Minneapolis-bizarro: We have our own league of superheroes, and they are great

Stan Lee co-created superhero characters in comics like Daredevil, Spiderman, Blackpanter, Scarlet Witch, Fantastic Four, Black Widow, etc., but I was surprised that he was also involved with real-life heroes too. This is 2012. Stan Lee starring tonight at his own show Academy of Heroes. Surprise, surprise. A Minneapolis vigilante appears to save the day. Razorhawk. In Stan Lee's words: "I'm impressed. From a professional wrestler to being a crime fighter. To me that's impressive." 

The show missed the point, though, because Razorhawk's heroic work was not given enough attention. Instead, Stan Lee personally challenges these individuals with their weaknesses in order to enhance their abilities in the real world. Razorhawk has some overweight going on, so Stan Lee asked him to attend dancing classes with the best coach available. Watching the awkwardness of Razorhawk while dancing in this gym is silly and cute, I must say. His kind personality shines, and we have a blast with the overall experience of the episode. Yet, who is this masked heroic character? Who are these heroes with Minnesotan taste and accent? I needed more and Stan Lee couldn't answer these questions.

Razorhawk became a real life superhero around 2006. A few years later, he founded the Great Lake Alliance with other two justice defenders, Geist and The Watchman. Those are essentially the Avengers of Minnesota. While I research Razorhawk's story I find a common pattern. His superpower is no other than compassion. 

Picture retrieved from United Earth Hopeforce

To outreach homeless people, Razorhawk has founded and leaded several initiatives, including the United Earth Hope Force, a non-profit organization that carries on several outreach operations. The Facebook website of the event held in San Diego in 2018, states: 

"HOPE is a place where superheroes, super villains, costumed activists, and altruists come together to help the homeless community. HOPE is not about us as individuals, it is about the good we can do when we all work together. HOPE is not about personal animosities, or who likes who. HOPE is us overcoming our differences to create the most good. Drama does not belong here. Let's do our best to remember that."

Picture retrieved from RLSH wiki featuring Hope Chicago 2018.

There is a whole kind of real-life superhero movement going on these days. They are not only bringing comic characters and colors to reality, but also leading community efforts to make our society a better place. The movement exploded in the late 2000s, as this news article shows how the Great Lake Alliance patrols Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I believe this movement was severely affected by COVID, but most likely will get back on track sooner than later. 

Razorhawk is not only working for the Twin Cities, but also is contributing to create a kaleidoscopic place. Our neighbors are hungry but also entitled to superheroes. There is some powerful message behind these costumes. This beloved place belongs to all of us, and this kind of expression, I mean the pop-culture images reinforce this feeling. Minnesotan showing up dressing like fucking spidermanish reminds me to the kind of art that I wrote for this blog because of the powerful message behind their personalities poured in some sort of public expression. This is art. As one article describes, "[t]he image of the superhero is currency in the attention economy, a visible method of attracting eyeballs to a cause. Given the prevalence of superheroes in pop culture, it's no surprise that hundreds of people thought to try this. 'They intelligently recognize there's a great deal of power in the costume,' Tangen says. 'It's smart using that kind of imagery if your goal is to inspire people. Many are doing it for that reason.'" Peter Nowak, The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes: and the Fall of Everything Else (2020).

Picture retrieved from RLSH Wiki featuring (from left to right) Artic Knight, Razorhawk, Geist, and Blue.

This public expression of pop-culture images carries a message of hope. It also makes our city a far weirder and interested place to live in. I'm excited to think next time I will be out from a concert in downtown and could see a gang of all-dressed superheroes walking down the street. It's exhilarating.

Santiago Bizarro (weird Santiago) is a popular book about Santiago, Chile. Hundreds, thousands of places away from conventional sites are found within the pages of the book. As a kid, I would read it from first to last page just to be amazed by this hidden corners of my own city. Downtown was never the same since that day, or perhaps, my perception of it because I would always find time to look for those places, places like magic stores, record shops, all kind-of-theme taverns, medieval armories, elf trees, but also the inhabitants of this hidden Santiago. All sort of geek people dressing like fairies, comic characters (yes, superheroes like Razorhawk), furred animals, etc. 

This sort of underground culture is a form of art, the unbuttoned roots we are trying to unveil with this blog. The comic culture that these superheroes are bringing is part of the weird and bizarro Minneapolis, which makes me also feel that this place has the same vibe than my hometown because of heroes like Razorhawk, and I appreciate that. A silly exciting city. Let's get weirder and weirder. Bizarro is our goal.