![\"Photos](\"http:\/\/reallifesuperheroes.info\/rlsh-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/sa_article01.jpg\")
<\/a>Photos by Paul Quitoriano<\/p><\/div> Photos by Paul Quitoriano<\/p><\/div>
\nOriginally posted in Death + Taxes Magainze MarchApril 2010 issue
\nScanned pages:
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\nMissing page 3- Admin<\/em>
\nBy Breena Ehrlich
\nHollywood abounds with stories these days. But somewhere out there just beyond the shadows, from New York City to Mexico City to New Bedford, Massachusetts, lurks a bona fide, HONEST TO GOD NETWORK OF REAL REAL \u2013LIFE SUPERHEROES. <\/strong>They are not Watchmen. They are not even Kick-Ass or Red Mist. No bullet-proof vest, no Chinese stars. These are normal people- students, bankers, what have you. They just happen to patrol over society in costume, fighting crime and doing good deeds under aliases like Life and The Dark Guardian. They are Superheroes Anonymous. For real.
\nWhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d Life asks, ambling up to a pair of cops as they peer though the dusty glass doors of a seemingly abandoned building. The copes turn around, take in the young man\u2019s young face; he looks like one of the Culkin brothers- like that kind from Igby Goes Down<\/em>. The kid\u2019s fedora is set at a jaunty angle, his black cargo pants are tucked into black jungle boots, his backpack weighs down his shoulders, even though they\u2019re thrown back confidently. He looks like a Brooklyn-dweller. A college student. A kid. Perhaps a nosy kid, the kind that watched too many cops shows as a kid. They probably don\u2019t notice the black mask hanging from his belt loop, or the tzitzis poking out the bottom of his black winter coat.
\nOne of the cops, a jowly man with buzzed hair and a gently swelling belly, gives Life a slight smile. \u201cWE got a call. Some woman can\u2019t get a hold of her husband who\u2019s a security guard. She says she works here, but this place seems abandoned,\u201d he answers with surprising candor and a perfectly stereotypical New York Accent.
\n\u201cYeah,\u201d says the other cop, running his hand over his slicked-back gray hair, which still has comb tracks in it from earlier grooming. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s tap on the windows. That means it\u2019s abandoned, right?\u201d
\nThe copes continue to peer though the darkened windows as Life jumps down to inspect a basement-level door. The radios on their belts buzz and crackle: \u201cThe missing child is approximately four feet tall, wearing a striped sweater. The suspect-\u201c Life joins the copes on the steps in mutual consideration of the darkened building, a gray stone apartment building near the Columbia University campus- close enough to Riverside Park that the assemblage can feel the cold air off the water buffeting their backs and faces. The jowly cop\u2019s cheeks are red.
\nThe men in blue bang on the door a few times and then turn to Life with equally stern brows. \u201cStand back,\u201d says the gray haired cop and positions his shoulders as if to break the door down. Life hops back a little and the cops laugh. \u201cJust Kidding,\u201d Comb Tracks says.
\n\u201cSo are you a student?\u201d Jowls inquires, apparently in no hurry to solve the mystery of the missing security guard.
\n\u201cNo, actually I\u2019m a Real-Life Superhero, Life says with a slight smile, fingering the mask that hangs from his side. The cops look at each other with raised eyebrows and more than a hint of amusement.
\n\u201cOh yeah? Well, can you tell us where Columbia security is?\u201d Jowls says with a brief smile. \u201cMaybe they can help us figure out where this guard is
\nLife gives them directions and follows them to their car,\u201d I can get in and go with you guys if you\u2019d like\u2026\u201d he says, lingering near the cruiser.
\n\u201cHa, ha, nah,\u201d says Jowls. \u201cThanks.\u201d The cops drive off into the night, leaving Life and his backpack in front of the darkened building.
\nWith the squad car disappears the glimmer of danger, the opportunity to race off in the night, the blue and red flashing. In a movie or a comic book this would be the point where our hero\u2019s story really heats up: He discovers that the mission guard has been captured by an evil avenger with a rampant disdain for any and all authority figures- and now the poor old man is being held hostage in some fortress in the dark recesses of Governor\u2019s Island. And because the bumbling cops neglected to adequately hunt for clues our hero is tasked with his safe return. But this is not a move. This is no adaptation- just plain old New York. \u00a0IN the realm of the real, Life watched the cruiser disappears into the night, sighs a puff of cold-etched air, and jaywalks across the street. As he hops from the sidewalk, his boots clearing the curb, he indulges a brief exclamation: \u201cZing!\u201d
\nLIFE A.K.A. CHAIM LAZAROS is a real-life superhero- designation that would likely cause many a reader to snort in derision or laugh in abject mockery. Visions of plump, sad comic book fans in spandex leap to mind- images of computer geeks wandering around darkened streets, desperately seeking some nefarious B-level crime to debunk. That\u2019s not Life. Life is a do-gooder. He doesn\u2019t fight crime per se<\/em>– he takes to the streets and provides aid to the poor souls who many of us outright ignore: the homeless.
\nIn a sense, this is his superpower. Where comic superheroes might manifest their powers through a supernatural affinity for controlling the weather or assuming arachnid capabilities, Life\u2019s chosen specialty is the homeless- although he\u2019s the first to admit that he doesn\u2019t actually have any special abilities. \u201cI hate when people ask where my cape is,\u201d Life says. \u201cCapes are stupid and ineffective. No one flies\u2026 I don\u2019t have any super powers,\u201d he adds. \u201cI\u2019m just a person. A poor, young person in New York City- and I help a lot of people. I\u2019m not special.\u201d Nevertheless, as his name suggests, Life provides sustenance and, well, life, to the downtrodden, specializing in a particular realm of aid- and to do so he tapes into his two natural abilities: kindness and an aptitude for spin. Life is a natural PR man, an organizer who uses the aesthetic of the super hero, the sheer flashiness of the concept, to attract others to his cause.
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\nLife is one of the heads of Superheroes Anonymous, a collective of citizen who have made it their mission to do good by the world. Some do it in much the same way as Coalition for the Homeless or Habitat for Humanity, and some do it with the more dangerous, risky flair of vigalantes- but they all do it in costume. Each year it holds a sizable conference during which heroes from all over the world assemble. So far there have been three conferences: one in Times Square, New York City, one in New Orleans, and the most recent in New Bedford, Massachusetts, also known as The Secret City due to its large volume of unsolved homicides.
\nSuperheroes Anonymous, which coalesced into its current state in 2007, hardly marks the first incarnation of real-life superhero-dom, although it is probably the most organized superhero affiliation. According to a history written by Hardwire, a hero from Greensboro, North Carolina, the first real-life superhero date back to the seventeenth century- his name was William Lamport, or Zorro. The modern ideal of real-life heroes started to solidify in the seventies with Captain Sticky, a man by the name of Richard Pesta who would patrol San Diego in a bubble-topped Lincoln clad in blue tights and a cape, working to launch investigations into elder care. And then there was Rick Rojatt, a daredevil known as The Human Fly, whose entire family was killed in a car crash that left him temporarily crippled. The nineties heralded the arrival of Marco Rascon Cordova, a Mexico City resident who became Superbarrio and championed the poor and working class, and Terrifica, a New Yorker who took it upon herself to protect drunken women from unwanted advances. And then there\u2019s Civitron, a father and former counselor for children in transition who patrols New Bedford, Massachusetts with his son, The Mad Owl, a superhero-in-the-making with a love for woodland creatures.
\nIn short, this underground community was flourishing, the network reaching across the world. But it was a fractured connection; these do-gooders mostly communicated via Internet forums and MySpace pages, connected only through the currents of the digital age- until Life came along.
\nLike all superheroes, life has his own creation myth, which more closely mirrors that of the famed comic book authors that of yore than the apocryphal tales of Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. Like the majority of old-school creators- immigrants and children of immigrants who invented heroes to battle the myriad woes of their woes- Lazaros is a Jew, the son of an Orthodox rabbi who has seven children in all. The second \u2013oldest child, Lazaros is kind of the black sheet. \u201cHe\u2019s a very idealistic kid and he has a lot of pity on people that are downtrodden and homeless. He\u2019s a do-gooder and he wants to do go,\u201d his father says, recalling how, as a child, Life took on his entire bunk at sleepaway camp when they were picking on smaller boy.\u00a0 Still, he hasn\u2019t quite taken the path that his father would like him to.\u201d I thought it was more like a hobby,\u201d his father says of Life\u2019s superheroing. \u201cBut it became a very major part of his life. And obviously as a parent I think there are more important priorities. He\u2019s just turned twenty-five. I\u2019d like to see him get married. I\u2019d like to see him have some kind of a vocation that earns a living. This is a nice thing to do on the side, you know, if you have another career. You have a family and you want to do something like this in your free time, that\u2019s okay. But I don\u2019t think it should be taking up the main part of your time.\u201d
\nBefore he became Life, Chaim was on a path that any proud Orthodox papa would approve of. He attended Yeshiva University- a college that focuses on Jewish scholarship- in New York for one year before deciding that he was too smart for the religious school. He also wanted to study film. He applied to NYU and got in (twice), but his family didn\u2019t have the money to send him. So he left college and worked at one of the country\u2019s top ad agencies, J Walter Thompson, where he executed the mindless task of paying invoices before realizing that he wasn\u2019t going anywhere. He had been attending Brooklyn College at night and living in Crown Heights when his girlfriend suggested he apply to Columbia. He got in, they provided him with ample scholarships, and he was able to follow his chosen path: film studies. Little did he know that becoming a superhero would also be apart of his course of study.
\nThree years ago, Chaim\u2019s friend Bend Goldman, a senior at New York\u2019s New School, saw a sign reading \u201cReal Life Superheroes\u201d outside a comic book store. He was intrigued, so he Googled the term. The sign turned out to be an advertisement for a drawing class, but Goldman\u2019s internet search revealed the rich history of the movement. Both film students, Lazaros and Goldman decided that the subject was ripe for documentation. \u201cThis whole project started off as a documentary,\u201d Ben says. \u201cIt’s like a case of Gonzo Journalism where the documentarian becomes the subject, especially with Chaim, since he became a superhero through the project.\u201d
\n\u201cThey\u2019re very isolated in all these different communities and only communicate through MySpace and stuff like that,\u201d Chaim says, \u201cThere had been a few very small meet-ups, but it was really this Internet culture. Basically we realized that if we made the first all-encompassing gathering of all the superheroes, then we would be able to shoot a documentary in a day.\u201d
\nAnd so it began- the first meeting of Superheroes Anonymous. For Chaim, the convention became an all-consuming task. He barely slept. He lost fifteen pounds. He dedicated every moment to orchestrating a massive gathering to take place in New York\u2019s Time Square. And then the duo hit a snag.
\n\u201cThere was a lot of this bullshit started by this one particular superhero that founded the biggest forum on the Internet for superheroes. He\u2019s named Tothian,\u201d Chaim says, \u201cAt the time he was respected just because he was a moderator of this forum he started.\u201d
\nTothian is a mysterious figure who resided in New Jersey and likes to keep his persona under wraps. On Facebook, his name is simply Tothian ApmhibiousKnight- He refuses to reveal his real name- and his burred picture shows a man with close-cropped hair, wearing what appears to be armor or a bulletproof vest. \u201cI\u2019ve been patrolling since I was about five years old,\u201d Tothian says. \u201cI knew form as early on in life as I can remember that I would be doing this, not as a game,\u201d he adds. \u201cWhen I was sixteen I graduated from a military high school. At seventeen I joined the Marine Reserves as an Infantryman. I\u2019ve trained in various styles of martial arts for many years. I study criminology, private investigating and foreign languages.\u201d Now Tothian, an ardent fan of Sherlock Holmes, patrols his local streets, striving to mitigate crime in hotspots like Newark, New Jersey. \u201cI make it a point to never set patterns in times nor patrol routs,\u201d Tothian says. \u201cI have to keep it randomized for two reasons: One I don\u2019t want people to work around my pattern. Two, I don\u2019t want people to track me down.\u201d
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