Guests pay just a $5 admission and are greeted by “Booth Man,” a “superhero” in apple-green-and-black spandex who passes out scraps of paper for the “questions from the audience” section of the show. Comic-book lovers of all ages attend. There were even girls (!) at a recent performance, one of whom had neon pink hair. Mr. Zalben said there are definitely regulars, one of whom sends an e-mail to let them know when he’s not going to be able to make it. “We try to make friends, but it’s tough, because they’re awkward,” he said.
The hosts start out by introducing the show’s guests (this week, it was comics fan and party-hard expert Andrew W. K.) Then comes the Stack, a weekly review of new comic books. On a recent Tuesday, Evan Dorkin, creator of the Milk & Cheese comics about dairy products fortified with bile, rage and alcohol, provided some biting commentary. The recent issue of Death of the New Gods? “All of his characters look like they have to go to the bathroom really fucking bad or are in post-ball-kick,” Mr. Dorkin snickered. But Fables issue No. 71 seemed to be a fave among the guys. Cinderella is rescuing a captured Pinnochio. “Wouldn’t it be cool if they questioned him and his nose just kept growing with each lie?” Mr. LePage asked.
BOOK CLUBS MIGHT be a revolt against our cold, freaky technological age, but of course things like e-mail and Web sites have also spawned book clubs.
Manhattan Reefs, an online community for coral reef aquarium owners in the New York City area, has a page in their message board forums dedicated to their book club. “We’ve only done two books so far,” said Jonathan Hale, a moderator of the online forums and Manhattan Reefs member. “I found choosing a book to be kind of difficult. We’re talking about a hobby that’s kind of technical. There aren’t real great nonfiction books to discuss. We were discussing how-to books and we’d end up just kind of discussing how to do water changes or something like that.” The book club also led Mr. Hale to start an online magazine for Manhattan Reefs, in which people could submit short stories about reef-related happenings. One contributor, KathyC, wrote “A Fish Tale” about her new fish Peter. “Not your normal Peter,” she wrote. “More like Betty Davis would say it … like this … PITA … He created a ‘gang’. He is the leader. The other members include my Dusky Wrasse and Yellow Coris.”
Mr. Hale lives in the Village with a 120-gallon reef tank that includes blue damsel fish and multibanded pipefish, which “kind of look like they were created by Dr. Seuss,” he said, because of their bugged-out eyes and thin little bodies. Mr. Hale, 41, has been building saltwater fish tanks since he was in college. His current one looks like an Alice in Wonderland aquascape, with brilliant neon colors and pillars of coral reef. He did about three months of reading before even attempting to assemble his first tank. Many of his resources were found online, and he received book recommendations from people in online reef communities.
Mr. Hale said that though Manhattan Reefs’ book club is an online forum, many of the members get together to grab a bite to eat and check out each other’s tanks. Members include workers at the Atlantic Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead, who can give behind-the-scenes tours. “There’s one of everybody as far as job types, which is kind of neat about the site,” he said. If you have a problem outside of reefing, if you need a lawyer or a doctor recommendation, people are there on the site.” When Mr. Hale’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, he went on the forums to get support and doctor recommendations. He ended up using a member’s suggestion for a doctor at Sloan-Kettering. His mother is now in remission. “It is a definite community,” he added. They’re more than a group of reef geeks who like to read. “It’s a much tighter group because people know each other, we’re friends.”
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