HERO PROFILE #28: Entomo, the Insect Man

Operates out of: Naples, Italy

Catchphrase: "I Inject Justice!"

Activities: Patrols, detective work

Abilities: Entomo claims to have "paranormal faculties," among these the ability known as "the Parallelogram" which allows helps him in "elaborating a specific psychological/ physical profile only based on tiny, almost insignificant details."

Quote: “As you must already know, I live and operate in one of the most difficult cities ever built on Earth: Naples. We’re plagued by pollution, criminality, and corruption among politicians.Overall speaking, I must confess ignorance rules upon most people. This is not a fertile terrain for a man to grow up, dress the way I do, and watch upon the town.”

GANT GOES LIVE and other news

After a long battle with the evil villain Javascript, our friend Amber Gant has her first artwork for her RLSH Comic on her website, www.rlshcomic.com, displaying the cover of issue one. She says she is now ready to move things into high gear and will be updating the site on Mondays AND Thursdays. Holy Moses, Amber, that's a lot of comic-ing!

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Continuing my alliance with the Forces of Geek, my second column for them is now posted here:www.forcesofgeek.com/2010/05/real-life-justice-leagues.html
It is a quick, simple run down on some RLSH teams out there, with lots of links, so hopefully people take a deeper look.

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Continuing with the 20/20 updates, we are hearing that the segment will be shorter than first anticipated. However 20/20 is planning to offer extra content on their website including longer interviews and some photographs from Peter Tangen's Real Life Super Hero Project to accompany their short segment that airs on June 1st.

You should be able to see some of this material on ABC's website a week from today, Monday May 31 at www.abcnews.go.com/2020

20/20 AIR DATE ANNOUNCED

Participants in Peter Tangen's Behind the Mask project(Back row, L-R) Death’s Head Moth, Z, Citizen Prime, Dark Guardian, DC’s Guardian, Zetaman. (Front row, L-R) Good Samaritan, Zimmer, Motor Mouth, Geist- Photo by Apocalypse Meow

ABC's 20/20 will be airing a segment featuring "Superheroes: individuals with extraordinary abilities and inspirational citizen heroes."

Life and DC’s Guardian will be featured as part of the Costumed Activist part of the show. Peter Tangen's project "Past the Mask: The Real Life Superhero Project" will be featured as well. I wrote more about the project HERE. This segment is scheduled to premiere Tuesday night, June 1st.

For more information about ‘Past the Mask: The Real Life Superhero Project’, visit the site at www.reallifesuperheroes.com.

Additional: Peter Tangen has requested that readers support Team Justice in their efforts to obtain the Pepsi Refresh grant. Please vote for them at- www.refresheverything.com/teamjustice

HERO PROFILES #23-27: Herois do Cotidiano

Operates out of: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Team line up: The Herois do Cotidiano (Everyday Heroes)consists of-
Heroina da Escuta (Heroine of Listening)
Heroi da Organizacao (Hero of Organization)
Heroi da Eficiencia (Hero of Efficiency)
Hero da Paciencia (Hero of Patience)
Heroina do Entendimento (Heroine of Understanding)

About: The Herois do Cotidiano (Everyday Heroes) are unique in that they operate as an activist collective. They have matching superhero outfits, and are named for the skills they want to emphasis in their lives.

The group is led by a professor of theater, who calls herself Heroina da Escuta. The group includes one of her fellow professors, Heroi da Organizacao,and three students round out the quintet.

An article in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo described the group’s mission.

“The collective does urban interventions and performance art to show that small heroics can be done by anyone. They’ve cleaned up the statues of Gandhi and Getulio Vargas* (symbolically cleaning his teeth), collaborated with community helping people in office and helped with simple gestures such as paying attention to patients arriving at hospitals.”

Besides cleaning statues and being good neighbors, the group has also formed a meditation class and tries to find other ways to mix activism and performance art. For example, the O Globo also mentions how the group tried to set people’s worries free with a literal visualization.

“The group went to Morro Dona Marta and did a performance urging residents to write papers that would like to get rid of worries. They wrote problems such as fear of landslides, earthquakes, water shortages, lack of health education, and flew them away from the hill, symbolically tied to helium balloons.”

*Vargas was the 14th and 17th President of Brazil. I don't know enough about Brazilian politics to tell you why they would be cleaning his teeth.

reallifesuperheroes.org Article on Heroes in the Night

I wrote an article about the book for www.reallifesuperheroes.org titled plainly enough, "About Heroes in the Night." I explain the process of the book, how I got started, etc. I'd like to thank the administrators for giving me the chance to share my project with their readers.

It is addressed to RLSH, but is an accessible read to anyone who would like to read more about what this is all about.
You can read it at: http://reallifesuperheroes.org/archives/3752

After profiling Laserskater last week, I decided the remainder "Hero Profiles" this month will be on international heroes. I just completely finished a Chapter on international RLSH and I think it turned out really excellent.

In June I will be profiling RLSH of New York.

Lastly, I'd like to mention there will be a News Flash here on Friday, so check back.

UPDATE: Duh, knew I forgot something. I will be in New York City Thursday June 3- Monday June 7. I'm very excited, and will be seeing some people I met at SA3, others I've been in contact with for awhile, as well as newer RLSHs.

Hey, if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

ALSO: Adventurous French photojournalist Pierre-Elie de Pibrac has released his itinerary for his cross country RLSH adventure. He will be staying with yours truly at the end of July to document local (and hopefully visiting) RLSH as they participate in the Riverwest 24 bicycle race.

Here is his itinerary:

RLSH Report Schedule
New York City and around :15th – 24th of June
Washington : 24th – 28th of June
San Diego : 28th of June – 1st of July
Los Angeles : 1st – 4th of July
Las Vegas : 5th – 7th of July
San Francisco and around :10th – 14th of July
Portland : 18th – 21st of July
Chicago : 21st – 22nd of July
Jacksonville : 22nd – 23rd of July
Chicago : 24th – 27th of July
Milwaukee : 27th – 31st of July
New Orleans : 31st of July – 4th of August

HERO PROFILE #22: Laserskater

Operates out of: Helsinki, Finland

Activities: Rollerblade patrols

Comic book Inspiration: Skateman, a comic by short lived Pacific Comics, who only produced one issue of the title in 1983.

Quote: “It is difficult to say when I started to be a real life superhero. At first my purpose was only to skate on the streets for my physical exercise. However, while I was skating I noticed that oppurtunities to help people increased little by little. It was like a destiny for me. I couldn’t help it and I liked it! In 1996 I added a Guardian Angel pin on my skating uniform and decided to call myself LASERSKATER.”

Author's notes: Laserskater keeps a book of good deeds he performs while on patrol, and rather than write more about it, I thought I would share his summary for 2009:

I made 154 patrols and here are the final results of my Good Deeds in 2009!
2009 (final results):
Helping beggars: 50 times
Tipping cafe waiters: 166 times
Tipping cafe bouncers: 32 times
Tipping street musicians: 74 times
Taking part in a collection: 100 times
Guiding tourists and other people: 8 times
Helping guards or police: 2 times
Securing of the general order: 2 times
Depositing a lost property: 2 times
Other good deeds: 144 times
_____________________________________
TOTAL: 580 good deeds

RLSH NEWS IN BRIEF

Tea Krulos reporting.

Several sources have now confirmed that RLSHs will be the subject of a segment on long running ABC show 20/20 later this month or early next month. The exact air date is unknown, but will be reported here as well as other RLSH sites when that info is made public. At that point I will also be able to share the cast of characters that will be featured but at this point I'm being hush-hush so as not to be a spoiler.

* * * * *
Team Justice is now ten days into their Pepsi Refresh Project, which I wrote about HERE. They started in a spot in the 140s, then were pushed back dramatically to the 400s, and as of today are in the 275th spot (as of 6:39PM CST) voting will continue HERE until the end of the month.

* * * * *
Comic creator and friend to Heroes in the Night Amber Gant has launched her website with a blog post, and has said we can expect to see some of the first finished pages soon. http://rlshcomic.com/blog.html Gooooooo Amber!

A site has also launched for the Superheroes Anonymous 4 conference in Portland, Oregon at: http://saportland.info

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Everyone loves online social networking and now you can add Heroes in the Night to your list of hip friends. There is a brand new Facebook fan page HERE and a MySpace page HERE!

HERO PROFILE #21: The Eye

Tagline: "The Eye sees all."

Operates out of: Mountain View, California

Activities: The Eye is a Block Captain of his neighborhood block watch program, and observes and reports

Gear: The Eye has a collection of homemade gadgets created to disorientate a criminals senses with light and sound. Examples: "The Dragon's Eye" is a ring with a powerful light built into it "that may be used to 'night blind' a potential attacker." The "Sonic Screamer Tube" not only calls attention but repels attackers with it's loudness.

Martial Arts: The Eye has developed some of his own techniques including a forms he calls "Jade Mantis" and "Leaf Hand."

Quote: "In one form or another, I've always been 'The Eye,' having had various personae that have served me in the quest to fight crime in the real world. I first started to search for others doing this in the early days of the internet (sometime in the '90's), and found Captain Jackson, with whom I developed a good friendship around common values and methodology."

Author's notes: The Eye has recently self published a book titled So You Want To Be a Crimefighter? (you can buy it HERE and here is a link to his MySpace)I'm looking forward to buying a copy and reviewing it here at a future date.

That Thing You Say

THE Heroes in the Night STYLE GUIDE (Or The terms I use and why I use them)

Most publications of any size have a style guide. This is to present uniformity to the publication’s writing. Example- telling all writers to write 7AM as opposed to 7A.M., 7am, 7a.m., 7:00AM, 7 o’clock AM, etc.

I’m the only person working on this writing (although I am having some help editing) but I thought I would share with you my style guide and explain why I’ve decided to use some words over others.

And something important I should mention right now- I’m not trying to tell anyone what they should call themselves or the group they are in, or what terms they have to use.

I am simply sharing terminology I’ve picked for writing, so I don’t confuse readers with dozens of interchangeable words. It starts to be confusing if you start referring to multiple terms.

Read this sentence where I use interchangeable terms:
“Many real-life superheroes see the community as expanding, and some new costumed activists sign on and join the sub-culture every week.”

That makes it sound like there are two distinctly different groups, and that one is possibly a sub-culture of the other, when in fact I was talking about one general group of people in one general grouping. It is completely confusing to readers unfamiliar with this topic.

Here are some terms I’m using, and the definitions I’m using are from the Random House Webster’s Dictionary.

1. Real-life superheroes-(1st reference in blog post or chapter) or RLSH-(subsequent references)

I fully realize that not everyone I am talking to (or about) identifies as a RLSH. I’ve talked to people who prefer terms like “costumed activists,” “masked adventurers,” “ masks,” as well as a couple who call themselves “vigilantes.”
I explain in the intro that this is the case and in cases where someone has strongly identified as NOT being a RLSH, I make note of it in my first references to them.

2. Movement- Ohhhh boy. I know. I know not everyone views this as a movement, and at least one person is pretty vocal about campaigning against it.

The term “movement,” though, actually has a pretty loose definition, which is why I like it. It applies to a broad spectrum of things, there are art movements, political movements, and social movements.

Dictionary: (5. a group of people or organizations working toward or favoring a common goal.)

RLSH are a group of people, and are working toward (note the word toward, not necessarily together) or favoring a common goal in the broadest sense of the term- that goal being improving social conditions in their world.

The second definition of Community- (2. A group sharing common interests; the business community) works, yes, but when I hear the term I think more along the lines of the first definition- ( 1. a group of people who reside in a specific locality and share government.)

I understand it’s mostly online, community wise, but when I hear the term I think of a shire-like RLSH village with a Hero-Gear outlet store, a martial arts dojo, and a comic book store on Main Street.

The definition of Sub-Culture- (a group having social, economic, or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.) also works, and I was close to using it instead of “movement” (and will be writing about traits that make RLSH a sub-culture) but there’s something I can’t quite place that put it in second place. Personal preference, I guess.

3. Now I will admit to being a bit stumped on what to call…those things you wear.

For example, the term Outfit (1. The gear for a particular task or role.)works, what I don’t like about it is that little kids have outfits- Li’l Susy looked cute in her Easter outfit. Strippers have outfits- Adult Susy looked hot in her sexy nurse outfit.

Attire (2. Clothes or apparel) works but sounds like what you’d wear to a dinner party.

Apparel (1. Clothing, esp. outerwear; garments) works but sounds like something you’d order out of an Abercrombie & Finch catalog.

I’ve heard some strong lobbying against the term Costume (1. The style of dress peculiar to a nation, historical period, etc. 2. The clothing of another period, place, etc. 3. An outfit; ensemble) and I can see why- to me that implies something you wear to a Halloween party, Mardi Gras, a comic convention, or ye olde ren faire. The third definition does fit, though.

I strongly disagree with the term Uniform (3. An identifying outfit worn by members of a given group) because by definition it suggests uniformity issued by a group, whether that group be the Army, Burger King, or the New York Knicks. And while what many RLSH wear is similar in idea, I think everyone would agree there is a large difference between what Death’s Head Moth and Laserskater wear.

So far, I’ve been juggling the first four words. I might with this method or settle on one or the other. What do you think?

OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING

Secret identities- since day one, I’ve been very clear that I won’t be revealing anyone’s secret identities. Even if you are comfortable with the public knowing your identity and it’s easy to find on the internet (which is the case with some) it’s better for me to have a policy across the board- No secret identities.
There is nothing to gain from revealing anyone’s identities, and besides, a league of unknown everyday people is what drew me to the story in the first place. In cases where a secret identity is revealed in a quote, it will be edited out with a [SECRET IDENTITY DELETED]

Likewise, any details that have been requested to be removed because they may link to secret identity (make of car, street or even city of residence, any other facts) will be replaced with[DESCRIPTION DELETED]

Obscenities- I don’t have a (expletive) problem with swearing. I (expletive) swear a (expletive) of a (expletive) lot sometimes. I believe that typing out the swear word often has a greater impact than replacing it with a (expletive).

For now I am replacing words like (expletive) and (expletive) on you and you stupid (expletive)head with the word expletive on this blog. This doesn't apply to the comments section. I don’t want to drive away potential readers with excessive obscenity, plus I think it gives things a comic book feel, @#%!

That may change with the print version. We’ll see.

Big Hairy Deal- Radio Tour part 2

Beware of this area code

It was a dark and stormy night and strange game was afoot on the Creature Feature show yesterday.

I called in and joined host Krampus, along with guests Mixsae, Mr. Jingles, RLSH Minuteman, information guru Metadata, and the mysterious detective Wolf. Krampus opened by mentioning villain in need Sword Kane’s request for help on his MySpace.

There were other “guests,” too, phoning in from the 856 area code of New Jersey.
The first to phone in was “Mandarth.”

“I AM SUPER PISSED OFF AT PEOPLE TRYING TO BE SUPERHEROES. IT MAKES ME MAD.” Mandarth announced, in a voice I can best describe as Sam the Eagle impersonating Sylvester Stallone.

"I KNOW THEIR SECRET IDENTITIES AND IN EXACTLY 24 HOURS, STARTING NOW, THEY WILL ALL DIE. TO DEATH." Mandarth revealed, and then continued to give the death clock countdown. As of this writing, 24 hours later, no RLSH have been reported dead.

If this all sounds threatening, Mandarth also revealed that he has a…feminine side. When asked if he knew supervillain prankster/ two time YouTube video producer Nemesis, he replied:
“HE IS MY THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED FROM MY VAGINA…I HAVE TWO SEXUAL ORGANS ATTACHED TO ME.”

Krampus has since stated that he has reported this incident to authorities.

I myself don’t usually view someone as a threat unless they are standing in front of me wielding baseball bats or a giant kitchen knife (yes, both of these have happened to me, and yes, plural on bats).

I will accept the argument that threats of violence shouldn’t be ignored, but I’ve got a pretty solid hunch, like 99.9 percent, that Mandarth is a bored New Jersey teen engaging in some Bart Simpson style pranking.

There have been a number of short lived supervillains who have appeared to mock heroes and then disappear from the RLSH scene. These one (or two) hit villain wonders include the previously mentioned Nemesis, the gravelly voiced, invisible man looking Dark Horizon, and self proclaimed Shadow Hare enemy High Noon Tortoise.

To back this theory up, a second caller (from 856 area code) made repeated calls asking if she could order pizza, saying her name was (expletive), and that she was Ass-Bad’s psychic.

Ah yeah, Ass-Bad.

Ass-Bad says he is “not inspired by Kick-Ass at all,” that he is “15” years old, and also is from the 856 area code.
Here is Ass-Bad’s…uh…incredible story.

1. His dad, now deceased, was an ex-marine who trained him.
2. He was on a “daily patrol” when he saw a kid, about 11 he guesses, dressed up as the Red Mist character from Kick-Ass, being beat up by two males.
3. After intervening, he suffered “a few bruised ribs, one broken, a sprained arm, and two black eyes.”
4. Despite these injuries, he and the kid dressed as Red Mist did not file a police report. Ass-Bad says he was taken to the Emergency Room, where police were not present for unknown reasons.
5. Ass-Bad is now being threatened by unknown assailants on the internet.
6. Despite a lack of tangible evidence, the story was apparently a hot topic with the “cast” of Kick-Ass. Or atleast on two MySpace pages claiming to belong to Christopher Mintz (Red Mist) and Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl).

“Christopher Mintz” status update: Damn just found out that a RLSH called ASS-BAd got beat down bad buy[sic] a gang member

“Chloe Moretz” status update: Thank you Ass-Bad what you did yesterday shows that ur [sic]a great hero and thanks to the other RLSH for all that they do

Both pages were set up shortly after the premiere of Kick-Ass.

So there you go. I guess you can believe Ass-Bad lived out a page from a comic book or you can believe this is bored teenager attention seeking asshattery.

There was yet another WTF moment when villain Malvado SV called in at the very end of the show with some cryptic, British accented comments. I wrote about both Krampus and Malvado SV and their radio shows HERE.

Despite all of the…amusing call ins, I did get a chance to talk to the Creature Feature crew about a variety of RLSH related topics, including DC Guardian's charity work and the recent RLSH panel at an Orlando comic con.

Thank you for your hospitality, Krampus and guests, it was great to talk to all of you!

TEAM JUSTICE SAYS...

"We got the right stuff baby, uh HUH!"

Today Florida based super league Team Justice, who became a non-profit group earlier in the year, threw their helmets into the ring for the Pepsi Refresh Project today. The project awards funding in a monthly competition.
The project website states:
"We're looking for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. Look around your community and think about how you want to change it."

Team Justice is in the running for $50,000. They say, "Every penny will go to provide food,clothing, & first aid supplies."

Team Justice is currently ranked at 141 (as of today, 7PM CST) and will need to get into the top 10 to receive the funds. Voting continues until the end of the month.

You can visit the page and vote here: www.refresheverything.com/teamjustice