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Originally posted: http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-8534-the_adventures_of_zetaman.html
It’s a tough job being Portland’s only superhero.

Once a week for the past 18 months, Zetaman has donned his costume and patrolled downtown Portland, seeking out the needy with gifts of food and clothing.

He goes armed with an extendable steel baton, pepper spray, and a Taser that delivers 30,000 volts—enough to put a man on the ground. Those tools of the trade are to defend himself or people in trouble. But he doesn’t pick fights, and so far he hasn’t been forced to draw his weapons or apprehend anybody.

Like the men under the Burnside Bridge one recent Saturday night when temperatures fell into the low 40s, most of the people Zetaman encounters are grateful for the help.

But they also fail to ask the obvious question: What possesses a stocky 29-year-old to put on a homemade costume and prowl the city streets in the dead of night?

The answers lie both in Zetaman’s own past and on the Web, where in recent years hundreds of other self-styled “real-life superheroes” have sprung into existence around the country.

Zetaman was hesitant to reveal his secrets when contacted by WW. But in the end he agreed to be interviewed and allow a reporter to spend two nights on patrol with him, in hopes that the publicity will inspire more people to become costumed heroes.

“This is not about me,” he insists. “Anyone could do this. I’m nothing special.” He doesn’t even like the term “superhero,” preferring to call himself a “man of mystery.”

But he admits being a costumed avenger is addictive after the first taste of parading in public with a “Z” on your chest.

“I couldn’t stop after that,” he says. “I feel great about myself. I’m staying active in the community. And I like comic books, I like great and noble ideas—like He-Man and Spider-Man. And they all have this thing about noble responsibility.”

On the pages of MySpace.com and in Internet chat rooms, the superheroes plan missions and exchange tips on fighting crime. That is, when they’re not sniping at each other, forming rival superteams, or weathering real-life attacks from mysterious supervillains. But more on the rivalries later.

Most heroes say they’re in the business to make a positive impact. Or just to have a good time.

“People will tell you they had a calling or a vision,” says “Superhero,” a 39-year-old former pro wrestler from Clearwater, Fla., who patrols his hometown in a souped-up ’75 Corvette. “I used to tell people I was trying to be a symbol. Then I realized it was a bunch of crap, and I do it ’cause it’s hella fun.”

In a world where sci-fi has come true and flip phones are as commonplace as pencils, the Eye, a 49-year-old superhero in Mountain View, Calif., says there’s nothing left to stop people from living out their comic-book fantasies.

“Every citizen should do something of that nature,” says the Eye, who says he uses his skills as a former private eye to solve crimes. “I just use the persona to protect the identity and do it with a little style, I suppose.”

It’s easy for the casual observer to wonder what the hell Zetaman or any superhero is accomplishing when the country is dealing with serious issues like the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq or the threat of a recession. And it’s just as easy to laugh at any superhero’s MySpace page, Zetaman’s included.

If you went online right now and accused him of being a supergeek, you certainly wouldn’t be the first.

But consider this: If our life is basically a quest for identity and purpose, real-life superheroes have a huge advantage on ordinary mortals. And for that, they credit the Internet—a world where users can instantly create new personas and seek out others with the same interests.

Dr. Gordon Nagayama Hall, a University of Oregon psychology professor, says real-life superheroes probably have an inflated sense of self-worth, even as they help the innocent.

“Some of us might do those things without the costume,” he says. “The sort of bizarre nature of it suggests to me they might be looking for some kind of recognition that might stem from some narcissistic process.”

The Web merely feeds that impulse, he says. “These Internet groups create this support that actually emboldens people to go out there and act out their fantasy.”

Or as Zetaman puts it, in less academic terms: “It’s a pretty easy club to join. All you need is a costume and a MySpace page.”

It’s taboo in the superhero world to call them by their real names. But by day, Zetaman is Illya King, a married man with no kids. He makes about $40,000 a year, lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Beaverton, drives a 1998 Ford minivan with 96,000 miles on it, and has no criminal record.

Zetaman declined to reveal where he works or what he does for a living, because, he says, he’s concerned about strangers showing up and harassing him on the job.

His stated motives for being a superhero range from the quotidian (“having a cool costume, having a cool identity”) to the quixotic (“helping as many people as I can as selflessly as I can”).

He hesitated to reveal his name for this story because, he says, his true identity is inconsequential. He insists he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself, but to serve as an example. And there’s another, more pressing reason Zetaman hesitates to identify himself: an alarming incident last month in California.

In an unprecedented turn, Zetaman’s superhero buddy Ragensi, who patrols the town of Huntington Beach, Calif., in a black ninja costume, says he was attacked by what appeared to be an unknown supervillain.

Nothing is known of the attacker, Zetaman says, except that he wore special pads used by other superheroes and seemed to be well-prepared, lurking in wait. He used martial-arts moves against Ragensi, who managed to escape using his own fighting skills.

Ragensi did not respond to WW’s requests for an interview. But Zetaman says the unprovoked attack made him redouble his reluctance to identify himself. “We’re still pretty freaked out by the whole thing,” Zetaman says.

Crazy as it may sound to the rest of us, the superhero community has long feared the possibility that supervillains may emerge to confront them. But even after Ragensi’s run-in, Zetaman says it never occurred to him that he could be a target. His costume is more low-profile than Ragensi’s ninja garb, and on the nights WW patrolled with Zetaman, he drew no stares on the streets of downtown. Even the people he helps rarely realize he’s a superhero.

Zetaman’s origins date back to 2006, a time when he was going through a rough stretch in his personal life. Both he and his wife had temporarily lost their jobs, and at the same time they were hit with thousands of dollars in medical bills when his wife suffered a miscarriage. As the couple sank into debt, collection agencies turned nasty, filing claims against them in court for more than $5,000.

But the Portland megachurch they were attending put more of an emphasis on money than other churches they had gone to, pushing the faithful to give at least 10 percent of their pre-tax income to receive the full blessings of God. The couple couldn’t put up that kind of cash. Friends began praying for them.

“We felt like we were charity cases,” Zetaman says. He made a vow. “I’m gonna find a way to make my name for something. I’m basically gonna stick it to the man. That’s how it started off.”

A comics fan since he was a kid growing up in California, Connecticut and Vancouver, Wash., he was tooling around online and found a website for Mr. Silent, an Indianapolis-based superhero. A search brought him to others, including Dark Guardian and Squeegeeman, both in New York.

(Squeegeeman is on the campy end of the superhero spectrum. His MySpace page claims he fights “crime and grime,” and shows videos of him participating in the 2007 AIDS Walk New York and giving out water during the city’s 100-degree heat wave last summer.)

Zetaman was impressed, but his search turned up no local superheroes. “I was kind of shocked that there was nothing like this in Portland,” Zetaman recalls. “Our motto is ‘Keep Portland Weird.’ Where’s all the weird people?”

He created a Yahoo account to establish a new identity online. He started working out, dropping 10 pounds on his 5-foot-6-inch frame, bringing him down to 200 pounds. And he hit the stores to buy his first costume: a spandex shirt from Wal-Mart, leather jeans from Hot Topic and boots from cryoflesh.com, a goth website. At Party City he bought a zebra mask and remodeled it to fit his first identity: the Cat.

He made his public debut on Aug. 18, 2006, when he planned to patrol while a movie was showing on Pioneer Square. He arrived at a downtown parking garage about 10 pm, donned his Cat mask and stood gazing out over the city, when a woman got off the elevator to walk to her car and started screaming. Two bicycle cops swooped in to question him.

“I thought, this is not cool. This is not gonna work at all,” he says. “I want to be a positive force, not some kind of a thug.”

Going against the advice of other heroes, he ditched the mask altogether and switched to Zetaman—a combination of Zorro and Superman, two of his favorite heroes, riffing off the Greek name for the letter Z.

Without the mask, he no longer incited public panic. But the costume remained a work in progress. He paid $70 for a full-length spandex costume from Minneapolis-based Hero Gear, which outfits many of the Internet’s real-life superheroes. But the full-body suit didn’t fly.

“It kind of sucked,” Zetaman says. “I wasn’t feeling it.”

A $45 spandex shirt with the stylized “Z” on the chest worked out better. But his leather pants brought unwanted attention from certain men on Southwest Stark Street, so he switched to cargo pants instead. He says that cut down on the catcalls.

He keeps his identity secret from everyone but a few family members. His parents are still in the dark. “Here I am, almost 30, and I still care about what my parents think,” he says. “I have an outfit, I run around in the middle of the night, and I hang out with homeless people. So yeah, I’ve kind of avoided that conversation.”

His wife of seven years, Allison King, 30, says at first she was apprehensive because she worried about his safety. But now she fully supports him. “He’s just my hero,” she says. “One of the things I fell in love with him for, he cares about other people so much.”

Now Allison accompanies him on patrol in civilian clothes, helping him pass out food and occasionally filming video she posts on YouTube. “It’s not how I thought I would be spending time with my husband,” she says. “But it’s awesome.”

Zetaman’s not into superhero kink, but he once slipped into bed in uniform. It didn’t work out. “It just felt too stupid,” he says. “I was just laughing.”

Vigilante justice has a controversial history, from Old West posses seeking revenge against Native American tribes to today’s Minuteman Civil Defense Corps patrolling the Mexican border. But the work of Zetaman and other superheroes appears to stay within the law.

Most states allow a citizen’s arrest if a crime is being committed. No permits are needed to carry Zetaman’s chosen weapons of batons, Mace or Tasers, at least in Portland. And while it may be eccentric to do community service in spandex, no one’s been arrested for impersonating a superhero.

A nationwide community-policing group called the Guardian Angels has existed legally for decades, including a local chapter that patrols the MAX line in Portland in their trademark red berets.

Though controversial with some critics, Guardian Angels leaders insist the group is a benefit to the public. Carrying no weapons, they travel in groups, concentrating on public places where people feel menaced. Zetaman and other heroes say their mission is little different.

“I certainly applaud him,” says Curtis Sliwa, who founded the Guardian Angels in New York in 1979. “He’s not getting paid for this. He’s risking his life, and he’s helping those who can’t help themselves.”

Cops take a different view of Zetaman.

“I think he’s going to get in big trouble,” says Sgt. Doug Justus of the Portland Police Bureau’s Drugs and Vice Division. “As soon as you start interfering with a crime in progress, if the guy doesn’t identify you as a police officer, I think you’re asking to get hurt.”

The upsurge in superhero activity across the country appears to have caused no complaints elsewhere. Even in Mountain View, Calif., where the Eye claims he uses light-emitting diodes to temporarily blind people while he’s solving crimes, local police spokeswoman Liz Wylie says cops there have never heard of him.

Zetaman says he’s only once stopped a crime in progress—honking his horn to scare off a guy trying to steal cars downtown. He’s lectured a few drug dealers, but unless there was a person in immediate danger, he says he’d be more likely to call the police on his cell phone than try to stop a crime himself.

“I guess it sounds kind of less heroic, but I don’t want to die,” he says. As for taking out gangs and other organized crime, he says he simply doesn’t have the time or the resources. “I wish I had a million dollars, like Batman,” he says. “But I’m just one guy out there. I’m not strong enough.”

In the past two years, superheroes say their numbers have exploded, largely due to MySpace, the social networking site that’s grown over the same time with its M.O. of allowing users to forge a fake identity and communicate with each other while remaining completely anonymous.

Hundreds of MySpace users pose as superheroes, but Zetaman—who’s intensely involved in the superheroes’ online community and set up several of their most popular bulletin boards—estimates fewer than 30 nationwide actually go out on patrol. As Zetaman suggests, the only requirements to be a superhero seem to be a costume and a nickname, though several also claim to have psychic powers.

Master Legend, a superhero from Winter Park, Fla., claims he can sense when people are in danger. He also says he has super strength and healing powers. And he’s not afraid to beat up bad guys like crack dealers, starting out by taunting them in his superhero costume.

“They just don’t know what to think of that. It shocks them,” he says. “They can’t help themselves any longer, and they come and attack me, and it’s showtime. And you can hear from me laughing how much I love it. I love to jump into action.”

Heroes in Florida and New York claim to have no trouble finding street crime, but Portland’s darkest alleys are a safety zone by comparison. Zetaman tried patrolling in the parks around Portland State University (don’t people get mugged in parks?). Still no dice.

His 70-plus nights on the street have led him to the conclusion that in Portland, the homeless are the real people in need. Now he wears a backpack stuffed with blankets, hats, gloves and socks to give away. He lugs bags of food and soda. One night last month he gave out five double cheeseburgers and five chicken sandwiches from McDonald’s, along with a 12-pack of Shasta cola.

Despite the fact that he’s still paying off his own debts, he says he spends about $100 a month out of his own pocket helping the homeless.

Besides giving out food, blankets and clothing, he also offers help getting to a shelter, or into a drug treatment program. But few accept the offer. “It sounds bad,” he says, “but people have to want help in order to get help. It took me a while to learn that.”

Zetaman’s do-gooder philosophy has taken heat from heroes who claim to take a more vigilante approach. His critics include Tothian, a New Jersey-based hero whose MySpace page says he “destroys evil.” Tothian told WW in an email that he once beat up seven armed men while on patrol.

The two heroes tangled on Internet chat boards last April after Tothian declared himself “leader” of the superhero community. But Tothian declined to criticize Zetaman in a WW interview. “Some things are not for the public eye or the media,” Tothian says.

Like many so-called online communities (see some of Oregon’s blogs on the political left and right as examples), legitimate differences and personal attacks have gradually eroded some of the group spirit that once united superheroes. Just like heroes and villains in comic books, they’re now divided into a number of opposing teams that occasionally come into open conflict online.

The conflict deepened when some heroes began calling openly for violence. “It’s pretty bizarre, the emoed-out kids that are more into the dark side of doing this,” Superhero says. Zetaman says he regrets his role in designing one of the message boards. “Now it’s more like this mini homeland-terrorism site, and it pisses me off,” he says.

After a tiff that Zetaman dismisses as “Internet drama,” Tothian kicked Zetaman off that bulletin board, known as Heroes Network. Zetaman in turn founded the Alternates, a group that includes the Eye and Ragensi. The three are holding a secret meeting in San Jose this May to get better organized, hoping to form a new West Coast superhero squad.

Zetaman also hopes to start up a Portland-based group. “I want to move on to where it’s not just me,” he says. “I think more people should pick up a comic book and say, you know, maybe I don’t have to be so gray all the time.”

While most of the online community refer to themselves as “real-life superheroes,” Zetaman says actual real-life superheroes are police, firefighters and other first responders.Zetaman broadcasts a superhero-themed live radio show online each Thursday night at midnight. You can hear it any time at blogtalkradio.com/thealternates.

Superbarrio, a real-life superhero in Mexico City, has gained fame since 1995 by organizing labor rallies and protests and filing petitions to stop government corruption.

Find real-life superheroes online:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-life_superhero
freewebs.com/heroesnetwork/
thealternates.org
myspace.com/zetamanofportland
myspace.com/masterlegend
myspace.com/ragensi
myspace.com/eyewatch_24_7
myspace.com/darkguardianhero
myspace.com/squeegeerific
myspace.com/tothian

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http://www.katu.com/news/specialreports/18335494.html

PORTLAND, Ore.– It’s another dark, damp night in Portland, and for many homeless people, the bloom is off the City of Roses as they shiver out another night of unseasonably cold temperatures under bridges, in doorways and on park benches

In what many consider the bad part of town, one man steps from the shadows, armed with a stun gun, a collapsible baton, an ear-piercing air horn and pepper spray. A large white “Z” covers his tight-fitting shirt, and he steps through puddles in thick black boots.

A full-length black overcoat, fingerless black gloves, skull and crossbones belt buckle and dark goggles complete his “intimidating” outfit.

When he spots a group of transients, he makes his move.

“Do any of you folks need extra gloves or anything,” Zetaman asks the group as he pulls items from a backpack.

To homeless people, Zetaman is not a threat. He’s a hero, maybe even a superhero. And his fame is spreading.

Zetaman, whose real identity is a secret, is packing gloves, sandwiches and other items that will give some homeless Portland residents a degree of comfort on a cold night. The other items are for self-defense. Every superhero needs a utility belt.

Zetaman says he is not really a superhero, but he does take his cues from the superheroes in the comic books he loves.

“I like Superman and I like Zorro so I thought, ‘Wow, combine the two,’ ” Zetaman told KATU News on a night when we tagged along as he handed out food and clothing items to the homeless.

He has also given up buying his beloved comics in order to finance his good works on Portland’s streets. Some of the money goes directly into the hands of the homeless.

“I want to help because I grew up poor and I grew up starving and stuff,” Zetaman said. “I’m an adult now, I have a job and I just want to help where I can.”

One homeless man received a pair of gloves to ward off the cold. Others gratefully accepted chicken sandwiches. More and more, Zetaman is receiving recognition. He has an audio blog, MySpace page and several videos of his exploits have turned up on YouTube.

Citizens pose for cell phone camera photos with Zetaman, and homeless people reach out to shake his hand and thank him.

“I think anyone who wants to go in this community and do good work, more power to them.” says one man who gives Zetaman a hearty high-five. “I love you, Zetaman, you rock,” he says.

The costume didn’t seem unusual to another admirer. “Looks like a normal every-day goth so it’s kind of cool,” the man said. In a city known for “weird,” Zetaman doesn’t turn too many heads, at least not any more.

“I don’t wear a mask or a cape. I tried that the first time and got in trouble with police so as of that, never again,” Zetaman says of his initial foray into citizen crime fighting.

“I really don’t want to die or anything,” he says, explaining how he shifted to helping the homeless. Now, he’s becoming part of Portland lore.

Zetaman is not alone in his endeavors. In other cities across the nation, other self-made superheroes have stepped up to fight crime, help the homeless or contribute their own special brand of civic improvement.

They have names like Apocalypse Meow, Phantom Zero and Agent Null.

Zetaman says he’s met with some of these other solo civic social fighters and an alliance may be in the works.

“I’m not really a superhero because I don’t have any powers or anything,” Zetaman says as he continues his rounds, looking for more people to help.

The buzz on the meaner streets of Portland says otherwise.

Perhaps, one day, there may even be a Zetaman comic book.

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Originally posted: http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-6056-feature-slc-superheroes-the-black-monday-society-keeps-an-eye-out-for-street-crime-so-you-donrst-have-to.html

By Paul Constant

They hide their true identities behind elaborate masks and costumes, patrolling the streets of downtown Salt Lake City in groups of two and three. People react to them in various ways: Older folks tend to ignore them. Drunken young adults want to pose with them for photos. Teenagers tend to hiss, growl and shout in their general direction, while children walk right up to them and ask what they are doing. Despite the masks and secret identities, they’re completely open about their purpose.

“Inferno,” one of the newest members of the group, is unfazed by the evening chill. He passes by a group of teens. One of them shouts: “Halloween’s not over!” Inferno winces, rolls his eyes, and responds, in the bored tone of someone who’s tired of hearing the same joke over and over again, “Nope, it’s not.” A girl of about 14 breaks from the mass of tittering boys and bravely approaches Inferno. He’s wearing a red hood and tunic, thigh-high pleather boots, and a matching black pleather mask that covers his eyes and nose. She breaks the awkward silence: “Can I ask about your costume?”

Inferno nods, unconsciously touches his red goatee and answers: “I’m part of the Black Monday Society.”

The girl cocks her head. “The Black Monday Society?”

“Yeah,” Inferno begins, a little more comfortable now, getting into a well-worn groove, “We just walk around, you know, patrol the streets.”

“Like Citizens on Patrol?” adds the girl, invoking the title of the fourth Police Academy movie. Her friends seem to get the reference and break into laughter.

Inferno brightens. “Yeah. “Citizens on patrol.”

“Cool!” says the girl, and despite the fact that her male friends are still hanging back—way back—and giggling, she seems to be genuinely happy about the idea. Inferno smiles and hands her a business card.

“We have a Website,” he says. “Look us up, it’ll tell you more about what we do. That’s pretty much what it’s about. It’s a lot of fun.”

“OK,” she says, waving goodbye with the card and running back to her friends, “Have fun!”

“You, too,” Inferno says. “Bye.”

And then he goes back to patrolling the streets, keeping his eye out for danger, wherever it lurks.

We Need Another Hero

The Black Monday Society started five years ago, when a Salt Lake City-area tattoo artist and lifelong comic-book fan named Dave went exploring on MySpace. “I always told my wife, even before we got married, that if I ever see a real superhero, I’m so going to be one,” he says. “Come on, just the idea of wearing a mask, going out, doing something good? Being somebody else for a little bit? Doesn’t that sound a little enthralling to you?”

After doing a search for comic-book-related fan groups, Dave happened upon the Web pages of two Indianapolis men who go by the names “Mr. Silent” and “Doktor DiscorD.” They called themselves Real Life Superheroes, and they went on patrol on the Indianapolis streets searching for wrongs to right.

“So,” Dave says, “I set up a MySpace page, made an identity for myself, just to talk to them, and it kind of evolved from there. It was really inspiring.”

Dave couldn’t believe this was happening, that his childhood obsession was taking shape, and that people all over the world were a part of it. “I went home to my wife and told her about it and she said, ‘Wow,’ and then she said, ‘Is this for real?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and she said, ‘So, when do you go out?’ and I said, ‘As soon as possible.’”

Like all Real Life Superheroes, Dave, 37, uses only his first name, and he’d rather go by his character’s name anyway. His first superhero identity was “The American Corpse.” He dressed in an Israeli army gas mask, fedora and a suit and tie, much like classic DC Comics superhero The Sandman. Dave’s good friend, a very tall man with a lazy Johnny Cash drawl, says he’s “always been fascinated by ghosts and goblins and demons and things of that nature,” so he decided to call himself “Ghost.” He made a costume of a rubber Halloween skeleton mask adorned with a shock of white hair and a matching ribcage on his chest. Ghost is 32 and works in real life as a concrete finisher. Quiet and unassuming, he explains his unusual hobby by saying, “It’s every little boy’s fantasy to be a real life superhero.”

Ghost sums up his passion for the street with a comment on his blog: “Doesn’t matter how many people snicker at us. What matters is we are out there doin’ our duty for justice.”

Recounting their first night out on patrol in 2001, American Corpse and Ghost say they were standing by their car on a city street having a smoke. A Salt Lake City cop on patrol approached them and pulled over. American Corpse says he decided to slowly approach her to explain their costumes and superheroic intent. She firmly told them, “Please stand by the hood of the car.” American Corpse kept walking toward the officer, then reached into his jacket to pull out his wallet and identification.Reacting to Corpse’s decision to keep moving, the officer put her hand on her revolver and shouted, “Stand by the hood of the car, now!” American Corpse says he wasn’t even really thinking but decided to try and calm the situation by saying, “It’s OK, ma’am, don’t worry. Relax; I’m a superhero.”

The cop eventually let them move on, but the heroes claim the Black Monday Society is on the Salt Lake City Police Department’s official list of street gangs. A spokesman for the SLCPD would not confirm that statement.

When Flats Need Fixing

If a healthy number of Websites and blogs are any indication, there are hundreds of Real Life Superheroes around the world, mainly operating out of urban areas. One of the best known is “Citizen Prime,” an RLS from Phoenix. Prime is a husband, father and office worker who puts on a costume (or uniform, as the RLS community prefers) with intent to fight crime. Though Prime does carry a pair of intriguingly named “stun-knuckles” in case he has to protect himself or others, most of the work he does fits neatly within the category of good Samaritanism—flat-tire repair and making speeches to elementary-school students about the dangers of drug use. But in the past year, buoyed by increased media attention, Prime has also started a successful toy drive to help needy children.

Prime, an office worker in his 40s, has a certain charisma, the kind usually seen in community organizers and old-fashioned politicians. In conversations, he’s prone to wholesome expressions like, “Oh, my gosh,” and “Gee,” sounding like a real-life Jimmy Stewart. He vouches for the Black Monday Society, implicitly. “They’re really good guys. I’ve had contact with them for a while now, and they seem like the real deal.” Prime visited the Black Monday Society over the long winter, but—human as they were—the heroes decided it was too cold to patrol. Still, one hero wrote on his blog that “we did suit up and take some photos,” and that “more team-ups will happen when it gets a little warmer.”

New Real Life Superheroes seem to appear every day. They add their photos and biographies to Websites like RealLifeSuperheroes.com and share their thoughts on weaponry, good deeds and other topics on blogs such as Heroes Network. There’s the Justice Society of Justice, based in Indianapolis; The Boise Brigade, and, from Washington, D.C., the Capitol City Super Squad. “Zetaman” patrols the streets of Portland, Ore., wearing a utility belt loaded with a first-aid kit, a baton and a Taser, among other gadgets.

Polarman shovels the snow-covered sidewalks of Iqalulit, the capital city of Canada’s youngest province, Nunavut—located north of Quebec on Baffin Island. Entomo the Insect Man claims to protect Naples, Italy, and frequents superhero message boards with hilariously Roberto Benigni-esque broken English comments. His MySpace page boasts a mission statement: “To be a Real Life Superhero is truly the greatest deed a man can accomplish in a backwards world like this, where fiction is truer to reality than reality itself. On the other hand, the chance to fight for such a stunning planet is too significant to be turned down. Hear my buzz, fear my bite,” and it ends, as all his posts do, with his tagline: “I inject justice!”

Whole businesses have sprung up around the RLS life. Hero-Gear.net deals in costumes for Real Life Superheroes. Armories that produce chain mail and weapons for Renaissance fair actors have started to sell to the RLS community, as well. Dressing up like a superhero and going on patrol seems to be looking less like a bizarre pastime than it does a lifestyle choice, according to some of the heroes. Think teenagers going goth or animal-rights activists fervently volunteering for PETA.

The media is giddily spreading the word about RLS. Some television stations have struck a gold mine in covering regional “superteams,” packing their reports with references to Batmobiles and “Pow! Bang! Boom!” sound effects. A reporter from Rolling Stone went on patrol with the Black Monday Society last fall (though the magazine has yet to publish the story) and several filmmakers are rushing to finish documentaries about the Real Life Superhero movement. Members of The Black Monday Society claim one documentary maker told them that, to be featured in his film, they’d have to sign the rights to their superhero identities away to him. They declined. Another filmmaker and his subjects hosted a Times Square publicity stunt covered in The New York Times last October. Your Friendly Neighborhood Superhero, a recently completed documentary, is scheduled for various film festivals this spring. See RealLifeSuperhero.com for a snippet of the film.

Internet reaction to the RLS movement is mixed. RLS and superhero fans are continuously posting words of encouragement on each other’s blogs. But, as soon as a non-RLS site notices them, the general public, hidden securely behind a guise of anonymity, tears them to shreds. After a story about Silent and DiscorD appeared on comic-book writer Warren Ellis’s blog, the posters unanimously decided that RLSs were endangering themselves, if not others. One commenter, Monk Eastman, summed up the feelings this way: “I predict the following headline: ‘Oddly Dressed Virgin Found Shot 1,123 Times.’”

“A Little Gimmicky?”

Dave quickly dropped the American Corpse persona for another identity: a tights-wearing street fighter named Ferox. Ferox is reserved for Dave’s patrols farther north in Ogden. When in Salt Lake City, Dave is Insignis, a robed figure with a giant white cross across his chest. “The most easily recognizable symbol in the world is the cross,” he explains, “So what better symbol to have?” (The two names are derived from a large tattoo across his back that reads “Insignis Ferox,” Latin for “Mark of the Wild One.”)
After those first few patrols with Ghost, Insignis’ friends were quick to join them. The team grew to 13 members strong in a matter of months. The group originally patrolled on Mondays—hence the name—but “things are much more likely to happen on Fridays and Saturdays, so the Monday thing didn’t last long,” Insignis says. They stuck with the name primarily because “it sounds cool.”

New identities are common with the Black Monday Society: Inferno took his name because of a fiery temper he admits used to get him in trouble before becoming a RLS. But the 33-year-old recently decided to focus on his sense of humor by becoming “Ha!,” a clown-themed superhero.

Oni, 36, based his identity on a Japanese demon. He’s married to a woman the team calls “Mother One.” She creates most of their costumes by hand. “She’s very supportive of this,” Oni says. Most of the team, including 38-year-old occasional member “Silver Dragon,” a thin man with a thick Southern accent, are married. They say their wives are proud of them but balked at a reporter’s request to speak with the women. Earlier this year, Oni went on his first patrol with his daughter, who will take the name “Frost” as soon as she has a costume. “I was very nervous and excited at the same time;” he wrote on his blog. “I hoped that nothing would happen on her first time out. I am proud that she wants to give back to the community and help people that need it.”

The heroes say they have been spending more time in Ogden lately because of what they perceive as increased gang activity. Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey takes issue with that claim: “We have had a seven-year decline of crime in Ogden and one of the keys to that is getting the community involved. Having neighbors be vigilant and engaged is a critical ingredient to safer neighborhoods.” Godfrey adds that the Black Monday Society “fits in” with this push for community involvement. Although he finds them “a little gimmicky,” Godfrey allows that, “We will take their participation any way we can get it.” The Salt Lake City Police Department had no comment on the Black Monday Society. Lt. Paul Jaroscak, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department, says he has “no knowledge or comment” regarding the group.

If the local cops are sketchy on their knowledge of the superheroes, it might be due to the group’s lack of clarity. What, exactly, does the Black Monday Society do? They talk about “helping people” and “helping the homeless.” But, on one evening this past November, the patrol’s big events included a photo session with a gaggle of drunken college students, some heckling from passersby and a thumbs-up from an enthusiastic tourist from Minneapolis, who wished there was something like this “back home.” The patrol also handed out a couple of dollars to a homeless man with the telltale facial scabs of heavy meth use.

The team contends the patrols are its work, and that members curb crime simply by being seen. And Silver Dragon says there’s proof: “I’ve heard from friends that, after we patrol a particular neighborhood, there’s no crime there for the rest of the night.” That November patrol was one of the last crime-fighting excursions of 2007. The team has laid low for the winter, declaring Salt Lake City’s long, harsh winter too cold to patrol. But they plan on taking to the streets again, now that spring has arrived.

Oni, the only member of the Black Monday Society with extensive martial-arts training, recalls one time when he confronted a drug-addled man who was abusing his mother in a city park. “The first thing we do is call the cops,” he says, “in any situation.” Most superheroes will, in fact, say the same thing. They strongly advise against getting directly involved in police calls.

After calling 911, Oni and Ghost approached the man. They say he promptly relented when confronted with men dressed as demons. Insignis also recalls a time they chased after a drunk man who was standing by the side of the road, trying to punch passing cars. The man got away, but Insignis says, laughing, “He probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon.”

Outside Salt Lake City, the superhero action is getting a little more feverish and a lot less law abiding. Rumors have spread in the RLS community that one of their own, a man known as “Nostrum,” based in Louisiana, has lost an eye doing battle with a criminal. An RLS from Florida known as “Master Legend” claims to attack evildoers, bashing garbage cans over the heads of crack fiends and kicking others with his steel-toe boots. Another man, known as “Hero,” has quit fighting crime and is taking up ultimate fighting. “There is only one thing I can always count on, one thing that will always be there and that is the fight. The fight is all I have,” he recently blogged.

The Black Monday Society has set up an office, and Oni says they are working to gain legal status as a non-profit organization. “As soon as we do that, it’ll open up a lot more doorways for us so we can start receiving money and we can help more people,” he says, adding that “I’d like to do more than just help the homeless. I’d like to start helping abused and battered women. Things like that.”

In a parking lot after the patrol, the team gathers to smoke cigarettes and share a laugh or two. Inferno refers to Insignis as “Father O’Malley,” and asks him if his sidekick’s name is “Altar Boy.” Insignis laughs it off but then snaps back on message, insisting that the Black Monday Society is seeking more than fun and fame: “Instead of being the guy on the couch saying ‘God, I wish somebody would do something,’ I get to be the guy on the couch who says, ‘Yeah, I did something!’ or, ‘At least I tried.’ No regrets, no nothing. Just pure do.”

By Posted on

By Agent Null

So, as I have already written about, I went out on my first patrol with Zetaman earlier. While we were doing our thing, we were talking (what? You think we did everything in a gallows silence?), and we discussed ideas, plans for the future, and so on.

But it all came back to the same topic: How do we better present ourselves in a way that demonstrates to the public that we are not just doing this as some sort of childish live-action role playing or for the “lulz”? How can we as members of the RLS subculture prove that we can be more than just silly brats in costume acting out wish-fulfillment fantasy?

Well…I have come to find what I believe to be the answer. It was right in front of my face the whole time, as luck would have it:

Look, very few are going to like what I’m going to have to say here, as it flies into the face of what we know as convention. But then all truths begin as blasphemies. And as I am not a stranger to being strung up for the sin of telling the truth (and not making it funny) with regards to this subculture, I’ve no problems outlining the ways in which this subculture needs to change.

First of all, we need to get away from the comic book mindset that helped create us. As loathe as I am to point this out, comic books are not real. The situations, societies, and attitudes that shape the world of superhero fiction simply does not apply in the real world. Here, in the world where we live, there are very few true heroes just as there are a scarce amount of truly evil villains. In this world, black and white are simply colours; they are not moral absolutes. Calling ourselves ANYTHING other than “Real Life Superheroes” would be a huge step in the right direction.

Second of all, we need to be more transparent. Think about it: you decide to become a costumed crusader. Now, during the course of making this decision, you decide to set up a webpage and forum in an effort to reach out to other like-minded individuals. And then, you make the forum private, with membership upon approval. Sooo…doesn’t that defeat your purpose? If you TRULY want to help the public, you would not set up a place for discussion that they cannot read and discourse with you. To even entertain the notion suggests something to hide. And most likely, they will believe that you are hiding that face that you really haven’t done anything of note, nor will you ever. Judging from what I’ve read on those forums, I also believe this to be the case. Also, if you are the type who is sensitive to any flames you may receive from the public you are trying to reach out to (and you will), perhaps this is not the line of work for you after all.

Third, we need to be more exclusive. Look, one of the biggest issues within this subculture stems primarily from an appalling lack of standards. Are we really that desperate for validation that we should accept anybody who comes along with a MySpace profile and a few good (if mainly false) tales of derring-do? I should truly hope not. I hate to go back to this, but in one discussion I had, I pointed out that our subculture would even accept John Wayne Gacy if his icon pic was of him in his clown costume and he claimed to “destroy evil”. I still believe this to be the case. On this same topic, if one of us is shown to be less than they claim to be and it can be proven beyond all doubt, then they should be cast out from the subculture altogether if they will not explain or justify themselves. No other society would allow people of this nature to remain with them. Why should we?

Fourth, we need to be honest about ourselves. This goes toward transparency, but it still bears mention nevertheless. Look, I do not believe a majority of those within this group are as active in fighting crime as they would have us believe, if they are at all. If one fights crime in the manner in which these people claim to, and they have not been killed or arrested for vigilantism then fantastic. More power to them. But prove it. Show some documentation, whether it be a police report or a newspaper article or a link to a news broadcast. If one cannot, they should either be silent about it, or they should not be surprised when such claims fall under heavy investigation and scrutiny. The basic rule should apply: proof or it didn’t happen.

Fifth, while I understand the affectation towards maintaining a secret identity while on the job, the fact remains- YOU ARE NOT YOUR CODENAME. At the end of my day for example, I’m not Agent Null. I am me. Agent Null is nothing more than a symbol I gave myself. Anyone can be Agent Null.

Sixth, I know goes back to point #4. But here it is: If you actually are fighting crime, busting drug dealers and muggers and the like, and this can be proven; once again I say that’s fantastic…But you have changed NOTHING. Zip, Zilch, Zero. How is that, you ask? It, like so many other answers I present here, is quite simple. You change nothing because not once have you managed to combat the REASONS crimes occur. In fact, I have a crisp clean sheet of paper with President Lincoln’s mugshot printed on it that says you never once gave that any real thought. You know something guys? The internet is a fantastic place, full of magic, wonder and knowledge. Perhaps if you devoted even a half hour of the time you would normally use to talk about which non-existant spells to use while fighting demons that aren’t there or which piece of armour would look cooler on your MySpace profile to looking at the real sociological motivations behind crime, you would be so much more effective at PREVENTING crime from happening in the first place. Now, I am not so naive as to assume that we can prevent future crimes from occuring merely by dint of our efforts in tackling real issues (for once). But you know, in the end, that is a more noble end than simply beating up criminals.

Seventh, we need to be active in the cities we live in. By this, I do not simply mean we need to be constantly patrolling the streets in search of ciminals to thwart. Far from it. Instead, we need to show EVERYONE from the rich to the poor, the old to the young, that we care about them and want to be able to succeed on their own. We need to be present in soup kitchens or other charities. We need to be seen handing out necessary survival items to those who lack them. We need to be the first to lead drives to aid those who have suffered losses. If we have first aid and cpr training, we need to teach others to do the same thing. If we are martial artists, we need to teach others to protect themselves. We need to not selfishly hoard our abilities to sate our own ego. We need to demonstrate and teach those abilities to those who wish to learn them.

And finally, we need to be proactive in the above methods. Sitting here and debating these topics will get us nowhere. What I have stated here is nothing less than the whole truth of the matter. The more we sit here and debate the points to death, the less we are out there, doing what needs doing.

And the less we are out there, the closer we creep to carving our epitath as a punchline in pop culture history.

Toodles!

-AN

By Posted on

From Extra Magazine

By Claudia Ciammatteo

Bastano una tuta (o un paio di mutandoni), un mantello e una maschera per essere come Batman e l’Uomo Ragno o quasi.

Quelli “iscrittia all; Albo” sono circa 200. Difendono vecchiette, si battono peri lavoratori, fanno pronto soccorso e… spalano la neve.

La criminalita dilaga, la corruzione e alle stele, l’inquinamento cresce, lo spetro del terrorismo inernazionale aleggia in tutti gli aeroporti. Per salvarci ci vorrebbe Superman… E, infatti, c’e. Anzi, ce n’e piu di uno. Anche se puo sembrare incredibile, chi pens ache vegliare sul bene dell’umanita sia solo roba da bumetti sbaglia.

Al mondo esistono quasi 200 supereroi in carne e ossa, che inventandosi un nome altettanto suggestive di quello di batman o l’Uomo Ragno e indossando un costume all’altezza del compito, hammo deciso di combattere le ingiustizie o difendere I piu deboli. O almeno di provarci. Sono riuniti nel Real Life World Superhero Registry, ovvero, il primo Albo ufficiale dei supereroi della via reale, nato nel 2005.

Dai fumetti, al fatti. Il fenomeno ha almeno Quattro capostipiti. Tra questi, a Citta del Messico, Superbarrio Gomez e un’autentica celebrita: in aderente costume di lycra rosso, mutandoni e mantello Dorati sul fisico corpulento, il volto coperto da una maschera da wrestler “luchador”, si batte per I diritti dei lavoratori messicani ed e sempre in prima fila nei cortei di protesta. A New York, invece, e famosa gia da alcuni anni Terrifica, paladin della sicurezza femminile, che pattuglia locali e bar armata di spray irritante al peperoncino, cellular e macchina fotografica. Altrettanto célèbre, nonostante la sua identita sia segreta, Angle-Grinder Man (letteralmente: Uomo Smerigliatrice angolare), in tuta blu e stivali d’oro, che di note pattuglia le auto in divieto dis sosta dale ganasce messe dai vigili. Per non parlare di Captain Ozone, di  Belfast, supereroe ecologista in cappuccino e lungo mantello blu, stemma nero e che dopo le ultime battalglie a difesa dei salmo ni e del riciclaggio delle tavolette del water, figura ufficialmnte tra gli organizzatori del Green Poer Rally, mega dimostazione pacifica in difesa delle energie rinnovabili che avverra simultaneamente in Canada e negli Stati Uniti il 31 luglio prossimo.

C’e chi aiuta la polizia con segnalazioni anonime.

Da Scorpione verde a Zetaman. Scorrendo l’elenco del registro dei supereroi, una cosa e evidente: lo sparuto gruppo originario e andato moltiplicandosi. Sui nomi d’arte e sul tip di missione degli eroi (poco “super” ma molto “utile”) la fantasia nono manca: in Canada opera Polar Man (Uomo Polare), pronto a splare la neve per evitare rovinsoe cadute agli anziani; dale parti di Cincinnati Shadow Hare (Lepre ombra), che con la maschere near sul volto protégé i senzatetto; nell’Oregon c’e Zetaman (l’uomo Zeta), campione di primo soccorso.

A vegliare sui cittadini assediati dai malintenzionati, tra gli altri, ci sono poi Fox Fire (Volpe di fuoco), paladina femminile travestita con un cappotto di pelle near e una maschera di volpe; Dark Guardian (Guardiano Scuro), che porta una maschera veneziana sul naso, e anche il misterioso The Eye (l’Occhino). Ma ci sono ache Green Scorpion (Scorpione verde), che opera in New Mexico; Death’s Head Moth (Falena testa di morto) in Virginia e Mr Silent (Silenzioso), l’angelo delle notti dell’Illinois.

Piu recente e la nascita di gruppi di supereroi, come la “Black Monday Society” (Societa del lunedi mero) nello Utah, la Great Lakes Heroes Guild (la Gilda degli eroi dei Grandi laghi) mello sato del Wisconsin e, a New York, l’Heroes Network (rete gegli Eroi) fondata dall’amomino Thothian, che come superavversario ha scelto addirittura Osama Bin Laden.

Ma chi si nasconde dietro tute, maschere e mantelli? La stragrande maggiroanza dei supereroi in carne e ossa prospera olteroceano. <> dicono gli esperti intervistati dai network americani come Cbe e Cnn, <>. Ed e stato raffrorzato dalla politica di cittadinanza attivca lanciata dal presidente Barack Obama.

Niente armi e molta rete. Per vigilare contro la possibilita di infiltrazione di violenti, incoscienti, o gustizeri “fai da te” tra le loro fila, il regolamento ufficiale dell’Albo mondiale dei supereroi stabilisce criteri rigidi di ingress (vedi riquadro in queste pagine) e limitazioni, pena la radiazione; no all’uso di armi vere, innanzitutto. Si invece ad armi e coltelli di plastic, e a tecniche di autodifesa. Del resto, anche se non fermano aerie con la mano ne vanno piu veocia della luce, questi emuli di Superman qualche rischo lo corrono ugualmente. Per scambiarsi dritte e consigli, e dare appuntamento ai propri fan a caccia di aggiornamenti sulle imprese del giustiziere perferito, molti di loro utilizzano il social netork MySpace.

La crescent prpolarita di alcuni di loro, che privia di superpoteri hanno necessariamente ambizioni piu limitate di quelle dei supereroi dei fumetti, suscita pero qualche perplessita. <<Ma e un errore>> fa notare lo scrittore Giampelmo Schiaragola, autore di due scherzosi vademecum per aspirant supereroi, <<il primo compito di un eroe non e tanto quello di sconfiggere il male; quanto di dare il buon esempio, ovvero di creare altri eroi>>.

Mentre qualcuno songna perfino di sconfiggere Bin Laden

E a Napoli, Entomo combatte criminalita e inquinamento. Fra le sue mission: dare una mano nell’emergenza rifiuti

L’uomo-insetto partenopeo. E in Italia? L’uncio supereroe di casa nostra ammesso nell’anagrafe ufficiale, e Entomo: l’Uomo insetto che vegla sulla citta di Napoli. Il suo motto: “Ascolta il mio ronzio, temi il mio morso: inietto giustizia”. Ha 32 anni, e attivo dal 2007, e la sua identita e segreta. Ha un costume da insetto verde chiaro, con maniche scure, sul petto il simbolo stilizzato della lettera greca “sigma” e combatte criminalita e inquinamento grazie (a suo dire) alle sue tre armi: I sensi sviluppati come quelli degli insetti, le techiche di autodifesa e le segnalazioni anonime alla polizia.

<<Pattuglio le strade della citta, di giorno e di note, fermo I piccolo crimini come posso>> ha recentemete dichiarato in un’intervista al quotidano Il Reformista. Entomo sostiene che il suo costume giochi da diversivo, sorprendendo e distraendo I malintenzionati; usa una tecnica di autodifesa chiamata Krav Maga per disarmare I nemici, e li intimidisce senza ferifli. Tra li piu recent missioni, l’emergenza rifiuti a Napoli: <<Ho fermato alcuni tentative di teppismo ai Danni delle persone, delle strutture e dell’ambiente>>. Un modus operandi illegal, almeno I Italia, dove per legge (n.152 del 1975) e vitato comparire mascherati in luogo pubblico. <<Ma io non sono un esaltato, non mi oppongo o contrappongo alla polizia, ne mi sostitusisco a essa>> obiettta Entomo. <<Anzi, li auto a distanza con le mie segnalazioni anonime>>. E a chi aspira a emularne le imprese, consiglia: <<Trova il Supereroe nascoasto dentro di te. Quindi Materializzalo come una seconda pelle e sii quello che sei gia veramente. Fine della storia>>.

Boutique per Super

Eora che cosa mi metto?. Il dubbio puo venire anche ai supereroi. Per questo, a New York, e nata la prima boutique dedicate ai paladini dell’umanita, dove si possono acquistare costume personalizzati, maschere, quanti, armi e alteri accessori: si chimama Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., e ha anche um goliardico catalogo online. Quache idea? Un mantello classic da supereroe, o da auito-supereroe, in seta a glitterato (cioe pieno di lustrini). Ha un prezzo oscillante tra 1 22 e 1 35 dollari. Mai pui senza. Ma si puo trovare anche la pistol a particelle ($25), il vaporizzatore sonico ($30), il campo di forza in mylar ($12), un’arma “a protoni” ($20), il dispositivo per leggere nel pensiero  ($99.50) o una pinna meccanico ($39). I piu creative possono anche acquistare il fluido per la clonazione ($9) e il cuore cibernetico ($16.25).

Vuoi essere un supereroe? Ecco I criteri per l’ammissone.

Chi non ha mai fantasticato di combattere il crimine e debellare spaventosi nemici? Non e facile come sembra: per essere accettati nel Registro mondiale die supereroi (www.worldsuperheroregistry.com), e godere del privilegio di una scheda personale, con il proprio nome, area d’azione, abilita speciali, bisogna obbedire a tre regole indergabili.

I precetti degli eroi. Primo: non valgono ne autocandidature ne raccomandazioni. Per iscriversi bisogna essere contattati direttamente dal Registro mondiale, in seguito a una comprovata (attraverso ritagli di giornale o testimonianze dirette di rappresntanti legali) attivita di supereroe. Secondo: l’unica motivazione personale ammessa e la disinteressata vocazione al bene dell’umanita (quindi un candidate non pruo rievere incentive economici di alcun tipo, ne essere stipendiato per la sua attivita o rappresentare associazioni esterne, anche sense scopo di lucro). Terzo: il costume da supereroe non serve a proteggere solo l’anonimato ma e “simbolo indossabile” dei valori a difesa dell’umanita; sono dunque vietati I costume volgari e inappropriate.

Translation to English via Google

With just a suit (or a pair of knickers), a cape and a mask to be like Batman and Man Spider or so.

Those “all members; Roll” is about 200. Defend old women, are fighting dangerous workers, are first aid and … shovel snow.
Rampant crime, corruption and stele, pollution grows, get free of terrorism inernazionale hovering at all airports. It would take Superman to save us … And in fact there. Indeed, there are more than one. Although it may seem incredible ache watch over those who think mankind is just good stuff bumetti wrong.
Worldwide, there are nearly 200 heroes in the flesh, who invented a name altettanto suggestive of that of Batman and Spider or the man wearing a costume to the task, Hamm decided to fight injustice and defend the weak. Or at least try. Met in Real Life World Superhero Registry, ie, the first official list of superheroes by real, born in 2005.

From Comics to facts. The phenomenon has at least four founders. Among them, Mexico City, Superbarrio Gomez and genuine celebrity in tight red lycra dress, knickers and coat the Golden physical portly, his face covered by a mask wrestler “luchador”, fighting for workers’ rights Mexican and always at the forefront of protest marches. In New York, however, already famous and terrifying for some years, champion of women’s security, patrolling and local bar armed with irritating pepper spray, cell phone and camera.

Equally impressive, although his identity is secret, Angle-Grinder Man (literally: Angle Grinder Man), in blue overalls and boots with gold, notes that the patrol car in parking ban dis dale shoes made by the brigade. Not to mention Captain Ozone, Belfast, superhero ecologist in cappuccino and long blue coat, black coat and that after the last psalm ni battalglie in defense of the tablets and recycling of water, figure among the organizers of Green ufficialmnte Poer Rally Mega peaceful defense can show that renewable energy will take place simultaneously in Canada and the United States on July 31 next.

There are those who help the police with anonymous reporting.

From Scorpion green Zetaman. Go down to the register of superhero, one thing is clear: the tiny original group and went multiplying. Names of art and the tip of the heroes of mission (just “super” but very “useful”) lack the imagination ninth in Canada by Polar Man (Man Polar), ready to splare rovinsoe to avoid the snow falls for the elderly; Dale shares of Cincinnati Shadow Hare (Hare shadow), that with the masks on the face near the protégé homeless in Oregon there Zetaman (man Zeta), Standard First Aid.

To ensure the citizens besieged by the bad guys, among others, are then Fox Fire (Fire Fox), a champion female transvestite leather coat and a mask near fox Dark Guardian (Dark Guardian), who wears a Venetian mask nose, and even the mysterious The Eye (the Occhini). But there are ache Green Scorpion (Scorpio green), which operates in New Mexico, Death’s Head Moth (Moth skull) in Virginia, and Mr. Silent (Silent), the angel of nights Illinois.

More recently the emergence of groups of superheroes such as “Black Monday Society (Society of mere Monday) in Utah, the Great Lakes Heroes Guild (the guild of heroes of the Great Lakes) mello Sato of Wisconsin and in New York the Heroes Network (network GEGL Heroes) based dall’amomino Thothian, which chose as superavversario even Osama Bin Laden.

But who is behind suits, masks and capes? The vast maggiroanza superhero in the flesh olteroceano prosperous. << say experts interviewed by American networks like CNN and Cbe, >>. And it was the policy of citizenship raffrorzato attivca launched by President Barack Obama.

No weapons and plenty of networking. To guard against the possibility of infiltration of violent, reckless, or gustizeri DIY “among their ranks, the official rules of the Dawn World of superheroes down strict criteria for entry (see box on this page) and limits the penalty radiation, no use of real weapons, first. It instead weapons and plastic knives, and self-defense techniques. Moreover, even if they do not stop with the hand aerie veocia leave most of the light, these rivals Superman’s some risk it running anyway. To exchange tips and advice, and to meet their fans hunting for updates on the executioner peripherals companies, many of them use social netork MySpace.

The growing prpolarita some of them, without necessarily having superpowers ambitions more limited than those of superhero comics, but raises doubts. <<Giampelmo Schiaragola noted writer, author of two humorous handbook for aspiring superheroes, >>.

While some songna even to defeat bin Laden

And in Naples, Entomo fight crime and pollution. Among his mission: to help in emergency waste

The man-insect Naples. And in Italy? The uncia superhero home nell’anagrafe official admitted, and Entomo: Man insect that watches over the city of Naples. His motto: “Hear my buzz, my bite themes: inject justice.” He has 32 years, and active since 2007, and his identity and secret. It has a pale green insect costume, with dark sleeves, chest stylized symbol of the Greek letter “sigma” and fights crime and pollution through (he said) its three arms: The meaning developed as those of insects, of Techichi self-defense and anonymous reporting to the police.

<< recentemete he said in an interview with the newspaper The Reforma. Entomo argues that his custom games as a diversion, surprising and distracting the attackers, using a technique called Krav Maga self-defense to disarm enemies, and intimidate without ferifli. Among them the most recent mission, the garbage emergency in Naples: >>. A modus operandi illegal, at least Italy, where by law (n. 152 of 1975) and vines appear masked in public places. << obiettta Entomo. << And to those who aspire to emulate companies, advises: >>.

Super Boutique

Eora what I wear?. The question can also be superheroes. For this reason, New York, and founded the first boutique dedicated to the heroes of humanity, where you can buy custom costume, masks, those who alter weapons and accessories: you chimama Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., and also um undergraduate catalog online . Quache idea? A classic superhero cape, superhero-or I help, Silk Glitter (ie full of glitter). Has a price ranging from $ 35 a 22:01. Never without pui. But you can also find the gun particles ($ 25), the vaporizer sonic ($ 30), the force field Mylar ($ 12), a weapon “proton” ($ 20), the device to read minds ($ 99.50) or a mechanical fin ($ 39). The more creative can also buy the fluid for cloning ($ 9) and heart cybernetic ($ 16.25).

Want to be a superhero? Here are the criteria for ammissone.

Who has not fantasized about fighting crime and eradicating frightening enemies? Not easy as it seems to be accepted in the superhero day Global Registry (www.worldsuperheroregistry.com), and enjoy the privilege of a personal card with your name, area of action, special skills, we must obey three rules indergabili.

The precepts of the heroes. First, they are not worth candidate, nor recommendations. To enroll you must be contacted directly from the Global Registry, following a proven (through newspaper clippings and eyewitness accounts of rappresntanti legal) activities of superhero. Secondly, the only permissible motivation and selfless vocation for the good of humanity (thus not a candidate pruo rievere economic incentives of any kind, be they salaried for his activities or associations representing the external sense even for profit). Thirdly, the superhero costume is not only to protect the anonymity but “symbol wearable values in defense of humanity, are therefore prohibited the suit vulgar and inappropriate.