Supper Heroes

As anyone who visits here often enough will find .... we at PC Towers are very fond of the real superhero stories ...

Superhero Supply Store ... Brooklyn New York

..... in fact as you can see from the previous post, we normally devout entire posts to these little gems, which go from the sublime to the ridiculous in about equal measure ... the last one being in the ridiculous range. 

The advent of the real superheroes combined with the recent rise of the Superhero movies in the Marvel and the DC Universes, has meant that these stories are not as rare as they once were. So in order to capture the sheer range of their activities, I am foregoing the one post per tale approach and giving you the rest in condensed versions .... of course as is usual for these tales, they range from 'the good', 'the bad', to 'the ugly'.  

However both those who enact their superhero daydreams, and those who just dress like them for parties and fund raising, have one thing in common, and that is that they are invariably just costumed heroes in the evenings only, after their suppers ....

So with superheroes now becoming more common, it hasn't taken long for an enterprising citizen to create a Superhero store in New York (aka Gotham) ~ of course 'Tasers' are not allowed, but whereas in the UK they would be lucky to get rubber truncheons to play with, in the US, you’ll find galactic blasters for sale (whatever they are). The shop is the inspiration behind the new musical “Brooklynite”. 

 

Although having performed this round-up, whether the Tasers wouldn't be better to defend against each other, rather than any super villains, is rather a moot point.

The first is the laudable, if slightly strange efforts of the Sikh 'Captain America' .... basically a very geeky (and not to say skinny), American Sikh, who dresses as a rather baggy leggings super hero, to try and overcome US stereotypes about wearing a turban

Captain Sikh America ~ Fighting Prejudice

In the US, Turban on head = Towel Head = Muslim = Terrorist .... the concept of Sikhism (which is very much a non Muslim religion - formed from Hinduism), has avoided US public consciousness, so whenever there is a bout of anti Muslim sentiment, the Sikh's get caught up in it as well. How far one weird crusader will get overcoming this, remains to be seen.

Then there are 'yer actual hero' type superhero costumed characters .... these two chaps are Glasgow's very own 'Scottish Superhero's'. They bravely raced into a burning house, and saved the residents while dressed in costume, and woke the residents up, and then led them out of the smoke-filled close in George Street, Paisley, after spotting the blaze on their way back from a 30th Birthday party early on a Sunday morning in Paisley near Glasgow. 

Robin And The Joker ~ Or Maybe Not (This Is Glasgow After all)

They even set up the 'Superhero Fire Fund' to help the burnt out residents and raised over £800 ~ although in a bit of a costume faux pas, it meant that one was actually dressed as villain 'The Joker' ..... which is oddly unsatisfactorily costumed for a hero. However it doesn't always go to plan ..... Kick-Ass was after all only a (very good) film.

This strange Batman seems to have only learnt one part of the repertoire .... hanging by his ankles. Just another few years training, and the other stuff may be possible. He was spotted frequently over the last few months in Nottingham city centre in 2014.

Nottingham Batman ~ Just Hanging Around.

Another real superhero rather let the side of 'Team Super Cozzie' down, when he was mugged .... charity running across the Canadian Prairies, well the transcontinental highway, he was robbed of his his so-called 'man bag' (aka utility belt), containing a computer hard drive, a camera and a wallet .... oh the ignominy.

Super Fund Raiser Mugged In Canada

Drunken men who think are 'Supermen' are always a menace on weekends in the UK, even if they not actually the man of steel .... this one was a fighting Superman, who found that a British 'bobby' can still arrest your arse if you are a drunken fighter. He ended up in the dock at Peterlee Magistrates Court in Durham, after punching a special inspector in Durham City in the early hours of 21st December 2014, while dressed as Superman .... original reports said he was accompanied by a man dressed as Bananaman. He was fined £590 for the assault.

Whereas this next one was just a sorry assed son of a gun ('super' of course) ....  When he was stopped by the police while dropping his girlfriend off at a club, dressed only in a Batman dressing gown, and a pair of slippers.  He was caught up in part of a crackdown on the increasing number of foreign registered cars that are driving on our roads, untaxed, uninsured and untraceable .... apparently any car on the UK roads for more than 6 months must re-register with the DVLA. So when the driver chanced his arm and was stopped by the police in West Bromwich in the Midlands, the game was up, and they seized the 'Batmobile', which must surely mean a ticking off from Alfred when he got home to the bat cave.

Sometimes you can't do good for trying ..... this Batman wannabe was arrested in 2012, for trying to help people to do their shopping .... he had turned up at a New Jersey Home Depot dressed in a Batman-like costume of  tactical trousers, elbow and arm pads, complete with mask and bullet proof vest. 

 

However despite his professed best of intentions, all he managed to do was ‘scare the heck’ out of people, when he paraded around the store’s parking lot. It probably didn't help as this happened right after the tragedy in Colorado where suspected a gunman, who was also dressed in a mask and body armour, killed 12 people watching the movie 'The Dark Knight Rises' .... a bad batman. Shoppers, fearing a 'copy cat' attack called the police and thus ended the brief career of his superhero alter-ego, 'Beast'.

Argintar aka 'The Beast'

So by day, an ex soldier honourably discharged from the army. But by night, he became a 'real-life superhero aka The Beast' .... but the beasts first daylight mission failed miserably ... I wonder why?

Some wannabe Batman's find that falling from the bat perch can be all too easy as this Bangkok do do-gooder found .... he is a Japanese former child actor who now runs a small Internet-based toy business,who visits Thailand to promote 'societal norms'. As part of this 'do gooding' he even dressed up as a superhero, and drove a decorated motorcycle through slum areas, distributing toys and snacks while teaching proper courtesies. 

 

First, due to copyright issues he had to stop wearing his superhero costume, and then he had a web rant post under the name "Koki Aki," which went viral, about Suvarnabhumi airport’s taxi service and cost the driver at the heart of his on-line rant his job working there ... an unintended outcome.

And of course finally, there are the really bad eggs or more properly 'Bad Santa's' out there (not including  the Colorado gunman who was well beyond the scope of this light post) .... those who abuse the ethos of the New Avengers or the Justice League of America, and misuse the costumes of a hero for nefarious behaviour .... The Jackson Police Department in Mississippi made arrests in two Tuesday morning robberies in November 2014, in which one of the two suspects was dressed as Spider-Man (later described by an officer as "a onesie or something"), and wearing a Spider-Man mask. A lucky break led to their capture .... the two females arrested with them in a hotel room, are not considered suspects in the robberies ... ahem ... spidey sperm may be involved.

..... in any case when super hero outfits are abused like this for evil intent ..... then Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City should really throw the book at  them.