Comics Boom

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Sullivan, who looks like Mickey Rourke's punk cousin, works hard, too--he figures he puts in sixty to sixty-five hours a week at the store. His life partner, Liz DellaRocco, also works there full time. Their kids--Dana, sixteen, and Kiley, twelve--help out, too.

Sullivan was raised poor and struck out on his own as a teenager. Fittingly, the comic book character he most identifies with is the Orphan: "He comes across as pretty cool, but he's super-sensitive, so he's hyper-affected by everything around him." DellaRocco's favorite is Zero Girl: "She reflects kind of how I am: tenacious. She encounters a lot of trials and adversity, and she handles it the same way I would: with fervor."

The Vault's owners recently replaced the store's front door, sales counter, and many of the shelves, and added new signs. But they're already looking beyond Main Street--to Chicago. Sullivan says they plan to open a second Vault of Midnight there by the end of next year.   

[Originally published in October, 2009.]