Back in the '80s, various Marvel Comics supervillains were sentenced to a specially designed prison called The Vault.

Venom, Tarantula, Piledriver — they all did their time inside.

Renee' Hannans Henry/AJC (ENLARGE)

Russ Marshalek, Marketing Director is filling the vault with comic books. Wordsmiths Books, an independent bookstore in Decatur, is moving this week into the old Sun Trust Bank building on Decatur Square.

Renee' Hannans Henry/AJC (ENLARGE)

The old-fashioned bank vault will be decorated and filled with graphic novels, comic books, manga and more.

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Zach Steele, owner of Wordsmiths Books in Decatur, did not know this colorful bit of geek trivia when he hit upon the idea of turning a former bank vault into his store's new comic book room. And not just comics, but science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels and the popular Japanese genres anime and manga — they're all inside the cool little room with the massive slab of metal for a door.

The Marvel connection "was just serendipitous," says Steele.

Wordsmiths, an independent bookstore, re-opens Friday on Decatur Square in the former Sun Trust bank building, having moved this week a couple of blocks from its former location on Trinity Street. It's the building Steele wanted to be in all along, an unusual space for a bookstore with big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, former loan officers' offices lining one wall, and the big vault tucked away in the back.

The former bank's vault door is now permanently anchored to the wall behind it, held open so it won't swing shut on some unsuspecting browser.

Decoration so far is sparse in the vault. "I got an artist friend who wants to paint Wonder Woman on one wall" of the vault, says Steele. The 8'x10' room is jammed with shelves, holding titles that most people know — Superman, Star Wars, X-Men — as well as Japanese titles that have a loyal cult following among young readers: "Maruto," "Hana-Kimi," "Immortal Rain."

"People who shop for one of these tend to be interested in all of them," says Steele.

Wordsmiths will continue booking authors for in-store appearances, as well as the odd cooking demontration or concert. One corner of the former bank will have a stage with chairs set up; and the walls are lined with signed posters from past appearances by the likes of Amy Sedaris and Stuart Woods.

Wordsmiths opened last June, and has yet to turn a profit, Steele says, which is the way it goes. "We're a first year business, so not yet," says Steele. But the good news, for Wordsmiths, is that "Decatur doesn't have any big box stores for us to compete with, and there's a strong literary base here."

But now it has ...bump bum bummmm ... The Vault.