That’s where I saw the opening, the void, the area that I could inhabit. Other books written on this topic document what’s happening – “we hung out with these people, this is what they do,” which in and of itself is quite surprising and to some extent newsworthy – but I don’t think they really went into the whole cultural and social significance, and explained why this is happening. Where did you see an opportunity to do something new? You’re not the first to take an interest in real life superheroes. I met Nowak from a socially acceptable distance, where we discussed his approach to writing, research, and reporting – and how, in a year of widespread protests against racial injustice, superheroes view their relationship with police. Nowak does more than just highlight some of the scene’s more notable characters and exploits he examines why these people – who, not coincidentally, are mostly American – feel called to take society’s problems into their own hands, and why they think real life superheroism is the most effective way they can create change. Sometimes, these self-identified superheroes don’t wear costumes at all. But the majority of real life superheroing actually resembles homeless outreach and social work, arguably a more effective and impactful way to save lives. In some cases, these real life superheroes do indeed fight crime, patrolling rowdy nightlife districts in groups, looking for signs of simmering violence they can prevent from boiling over – peacefully, without an actual fight (or exceptional comic book powers). In his third book, The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes: And the Fall of Everything Else, Toronto author Peter Nowak looks at the small but growing phenomena of everyday people who don costumes and masks and try to make their cities a little better – more often than not, inhabiting personas of their own invention, with secret identities to match.
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