Maine's cloaked crusaders

Back in June, Kathryn Skelton of the Lewiston Sun Journal caught up with two members of the Real Life Superhero Project (http://www.reallifesuperheroes.org/) that live and patrol in Lewiston. The full-length interview is extensive and well worth reading, especially in light of the current Guardian Angel recruiting efforts in Portland:

Weird, Wicked Weird: Maine's Real Life Superheroes. Yup, for real.
By Kathryn Skelton, Staff Writer
Published Jun 05, 2010 12:00 am | Last updated Jun 04, 2010 11:10 pm

Her mom thought she was doing drugs, slipping out at night, wandering the streets.

Mom didn’t realize her little girl was actually busy atoning and avenging.

As the self-styled superhero "Dreizehn" (that’s the number 13 in German), she’d slip out and look for trouble, interrupting drug deals and vehicle break-ins. Think “Kick-Ass,” but in real life. Sometimes it worked, sometimes the teenager got beaten up, badly.

Dreizehn moved to Maine from a big city outside New England a few months ago to join her similarly self-styled superhero boyfriend, "Slapjack." Several nights a week they walk Lewiston-Auburn for hours on end as roving Good Samaritans, looking for trouble.

The streets here? Much less mean, in her limited experience.

Most nights their foot patrol means giving bottled water and granola bars to the homeless and maybe yelling at a graffiti artist, all the while costumed and armed with batons, knife-proof protective wear and brass knuckles electrified with Tasers.

Dreizehn and Slapjack are in their 20s. Their parents? They still have no clue.

“You kind of have to be a little unstable to do it,” Dreizehn said. “Going out at 2 a.m. with a mask on and thinking you’re going to save the world, it says a lot about you.”
[...]

Read full article with photos here:
http://www.sunjournal.com/city/story/844777