Michigan Protectors Split

Before the break up: Michigan Protectors. Bee Sting is in black and yellow in the middle, Petoskey Batman is at far right. Photo: Brian Mitchell/ Detroit News

The simply named Super Hero, a veteran RLSH of Clearwater, Florida refers to the Michigan Protectors as the "Washington Generals of the RLSH community," comparing them to the long suffering and inept opponents of the Harlem Globetrotters. 

The group is visited briefly in my book Heroes in the Night, where I relay what I still think is one of the biggest RLSH fails: the April 2012 arrest of Michigan Protectors leader Bee Sting. Bee Sting was doing surveillance on a trailer park, carrying a shotgun with him, when he got into a scuffle over a loud motorcycle. He began to fight the noise violator and the shotgun discharged in the skirmish. Bee Sting was arrested and spent some time in jail. 

Another Michigan Protectors member, the Petoskey Batman, has also ran afoul of the law and was cited for trespassing on rooftops, where we can assume he was brooding like his Dark Knight namesake. 

Bee Sting and Petoskey Batman decided to join forces and became the most infamous members of their team. But now, according to a report by Francis X. Donnelly for the Detroit News, the team has split in half because of a feud between the two RLSH. 

Among the flying accusations between the bee and the bat are claims of infidelity, fraud, probation violation, and general bad taste.

You can read the full article HERE.

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Phoenix Jones Lit on Fire at Superbowl Street Riot

Phoenix Jones on the streets of Seattle on the night of Superbowl Sunday.

--Seattle

Phoenix Jones was on patrol with his team, the Rain City Superhero Movement, on the streets of Seattle after last night's Super Bowl.

According to an update on his Facebook page, Phoenix Jones and his team mates Midnight Jack and the Shade encountered fans celebrating the Seattle Seahawk's victory by starting bonfires in the street. The team tried to extinguish the fire, leading to a reveler trying to punch Midnight Jack and a piece of burning couch thrown at Phoenix Jones, who posted a picture showing fire damage to his "supersuit."

Jones reports (unedited):

"ONCE I SAW THE FIRE I DREW TASER ON THE SUSPECT HE TOOK OFF RUNNING. I PROCEEDED TO USE COOLING GEL FROM MY UTILITY BELT. ONCE THE FIRE WAS OUT A POLICE OFFER ASKED US TO LEAVE THE SCENE BECAUSE THERE COMING IN TO SHUT IT DOWN." 

Phoenix Jones displays fire damage to his suit.

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HERO PROFILE #19: Crusader Prime

Photo: Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune

Operates out of: Chicago area

Team affiliation: P.A.T.C.H.

Activities: Patrols, hand outs

Author's notes: The Chicago Tribune featured a front page article on Chicagoland RLSH on Saturday. The article had several quotes about Heroes in the Night and features a sidebar article about early prototype The Fox. The online version has a short video of the Chicago guys in action. Some great press to chase the winters blahs away!

You can find it all here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-real-life-superheroes-met-20140118,0,366960,full.story

Side note: David Beyer, Jr., who did several pages of art in Heroes in the Night, will be tabling with signed copies of the book this weekend at Wizard World Portland, table D40 in the artist's alley.---------
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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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Happy Holidays from Heroes in the Night!

2013 was a great year for Heroes in the Night-- we saw publication, some great reviews, and some fun in-person events. We've got more of the same planned for 2014, but now it's time for a holiday break.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Author Tea Krulos with local Real Life Superhero team The Challengers at their annual charity toy drive.

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PHANTOM PATRIOT REPORT 2013

If you've read my book Heroes in the Night, then you'll probably recall a story in the "Early Prototypes" chapter about a man named Richard McCaslin aka the Phantom Patriot.

McCaslin now lives outside of Las Vegas and is still active as the Phantom Patriot. He compiled the video below which has reports on his activities over the last year (and also includes a shout out spot to Heroes in the Night!)

Presented without further comment:



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Challengers Christmas Toy Drive a Huge Hit!

Local Milwaukee RLSH team the Challengers do a charity toy drive every year and this is the fourth year I've done a small part in helping them with their mission. At this annual event the team asks for in-person donations of toys and art supplies for two charities. Gingerbread House donates toys to low income families in Washington County. Meta House is a rehab program in my neighborhood (Riverwest) for women and their families. They incorporate a lot of art therapy into their programs.

This year, we set up the RLSH appearance at Dryhootch, a non-profit benefit coffee house that helps veterans and their families with a variety of issues.

It was a cold and snowy day, but that didn't prevent the Challengers from showing up in force. The Watchman, Blackbird, Night Vision, the towering Skyscraper, and the Junior Challengers--Wonder Boy, Badger Boy, and Guardian Girl-- were all there.

Overall, the toy drive was a huge success. Our friends at comic book store Lost World of Wonders hosted a show earlier in the week and offered free admission with a toy donation, and donated generously themselves. The Junior Challengers even pooled some of their own money to buy donations. Good work!

FOX 6 stopped by to shoot some footage for last night's News at 10. Here's the clip:


Pretty cool, huh?

When I returned home and checked in on Facebook, I realized the Challengers weren't the only ones try to do some good out there this weekend.

For example, Crusader Prime reports that he and fellow Chicago RLSH handed out supplies-- gloves, blankets, shirts, socks, hand warmers, and food-- to the homeless yesterday in the area around lower Wacker Drive yesterday. He says they ran into a lot of people in need and handed out the amount of supplies they usually spend all night distributing in about an hour and twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, on in the West, teams were participating in a quarterly RLSH outreach program called S.I.G.N.S. of HOPE. In San Francisco, the California Initiative handed out supplies including water, first aid kits, cookies and 240 homemade burritos (!) yesterday in the Mission District. Also, in Seattle, members of the Washington Initiative and other Seattle superheroes teamed up to do a similar hand out of supplies and food.

WAI members will discuss S.I.G.N.S of HOPE tonight (9PM EST) on the Initiative hosted Tribe Radio:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tribetalk/2013/12/16/5-of-7-neighborhood-heroes--tips-training-and-tales-ft-the-wai

Tune in!