HERO PROFILE #78: Captain Sticky

Operated out of: San Diego, CA. Died 2003.

Activities: Consumer and quality of life activism, protests, public appearances, possibly patrolled.

Gear: Peanut butter shooting guns, peanut butter grenades, a modified Lincoln Continental called the Stickymobile.

Quote: "When I stage a surprise raid in my costume, you can be sure I'm not ignored."

Author's notes: To read more on Captain Sticky, see previous entry.

RLSH Historical Artifacts

HEROES IN THE NIGHT FINDS 1975 CAPTAIN STICKY ARTICLE-- COMIC STRIP PENNED BY JAY ALLEN SANFORD-- CAPTAIN STICKY THEME SONG--DOCS ON HUMAN FLY AND THE FOX

One of the most exciting things about writing Heroes in the Night has been researching what I call the early prototypes of the Real Life Super Heroes (RLSH). These are people who invented their own costumed persona and headed out into the world to do good. I've written about these early prototypes before and have recently found more artifacts pertaining to them. First, a brief intro to what I consider to be the first documented prototypes.

The Fox: Environmental activist from Aurora, Illinois, active 1969 until his death in 2001. The Fox launched a campaign of monkeywrenching and protesting against companies polluting the environment. He incorporated a disguise of a trench coat, fedora or fur hat, and sunglasses.

Captain Sticky: Consumer rights/ quality of living activist from San Diego, active in the 70s and 80s. Died in 2003. Captain Sticky used his flashy appearance to draw attention to issues like abusive nursing homes, slum lords, unhealthy or unsafe products. His name comes from his love of peanut butter.

Human Fly: Daredevil with a charitable streak from Montreal. The Fly did stunts like walking on the wing of an airplane and broke a record by Evel Knievel by jumping over 27 school buses. Accounts say he donated a large percent of his earnings to a children's hospital charity. Active mid to late 70s, when he mysteriously disappeared.

JULY 19, 1975 NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS ARTICLE

New Musical Express was a British music newspaper, somewhat similar to the early days of Rolling Stone. In this 1975 issue, featuring a cover story on Bob Marley, writer Stan Findelle pens a two page story on Captain Sticky.

This is probably one of the earliest examples of poor RLSH media relations. The writer is not at all impressed with Captain Sticky and spends most of the article wryly making fun of the Cap's weight, humor, demeanor, etc. It is your typical condescending-Brit-meets-fat-Yankee type of piece.
Still, I found some interesting facts to be gleamed-

- Sticky aka Richard Pesta worked in the glass fiber and foam industry, where he became wealthy and retired (for awhile anyway) at age 28.

-Sticky apparently did invent a working peanut butter gun as well as "peanut butter grenades" made of peanut butter, vinegar and alka seltzer.

-Sticky relates that he was patrolling San Diego when he got a police escort- they thought his wildly decorated Stickymobile, which featured several American flags, must be transporting someone in the Navy or a guest from a foreign Navy.

-Here's a great excerpt from the article, one of the few spots the writer takes the story somewhat seriously:

What Sticky is armed with, however, is a shrewd acumen for the peculiar appetites of the news media and how to manipulate its power for the purpose of his freelance do-gooding. This, plus the fact that underneath all the gimcrack and chickenfat, Sticky is deadly serious.

"There is a philosophical difference between do-gooders and actually doing good," he cloudily pontificates. "A do gooder is pure at heart but naive to power politics. I'm sophisticated in tactics which intimidate bureaucracies which I feel are the festering sources of evil in our society."

With a true sense of schmaltz he declares, "If I were to wear a pinstripe suit while trying to aid the oppressed, I would have no efficiency. Thus my characterization. When I stage a surprise raid in my costume, you can be sure I'm not ignored." It would take a strong person indeed to remain oblivious to a bearded, crash-helmeted Rasputin running wild in nightmare pajamas, gold lame boots and a peanut butter bazooka. You can be sure wherever he treads, the news cameras aren't far behind.

-The article goes on to describe his confrontation with a nursing home abusing it's patients, an appearance at a carnival for mentally handicapped youth and the writer joins him at a guest lecture appearance at the University of Southern California. At the lecture he hands out a Captain Sticky comic book to the students.
(Rare item alert! There also was a comic about The Fox made in the 70s. I will give a cash reward for either of these items. Human Fly had a 19 issue Marvel series in the 70s- these are easy to find on Ebay.)

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS COMIC STRIP

Our next item appears with permission from writer and comic artist Jay Allen Sanford. Jay is the co-creator of Rock N Roll Comics, and has done work with Revolutionary Comics, Pacific Comics, and Carnal Comics, among many other companies and publications. He also writes and draws comic strips for the San Diego Reader and at one point featured Captain Sticky in his comic strip "Famous Former Neighbors," which you can read by opening the thumbnail posted below.


"My memories of the Captain are mainly of seeing him driving around San Diego in the late 70s and early 80s." Jay tells Heroes in the Night. "He was always leaping in and out of the Stickymobile, even when just pulling up to a taco stand. Very energetic guy!" Jay also says he saw footage of Captain Sticky visiting Mexico, with an inside look at the Stickymobile. This footage was apparently pulled because of copyright violation, but Jay is trying to track it down.

STICK WITH CAPTAIN STICKY

Captain Sticky also probably had the first RLSH theme song, a polka march titled "Stick With Captain Sticky." It was featured on the Rhino Records comp album The Rhino Brother's Circus Royale, the 7th record released by the label. The New Musical Express writer mentions the song in his article, calling it "a marshmallow of a ditty." When the Captain recalls the writer is a music critic he asks him what he thinks.

"It'll never make the top 100," I predict tactfully. Nor the top 20,000 for that matter.

You can tap your toe along with the tune below.


THE LEGEND OF THE FOX DOCUMENTARY

In a June entry (heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2011/07/fox-memorial-discovered.html) Matthew Pniewski, who is working on a doc about Midwest RLSHs titled More Than Just a Mask shared with us how he had tracked down a memorial dedicated to The Fox. He also found an archive of material on him at a small, local museum. He discovered that the museum sold The Fox's autobiography (Raising Kane: The Fox Chronicles)and a documentary on The Fox titled The Legend of The Fox. This was particularly funny to me because I had written an article on The Fox for the Riverwest Currents with the exact same title before knowing the doc existed. I bought a copy of the doc from the museum by mail order- they only except check or money order, and it is only available on a plainly labelled VHS tape.

The doc is what I expected- a simply made PBS style look at the Fox River with talk from local scientists, residents, politicians, etc. The cool thing is you get to hear The Fox himself talk, his face hidden in shadows. This must have been made shortly before he died in 2001.


HUMAN FLY FOOTAGE

Another interesting find is this test footage of the Human Fly. It was posted on the blog Micro Kahn (www.microkhan.com/2011/07/27/the-human-fly-contd/) after the author tried to track down what happened to the mysterious daredevil. Canadian film maker Steve Goldman shared documentary footage of the Fly in action and interviews with the guys who were the Fly's managers- Joseph and Dominic Ramacieri, pepperoni-making brothers from Montreal who were bored with the meat biz and wanted to get into a more exciting line of work. Apparently there is talk of Goldman trying to make a Human Fly feature film. Video follows- really interesting to see the Fly in action and its got a rockin soundtrack, too.

HEROES IN THE NIGHT IN SEATTLE WEEKLY

COVER STORY SCRUTINIZES PHOENIX JONES
SUPERHERO LAWSUIT REVEALED AS BATTLE OF SEATTLE CONTINUES
AUTHOR TEA KRULOS OFFERS RANDOM NOTES
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This is not usually the style I write things on this blog. Oh well.

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Oh boy, where to begin with this one? At the beginning, I suppose. Keegan Hamilton is a writer who has penned a front page expose on Rain City Superhero Movement founder Phoenix Jones for the Seattle Weekly, titled "The (Alleged) Adventures of Phoenix Jones." Mr. Jones has sustained a presence in the media since November.

A few months ago, Keegan gave me a call and we spent an hour or more discussing the interesting world of Real Life Superheroes (RLSH). He used part of this conversation to help explain the secret history of this movement, citing 70's consumer rights/ quality of life costumed activist Captain Sticky as an example. I was quoted fairly and given a fair amount ink and Heroes in the Night was mentioned. I can't complain about that.

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"What kind of person dresses up like a superhero? Long before Hollywood unleashed Kick-Ass and Super—two movies released within the past year about real people who don capes and masks—Tea Krulos was asking himself that very same question."

See, that's a good quote.

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The article makes another attempt to get the Phoenix Jones origin story straight-

"Then, the next night, while at a club celebrating a friend's birthday, a fight broke out between two of Jones' friends and a larger group of men. Running to his car to retrieve his cell phone—Jones says he never keeps it in his pocket because he doesn't want to risk damaging it when he break-dances—Jones, a cage fighter in his spare time, impulsively threw on the mask and chased down the fight's instigator."

This I can understand- I never have my cell on me while breakdancing, either.

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The article then goes into two common bones of contention with Mr. Jones- no evidence of received injuries- a shooting, a stabbing, a swat with a baseball bat, etc. Jones claims these injuries were treated by a private doctor who "won't agree to an interview for fear of losing his medical license."

And also, the lack of a paper trail/ evidence in several of Mr. Jones' crime fighting adventures (that is why the word "Alleged" is in parenthesis in the article title, you see)- they document several calls to the police, a couple that led to arrests, some that didn't.

I don't know though- just because there isn't evidence it happened, does that make it a non-event? I once literally bumped into Joey Ramone in Saint Mark's Place. I have no evidence of this, but it did happen.

Still, Jones has many claims that are confused with alternate accounts of the same event, and logic defying claims that would go over better with something solid to go with it.

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Yes, Phoenix Jones has traffic violations. And he's had financial problems.

You know why stuff like that gets reported? People love seeing dirty laundry.

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Eventually this leads to what may perhaps be the Dumbest RLSH Story Ever Told. I've known of it for quite some time but never reported on it because, uh...how do I put this....words escaped me.

Basically an internet argument began to rage between Mr. Jones and fellow Seattle superhero Mr. Raven Blade. This was hashed out on Facebook and on Mr. Raven Blade's blog.

It was very similar to the time Batman started an internet flame war with the Green Arrow. Oh wait, that never happened.

Eventually, Mr. Raven Blade says he received threats from Mr. Jones via phone and internet. The two have not met in person. Mr. Raven Blade filed for a restraining order, which was granted, barring Mr. Jones from being within 500 feet of Mr. Raven Blade.

Call me old fashioned, but I've had guys threaten to beat the (expletive) out of me in person, and I've just shrugged it off. Why? Because guys say stupid stuff they don't really mean when they're pissed off.

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The article says "a photographer" distracted Jones while a crime went on down the block. I think you mean to say "our photographer."

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After finding out the photo session (which could be substituted for any number of reasons he would have missed the crime- he had to pee, he turned left instead of right, etc.) has caused him to miss the crime, here's what happened next-

After getting a description of the alleged attacker, Jones heads back to the corner where the fight occurred. His plan, he says, is to wield "the Phoenix Cam" — a silver Flip pocket camcorder—and confront the assailant, provoking another altercation.

"I'm going to have to take a hit for the team," he says. "I'll get the guy to punch me in the face and we can press assault charges."

"Are you aware of the concept of blocking?" asks Ghost.

"Yeah," says Jones. "But then it's not assault, it's only attempted assault."

He was going to block, Ghost. With his face. But seriously- I don't think this strategy is a good long term solution for capturing criminals.
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The article ends with this quote-

"Sure other superheroes don't like me," he says. "Why? Because they suck at their jobs . . . Tonight we literally didn't stop any crime. But we did definitely talk to some drug dealers, we picked up a girl who fell and hit her face on the ground, and we talked to a bunch of different people in Seattle who may now report crime because they talked to us. That's still 100 times better than every other superhero."

That does sound really bad. My friend summed it up with one word- "hubris." It is also ridiculous since Jones isn't omnipresent- he doesn't know all the RLSH out there (even I don't) and what they are up to. For all we know there are RLSH quietly cleaning up and not publicizing it.

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This article was thoroughly researched (in addition to the main article, you can find links of related content at the article to video and police reports) and the longest article on Jones to date, but I think the bias from the Seattle Weekly is pretty noticeable from the get go. It seems like they were sitting around the office, perhaps drinking the excellent coffee Seattle is famous for and decided they were going to bag Phoenix Jones before they even wrote word one.

Indeed, one of the SW's bloggers have been after Jones like a hip J. Jonah Jameson for some time. Blogger Curtis Cartier has cranked the snark to 11 in three posts lambasting Jones. The blog posts and the article are unrelated, but they are under the same roof- the Seattle Weekly.

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Mostly I think there is a point that the article only briefly touches on. Yes, Jones has some issues with some RLSH. Yes, some writers don't like him, or can prove there is a lack of evidence. But if Jones is so lame-o, why does he have thousands and thousands of Facebook friends cheering him on, creating fan art work, and defending him when people insult him?

I myself am friends with Phoenix Jones and every time I swing by his page it is loaded with people giving him encouraging words. From what I hear, his reception on the street is pretty enthusiastic, too.

I remember in winter I posted something about the Bar Harbor Batman. I thought he was just a dude goofing around in a Batman costume (and might still think he is)- I was surprised that quite a few people from Bar Harbor took time to leave comments defending the caped crusader, saying that seeing him out on the street made them feel better.

Ultimately, I think that is who decides if you are a hero- your constituency, the people you interact with. Not your internets.