Tag Marvel Comic

Originally posted: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hbos-real-life-superheroes-are-gallant-yet-unsettlingly-goofy/2011/08/05/gIQAnjyz0I_story.html

Here they come to save the .?.?. well, that’s the problem with adopting the secret lifestyle and ethical codes of a “real-life superhero”: Nobody requires your services nearly as much as you’re hoping to provide them.Ultimately, as we learn in Michael Barnett’s compelling yet conflicted HBO documentary “Superheroes,” today’s supermen (and the occasional wonder woman) wind up handing out rolls of toilet paper to homeless people.
In “Superheroes,” which airs Monday night, Barnett travels the country to profile a handful of the 300 or so self-styled characters who are attempting to live a comic-book ideal. These are not the people you’ve seen at amusement parks and Comic-Con and along Hollywood Boulevard, who are simply playing dress-up for photo-ops. Something in the comics lore has spoken to real-life superheroes on a personal level, and they are serious — if perhaps a touch delusional. They see society as troubled, and they are especially disenchanted with law enforcement. “The N.Y.P.D., even the government is completely unreliable,” says Lucid, a Brooklyn-based superhero.Mr. Xtreme, a lonely San Diego bach­elor and frustrated jujitsu student, works by day as a security guard and spends his evenings wearing padded green-and-yellow regalia (including a limp polyester cape and a bug-eyed helmet), prowling the streets, searching for a sexual predator the TV news stations have dubbed “the Chula Vista Groper.”Meanwhile, in Orlando, the eccentric Master Legend drives around in a beat-up van and offers his services to the downtrodden, stopping frequently to treat himself to a can of beer from the ice chest he keeps in the back.Back in Brooklyn, Lucid and his more edgy clutch of masked avengers — they go by Z, Zimmer and a heroine named T.S.A.F. (which she says stands for “The Silenced and Forgotten”) — like to skateboard the city’s streets in the wee hours, hoping to attract muggers.Barnett employs an appealing style of comic-book panel animation to enliven the narrative transitions and give viewers a heightened sense of the ad­ven­ture that the heroes imagine themselves having — even if none of their adventures necessarily pan out.
Zimmer, a gay man who chooses not to wear a mask or use a hero name because it reminds him of being in the closet, glams himself up in hopes of luring nighttime gay-bashers. Lucid and the others wait in the shadows to come to his aid. When that doesn’t work, T.S.A.F. dons a miniskirt and lipstick and tries her luck at baiting rapists.
This tendency toward entrapment is where things get creepy, despite the tender care “Superheroes” takes to understand its subjects without mocking them. Many superheroes exhibit depressingly sour feelings about the larger world. They like to keep photos of Kitty Genovese on their walls and refrigerators for inspiration. She was the New York woman stabbed to death 47 years ago as dozens of witnesses overheard (and ignored) her screams. Genovese’s murder set off a popular and lasting notion of an uncaring, indifferent society.
What the superheroes in “Super­heroes” seem to willfully ignore is the remarkable drop in violent crime statistics over the past two decades — to say nothing of the post-Sept. 11 Homeland Security era that lit up our nights with security cameras and deputized every smartphone owner with the ability to upload crimes in progress to YouTube, which has helped catch miscreants of all kinds.
Yet things get darker (and dorkier) during a montage scene in which super­heroes proudly show Barnett the assorted weapons they’ve incorporated into their spandex ensemble: knives, nunchucks, sharp spikes, Tasers, retractable batons, maces, pepper sprays, blinding spotlights and lasers.
They’re all dying for some action, which has a way of making them seem more marginal, and embittered. A San Diego police lieutenant worries that these self-anointed vigilantes are going to hurt themselves (or hurt someone else); a psychologist wonders about their depend­ence on an alter ego.
Although the movie ends on a somewhat brighter note — following the heroes as they look after the homeless in their communities — even Stan Lee, the father of the Marvel Comics universe, expresses bafflement at these wannabes. If Stan Lee thinks you’re extreme, you might want to chill.
Superheroes
(83 minutes) airs Monday at 9 p.m. on HBO.

Originally posted: http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/04/how-to-be-a-superhero.php
By James Heffernan – [email protected]
Former Spider-Man actor provides motivational address at Apple Blossom
WINCHESTER — As a soft-spoken, undersized farm boy growing up in Minnesota, Tom Schenck would shine a flashlight under the covers at night and live vicariously through the pages of comic books, whose larger-than-life heroes not only kept him entertained, but also taught him strong values.
“It wasn’t just their power, their superhuman strength, their X-ray vision. … They did what was right when it was important to do it,” he said. “They didn’t hesitate. They had courage. They had tenacity. And they never gave up.”
Those are lessons that Schenck, now an acclaimed motivational speaker known as “Tom Terrific,” says can be applied to one’s personal and professional life.
“If it’s the right thing to do, and it’s the right thing to do now, do it, whether it’s in relationships, with colleagues or in business,” he advised a group of about 300 local business leaders Wednesday at the Valley Health Fast Forward Business Luncheon on the campus of Winchester Medical Center.
Schenck said his first true superhero was his mother, a teacher who set an example for him and his six siblings with her quiet strength, wisdom and unwavering devotion to people. With her as a guide, Schenck would go on to become a straight-A student, champion collegiate wrestler — just missing the 1980 U.S. Olympic team — Ivy League graduate, master body builder, wellness expert, national sales champion and headmaster of a private school for autistic children.
As a young actor in New York, Schenck landed his dream job portraying Spider-Man for Marvel Comics. The promotional role would take him around the world and instill in him the importance of being a real-life superhero, not just for himself, but to others.
Just as Spider-Man has a nemesis in the Green Goblin, everyone has villains in life in the form of adversity, Schenck said, but they can be crushed by attacking each day with gratitude, passion and action, he said.
“All of you in this room can be superheroes,” he said. “You all have some combination of talent and skills that makes you unique. And the world needs you.”
But first you have to train to be a superhero, he cautioned.
The first stage involves finding and reconnecting with the people who believe in you and inspire you, whether they be a family member, a friend or a teacher. The second stage consists of identifying your superpowers and honing them. The final stage, and the most important, according to Schenck, means becoming someone else’s superhero — what he calls “guardianship.”
Just being a positive force is “absolutely intoxicating” and will draw people to you, he said.
And in an age when consumers have come to expect less, businesses and organizations can set themselves apart by going out of their way to create a bond with their customers and make them feel appreciated, he said.
After the talk, Schenck signed copies of his new book, “The Superhero Factor.”
Randy Collins, president and CEO of the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber, one of the sponsors of the event, said Schenck’s message is timely in what for many has been a difficult business climate.
“If they maintain a positive attitude and they look from within, they have all the skills they need to succeed not only in life, but also in running their businesses,” he said.
Jacqueline Post, with Valley Health’s Occupational Health Services, agreed.
“I think we got some nice tips on how to attack our villains in the workplace and in life,” she said.
“And don’t wait,” added Aimee Price, regional safety manager with Greatwide Dedicated Transport in Front Royal. “It pays to deal with your villains right away.”

Originally posted: http://b4manconsulting.com/?p=133
In the past few weeks, I’ve seen a few news stories about real life superheroes. There is even a website. One particular costume-clad, caped crusader has been visible in the national media. His name, Phoenix Jones. Our hero has evoked strong opinions about his role in being a crime fighter. Law enforcement agencies worry that he could cause volatile situations to get worse. Imagine a group of buddies that have had too much to drink, and this guy shows up to keep them from driving until police arrive. The hosts of morning talk shows have interviewed and laughed at the prospect of heroes like Phoenix, Green Reaper, Buster Doe or Thunder 88 trying to stop crime in their fair city.
The other reaction is to understand from where these Do Gooders come. Why are they placing themselves in harm’s way. Unlike Marvel Comic’s heroes, these are ordinary people who cannot leap a tall building or stop a runaway locomotive. A well placed bullet or repeated blows to the head can kill them, just as it would you or me. So why? The Real Life Superheroes website says this:

“The Real Life Superheroes work to make the world a better place by doing civic activities, charity work, public safety patrols, hospital visits, school talks, distributing wanted and missing person fliers, helping the homeless, community clean-ups, and more. From crime fighting to charity work real life superheroes seek to help make a positive difference in their communities.”

These are noble ambitions and ones that I think most of us can appreciate. So how do we respond when one of these masked men becomes the victim. Earlier in January, that very thing happened to Phoenix, who in real life, kisses his children as he puts them in bed and then heads out for patrol. Two men assaulted Jones at gunpoint. One trained the gun on him, while the other broke his nose.
As I watched the story unfold and reader responses to it, there were many who laughed at Seattle’s guardian, while others applauded his heroism. Another hero came to mind though, this one much less likely, but one who’s name is often evoked.
The Good Samaritan crossed cultural stigmas of classism and religious legalism to rescue a stranger he found left for dead in a ditch. The Gospel writer Luke tells the parable in Chapter 10. After being beaten and robbed, a man was left in a ditch. Two different religious leaders left the man there, even crossing to the other side of the road to avoid him.  Their reasons were solely those of religious doctrine. The third man, a Samaritan, stepped in to save the day. This hero is unlikely because the people reading this parable would consider the Samaritan the least worthy of such honor in a story. Samaritans were viewed as ethnically and religiously inferior to the ruling class Jews. Not only did he bandage the man, but he also paid for his care at a local inn.
At the end of telling the story, Jesus tells his audience to go and be as merciful as the Samaritan had been.  So what do a Samaritan and Real Life Superheroes have in common? Read the quote from the RLS website again. Perhaps too much has been made of one vigilante’s noble (or insane) quest to protect the city. The real heroic action has been in the community service of the heroes: visiting hospitals, community clean-ups, missing person flier distribution, work with the homeless.
That work defines the real superhero to me. People who give their time and energy to their passions without hope for recognition, quietly preparing meals at a homeless shelter, visiting at hospital bedsides, making a playground safe for children, etc. People who lead their organizations to provide from the richness of their resources to improve the lives of those without basic needs being met. Community organizers who work tirelessly to know the needs around them and call upon the assets of the community to meet them. There are millions of real life superheroes out there. You can identify some from your own life story.
So what is our call to action? To go and do likewise!