Real Life Superheroes Assemble

The number of Real Life Superheroes popping up throughout the country is making for a veritable movement at this point. It was only a matter of time before this movement got properly documented. Hence… the Real Life Superheroes Project, a sort-of multi media essay about these altruists who’ve given their everyday charity a creative flourish. You might recall the piece we ran in April about some of these characters who’ve been using costume personas to feed the homeless and counsel wayward teens amongst other charitable efforts. Well, this Project marks the first gathering of these heroes on this scale, making it something of a true-to-life equivalent to the founding of the JUSTICE LEAGUE.

The whole project’s a pro-bono effort from Peter Tangen, a photographer whose work includes all those memorable posters for the first new SPIDER-MAN and BATMAN movies, as well as the revivals of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST. and FRIDAY THE 13 (all of which you can see on his website.) This project of his puts all these heroes into set-ups that could easily be posted up in your movie theater's poster gallery. He’s even got an ensemble portrait of the 20-odd heroes that pays homage to the poses Alex Ross used so memorably for the covers of KINGDOM COME and JUSTICE (which, as an aside, I’ll say is actually pretty surreal to witness.)  == TEASER ==

These costumes range from looking professionally-designed to cobbled together, but Tangen’s photography makes them all look impressively iconic. Bleeding Cool got wind of this recently, but the project's continuing to expand. I’ve included only a couple mages here, but there’s a whole host of posters, portraits and videos on the project’s website. Seriously, it looks like they’re launching a whole imprint here.  Anyway, check it out and found out all there is to know about these heroes. You might even get some ideas on how to bring this brand of creative altruism to your own community.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.