only one place to start and that’s Vault of Midnight who have been a feature in the area since 1996 with three retail locations in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Detroit. Owner Curtis Sullivan joins me to talk about their journey as a company and his philosophy of comics retail, how a visit from Good Morning America can make the parents proud, why mystery boxes are such a hit, how your layout can effect your sales numbers, expansion, and creating a destination environment as a comic book store. Thanks for joining me on this new endeavor. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Special thanks to the donated voice talents of Dave Gafner, Miranda & Aiden Kucera, Cody from Keeping It Geekly, and my co-host Jimmy Gaspero

NEW PATREON

We have a new Patreon, CryptidCreatorCornerpod. If you like what we do, please consider supporting us. We got two simple tiers, $1 and $3. I’ll be uploading a story every Sunday about some of the crazy things I’ve gotten into over the years. The first one dropped last week about me relocating a drug lord’s sharks. Yes, it did happen, and the alligators didn’t even get in the way. Want to know more, you know what to do.

Our episode sponsors

From Within on Kickstarter

From Within is a martial arts revenge graphic novel about a slave fighting his way through a deadly tournament where the rules shift at the whims of a tyrannical emperor. It's a mash-up of the high-impact action sequences of Bruce Lee's films with the paranoid thriller undercurrent found in Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips' Sleeper series. Late pledges are enabled if you happen to hear about it after the campaign officially ends.

Arkenforge

Play TTRPG games? Make sure to check out our partner Arkenforge. They have everything you need to make your TTRPG more fun and immersive, allowing you to build, play, and export animated maps including in person fog of war capability that let’s your players interact with maps as the adventure unfolds while you, the DM get the full picture. Use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off your order.

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