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<\/a>Our Own TEA KRULOS On Real Life Super-Heroes And How You Can Support His Book, HEROES IN THE NIGHT!<\/p><\/div> <\/a> Although I do appear in the book to share in my\u00a0adventures<\/span><\/a>, I appear more as a narrator than a central character. For most of the book I remain objective- I am presenting these people\u2019s stories and the reader will walk away with any number of impressions depending on how the story resonates with them personally. Some will probably shrug their shoulders and be apathetic, others will think it\u2019s a joke, and I think some will start wondering what\u00a0color<\/span><\/a> spandex will look best on them. Have you thought of becoming a real life superhero yourself? I first encountered Tea Krulo’s work in an\u00a0article he wrote almost a year ago in\u00a0The Boston Phoenix\u00a0spotlighting Real Life Superheroes in New England. It didn’t take long for me to contact him and ask him to joinForces of Geek.Fortunately, he accepted and his column on both this site and his own, are fascinating looks at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[1442,1703,1708,1828,1841,2181,2338,2605,2606],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI first encountered Tea Krulo’s work in an\u00a0article<\/a> he wrote almost a year ago in\u00a0The Boston Phoenix\u00a0spotlighting Real Life Superheroes in New England. It didn’t take long for me to contact him and ask him to joinForces of Geek.Fortunately, he accepted and his column on both this site and his own, are fascinating looks at a real life phenomenon. Tea is currently using Kickstarter to help generate financial support for his book,\u00a0Heroes In The Night\u00a0and shared some details about the project with FOG!<\/p>\n
\nWhat are real life superheroes?
\nExplaining what real life superheroes (RLSHs) are can be a complicated thing, since there are a number of different approaches. Generally speaking, they are people who invent their own costumed persona and then use that persona to do something in the real world- doing safety patrols looking for crime, detective work, charity events and fundraising, handing out supplies to the homeless, in general trying to do small scale superheroics to try to improve their neighborhoods.
\nI use the term \u201cmovement\u201d because simply defined a movement is a \u201cgroup of people working toward a common goal.\u201d In this case the common goal is trying to improve quality of life by helping those in need.
\nAre these people crazy? Do they think they have superpowers?
\nWell, I think that the people who sit on their ass and watch\u00a0TV<\/span><\/a> all day and whine about how terrible everything is- those are the crazy people. I will admit I\u2019ve run into some wild characters in the RLSH world, I don\u2019t think anyone will deny they exist. There are a small few who claim to have some psychic, “magick,” or metaphysical capabilities. Every group has \u201ccrazy uncles\u201d though, and the more interesting story to me was that most of these people are pretty normal, have regular jobs, families, are going to school, some are military, and they are fully aware that they are human beings and face the same limitations we all do.
\nWhat approach does your book take? How is it different than potential other books about real life superheroes being worked on?
\nMy book,\u00a0Heroes in the Night, is based on three strong points-\u00a0research<\/span><\/a>, extensive interviewing, and field work. I\u2019ve tried to find people doing something similar to this as far back as I can, interviewed well over a hundred RLSHs and associates by phone and e-mail, and traveled to meet RLSHs in Minneapolis and Rochester, MN, New Bedford, MA, New York City, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver. I\u2019ve also spent a lot of time with the local RLSHs here in my home town of Milwaukee, WI.<\/p>\n<\/a>Knight Owl, Zetaman, Runebringer, and Life (with Dark Guardian in the background)at the Superheroes Anonymous 3\u00a0conference<\/span><\/a> in New Bedford, MA<\/div>\n
\nWho are your favorite real life superheroes?
\nI don\u2019t really have a favorite. Real life superheroes are like snowflakes- all unique in their own way. Everyone I\u2019ve gotten to meet in person has been really great. I\u2019ve spent the most time with my local RLSHs, The Watchman and Blackbird, patrolling my own neighborhood. I\u2019ve had them over to my house many times and gotten to know them pretty well. I will continue to support them long after my book is on shelves. I\u2019ve met about 25-30 RLSHs in person and my experiences with all of them have been good.
\nIs there such a thing as real life supervillains?
\nHa! There are, but you don\u2019t need to fear for your safety. I think it\u2019s inevitable that not everyone is a RLSH fan, for whatever reasons, so \u201creal life supervillains\u201d began to appear, mocking the heroes\u00a0online<\/span><\/a> via blogs and YouTube videos. For some I think it is just goofing around making fun of people, others like to try and find hypocritical or unheroic behavior to attack them with.
\nI am in regular contact with some of them. I don\u2019t always agree with what they say, but I don\u2019t necessarily agree with everything heroes say either- in my experience surrounding yourself with people that only agree with you is very limiting.<\/p>\n<\/a>Tea Krulos on patrol with Geist in Rochester, MN<\/div>\n
\nYes, indeed. I remember like ten years ago, a friend of mine was viciously mugged on her way to meet her friends at a bar. I had sort of a day dream of myself dressed up like Batman, jumping out of the shadows to save her. So I can see the appeal- creating a mysterious alter ego seems adventurous and fun. I think that is something these guys don\u2019t mention always- it\u2019s fun. I don\u2019t really have the right abs to pull off spandex, but definitely I\u2019ve found myself thinking \u201calright- this guy\u2019s mask with this guy\u2019s armor, maybe in a darker shade of blue\u2026\u201d
\nWhy are you trying to raise money through Kickstarter?
\nI\u2019d really like to do it myself and have creative control over it. I know enough qualified people to help me make it happen. There is a substantial amount of cost to make it happen the right way, so I decided to raise funds via the site Kickstarter. At one of the most basic levels this allows people to pre-order a signed copy of the book for $35 dollars, and other levels allow people to get a preview of the book and even a custom ordered mask of their own from Hero-Gear. Jack of Hero-Gear has designed countless RLSH masks and suits.
\nBeing in control also lets me do whatever I want with the books and the money made on them. For instance, I have committed to donating a proceed of the books and related merchandise to charity.
\nYou can find out more about the Kickstarter and preorder a book\u00a0HERE<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"