Archives February 2011

Originally posted: http://www.semana.com/noticias-gente/luchar-justicia/152468.aspx
A phenomenon in the streets of the various cities, walking the line between reality and fiction. These are the Superheroes, 100’s of average citizens who fight against evil, dressed in trousers, capes, and mask.
It’s one o’clock in the morning, two drunken gang members are exchanging insults, punches and kicks in a park in Milwaukee, USA. Then suddenly someone who was hidden behind the trees steps out of the shadows and shouts “Stop what you are doing!” The two youths remain frozen, suspended staring at the man dressed in black wearing a red mask with “W” on his chest, who with hands on his waist, threatening to intervene if they don’t stop the fight. The scene isn’t from a comic nor from a movie, it’s any day in the life of “The Watchman,” an average, big guy who is currently 35yrs old, who by day works in an office and by night walks the streets of his neighborhood to “fight against crime”.
Watchman (vigilante) is a part of a movement known as the Real Life Super Heroes, a well organized 400 mortal men and women, who, like the business card for www.reallifesuperheroes.com says, an internet page that is used to connect them, choose everyday to mark a difference. They are not crackpots in costumes as it might seem at first glance. These modern heroes are our neighbors, our friends, our family members. They are artist, musicians, athletes and yes, politicians. The majority patrol the streets of their cities looking for thieves, rapist, and drug traffickers. Others hand out food to homeless, donate toys to sick children in hospitals or hand out copies of the constitution to transients so that they learn about their country. There are also others who care for prostitutes; protect drunken women in bars to prevent men from taking advantage of them.
All of them create their identities and costumes, which generally include a cape and mask. They also have their accessories to help them complete their missions, like a 1st responder’s first aid kit, pepper spray to drive off bad guys, and a cellular phone to call police in case of problems. Some go out alone and others in groups similar to the Justice League of Superman, Flash, the Green Lantern and company.
“It’s an incredible movement” a week ago commented Dark Guardian, superhero and administrator of reallifesuperheroes.com. “We help people, and fight crime, and do it with our own money”. Chirs Pollak is the real name of this New York teacher of martial arts who at night patrols the city to look for drug dealers who work in the parks. Chris feels he was a kid with lots of problems until he started to read comics and discovered what he wanted to be like the protagonist in these adventures. And so he bought a bullet proof vest, cut proof gloves, boots, shades, flashlight, and a megaphone, and went out to pursue delinquents.
The phenomenon of the superheroes that don’t fly and don’t have x-ray vision has grown during the last few years so much so that it has expanded into some European countries. In England, for example, the famous Statesman, a banker who cleans up the streets of London, and says the he has helped the police catch more than a few bad guys. It’s has been four years since publications like The New York Time or the magazine Rolling Stone started to publish articles on this theme. At that time it was calculated that there were approximately a 100. Two years later there was talk of 250, and today they say 400. Though they admit it is almost impossible to get an accurate number, for many youths join the movement week after week.
These superheroes of flesh and bone have become so famous that they already have a documentary movie, which premiered at the most recent Sundance film festival. They have also received photographical exposure thanks to Peter Tangen, who fell in love with the stories like that of Knight Owl, an anonymous EMT who served in Iraq and who after becoming a superhero decided to write a manual so that his colleagues could learn from firsthand knowledge. Peter has also covered the life of Mr. Xtreme, who after he was abused as a child decided that he needed to protect the defenseless and had been patrolling for some ten years now. Also that of Life, a film producer who every night wears his tie, mask and hat to food, soap, shavers and tooth brushes to the homeless in New York.
“I believe that the phenomenon has grown due to interest in comics, movies and TV series base on the theme. Also because many of us want to change the world and since we have always seen superheroes as powerful beings who can get the job done, who we try to emulate” commented Life to this publication. He organizes meetings for superheroes through the net site www.superheroesananymous.com, and who real name is Chaim Lazaros. “The Heroes have always been there, but only started to network with each other after the “hero boom” on the internet. In 2007 I united them to make a documentary and complete my transformation into one of them.”
Tea Krulos is an independent journalist who writes a blog called “justice seekers without superpowers,” and is finishing a book on the same theme he’s planning to call “Heroes in the Night”. Krulos says that the first real superheroes he found during his investigation was active during the 70’s. He was a fat man with a beard who was called Captain Sticky, and he was devoted to uncovering scandals. Years later, other appeared. Like the Mexican born Superbarrio, an ex-masked luchador who defended the housing rights of those injured in the earth quake of 1985 who participated in the presidential elections. Then the phenomenon kept growing until it became what it is today.
“One of the most amazing things about these superheroes is the range of people who participate in this is varied. There are rich, poor, Christians, Atheist” said Krulos about a week ago. But when they put on their outfit they are all the same. They see the wrong that is happening and say this nigh I will go out to help instead of staying home and watching TV.
But not all of them have had good luck in this. Like Dark Guardian who accounts to being threaten and having a gun pointed at him, even though nothing has happen to him yet. The British Newspaper, The Times, published a few years back a story about Mr. Invisible, a Californian who took years getting ready to hit the streets. When he finally did, he found himself confronted with a man yelling at his wife. He wanted to intervene, but the woman punch him in the face and broke his nose. Then he sat on the sidewalk and a beggar urinated on him. The publication commented, what has been done to confirm his invisibility.
For other the hardest part isn’t confronting delinquent but confessing to their love ones that they are superheroes. They explain that not everyone likes the idea of them going out dressed up at night. “Hey today isn’t Halloween!” someone yells at Watchman, he takes it with a sense of humor, it’s precisely his look that has saved him. “In general, Gang members get distracted with my outfit”, he says. “They laugh and they ask me what the hell I am. In a short while they forget they were fighting or causing problems”. And so he is satisfied that he completes his mission to “Make the world a safer place”.

The Wall Street Journal has recently come out with an article about a few real life superheroes disagreeing.  It was actually on the front page.  I believe it  is a pathetic article coming from the Wall Street Journal. The Journal is know for being an elite source of media and they stooped to the level of printing essentially a gossip column about real life superheroes.
The writer spoke to several real life superheroes and heard about some of the amazing work they do and even after continued to write a trash story.  The story focused on some minor disagreements between a few people in a much larger culture.  In any community or culture there are always people who disagree about things and the real life superhero community is no different.  It is really not a big deal and most certainly doesn’t warrant a news article, especially in the Wall Street Journal of all places.
The real story about real life superheroes is the work they do.  There is an amazing and inspirational story to be told which unfortunately was not.  People are going out on their own free time, spending money out of pocket, putting tons of effort in to going out to help others, put their lives on the line fighting crime, finding wrong to right, and making their communities & the world around them a better place.
There were many mis-characterizations about rlsh.  Phoenix Jones fed into it.  He is very unhappy about the way his words were used.  The reporter spent lots of time with him and cherry picked quotes and lead him into saying certain things.
Real Life Superheroes do all types of activities which the writer knew about, but decided to follow the slant of rlsh’s feed the homeless and do charity work while Phoenix Jones does hardcore crime-fighting.  He was trying to further create division and drama.
Fact is the real life superhero movement has been around since the 1970’s.  Many have stopped violent crime and many specifically work to combat violent crime. Real life superheroes have been risking their lives to help protect others, they have been in serious danger, injured, threatened, and so on, all to protect and help others.  Not all real life superheroes fight crime, some focus on homeless outreach, community service, and environmental issues. One must remember being a real life superhero is about making positive change in your community and not necessarily about being a tough guy and fighting crime.
This is a movement working to bring good deeds, community action, public and social awareness to problems, and create a better and brighter society.
The media can slant things the way they want, over-dramatize things, and try to create division, but they will not divide this culture because we are all united in working towards a better brighter tomorrow.
-Dark Guardian-
 

Not very exciting but warmming. A great article.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1266409597#!/notes/samaritan-prime/birth-of-a-super-hero/190316897668813
 

Originally posted: http://www.realitysandwich.com/real_life_super_heroes
By Elliot Edge
Costumed activists are engaging ideas of self and community on the online Super Hero Academy taking place this month. The Real Life Super Hero Project is inspiring others to regain not only a moral sense of self, but also engage the question of identity very seriously. It has been a longstanding problem that society forces folk to conform to a rigid identity within the socioeconomic machinations or face alienation, despite the disempowering limitations such prefabricated notions of the self offers. This is no doubt why video games, virtual communities, social networks, hyperindividualization have become the new empires: In real life, folk are doomed by their local consensus reality regardless of it’s observable stagnation, pathologies, obsolesce, and soullessness. Though these self-made heroes and heroines seem to be putting McKenna’s line, “You don’t have to be a victim of your culture,” into real world practice. We don’t and these people are the active proof.
Kevin Kelly, author of Out of Control and What Technology Wants “The major theme of this coming decade is going to be identity of self. Every time computers get more powerful they basically threaten our established understanding of our selves both in terms of who we are or who we could be…So I think the self is really going to undergo some transformation or expansion in the coming decade and we see that with like online games where the identity that people have with these personas and avatars is very intense in the sense of this being real a place that they come to for many hours a day may be realer…It’s very, very, very, very powerful evidence that our notions of self are under transition right now.”
Birthed from a half-century-old history culture of comic book culture and combining it with LARPing (Live Action Role Playing, think a Civil War reenactment only with capes and masks) with active participation in the community; the Real Life Super Hero Project takes us past the mere culture of reaction (e.g. blogging) and flings us back into action with a soul-satisfying POW! that world society has been waiting for. Though they don’t actively seek the role of vigilantism, they are true to their word do-gooders: delivering relief supplies to flood victims, bringing food to the homeless, returning lost purses, and perhaps most importantly inspiring others, especially children—life can be fun and meaningful at the same time.
Though critics may regurgitate the problem of the spectacle, the reality of our time is in the fact that most human beings in the first world have no contact with reality at all and that there world has been replaced by a conceptual hyperreality. Thus the vehicle of the spectacle is still necessary to reach sleepwalkers. As consciousness pioneer Tom Campbell has said, “If you’re going to communicate with somebody you have to start from wherever they are, not from wherever you are.” Once again, the imagination reigns supreme. As the aptly named Super Hero stated, “People would say, ‘Why do you do this?’ And I would say, ‘Well I’m a symbol and I fight apathy and all this stuff,’ but after a while I stopped lying to myself and said, ‘The reason why I do this is because it’s hella fun.’”

Phoenix Jones Fights Villains With a Taser, But Zetaman Thinks That’s None Too Safe
Originally posted: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164641263773656.html
By ASHBY JONES

“Superhero’ Phoenix Jones, top, uses a cell phone to help monitor possible crimes.

SEATTLE—Life isn’t easy for the self-proclaimed superhero who calls himself “Phoenix Jones, Guardian of Seattle.” A 22-year-old day-care worker by day, he dons a black-and-gold costume by night to harass drug dealers and break up street fights.
But he’s having a harder time dealing with his latest nemeses: members of the “Real Life Superhero” (RLSH) movement.
This world-wide collection mainly of grown men with names like Zetaman, Knight Owl, Dark Guardian, and Mr. Raven Blade, have taken to grumbling about Mr. Jones, who has recently been getting more publicity than they do, partly because of his aggressive style.
The RLSHers, many of whom stick to charitable works like delivering food to the homeless, are concerned that Mr. Jones’s physical approach might not reflect well on the superhero community, which has worked hard to convince people that it isn’t just a group of comic-book geeks with inflated notions of their own importance but, rather, a force for good in the world.
“For the first time, we have someone who agrees with our overall purpose but doesn’t agree with our methods,” says Knight Owl, a Portland, Ore., member of the RLSH world who, like the others, refuses to give out his real name.
“I suppose it was bound to happen, but it’s definitely a growing pain within the community.”
Mr. Jones, who declined to allow his real name to be published but whose back story checks out, dismisses the criticism. “I may be eccentric, but I’m not crazy,” he says. “I really am here to help the people of Seattle.”
Real Life Superheroes, who seem to favor masks and dark clothing—sometimes emblazoned with homemade logos (like the Superman “S”)—exist in pockets all over the world. Some, like Knight Owl and Thanatos, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, typically focus on charitable activities.
Others, such as New York’s Dark Guardian, patrol areas known for drug activity—a bit like the city’s old subway-riding Guardian Angels. Dark Guardian shines lights and takes videos to try to deter crime nonviolently, and he makes emergency calls to 911.
“Mostly, they’re relatively normal people trying to help out and have a little fun along the way,” says Tea Krulos, a Milwaukee writer working on a book about them.
Phoenix Jones is different. In the 10 months since he became prominent, he has shown a willingness to thrust himself into dangerous situations.
A mixed martial-arts fighter, he broke his nose last month while breaking up a fight, and he says he has been shot and stabbed, too. He often travels with a posse, sometimes carries a Taser nightstick and tear gas, and repeatedly has himself been mistaken for a criminal.
One Friday night, Mr. Jones and several sidekicks—two quiet men called Buster Doe and Pitch Black; a young woman named Blue Sparrow; and a superhero-in-training called Ski Man—spent several hours making the rounds on the streets of Seattle.
Mr. Jones posed for the occasional cellphone photo with revelers outside night spots in several popular neighborhoods. But, he says, the attention “distracts me from my mission.”
Outside a bar, Mr. Jones chastised a man for yelling at a downtrodden passerby.
“Let’s keep it cool; let’s all have a good night,” he said to the man, who quickly backed down.
From there, Mr. Jones chatted up late-night loiterers in areas known for drug dealing. “Stay safe tonight,” he said. “Stay warm.”
Later, the superheroes ran after a swerving car, suspecting a drunk driver, but the car raced away and, alas, they can’t fly. Capes, also, are unfashionable in the superhero world: “They get caught on everything,” says Mr. Raven Blade.
Little crime-fighting took place that night. “That’s the thing,” concedes Mr. Jones. “When there’s nothing going on, you feel pretty silly in this outfit,” he says, referring to his costume, which he says is equipped with the latest body armor.
Detective Mark Jamieson, spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, applauds citizens’ willingness to get involved in their communities and says the department has received 911 calls from Mr. Jones.
But he worries about things getting out of hand. “Our concern is that if it goes badly, then we wind up getting called anyway, and we may get additional victims.”
It’s that kind of scenario that frightens other RLSHers.
“Whether intentionally or not, he’s representing the [superhero] community now,” says Knight Owl. “And that makes some people nervous.”
Mr. Jones says the RLSH group initially resented his quick move into the spotlight, and blackballed him when he later tried to make nice. So Mr. Jones ultimately started his own group, called the Rain City Superheroes. He says the group’s mission is decidedly different from the agenda of the RLSH gang.
“Handing out food to the homeless is an entirely worthy thing to do,” he says. “But it’s not what superheroes do. If you’re going to drive a fire truck, people are going to expect you to put out fires. If you dress up like a superhero, people are going to expect you to fight crime.”
Last month, in an effort to patch things up, members of the two groups met up in Seattle and went on a late-night patrol of the city.
According to Mr. Jones and others present, the night didn’t go entirely smoothly. At a coffee shop following the patrol, Mr. Jones and Zetaman, a Portland superhero, argued over Mr. Jones’s approach. Zetaman declined to comment. But on his blog, he recounted telling Mr. Jones: “[A]ll of us are afraid of one day someone is going to get killed and it’ll be all over.”
Added Zetaman: “I don’t need this kind of macho c— in my life and I don’t need to prove myself to anyone, least of all to Phoenix Jones and his Rain City Superhero Movement.”
The night of the patrol, Zetaman left the group early and went back to his hotel.
Responds Mr. Jones: “I don’t see the point in handing sandwiches to homeless people in areas in which the homeless are getting abused, attacked, harassed by drug dealers.”
Since then, the two groups—the Rain City Superheroes and the Real Life Superheroes—have pretty much gone their separate ways.
“We’re not one giant family,” says Knight Owl. “After all, we’re a colorful collection of individuals. We’re superheroes.”
Write to Ashby Jones at [email protected]

Originally posted: http://theminaretonline.com/2011/02/24/article16780
By ??Richard Solomon

??Ever seen a real superhero? Ever met someone in a mask who had been shot? When I stumbled upon an article about a man in Seattle who wore a costume and fought crime, I had to find out more. After reading more articles, sending emails and making phone calls I was granted the opportunity to meet some superheroes and go on patrol with them. This is my story about flying across the country, visiting Canada, staying up all night following guys in masks in the worst parts of Seattle and Vancouver and coming back to tell the tale. I video taped people trying to break into a car, saw a life get saved and didn’t even know it at the time, and managed to meet some of the most incredible people you could ever imagine.
Knight Owl parked his car outside of Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery where fellow superhero Thanatos was going to meet us.
Earlier that day I had flown into Seattle. Knight Owl met me at the airport. I had seen pictures of him online in costume, but he met me in normal street clothes. He looked nondescript and average. He would be the first of several superheroes I would meet over the weekend.
Who are real-life superheros? They are people who wear costumes and adopt monikers in order to help others. They are people who keep their real identities secret and in some way obscure their appearance. (Knight Owl, for example, keeps part of his face hidden and Thanatos completely covers his head.) For some, this secrecy is meant to keep their families safe, while others believe that the symbol of their alter ego is more powerful than their true-life, street-clothes persona.
Saving Lives, On My Own Time
Back in the cemetery, Knight Owl and I headed to the circle of graves where Thanatos was supposed to meet us. But before the cemetery there was the drive to Vancouver from the Seattle airport– three hours in the car with the first superhero I had ever met.
Knight Owl does mostly humanitarian work. He patrols occasionally with other superheroes in Portland, Oregon or in Vancouver, but mainly participates in homeless outreach.
Although he does not handle a lot of crime prevention (“In two years of patrolling, I’ve never once been in a dangerous situation”), he knows what danger is. As a paramedic in training and a former firefighter, he has the perfect response for critics who tell superheroes to quit and leave things to law enforcement. “I’m a firefighter,” he said, “and I choose to go out on my own time and help save lives, for free. How can you criticize me for that?”
To Knight Owl, being a superhero is about saving lives, whether that means giving food to the homeless or knowing first aid in case someone on the street needs help. Beyond the activities, he has also done his homework on the superhero appearance.
He told me of the additions he would soon be making to his suit. Among them, a cowl lined with a kind of rubber polymer that would harden when hit to protect his head; and a gadget that would create brief bursts of fire to scare off would-be attackers. As he related, just because he has never been in a dangerous situation does not mean he should not be prepared for one.

Amongst the graves, we searched for Thanatos’ usual meeting spot. At first, all I could make out was a dark shape emerging from the dim light of the cemetery. He got closer and I recognized him. As impressive as it was to meet Knight Owl, nothing could have prepared me for Thanatos.
Clad in dark clothing with a distinct death motif, Thanatos (Greek for ‘death’) exuded a mocking image of the Grim Reaper. From a tie covered in skulls and cross bones to a death-themed utility belt, every part of Thanatos’ attire was covered in death symbols.
He had on a long black coat, the aforementioned tie, a flat brimmed hat and all of the skulls looked more like they were from a Halloween novelty store than on a grim reaper’s attire. The overall effect was imposing and awe-inspiring. I didn’t feel frightened, but a criminal might have a different opinion on that.
Yet, his costuming’s dark theme contrasted with the cheerful optimism of the man under the mask.
Thanatos is arguably the most well-respected member of the superhero community. With a MySpace blog over two years old, Thanatos has been consistently doing homeless outreach since his first night out on Halloween 2008.
Thanatos and I did laps around the cemetery for close to an hour. He was open about his mission and about how he feels he is affecting the city of Vancouver.
“I don’t think I’ve made [Vancouver] any worse,” he said. “I know there are those who feel inspired enough to do something because of me.”
He said he was inspired by old comic book superheroes, specifically citing a “Superman” issue in which Superman attends a charity event. “The more you do, the more you have to work with,” he said. “It’s not just crime-fighting.”
He felt that the homeless people of Vancouver live with death every day to the point that he wanted death to start looking after them.
“Something has to be done, and there has to be a way to draw attention to it,” he said.
“There’s just too many people dying on the streets. It’s too easy to die on the streets. . . . I am a parody of the death. Where death walks around and dispenses grief and sorrow, I walk around and I dispense life.”
So he put together a costume and called himself Thanatos. His costume is not only aesthetics and skulls though. There is a surprising amount of functionality in what he wears. A utility belt with everything from a flashlight to marbles (“Have you ever seen The Defender?” he asked me), a multi-tool and cell phone close at hand.
But why wear a costume?
“I do it in costume because what I’m doing is much more important than who I am,” he said. “I was told by a cop that people on the street had nothing better to live for than to look forward to death. I said, ‘If that’s the case then death better start taking a hand at taking care of them.’ That’s where the costume came from. It got modified because I realized walking around with a big scythe and long robe wasn’t going to work.”
He believes this symbolism works. “People aren’t stupid, they get the idea, they know what I represent. I represent death. Death is so common now that he’s walking around on the street taking care of them. People get it. It’s a very powerful symbol. I put on the mask, take on the persona and here’s someone from Florida just to interview me.
“It’s not just me doing it either, and it does work. It draws attention to the problems, whether it’s high crime in Seattle or homelessness in Vancouver.”
Thanatos goes out whenever he can to distribute bundles of goods such as bread, peanut butter, socks, a razor blade. His goal is a noble one.
“You do what you can,” he said. “I give out my bundles. I do what I can, I’m keeping that person alive for one more day. That’s quite a victory over death. If I do my normal handout and I hand out 10 bundles, that’s 10 victories.”
Homeless outreach is not all he does. Whether he is dressed as death or in street clothes, Thanatos also observes area street gangs and drug dealers.
He takes copious notes on who sells what– and where– and copies down license plate numbers and makes notes on where those cars travel. He will submit this information to the police and he said he has previously succeeded in helping get drug dealers arrested.
A Man Named Armando
After the interview, Thanatos drove Knight Owl and I around some of the bad areas of Vancouver. We finally stopped outside of a homeless shelter, where the three of us handed out items. People were openly grateful, thanking us over and over. The Minaret t-shirts I had brought with me to distribute were a hit and the razors I had also packed vanished right away.
Thanatos had shoes, pants, and other goods. Everything vanishing in a matter of minutes. Some recognized him, others asked who he was. Several of the more nervous people came up to me to ask me who he was. I explained what he did. I was surprised that for many of the homeless I met that night, they just wanted someone to talk to. They were grateful for what we were handing out, but they were also grateful to have someone actually listen to them.
We got back into Thanatos’ vehicle (he drove with his mask off to avoid being pulled over, not at all concerned that I could see his face) and headed back to Knight Owl’s car. Along the way Thanatos told me a story about a man named Armando.
Armando and his family walked to Vancouver all the way from Chile. They were being tortured by police in Chile and finally had to leave. The police cut off all of Armando’s fingers. His wife was raped and had her breasts cut off. Their torturers then mutilated her face and tried to cut off her nose, but failed because they cut upwards and the knife got caught on the septum. Surprisingly, Thanatos told me that Armando is one of the most cheerful men he has ever met. I thought about how the average person must treat them– looking away from the woman with the scarred face, ignoring the man with no fingers. These were people who just wanted help. And Thanatos was doing what he could to help them, one bundle at a time.
We dropped off Knight Owl and then Thanatos took me to the Vancouver train station. It was only 1:15 a.m. Thanatos apologized for the early night. He explained he had to be up for work at five and needed some sleep.
The rest of my night had nothing to do with superheroes but was important nonetheless. The train station was closed and Thanatos had already driven off. I didn’t have his phone number and I knew Knight Owl was busy. Two shifty guys nearby started talking louder, looking at me and then walked towards me.
I made a quick decision and began walking. I couldn’t stay at the station, but I knew nobody in Vancouver. I realized suddenly that I had nowhere to go and almost nobody knew where I was beyond I was spending the night in Canada. If something happened to me nobody would notice until I missed my interview the next day. I was wandering the streets of the worst part of Vancouver.
I was carrying a camera, my laptop in a backpack and a duffel bag of clothes. If you’ve ever been (un)fortunate enough to be alone in the worst part of a city in a foreign country with no one to call and nowhere to go, carrying all your possessions and being eyed up and down by what seems like every shady-looking person in the area, you’ll know exactly how I felt.
I couldn’t run with all the bags I was carrying. I wondered if homeless people feel this same way; having everything that matters to you fit in a few bags, nowhere to go, hoping to stay safe. But I just had to make it through a few hours, they live with this feeling every day.
I ducked into a 24-hour diner full of people and nursed a coffee and milkshake for three hours. I didn’t get mugged or hurt that night, but whether that’s because of dumb luck or actual safety I can’t say. I wondered if my trip to Seattle the next day would be less eventful. I had no idea what I was in for.
Harder Than the Last
The next day, Saturday, I was set to see Phoenix Jones. If Thanatos was the most respected member of the Real Life Superheroes community, than Phoenix Jones was certainly the most famous. Media continually begged him for interviews. He even has his own Wikipedia page.
Jones has become an Internet sensation, with articles about him going viral. He has been stabbed, shot, tasered, and had his nose broken, but he still fights crime on the streets five nights a week.
At just after midnight on Sunday, I paced anxiously outside of my hotel. A friend, George McCaughan, was with me. He had flown up from Tampa that morning to go on this adventure for himself and take pictures.
At 12:30 a.m., a car rolled up in front of us with three superheroes inside: Buster Doe, Pitch Black, and the famous Phoenix Jones.
From the moment he began talking, it was obvious Jones was a very intelligent man. His suit was absolutely incredible. It sports a ballistic cup to deflect bullets, along with leg plates to protect his inner thighs; a bulletproof vest underneath stab-resistant armor that was lined with blood-coagulating packets; and even special gloves. I recalled Knight Owl telling me of the hardening rubber material he wanted to get for his cowl; Phoenix Jones had this material in his gloves, meaning that every punch he threw would literally be harder than the last.
He demonstrated this to me by whacking his gloves emphatically against the hotel desk. I tried it myself and felt the gloves get harder the more forcefully I hit them.
Jones also had a working utility belt. It lacked the death theme that Thanatos’ had but was efficient nonetheless. A taser, tear gas with special properties, and a cell phone were also part of the outfit.
It’ll Ruin My YouTube Clip
Phoenix Jones first sprang to life in a water park in Seattle. “I was at Wild Waves with my son,” he said.
“At the end of the day we were going back to the car and we always race back.” He said someone had broken into his car and the glass from the window cut his son’s leg. Jones was doing his best to stop the bleeding and hold his son’s leg together when he saw someone close by with a cell phone. As Jones recalled, “I asked him to call an ambulance and he said, ‘I can’t, it’ll ruin my YouTube clip.’”
Later, police told him they could not find the person who had broken into his car. Jones had found a mask wrapped around a rock in his car, the tool the burglar had apparently used to break the window. He called the police to tell them of the discovery. They never called him back.
A few weeks later, Jones was outside a club and saw a man get struck down with a club (the man would have a large scar for the rest of his life). He ran to his car to get his phone and saw the mask the burglar had wrapped around the rock to break his window sitting in the glovebox, where he’d left it after he found it. On a whim, he grabbed the mask instead of his phone and ran back. He chased the assailant down– wearing the mask– and succeeded in holding him down on the ground until the police arrived. When they asked him who he was, he replied, “Phoenix Jones.”
He explained to me that the Phoenix part of his adopted name comes from the mythical creature that rises from the ashes, signifying life from death, birth from destruction. Jones, he said, was because it was a very common last name and he wanted to represent the common man.
Like Knight Owl and Thanatos, Jones feels the real foe he is fighting is apathy. A man who would rather film a kid being hurt than call the police is the exact kind of person Jones hope to inspire to change.
The Superheroes of Seattle!
After the interview we went back to the lobby where Buster Doe and Pitch Black were waiting for us. Before heading out, Jones delineated the roles for the evening. “Buster Doe, you’re on backup duty,” he said. “Pitch Black, you call and then backup Bus’ if needed.” If Phoenix got into an altercation, Buster Doe was to help him out as needed while Pitch Black called the police. Once the phone call was done Pitch Black was to help Buster Doe if the situation hadn’t been settled already.
Though there were only three out that night, there are actually 11 members of the Rain City Superhero Movement. Jones is the leader of the group. The others go on patrol with him as often as they can.
Jones also told me that there would be several people in plain clothes shadowing us all evening. They were unknown members of his superhero group who would all be carrying cell phones and guns. If someone pulled a gun on any of us, we would have someone nearby to pull a gun on them. I kept an eye out all night and, despite the warning, did not notice anybody until Phoenix Jones told me the next day who the shadow forces were. I went through the photos of the night and, sure enough, the same people were around us multiple times.
We walked up and down busy streets just as the bars closed. Reactions to the superheroes differed wildly. Some people became excited and begged for a picture with them. Others shouted obscenities. A few inebriated revelers became scared. Most of the women we came across were eager to get a photo with Phoenix Jones, usually inviting him home with them. “I lost my hotel room,” they would say. “Can you help me find it?”
Most people seemed to recognize the trio, some shouting, “It’s the superheroes of Seattle!” I heard constant references to “Kick-Ass,” a movie that all superheroes seem to praise and hate in the same sentence. They think it portrays the process of becoming a superhero well, but the over-the-top violence and the lack of planning the character Kick Ass puts into his costume seem to turn them all off to it.
Throughout the night, Jones was unfailingly polite to everyone. He would greet people and ask how they were, if they needed help. Nothing was too small for the superheroes– whether it be getting ready to break up a fight, stopping to talk to people about staying safe, and making sure a drunk man did not hit his girlfriend.
During our patrol, I spotted countless police around us. Some were in cars, while others were on bicycles. All of them managed to glare at Jones.
The “Jones Patrols,” as he called them, were a direct result of his activity. “The mayor of Seattle got upset that I was stopping all these crimes and the police weren’t,” he said. “He made a rule that every single officer has to spend at least an hour of their shifts on the street. . . . You can argue that I’m not helping or that I’m not effective, but because of me there are more police officers patrolling the streets. I’d say that’s a good thing.”

They Are Not Batman
Roughly halfway through the night we came upon three men trying to break into a car– using a screwdriver, a crowbar, and a hanger all sticking into the door and trying to force it open. Jones asked them what was wrong. One of the men said he had locked his keys in his car. We were on a fairly busy street and Jones asked if they would like him to get a police officer. The men looked uncomfortable at this idea and declined, despite Jones insisting that a cop may have something on hand to jimmy the lock.
The men looked shiftier, so Jones decided to talk to a police officer. He and Pitch Black went off with George to find a cop while Buster Doe and I stayed behind by the car. The three would-be car thieves glanced uneasily at my camera but didn’t say anything because I wasn’t taking pictures. (I was actually video taping the whole thing, including the license plate of the car!). While we waited, two officers rode by us on bicycles, but did not stop or say anything about the car with a crowbar sticking out of one of its doors.
Jones reported back something similar. Police said they did not have anything to open the door. When he raised the possibility of it not being the men’s car, he said they just shrugged. In that type of situation, Jones explained he could not do much after notifying the police. We moved on.
Real-life superheroes are not vigilantes. A vigilante is “any person who takes the law into his or her on hands, as by avenging a crime” according to dictionary.com. Another definition on the same site notes that is an act “done violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures.”
Jones and the other superheroes are not vigilantes. They all learn their local laws and call the police whenever something happens. They do not break the laws and they do not take justice into their own hands. They are not Batman. They are much realer than that.
In fact, Phoenix Jones thinks Batman is one of the worst superheroes to be influencing people.
“As Bruce Wayne, a billionaire, he spends eight hours a day doing nothing and pretending to be a careless jerk. Then he spends four hours every night fighting crime? How about instead of beating up some drug dealers you buy their house. How about instead of fighting gangs you buy the neighborhood and clean up the streets.” I had asked Jones earlier about what he did for a day job and he revealed he was a professional MMA fighter and worked with autistic kids when he wasn’t fighting. In many ways, Bruce Wayne has nothing on Phoenix Jones.
After the car incident, things were mostly quiet. We went down a lot of dark alleys and kept an eye on those who were especially drunk or loud.
At one point, we walked by a woman passed out on a stoop in front of a doorway, neck bent at a horrible angle, breathing shallowly. A shady-looking guy with her said she was fine and friends would be along soon to pick them up. We asked if he wanted an ambulance but he insisted no. We told him to at least fix her neck and he rearranged her.
The girl worried us so we stayed close by, unsure of what to do. The woman looked like she may need real medical attention, but on the other hand perhaps she was indeed fine. A steady stream of people walked past her, unconcerned.
Finally, the decision was made. Pitch Black called an ambulance. While he was on the phone, two policemen rode by, again on bicycles. I watched one glance at the woman, clearly unconscious, and then keep going.
Within a few minutes, one ambulance, then two, pulled up. Another came after that. The woman’s “friend” moved further away and by the time the third vehicle arrived he had disappeared. We heard the paramedics say the woman had low vitals and Phoenix Jones observed a tube being put down her throat.
Emergency Medical Technicians took her away. I received a phone call from Jones a few days later. Apparently he had received an e-mail from someone saying they were friends with the woman. The friend wanted to thank him. The woman had asthma and that combined with a little too much “fun” were causing her to asphyxiate. She may have died if we had not called an ambulance. I thought of the shady guy near her, the police who rode by, and the people who walked past. None of them had looked even a little concerned.
It was late enough that we decided to call it a night. The heroes led us to a 24-hour café, Night Kitchen. Jones and Buster Doe ordered Sprites and some fries to split, while Pitch Black asked for Limeade. Apparently lemon-lime is the flavor of choice for masked crusaders.
Jones headed to the bathroom to take off some of his costume, mainly his chest piece. The way his suit is configured leaves him with less mobility for his head.
“Remember in Batman,” he said, “when Bruce Wayne asks Morgan Freeman to make some changes to his suit and Morgan Freeman goes, ‘You want to be able to turn you head?’ You have no idea how true that is.”
Jones kept his mask on, but put on a simple t-shirt over his bulletproof vest. The five of us sat there for an hour while the heroes exchanged stories. Jones told us about some of his first patrols and showed me photos.
At about 4:30 in the morning we called it quits. Buster Doe drove George and I back to the hotel.
And that ended my weekend with superheroes. I had the opportunity to see two of the biggest names in the superhero community, and meet people who stop crimes and feed the homeless. I saw an entire community that is relatively unknown doing what they feel is right and changing lives in the process.
Interested in learning more about superheroes? Check out RealLifeSuperHeroes.org and RealLifeSuperHeroes.com to find out more.

Originally posted:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359093/Birmingham-superhero-Britains-Kick-Ass-banker-The-Statesman-fights-crime.html
By Rob Cooper

A superhero who works as a banker by day and fights crime on the streets as ‘The Statesman’ at night has been unmasked as a 26-year-old Fiat Punto driver who takes his washing home to his mother.
Scott Cooke is a Santander worker who claims he has stopped a break in and helped arrest a drug dealer.
His mother Dawn, 47, admitted she had no idea her 16 stone son was dressing up as a superhero at night and going out on the streets.
She thought Scott, who takes his washing home to her, might have been out drinking.
And his girlfriend Keri Whip, 26, was also oblivious to the superhero fanatic’s late night antics.
Dressed in a Union Flag T-shirt with a black Zorro-style mask covering his eyes ‘The Statesman’ is out four nights each week – and had been telling his partner he was playing poker.
He follows in the footsteps of the hit film Kick Ass, in which a teenage geek dresses as a superhero but ends up way over his head.
His mother, from Redditch, Worcestershire, told The Sun: ‘My only fear is that Scott might get knocked about by troublemakers. I know he got beaten by drug dealers a few months ago but he didn’t say a lot about it.
‘He was probably in his costume at the time. Walking a city centre dressed like that takes guts. There’s an awful lot that boy has to sit down and tell me.


He can look after himself but he’s a big softie to me.’
The former soldier in the Territorial Army lives in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, with his girlfriend Keri who he has been dating for ten years.
Scott has swapped cutting-edge gadgets for a first aid kit, a torch to startle burglars and a notepad for writing down important information. A cheap mobile phone in case he needs to call support of the police completes his arsenal.
Last month, it emerged Phoenix Jones from the U.S. had been dubbed the real-life Kick Ass after appointing himself as masked guardian of a Seattle suburb.
Before his identity was revealed, Scott said: ‘I work for a large bank dealing with savings and investments. All day I look at numbers and percentages and work out how to make people richer.

‘It’s not a popular occupation but I like to think I make up for this by going out at night and trying to do something to help everybody.’
He claims he helped Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to capture a drug dealer – and sometimes teams up with three other superheroes to work together.
He added: ‘We were patrolling London together at 3am one night and heard a commotion. We saw a huge guy running across Trafalgar Square away from two PCSOs.
‘They were shouting at him but he wasn’t going to stop so we threw off our overcoats and chased him. We caught up with him and pinned him down until the officers arrived.
‘They told us he had jumped bail and they had seen him throwing away packets of drugs as he ran from them.
‘That was the first time what I do really felt justified. The police wagon turned up and took him away and it felt good. The PCSOs thought it was great. They loved it.’
Explaining his superhero name, he said: ‘A Statesman is an ambassador, a diplomat and somebody who delivers a message. Something that’s meaningful and positive, and that’s something I feel that represents what I do.
‘I want to do something that’s positive for the country. I hope some people will look at me and want to do it themselves. If it’s just one person then it’s a success. As long as I’m achieving anything, I will keep doing this.’
West Midlands Police refused to comment.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359772/Birmingham-superhero-Scott-Cooke-unmasked-Fiat-Punto-driver.html#ixzz1ErCwfMPb

Originally posted: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/02/23/britain-real-life-super-hero-the-statesman/
By Chris Sims
Here at ComicsAlliance, we’ve been keeping tabs on the “Real Life Super-Heroes” for a while, chronicling the triumphs of Phoenix Jones, Guardian of Seattle and the somewhat-less-than-triumphs of Tennesee’s Viper, and today, there’s a new champion of justice walking the streets: The Statesman, stalwart defender of Birmingham, UK!

And not only is he the perfect candidate for inclusion in a worldwide anti-crime organization, should America’s real-life super-heroes ever decide to follow Batman’s lead and franchise into Phoenix Jones, Guardian of Seattle, Incorporated, he’s also the first real life super-hero to actually display evidence of metahuman powers.

And by that, I am of course referring to his totally sweet facial hair.
Yes, he might look like what would happen if Captain Britain forsaked his job as mystical protector of the British Isles in favor of taking a position as head security guard at the mall — and actually, why aren’t there more super-heroes rocking cargo pants? — but that is a set of mutton chops that brooks no sass from ne’er-do-wells.
Especially since the combination of the Motörhead ‘stache and the latex domino mask makes him look like a strange transporter-accident combination of the Comedian from Watchmen and Lemmy Kilmister:
If that’s not something that’s going to intimidate the criminal element, I don’t know what is.
And according to his profile in London’s Daily Mail, he’s already mastered the most important lessons for any super-hero, following the rules set down by comics: He has a boring day job that requires him to wear a suit (just like Superman!), he lies to his girlfriend about his whereabouts while he’s out fighting crime (just like Spider-Man!), and he somehow expects to maintain a secret identity despite having an extremely distinctive beard (just like Green Arrow!). He even wears a utility belt that contains his crime-fighting equipment, including a flashlight, a Sharpie and a little notebook (just like Batman!) (sort of!).
So for the English criminal community — which I believe is made up almost entirely of Bullet Tooth Tony and Lord Voldemort — watch out! The Statesman is on patrol with a mission to end crime!
Just so long as crime takes place betwen 7 PM and midnight. The dude’s got work tomorrow, you know?

Originally posted: http://www.businessinsider.com/banker-superman-the-statesman-2011-2
By Katya Wachtel
In the cult comic series Batman (and in the films spawned from the comic) the man behind the mask is Bruce Wayne — a billionaire investor by day, and of course, a crime-fighting rogue by night.
While the protagonist in this story is no billionaire, he is also a financier by day and a “superhero” by night.
In moonlight and masked, there is a crime-fighting man in Birmingham in the UK known as “The Statesmen.”
In daylight and suited, he is just a regular banker, according to the Daily Mail.
This unnamed banker is not the first regular guy to turn himself into a real-life superhero; last month a character — in both senses of the word — called Phoenix Jones began patrolling the streets of Seattle to fight crime.
The Birmingham banker told the paper he has “foiled a drug dealer and prevented burglaries.” His disguise includes a Union Flag T-shirt, combat pants, military boots and a black Zorro-style mask. He wears a utility belt, and carries with him a first aid kit, “a torch to startle burglars,” a notepad and a cheap mobile phone (to call for back-up, should he need it).
And according to the Mail, one of the reasons he has become The Statesman, is to counter his life as a banker:
I work for a large bank dealing with savings and investments. All day I look at numbers and percentages and work out how to make people richer. It’s not a popular occupation but I like to think I make up for this by going out at night and trying to do something to help everybody.
The banker has been boxing since he was 11, and was also in the army.
And why “The Statesman”? Because, “a Statesman is an ambassador, a diplomat and somebody who delivers a message. Something that’s meaningful and positive, and that’s something I feel that represents what I do,” he said.
For more crazy details about The Statesman’s escapades, go to the Daily Mail >

Originally posted:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359093/Birmingham-superhero-Britains-Kick-Ass-banker-The-Statesman-fights-crime.html
By Daily Mail Reporter

In his suit and working as a banker by day, this man looks an unlikely superhero – but by night, he becomes ‘The Statesmen’ and fights crime on Britain’s streets.
Dressed in a Union Flag T-shirt and with a black Zorro-style mask covering his eyes, he claims even his girlfriend is in the dark about his nocturnal activities – which is hard to believe, especially given his distinctive facial hair.
He tells her he is out playing poker on the four nights a week when he is trying to keep an eye on the underbelly of Birmingham.
The Briton is the latest to follow in the footsteps of the hit film Kick Ass, in which a teenage geek dresses as a superhero but ends up way over his head.
Last month, it emerged Phoenix Jones from the U.S. had been dubbed the real-life Kick Ass after appointing himself as masked guardian of a Seattle suburb.
His British counterpart’s outfit compares somewhat unfavourably with the American’s but he claims to have foiled a drug dealer and prevented burglaries.
The former soldier in the Territorial Army, who wears a black mask, utility belt, Union Flag top, fingerless gloves, combat trousers and military boots, uses his skills as a trained pugilist.
And he shirks cutting-edge gadgets for a first aid kit, a torch to startle burglars and a notepad for writing down important information. A cheap mobile phone in case he needs to call support of the police completes his arsenal.
He said: ‘I work for a large bank dealing with savings and investments. All day I look at numbers and percentages and work out how to make people richer.

‘It’s not a popular occupation but I like to think I make up for this by going out at night and trying to do something to help everybody.’
His alter-ego sees him breaking up fights, stopping would-be burglars and feeding homeless people and he claims he sometimes teams up with three other superheroes to work together.
To keep attention off them, they hide their costumes under dark overcoats and burst out when their help is required.
He claims they helped Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to capture a drug dealer.
‘We were patrolling London together at 3am one night and heard a commotion. We saw a huge guy running across Trafalgar Square away from two PCSOs.
‘They were shouting at him but he wasn’t going to stop so we threw off our overcoats and chased him. We caught up with him and pinned him down until the officers arrived.
‘They told us he had jumped bail and they had seen him throwing away packets of drugs as he ran from them.
‘That was the first time what I do really felt justified. The police wagon turned up and took him away and it felt good. The PCSOs thought it was great. They loved it.’

Patrolling several times a week means The Statesman has to work hard to keep his secret safe from loved ones.
With my girlfriend, it helps that I have a lot of hobbies. I say I’m playing late-night poker matches with friends or watching a pay-per-view sports,’ he said.
When things turn violent on patrol, The Statesman is well prepared. ‘I’ve been boxing since I was 11 and I’m still training,’ he said. ‘It helps me to judge things and be reasonable.’
His first ‘incident’ on patrol came in April 2010 when he found two men trying to break into a builder’s merchants late at night.
He said: ‘It’s why I always carry a torch with me. People doing bad things don’t want to be seen and if you shine a good torch right at them and shout in a strong voice, it’s enough to stop them. As soon as I did it these two men simply ran away.’
He begins his Nightwatch at 7pm, after eating a good meal to keep him going. ‘I look at a map and just say “I want to make that area safe tonight”,’ he said.
‘While I am over that area, nothing bad is going to happen. You can’t change the entire city, but you can make one small part of it better each night. Even if it’s just for one or two people, then that’s a win.’
Explaining his superhero name, he said: ‘A Statesman is an ambassador, a diplomat and somebody who delivers a message. Something that’s meaningful and positive, and that’s something I feel that represents what I do.
‘I want to do something that’s positive for the country. I hope some people will look at me and want to do it themselves. If it’s just one person then it’s a success. As long as I’m achieving anything, I will keep doing this.’
West Midlands Police refused to comment.