Tag Tennessee

Originally posted:http://io9.com/?_escaped_fragment_=5798467/the-real%2Blife-superheroes-of-salt-lake-city-are-charming-andor-terrifying
Cyriaque Lamar — We’ve seen a few real-life superheroes in recent times, including Seattle’s Phoenix Jones and Tennessee’s The Viper. Now, an eclectic mix of suburban dads and ex-hoodlums known as the Black Monday Society are patrolling Salt Lake City’s crime-strewn thoroughfares.
Unlike most spandex-clad homegrown heroes, members of the Black Monday Society dress like Slipknot. Also, the group has antiheroes amongst its ranks, such as the former gang member Fool King and a man known only as “Assylum”:

The hero “Assylum,” who wears a black head mask with a grotesque painted on smile, says he came from a sorted [sic] past. He says he sought out drug users who owed money. “If you got so much in drugs and didn’t pay your money, I was the dude that showed up at 3 in the morning and beat you until you got the money,” he says.

My favorite though is Professor Midnight, whose superpower is total anonymity — nobody knows his real name! Despite carrying tasers and pepper spray, The Black Monday Society aren’t vigilantes. They mete out justice with well-timed phone calls to the cops, aid bags for homeless folks, and a Medico Della Peste.

The Police vs. Viper

In what is surely just the first shot fired in the inevitable war between the authorities and masked vigilantes, the police of Columbia, Tennessee have demanded that the local superhero, the Viper, cease his activities in the fair southern U.S. city. The move, reported by ABC News, recalls the harsh actions of government authorites in Watchmen, where the notorious Keane Act outlawed all masked crimefighters in the United States. Things aren’t quite as violently oppressive in the quiet city of Columbia – where, the ABC reporter takes care to note, there are many pigeons – but it is very much against the law to wear masks on the street. As such, the mysterious Viper has found himself S.O.L.
Garbed in a Power Rangers-esque costume of green tights and a mask, the Viper told ABC News, “I’m not in it for the ‘wow’ factor.” But while the Viper only wishes to inspire his fellow Columbians to do the right thing, the local police saw things differently. “My future endeavors are limited right now, since i’m confined to headquarters,” he said, deppressingly.
The events in Columbia do not bode well for other real-life superheroes like Phoenix Jones, especially as their flamboyant actions continue to draw attention from the media and perhaps undermine the authority of the police. In any case, ComicsAlliance will continue to monitor the situation.
Xeno be with you, Viper. We join the good citizens of Columbia, Tennessee in awaiting your defiant return to action.
[Via ABC News]

Orignially posted: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/Amateur-Superhero-The-Viper-Protects-Tennessee-Town-1565/
By Max Fisher
Tennessee’s unemployed–10.3 percent of the workforce–are coming up with new and clever ways to fill their days. One man in the small town of Columbia who is almost certainly jobless has even become a superhero. Dubbing himself The Viper and donning a green suit and mask, he has so far only succeeded in annoying the local police, who say he violates an ordinance against wearing masks in public places.
The Viper has plenty of crime to fight. Columbia’s violent crime rate in 2008 was 1,235 incidents per 100,000 residents, less than nearby Nashville and Memphis but still high for a town of Columbia’s size. So even Columbia’s skeptical residents are willing to embrace the hope of a new, Viper-led era of peace. Columbia bike shop owner A.C. Howell told the local NBC affiliate, “I don’t know. He needs something to do. Probably needs a job.” But Howell added, “I hope he’s looking out for my benefit. I hope he’s guarding my store.”
Who is the caped crusader? Skyler Swisher of the Columbia Daily Herald secured a phone interview with the Viper, who one assumes was calling from his Viper Cave 100 feet beneath the Earth. Or maybe from his dorm room.

By day, he’s a mild-mannered college student studying chemistry. But at night, he becomes the Viper, a superhero looking to stamp out crime in Columbia.
Christian Tyler Hardee, 20, caught the attention of Columbia police officers when they spotted him wearing a mask and green-and-black tights about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near the Bicycle Shop on the Square.
… Hardee, a self-professed comic book nerd, said he knows he’s just a regular college student without super-human powers, and his behavior might be viewed as strange by some. But for Hardee, dressing as a superhero is a way to inspire the community to stand against wrongdoing and perform acts of charity.
“I am just a guy trying to do what is right, in tights,” he said.