HEROES in Madison and Saint Paul!

It was a great weekend for Heroes in the Night as I got to get out and visit two cities that are my favorites but don't get to as often as I like. I saw some old friends and met some cool new people, too, and got to tell people all about my book.

First I made a stop Saturday night at Westfield Comics in Madison, WI. I was joined by Electron, who used to live in Madison but is now in La Crosse. On Sunday I made an appearance at Common Good Books in Saint Paul, MN. We had a nice, enthusiastic crowd and I was joined by four RLSH: Razorhawk and Geist (who star in a chapter of the book) and Misery White and Blue. The book sold well. Common Good also now has a stock of signed copies of the book, if you're in the Twin Cities area.

Next up for me-- I'll be tabling at the Milwaukee Zine Fest on Nov. 9.

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
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Heroes in the Night at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con: the report!

Thursday was truly a fantastic day for me as I made an appearance at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con to support my upcoming book Heroes in the Night (out Oct. 1, Chicago Review Press) by hosting a panel discussion with some Real Life Superheroes.

The panel included the Watchman and Blackbird of Milwaukee, WI, Electron from La Crosse, WI, Geist from Rochester, MN and Moon and Crimson Catalyst, both of the Chicago area.

After arriving at the con, I got a big stack of postcards that featured info on my book and on the panel from one of Chicago Review Press's marketing people, Mary. She was dressed for the con in a fantastic Doctor Who themed ensemble. Me and the RLSH handed out about 300 of this postcards before the panel and a quite a few more afterward.

Blackbird (left) and the Watchman field a question.

The panel took place in Room 42 at 5PM, and it went absolutely great. I was not sure what to expect for attendance and we had a really good turn out. I had the RLSH sit in the last row of the room and led with just under ten minutes of slides, quickly breezing through an overview of a short history lesson, how I first got involved in the story, and relaying some of my travel for the book. After the slides, I called forward the RLSH, introduced each panel member and asked them a question that I thought would be a frequently asked question or something relevant to who they are.

Panel members (l-r) Moon, Crimson Catalyst, Electron.

After that, I opened the floor up to the audience, and we got a lot of thoughtful, curious questions. Not one single stupid question.

The Defuser questions the panel.

We got an audience question from a surprise guest-- Jarrett Crippen aka "The Defuser," the winner of the second season of Stan Lee's reality show Who Wants To Be a Superhero?  As a law enforcement officer, he expressed concern about RLSH getting in the way of law enforcement, and the panel expressed how they try to avoid such situations.

Toward the end of the panel I pointed out two RLSH who we weren't able to get on the panel, but who had shown up in their gear to lend support-- Wraith and Crusader Prime. They helped me by handing out more postcards as the audience left. I invited the audience to pose for pictures in the hallway after the panel, and we spent another 30-45 minutes posing for pictures and answering more audience questions.

L-R: Electron, Geist, Crimson Catalyst, Tea Krulos, Moon, Crusdaer Prime, Blackbird, the Watchman, Wraith.

After that, I wandered around the con, taking in the sights. Wow! I was reminded yet again how important the superhero mythology is to our culture. At 7:30 we all met up again to take a walk down the road to a pizzeria to have dinner together. But first a small crowd gathered in the lobby and we had another photo session. In the pizzeria parking lot (while waiting for a table), we again had fans from the con (and some bewildered looking Chicagoans) request pictures. We sat down and as I sat down with the colorfully clad RLSH for pizza, I thought about how uniquely great this experience of writing Heroes in the Night has been.

We split ways after pizza. Thanks much to Mary from Chicago Review Press, my lovely assistant Mary Beth, my family who showed up to support me, and most of all the panel of RLSH who all did an excellent job of representing themselves. And, of course, the audience-- thank you, you guys were awesome! I'm really hoping to organize similar panels at future cons.

Meet the fans: the RLSH were a hit everwhere they went, even the parking lot of a pizzeria. 

P.S. We will have a video of the panel available soon, so you can watch it for yourself!

You can find a list of my upcoming October appearances in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and the Twin Cities HERE.

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

Heroes in the Night Will be at Wizard World Comic Con Chicago!

The Watchman and Blackbird-- 2 of the 6 panel members.

We're happy to announce that Heroes in the Night author Tea Krulos will host a panel of six RLSH titled "Meet the Real Life Superheroes!" at this year's Wizard Con in Chicago.

Details below.

MEET THE REAL LIFE SUPERHEROES!

Thursday, August 8, 5PM, Room 42

     

Join Tea Krulos, author of the new book Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement, a non-fiction that explores the "Real Life Superhero" (RLSH) subculture-- people that invent their own costumed persona and hit the street to do charity events and sometimes even attempt crime-fighting. 

In a rare team up special, Krulos will be hosting a panel that includes actual RLSHs. They are: Razorhawk, who leads the Great Lakes Alliance in Minneapolis, Watchman and Blackbird of the Milwaukee team The Challengers, Electron from La Crosse, WI, and Chicago's own Moon and Crimson Catalyst.

Heroes in the Night Featured in La Crosse Tribune!

A recent edition of the La Crosse Tribune featured an article by Mike Tighe on La Crosse, WI Real Life Superhero Electron (with guest appearance by Rochester, MN's Geist)-- two of the many RLSH discussed in my book, Heroes in the Night.

To the right of the article you'll find a lengthy sidebar that talks about Heroes in the Night and offers my insight on some "RLSH 101."

You can read the article HERE.

Electron

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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!

The Challengers 2012 Christmas Charity Mission

Author's note: This is the third holiday season that I've helped out (mainly with press and e-mails) The Challengers- a local Milwaukee group of  RLSH. Each year they try to gather donations of toys and art supplies to donate to two charities. We had a good success with it in 2010. 2011 was a little disappointing, but we're hoping 2012 will be the strongest year yet. All the info for this year's event is below. Happy holidays!

Photo by Lacy Landre

LOCAL “REAL LIFE SUPER HEROES” ON A CHRISTMAS CHARITY MISSION

Superheroes to appear in person December 15 at Brewed Cafe

-December 5, 2012

Milwaukee’s team of “Real Life Super Heroes”-- The Challengers--  are once again working on their annual Christmas charity mission. Like the last two holiday seasons, they’ll be making an in-person appearance to collect toys and art supplies for two great local charities.

The Gingerbread House is a charity in West Bend that collects toys for low income families that need help buying gifts. Meta House, in Milwaukee, is a rehabilitation center for women and their families that has a need for toys and art supplies for their art therapy programs.

The Challengers are using their time and flashy appearance to help attract attention for these charities and collect donations for them. Monetary donations will be used to buy more supplies to donate.

This year, there are multiple ways you can get a donation to The Challengers:

In person: The Challengers will be making an in-person appearance at Brewed Cafe (1208 E. Brady Street) on Saturday, December 15, from 11-4. They will be accepting donations of toys, art supplies, and cash. This is a great chance to meet the “Real Life Super Heroes” in person and help them out with their cause.

There is also a donation box set up at Blush Beauty Boutique (249 N. Water Street) from now until December 15^th where donations can be dropped off anytime during business hours (Mon: 11-5, Tu-Sat: 10-6).

In addition, there is a page set up on Fundrazr where you can donate money online: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6Om35

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THE CHALLENGERS CHRISTMAS CHARITY DRIVE

Editor's note- I'm continuing my own annual tradition of helping my local RLSHs by writing a press release for their holiday charity mission.
This year they are again collecting toys and art supplies for two great charities- The Gingerbread House in Washington County and the Meta House right here in my neighborhood, Riverwest. Press release follows.

The term “Real Life Super Heroes” (or RLSH) describes an international movement or subculture of people who adopt their own costumed personas and head out to try to make their communities a better place. For some this is charity or humanitarian efforts. Others use the concept as a platform for activism. And some choose to actively crime fight.

Milwaukee has its own team of RLSH- The Challengers. Much of the team growth has occurred over the last year. The founding member is The Watchman, who operated as Milwaukee's sole superhero for a few years, but is now joined by his team- Blackbird, Crimson Crusader, Charade, Night Vision, and Electron (of Madison).

The team has done charity events, handed out supplies to the homeless, and done a crime watching program similar to a neighborhood block watch (although in superhero gear).

This year, the team is continuing The Watchman's annual tradition of collecting toys and art supplies for a couple of charities- The Gingerbread House, of Washington County, provides toys to low income families. Meta House is a rehab program for mothers and their children located in Riverwest. In addition to toys, Meta House has cited a need for art supplies for their art rehab programs.

On Saturday, December 10, The Challengers will be in person in front of the Fuel Café (818 E. Center Street) from 10AM-3PM collecting donations. They are looking for (new) toys, art supplies, board games, or cash (which will be used to buy additional supplies). Donations will be delivered in person to the two charities the following week.

They aren't saving the world from killer aliens or battling escaped supervillains from Arkham Asylum, but here is an opportunity to meet some superheroes and help out some local charities.

At a glance:
WHAT: The Challenger’s charity toy drive
WHEN: Saturday, December 10, 10AM-4PM
WHERE: Fuel Café, 818 E. Center Street
Milwaukee's team of “Real Life Super Heroes,” The Challengers, is working to collect toys, art supplies, and money for two charities- the Gingerbread House in West Bend and the Meta House in Riverwest.

For more information or to set up an interview with the The Challengers, contact:
Contact: Tea Krulos
teakrulos@gmail.com

Electron, Heroes in the Night in Badger Herald

Electron- photo by Matt Hintz/ Badger Herald

Madison, Wisconsin is the capitol of Wisconsin and located about 90 minutes West of Milwaukee. Madison has a sole reserve member of the Milwaukee based team, The Challengers, named Electron. The Badger Herald, a newspaper associated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently ran an article on Electron with a quote from Heroes in the Night author Tea Krulos thrown in for good measure.

The article, written by Lin Weeks can be found here:
badgerherald.com/artsetc/2011/09/20/electron_the_many_la.php

THE CHALLENGERS FEATURED in WISCONSIN TRAILS MAGAZINE

photo by Jerry Luterman- Wisconsin Trails magazine- The Challengers in Gordon Park

Local Real Life Super Hero team The Challengers will be featured in an upcoming issue of Wisconsin Trails magazine and photographer Jerry Luterman shares the photos and some Q and A with the members here-

wisconsintrails.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/the-challengers/

The featured members include The Watchman, Blackbird, Charade and Crimson Crusader of the Milwaukee area and Electron from Madison.

Introducing THE CHALLENGERS and HOPE 2011 Update

Members of The Challengers at Motionary Comics 2.0 (l-r) Electron, special guest Geist, Charade, Blackbird, The Watchman, Crimson Crusader

Over the last few months, new Real Life Superheroes have appeared here in my hometown of Milwaukee. These folks have chosen to join local RLSHs Blackbird and The Watchman in their quest to patrol the streets of Milwaukee and participate in charity and humanitarian efforts.

As such, a new team has officially been launched- The Challengers. In addition to The Watchman and Blackbird, the team includes Crimson Crusader, Charade, Argo, and Electron (of Madison, WI) as a reserve member. There are other prospects, too.

The team patrolled the Riverwest neighborhood on Sunday, after the popular Locust Street Art and Music Festival, and here is an account from The Watchman:

Sunday went well. I met up with Charade, Electron, and Trig (a RLSH prospect) around 10:30pm, and we were joined by Crimson Crusader about an hour later. We arrived on the streets of Riverwest as the Locust Street Festival was shutting down and things were getting packed up. We were amazed at how quickly it was cleared out. Still, a fair amount of people remained at the bars and on the streets of Riverwest for a Sunday night.

We walked down Center Street before weaving up and down the streets that cross it. As usual, there was no set route. We simply enjoyed the freedom to travel whichever course suited us, visiting whatever locations we felt needed visited along the way.

There was no set mission save for one - to meet Trig. He doesn't even have all of his gear together yet, but my first impression was positive. I would love the opportunity to meet with him where we could discuss his plans more in depth, and give him a better opportunity to ask me questions.

It was also an opportunity for me to talk to Electron in person for only the second time since he started. The first time being the Motionary Comics 2 event, during which I was kept far too busy to really get a feel for what he is like, I had to form my previous opinions of him based on his online postings and personal messages sent to me. I was pleasantly surprised.

There wasn't much going on. There was a good police presence in the area, and although we heard a lot of sirens, they seemed to be mainly due to traffic violations.

We did hear the typical things called out like "What, is it Halloween?", and were called everything from Batman to the Power Rangers, but the night was filled with a lot of positive reactions.

We heard a lot of thank yous and got to answer some questions about what we do from some people who lit up at the idea of people like us being out there. One man even mentioned being friends with the owner of the Art Bar, and suggested swinging by the next time we're trying to raise money for a charity.

H.O.P.E 2011

HOPE 2011 is an event conceived by Razorhawk of Minneapolis- the idea being a large scale RLSH meet up to coincide with the San Diego Comic Con. The heroes, through donations and their own means are assembling about 200 backpacks filled with supplies to hand out to San Diego's homeless population.

The main hand out will be Saturday, July 23. Approximately 28 RLSH have been confirmed as attending, many of which have been written about here at Heroes in the Night.

In realizing that not everyone can make it to San Diego, Razorhawk and others developed the concept so that RLSHs in other cities around the country by hosting their own HOPE event on the same day in their own city. The Challengers, for example, will be hosting a Milwaukee event on that day.

I myself will be attending the event in San Diego, to join a good mix of people I've met before and many I haven't. Of course I will be reporting the experience here on Heroes in the Night.

You can see the full list of attending heroes, find more info (including a list of the contents of the supplies in each backpack) and make a donation towards buying the supplies on HOPE's webpage:www.hope2011.info

HERO PROFILE #69: Electron

MOTIONARY COMICS WEEK!
Photo by Kelly Crandall

Operates out of: Madison, WI

Activities: Night patrols, charity events

Equipment: Working on "Hands of Fate"- electrical stun gloves

Quote: "My name is Electron. For three and a half years I've spent my time watching the RLSH movement from afar. The more I watched others living the life I had so longed to be apart of, the more I started to see the state of the world around me. I had always known of the treachery and malevolence that seemed to be seething from everywhere I turned, but until then I had not really seen it."

Author's notes: Electron was one of the new RLSH I met last week at Motionary Comics. Madison isn't very far from Milwaukee so I predict crossing paths with the electricity inspired hero again.

Art Imitating Life Imitating Art Imitating Life

MOTIONARY COMICS WEEK!

Once we had established Motionary Comics 2.0 would be about Real Life Superheroes, I had to think about what kind of story I wanted to write. I had thought about doing something non-fiction, but then decided fiction would be more fun for the artists and everyone involved.

Since the story was six pages, I decided to focus on the Real Life Superheroes most well known in Milwaukee- The Watchman and Blackbird (although I added a last minute cameo appearance by Geist of Rochester, MN in the beginning of the story)- we added an open invitation to Midwest RLSH to attend the event and meet the artists and audience. And so we had a crew of six RLSHs for the largest Wisconsin team up to date- The Watchman, Blackbird, Geist, Charade, Electron, and Crimson Crusader.
Here are some pictures by Motionary Comics photographer Kelly Crandall.

The Watchman and I checking out the scene.


The Watchman copying a pose from his comic counterpart.


Geist and Blackbird.


This was my first time meeting these two RLSH- Electron, left, of Madison, WI and Crimson Crusader of an undisclosed Milwaukee suburb.


And here's Milwaukee's newest superhero, Charade. I didn't even get a chance to meet him, or if I did it was in a blur of lots of activity!


Geist casts his vote on the ending of the comic.


We also had some non-RLSH heroes at the event- Chang Beer was a sponsor of the event, and agreed to donate a percentage of beer sales to the charity we were fund raising this evening, United Way (who also had a table set up) and sent the mighty Chang Beer Girls to represent!


Yelp.com acted as a media sponsor and tabled at the event with their representative dressed up as Yelp Girl!

The RLSHs hung around, posing for pictures and answering questions from curious audience members, and also shooting interviews with Matthew Pniewski for his RLSH documentary titled More Than Just a Mask.

After awhile though, they wanted to get out of the crowd so they could have a chance to talk and patrol the streets of Riverwest. They started by taking a trek into the woods to drop off supplies at a homeless camp, then started on a patrol of the Center Street area. It was pretty quiet, The Watchman tells me. At some point, the group encountered some gang graffiti.

Combating gang graffiti is a major mission for Geist, so he reached into his duster jacket* and grabbed a can of grey spray paint and painted over it. This attracted attention from a nearby house party (sounds like it might be the famous punk house known as The Vault) who called the heroes over. A massive crowd from the party gathered to talk with the heroes. Finally the heroes thought the volume of the crowd was becoming a nuisance, so they said good bye and continued the patrol.

Tomorrow: Villainy!



*Earlier in the evening Geist had also pulled a green smoke emitting smoke bomb from his jacket to use as an effect for our group photo shoot as seen HERE.