25 – Real Life Superheroes: An Interview with Author Tea Krulos

From Bruce Willis in  Unbreakable   to John Ritter in  Hero at Large   to everyone’s favorite madman Nicolas Cage in  Kick-Ass ,  we’ve been watching   regular everyday human beings assuming the mantle of comic book superhero personas for a long time. But for some people, even those fictions aren’t enough. There’s a group of people who are living the dream of real life superheroes in our world and they’re part of what has been dubbed the Real Life Superhero Movement. Milwaukee author, Tea Krulos, spent years with these heroes and wrote a book called  Heroes In The Night: Inside The Real Life Superhero Movement. 

Tea was in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend at the Wizard World Wisconsin Comic Con to lead a panel discussion on the Real Life Superhero Movement and we caught up with the author right before he went to the big convention.

Tea’s first meeting with a real life superhero was with the defender of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Riverwest neighborhood, The Watchman.  From there, a Milwaukee team started to develop called The Challengers, which would serve as a neighborhood watch, help with the homeless, and go to charity events.

He describes how most of the  real life superheroes are content to let the police know when they see crime going on, but some like Seattle’s Phoenix Jones, like to mix it up.  Tea also accompanied Minneapolis superhero Razorhawk  who organized a group into a Twin Cities search for a missing college kid who might have been a victim of the Smiley Face Murder Club.

Krulos got to travel all over the country meeting up with superheroes and one of his favorites is Vancouver street legend Thanatos , who pounds the pavement helping out the city’s homeless population, using his own money to get them tarps, blankets, and water. Krulos describes him as a “friendly, yet spooky-looking figure.”

All in all, Tea believes that these real life superheroes want to make the world a better place and want to make themselves better people, “they’re tired of being apathetic and they want to have a hobby that helps people out.”

After discussing his fantasy celebrity casting of a real life superhero movie, Krulos gives a quick summary of his monster hunters book, as well as giving a preview of the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference taking place this June.

Why does it take a tragedy
to summon the valiant?

Untold are tales of bravery
among the common man

The world doesn’t have to end.

We have the heroes
(local vigilante)
Real life superheroes
(just might save the day)

We have the heroes
(doing what is right)
Real life superheroes
(heroes of the night)

We have the heroes
(local vigilante)
Real life superheroes
(just might save the day)

We have the heroes
(doing what is right)
Real life superheroes
(heroes of the night)

Could it be a force at hand
secret from society?

Good intentions, valor grand
watching for the the libertine

A victor living right next door

We have the heroes
(local vigilante)
Real life superheroes
(just might save the day)

We have the heroes
(doing what is right)
Real life superheroes
(heroes of the night)

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