HERO PROFILE #18: The Human Fly

Operated out of: Montreal

Active: Mid- late 1970s

Activities: Costumed, charitable stuntman

Status: Unknown

Author's notes: In my book, Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement, I have a chapter titled "Early Prototypes." One of the real life precursors to the RLSH movement that I briefly talk about is the story of a mysterious stuntman known as the Human Fly. After a little digging, I found more on the story thanks to a filmmaker who has been exploring the Fly's story for quite sometime.

I was able to funnel this info into a more in-depth look at the story in an article recently posted at Pop Mythology, which you can read here:

Pretty Fly for a Daredevil Guy: the Return of the Human Fly 

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND///iTUNES///MICROCOSM
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Table of Contents Revealed!

We got just got word that  Heroes in the Night is currently en route from the printing press to my publisher in Chicago! To celebrate, here's a sneak peek at the book's Table of Contents...

Introduction: Meet Your Friendly Neighborhood Real Life Superheroes...1

Chapter 1: American Superheroes...9

Chapter 2: Boy Scouts and Batmen...23

Chapter 3: Early Prototypes...41

Chapter 4: Great Lakes Alliance...59

Chapter 5: The Secret City...79

Chapter 6: Coming Out of the Phone Booth...95

Chapter 7: A Tapestry of Evil...109

Chapter 8: The Man in the Green Skull Mask...123

Chapter 9: International Justice Injection...145

Chapter 10: Challengers, Assemble!...163

Chapter 11: Brooklyn’s Ex-superheroes...181

Chapter 12: Mr. Jones and Me...199

Chapter 13: People Fighting and Pepper Spray and Superheroes and…I Don’t Know...213

Chapter 14: An Age of Heroes?...227

Epilogue...243

Acknowledgments...251

Online Resources...253

Notes...255

Index...265

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
Add us on:
GOODREADS///FACEBOOK

Heroes in the Night: First Review!

I'm very happy to report that Heroes in the Night got its first official review! It comes from Booklist, a review magazine published by the American Library Association and geared toward libraries and library patrons. This is from their Sept.1 issue and I think it is a nice, concise review that captures the tone of the book. Review follows.

Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement.

Krulos, Tea (Author)

Oct 2013. 288 p. Chicago Review, paperback, $16.95. (9781613747759). 

If you’ve seen the movies Mystery Men and Kick-Ass, you’re familiar with real-life superheroes (otherwise known as RLSH). These are men and women who dress themselves up in costumes and patrol the streets of their cities, trying to combat evil. Clearly that sounds silly, and the author certainly explores the silly elements of RLSH, but there’s a serious side, too. These are ordinary people taking, in some cases, extraordinary risks, often motivated by a deep need to make their world a safer, better place. The notion of the real-life superhero dates back centuries, at least as far back as Robin Hood, and its modern-day incarnations have formed a community, with online forums, fans, even a “secret text” (a 1980 self published book called How to Be a Super-Hero). 

It probably would have been easy for Krulos to make fun of these people, but, for the most part, he treats RLSH with respect because, if you factor out the comicbookish elements, these are men and women who are risking their own safety to make others feel a bit safer. And it’s hard to make fun of that.— David Pitt

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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 Mission

The Challengers, with special guest appearance by Santa Claus.

The Challengers’ annual holiday toy and art supply drive was a success. Through a donation box set up at Blush and an in-person appearance by The Watchman, Blackbird, and Night Vision at Brewed Cafe, the team collected donations.  that benefits the Gingerbread House (in West Bend) and Meta House (here in Riverwest). It was a rainy and cold day, but they stuck it out and collected donations of toys, art supplies, and cash. All together, they ended up getting a couple boxes worth of donations- good work, guys! 

Online fundraising (all monetary funds will be used to buy more toys and art supplies) will remain open until Friday, December 21 here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6Om35

Happy holidays!

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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Book Complete!

That picture is of my first completed book,Heroes in the Night. I got on the train to Chicago on Thursday and handed it in to my publisher.

Inside that file bin is a lot of work. There is a manuscript (14 Chapters, close to 300 pages) as well as all of the photos and art on a disc and hard copy, signed permission forms and material for the publicity department. 

My first interview for the book was with The Watchman, March 1, 2009. My last was a follow up phone call with Phoenix Jones, November 11, 2012. In between I did hundreds of hours of interviews, research, and field work. I also read a lot of comic books.

My travels for the book took me out on the streets of Milwaukee, Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Rochester, MN, New Bedford, MA, New York, Washington DC, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego. I revised the book many times.

What’s next? Well, first I am going to take a day off. The book isn’t actually done, now it is in the hands of the fine folks of Chicago Review Press. They’ll slowly be going through with a line editor, the graphic design dept., and a copy editor. I’ll be working with them on any revisions they’d like to see. 

Then, when it’ s closer to publication date, I’ll be talking with them about publicity, media appearances, a book trailer, running excerpts, and events. That will be the fun part– I’ll actually have the book in my hand.

Meanwhile, I’m going to spend the next month or so working on catching up with smaller things- I have a few articles I’m working on that I need to wrap up. After I’ve caught up, I will be writing a solid beginning base for my next book.

But that, my friends, is a different story.

I'm going to take a couple months hiatus on this blog, but I'll be back in 2013 with some book updates and new Hero Profiles. See you then!