Behind the Mask: Local Filmmaker's Documentary Examines Subculture Underlining Comic Store Stereotypes

Anthony Desiato is no superhero — he's a law student at Pace University who spends his vacations helming the cash register at Scarsdale-based comic store Alternate Realities. But like Superman, his favorite caped crusader, Desiato has two identities: mild-mannered scholar and comic book cashier by day, and aspiring documentary maker by night...or in Desiato's case, by summer.  

Desiato recently released his directorial debut, a paean to Alternate Realities' colorful patrons and owner, Steve Oto, entitled "My Comic Shop DocumentARy. The film, which Desiato began last May, took three short months to complete. In less than a year, however, it has rocketed Desiato into the New Filmmakers New York Series, a write-up in the New York Times Metro section and a land not nearly as mythical as Krypton, but as foreign for the 24-year-old Hartsdale native as the planet's crystalline tundras were to a young Clark Kent: San Diego's Comic-Con. And like Superman on his maiden trip to Krypton, Desiato, a lifelong comic book fan since his father bought him "The Death of Superman" when he was 5, was finally home. 

Featuring comics, graphic novels and science fiction/fantasy exhibition, San Diego Comic-Con is a bastion of commingled community and geekery for avid comic book fans such as Desiato. 

"I'd always wanted to go," said Desiato, a three-time New York City Comic-Con veteran. The novice filmmaker finally received his excuse. Comic-Con, which holds an Independent Film Festival featuring categories including animated, action and comics-related films, accepted "My Comic Shop DocumentARY" as one of five films to be screened in the festival's documentary segment.

Although Superman's lengthy flights across the earth's stratosphere are usually solo, Desiato rounded up a self-proclaimed "dream team" of five friends, including Ralph Puma, who wrote two of the film's songs, and Iona Preparatory School pal Bryan Gomez, who composed the score. Together, the crew boarded a plane to San Diego last Wednesday to watch Desiato's first foray into the film industry projected on the big screen.

"Comic-Con itself was intense. The crowds, the lines, the waiting — it's physically draining and truly tests your patience, but it can be a lot of fun," Desiato said. 

Desiato said the screening "went well," although he attributed a lackluster attendance partly toward the film festival's poor promotion. 

"The audience for my film was small, but also very engaged. Ours seemed to be one of the longer Q&A sessions, which was filled with a lot of great questions, comments and feedback," Desiato said.

According to Desiato, one audience member drew parallels between the documentary and Kevin Smith's "Clerks," while another viewer deemed his work to be "very heartfelt." Desiato found these to be apt assessments, considering that he's stacked Alternate Realities' shelves and helmed its register since he was 15 — providing him with nearly a decade to immerse himself in the solipsistic nerdiness that permeates Smith's films and forge friendships that add depth and realism to a niche characterized by verisimilitude. 

"Alternate Realities is my place of employment, but it's also been a constant source of entertainment, from Steve, who runs it, to the customers inside. I always thought it was a story that needed to be told," Desiato said. "I also think that although comic book movies are popular, comic shop culture hasn't been explored. In movies, you see comic book fan or comic book shops that are like a Smith movie. It's a stereotype. I just wanted to show our little community. That's really the movie's central theme." 

Desiato, a second-year law student, majored in journalism at Fordham University. A class assignment compelled him to profile Oto, the former Manhattan real estate lawyer-turned comic shop owner who opened Alternate Realities 19 years ago. 

"Steve is really a man of contradictions," Desiato reflected. "Here he is, this former lawyer running a comic book shop. He's gregarious, but he's also misanthropic. For instance, he doesn't think that humans should be capable of self-rule. But at the same time, he's so friendly with the customers. He's on a first name basis with all of them." 

Oto's dichotomies — along with the beleaguered graduate student's need for a creative outlet to "stay sane" — spurred Desiato to expand his A-earning assignment into a documentary featuring his after-school home-away-from-home.

Apart an undergraduate screenwriting course, Desiato possessed no film experience. 

"I learned as I went along," said Desiato, who obtained a Canon video recorder after finishing his first year of law school and spent $2,000 and 12 weeks scripting, casting, shooting and editing his movie before returning to Pace last fall. 

Lack of cinematographic knowledge wasn't the only challenge Desiato faced while filming his documentary. 

"It was difficult making a movie that would be accessible and enjoyable to people who don't know Alternate Realities or have never read a comic book," Desiato said. "At the New Filmmakers Screening, most people in the audience didn't know Steve, and they didn't know the store. So the fact that it got a lot of laughs and good reactions was rewarding to me because it meant that I had done my job right — anyone can watch it. There are things in the movie that you'll appreciate if you are a comic book fan, but I was very conscious that I wanted anyone to enjoy the movie." 

"My Comic Shop DocumentARy" (Desiato capitalized the A and R in "documentary" in homage to Alternate Realities' initials) captures the camaraderie and characters of Oto's hole-in-the-wall establishment. 

"Steve is obviously a big part of the documentary. I think it would be fair to say that he's eccentric," Desiato laughed. "I think a good amount of the movie is about how his customers and employees perceive him and his unlikely journey from lawyer to comic store owner." 

Other featured individuals include a customer named Jeff, who works at the T.G.I. Friday's in Tarrytown, N.Y. and claims to moonlight for an elite swat team, and Jay Meisel, a retired Social Studies teacher whose Luddite tendencies and politically-incorrect diction "steal the show," according to Desiato.

"Stereotypes are stereotypes are a reason, and nerdy comic book fans do certainly exist. But the one thing I found out is that you can find all walks of life who are comic fans, from doctors and lawyers to psychiatrists. One customer is a reverend," Desiato said. "You shouldn't make any assumptions about the reader base. It's very diverse — surprisingly so." 

Desiato hopes for his Alternate Realities documentary to eventually find a home in his own reality, preferably on the shelves of a nearby video store. 

"My goal is to find distribution for this, which I know is very difficult for independent movies," said Desiato, who has already sent "My Comic Shop DocumentARy" to Smith, a proprietor of his own comic shop in Red Bank, N.J. 

But until Desiato finds a distributor, he's content for his film to provide the same sense of escapism to friends, family members and comic book novices that Desiato's collection of 500 graphic novels give to him.

"Lots of documentaries tackle very heavy subject matter and are designed to provoke reactions or get you to think. But 'My Comic Shop DocumentARy' is on the lighter side, and I'm proud of it," Desiato said. "I think if you've watched it for about 80 minutes and you've laughed and enjoyed it, then I've done a good job."