HERO PROFILE #2: Zetaman

Photo by Pierre-Elie de Pibrac

Status: Retired

Location: Portland, OR

Team Affiliation: The Alternates

Activities: Charity events and fundraisers, homeless hand outs, neighborhood patrols

Special power: Amazing comic book creations

Author's notes: I met Illya King (who used to be known as Zetaman) twice in my travels. He had a turbulent falling out with the RLSH community and he was candid enough to share his experiences with me. King continues to do charitable events sans costume and draws a superhero satire comic called Naked Man Comics, which often parodies Zetaman and his fellow RLSH.

I was surprised and delighted when King sent me a plug for my upcoming book...Naked Man Comics style. It's posted below and here's a link to it on his website.Thanks much to Illya King for creating a well threaded ink version of me and to his alter ego Zetaman who shared my adventure with me!

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available for pre-order at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
GOODREADS///FACEBOOK
Book available OCTOBER 1, 2013!

HEROES IN THE NIGHT BOOK COVER!

Plus PRE-ORDER INFORMATION!

This is a proud day for me and I'm pleased to be able to release the cover of my book Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement, a secret I've guarded as vigorously as a superhero's secret identity up until now. Here it is:

The photos, l-r, top-bottom: Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones (with myself in the background making an Alfred Hitchcock/ Stan Lee style cameo appearance) Milwaukee RLSH The Watchman, early RLSH prototype Terrifica, who patrolled bars in Manhattan, and Zetaman, of Portland, Oregon.

More book info:
Publication date: October 1, 2013, Chicago Review Press.
272 pages. 22 black and white photos, 25 color photos, 10 black and white illustrations.
Paperback: $16.95 (CAN $18.95)
E-pub/Adobe pdf/ Kindle: $13.99

Want to pre-order a copy?

Amazon link HERE

Barnes & Noble link HERE

Powell's link HERE

Independent Publishing Group link HERE (book description is up, but not pre-order option)

Information for Indiebound coming soon!

I've also set up my Goodreads author page, so please stop by. I'd be honored if you'd hit the "become a fan" button and add Heroes in the Night to your "to read" list. My Goodreads page is HERE

I'll be posting more updates as I get them and this summer the blog will swing back into action with some new Real Life Superhero profiles, a book excerpt, books news, and more!

PHOENIX JONES DOES PSA FOR GAME SHOW NETWORK

Phoenix Jones with fans on the street of Seattle

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

MASTER LEGEND INVITES MALVADO TO CHARITY BRAWL

ZETAMAN HANGS UP THE CAPE

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Tea Krulos, reporting

Phoenix Jones, Rain City Superhero Movement leader* and pop culture figure from Seattle is featured in a 30 second public service announcement for the Game Show Network (GSN)as part of their "The World Needs More Winners" psa campaign. You can see his spot here:
dialedin.com/gsntv50/WNMW_Superhero_35554

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On a recent episode of the blog talk radio show It's Joker Time, guest Master Legend had a heated debate with "Real Life Supervillain" Malvado. Malvado challenged the Florida RLSH on his views on homosexuality, religious beliefs, and claim that he had found a cure for cancer.
The episode can be found here and the debate sparks around the 25 minute mark:
www.blogtalkradio.com/jcreeper/2011/05/21/its-joker-time

An enraged Master Legend challenged Malvado to have a battle royale with proceeds to benefit charity. Malvado has thus far declined.

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Portland superhero (who actually might appear to live 5-20 minutes from the city center, as argued passionately for several volumes online) Zetaman has apparently retired from RLSH status. Zetaman was a founder of the reallifesuperheroes.org site, its accompanying forum, The Alternates team, and was the subject of a web series at Zetaman.tv. In a blog entry from May 17 titled "I Am Retired," Zetaman says-

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

"I am afraid due to the constant harassment and my own personal real life and physical safety I have to retire. I am sorry to say this but there are people in my life whose lives are being threaten and I can no longer have a blue target on me. I wish the rest of the world well and to stay safe."

* This post originally referred to Phoenix Jones as a RLSH, which is incorrect- that is a term he has distanced himself from. Heroes in the Night regrets the error.

RLSHs CHAMPION CHARITIES

Capes provided by Heart Heroes

Spring is in the air and several Real Life Superheroes have launched campaigns to raise attention and donation for a variety of charities.

CAPE DRIVE FOR HEART HEROES

Crossfire the Crusader, for example, has been encouraging people to donate to Heart Heroes, a charity campaign associated with a company called Power Capes.

Crossfire is a costumed activist from Arkansas who hosts the weekly RLSH themed internet radio show Superhero Academy. He describes the efforts of Heart Heroes in a blog entry:

"These folks are doing something simple, yet powerful. They provide custom superhero capes for children with congenital heart disease. These capes help the kids to find their inner hero and gain the courage they need to face the surgeries and other issues that plague them in their day-to-day lives.

At the beginning of 2011, they had given out over 200 capes. However, they still had a waiting list of over 200 more kids who needed capes but could not afford to send them yet." Crossfire is making an effort to buy a few capes himself and trying to spread the word on his radio show and online.

You can read his full blog entry HERE and hear his interview with Heart Heroes HERE.

Heart Heroes site:powercapes.com/heart

HELPING BUILD A WELL IN AFRICA WITH GENEROSITY WATER

Peter Tangen has launched a "Water for Africa" campaign on his Real Life Superhero Project site. Fundraising will go to Generosity Water which will construct a water well in Liberia.

From the Real Life Superhero Project site:

"In terms of world health, more than 3.6 million people die each and every year, simply because they don’t have access to clean water. To drink. To cook with. To wash themselves. In fact, 80% of all illness and disease around the globe is caused by lack of sanitation and unsafe water."

Teaming up with the project is Lion Heart, of Liberia, and the first known RLSH on the continent of Africa. The Project site explains Lion Heart's mission:

"In Liberia, where Lion Heart works tirelessly to educate his fellow villagers, thousands of school days are lost every year because kids are spending at least four hours a day hauling clean water back home from distant sources. If that well was in their own village, they could be spending that time building a brighter future for themselves and their countrymen."

"You can help deliver life-saving, clean water to villagers in Liberia. Join Lion Heart and the men and women of The Real Life Superhero Project in creating a clean water well in this West African nation that will serve 300 people for 20 years. And all it takes is $10 and one click."

The money raising goal is $3,000- the cost to build one of the wells.

More info on the project can be found HERE.

The donation page for the project can be found here:mygenerositywater.org/rlsh


THE ALTERNATES LACE UP FOR MARCH FOR BABIES

Zetaman and his team, The Alternates, are continuing their annual tradition of raising funds and walking in the March of Dimes event March for Babies in Portland, Oregon. The fundraising continues through April 30.

Zetaman posted this announcement at www.reallifesuperheroes.org:

"Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. The Heroic 100 PDX team is walking in March for Babies because we want to do something about this. I know you care, too. That’s why I’m asking you to join us. It’s easy: just click the join this team button.

If you can’t walk with us, please help by donating to our team. You can do so right on this page. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!"

Zetaman's personal fundraising page is HERE
And The Alternates team fundraising page is HERE

Zetaman

KITTY GENOVESE DAY

Kitty Genovese

Wow, it's been a year already? A year ago today, I reported on what has become a memorial day for many Real Life Superheroes- the anniversary of the death of Kitty Genovese, brutally murdered 47 years ago on March 13, 1964, a chilly night in Queens.

Kitty Genovese arrived at the apartment building she lived in after closing the bar she worked at. There she was stalked, stabbed several times, raped, and robbed. What made the story become legendary was, at the time, reports that the attack was witnessed by 38 apathetic people who decided the incident was none of their business.

Many RLSH say it is this sort of apathy they are trying to combat. And so, on March 13 RLSH from coast to coast hit the street to patrol. Some even hand out flyers outlining the incident. Thanatos of Vancouver, for example, drafted this flyer, including the same picture posted here on it:

Catherine Susan Genovese (July 7, 1935 – March 13, 1964), commonly known as Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York on March 13, 1964. Genovese was buried in a family grave at Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, Connecticut.

The circumstances of her murder and the lack of reaction of numerous neighbors were reported by a newspaper article published two weeks later; the common portrayal of neighbors being fully aware but completely non-responsive has later been criticized as inaccurate. Nonetheless, it prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect (or "Genovese syndrome") and especially diffusion of responsibility.

Take a good look at her and never forget her and what happened to her.

Not everyone has accepted the idea. Zetaman, of Portland,posted a blog entry titled "Kitty Genovese Day is Incorrect." He points out that later research into the case revealed that the "38" witnesses was a grossly exaggerated figure. In recreating the crime scene it became clear that it was impossible for most of Genovese's neighbors to witness or hear the attack. Many who could faintly hear a yell (windows were closed- it was still cold out) assumed it was bar noise. And since one of the initial stab wounds punctured Genovese's lung, she could not have prolonged cries for help.

Zetaman also points out that the Kitty Genovese and the 38 witnesses story also was featured in Watchmen, an event that helps shape the mindset of Rorschach, one of the main characters and a RLSH favorite.

Zetaman blogs:

"The Kitty Genovese murder was a ghastly murder and there is such a thing as the Bystander Effect. But don’t use the murder as an over glorified reason to patrol. There are many other cases that better proves the Bystander Effect. The Watchmen graphic novel is not correct in the exact circumstances of the Kitty Genovese murder. Don’t base reasons to patrol on a work of fiction."

Despite the mythology of the story, or perhaps because of it, many RLSH are on the streets as I type this. They say they are out there in memory of the story of Kitty Genovese. They say they are fighting apathy.

Links:

The New York Daily News posted an article looking back at the case HERE.

"Visiting professor" Amazonia was guest on Crossfire the Crusader's RLSH themed blog talk radio show Superhero Academy discussing the case HERE.

Third Coast Digest pictures

Third Coast Digest photographer (and all around cool dude) Brian Jacobson stopped by our Riverwest 24 bonus checkpoint (which I blogged about with a photo essay yesterday) and snapped a few shots that made it into a photo gallery on their website HERE along with other pictures from the rest of the event. Fun times!