HOPE Report Soon!

Assembled heroes of HOPE. Heroes in the Night author Tea Krulos is in the back row.

Wow, what a weekend in San Diego! I'm still processing my experience of meeting up with 30 Real Life Superheroes, checking out the San Diego Comic Con, and seeing the upcoming HBO RLSH documentary Superheroes. It was a whirlwind and I've got some great pictures and stories to share.

Unfortunately, due to the chaotic lifestyle of a freelancer, I won't be able to sit down and reflect these thoughts until about Thursday. See you then!

How's the Book Going?

Bewildered author Tea Krulos. Photo by Paul Kjelland.

I get asked this a lot, so I thought it was time for an update on Heroes in the Night.

When I first started serious work on this in April 2009, I was very naive and thought I would be cranking out a book on Real Life Superheroes in six months, nine months. Yes, I could have done that, but it would have been a total joke book. I decided I needed to take the proper amount of time to do the book right, however long that may be- 2 years, 3 years, 5 years whatever.

I could go into all kinds of reasoning, but it can be summed up by this- its my first book and I don't want it to suck.

This has all been quite a challenge because the RLSH story is a very quickly evolving one. Looking at stuff I wrote a year ago looks highly outdated in areas. A few months ago I began rewriting the chapters so they are more streamline, readable, and updated. I have finished the drafts for the first six chapters. The first four are currently being edited by a mentor to me, Jan, the editor of the Riverwest Currents. When these have been edited I will be making another (my third) round of trying to sell the book.

I will unveil these first six chapters and a brief synopsis:

INTRO

I describe my first meeting with The Watchman in a frozen city park and give an overview of who the RLSH are.

Ch. 1- OUT ON THE STREETS
I recall my early meetings patrolling with The Watchman, and go more in depth into who he is, and also my meeting the man known as MoonDragon.

Ch. 2- AMERICAN SUPERHERO
This chapter talks about the influence of superheroes on our culture and examines them as an American mythology. I write a bit about the Golden Age of comics, Alan Moore and Watchmen, Batman and other heroes, and discuss "comic book revisionism" with Flaming Carrot/ Mystery Men creator Bob Burden. I also talk about some non comic book related stuff, like 9/11 and Kitty Genovese.

Ch. 3- EARLY PROTOTYPES
The secret history of RLSH is discovered in this tour of a dozen people who created their own costumed personas from 1969- the early 2000s.

Ch. 4- BOYSCOUTS AND BATMEN
This chapter looks at opposite ends of the spectrum- "costumed activists" and "crimefighters," both groups that distance themselves from the term "RLSH." Several people from both groups are described briefly. Also, author Tea Krulos finds himself in an odd situation in Washington DC.

Ch. 5- THE GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE
Back in the Midwest, I recall my meeting with Razorhawk and Celtic Viking in Saint Paul to search for a missing college student, a rolling patrol with Geist through the streets of Rochester, and a GLA meet up in dowtown Minneapolis.

Ch. 6- THE SECRET CITY
This is mainly an account of my weekend at the Superheroes Anonymous 3 conference in New Bedford, Massachusetts in September 2009.

And now I am moving on to revisit Chapter 7. Let's keep those doggies rollin'!

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