http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25020634/the_legend_of_master_legend

This is a long article (definitely worth the read) from Rolling Stone about masked crime fighters in real life. The article features Master Legend and his sidekick Ace, who wage war against the powers of evil, in the Orlando, FL area, specifically. Master Legend reminds me of the “self-made” heroes from Watchmen like Nite Owl or Silk Spectre.

 “Like other real life super-heroes, Master Legend is not an orphan from a distant dying sun or the mutated product of a gamma-ray experiment gone awry. He is not an eccentric billionaire moonlighting as a crime fighter. He is, as he puts it, ‘just a man hellbent on battling evil.'”

Master Legend’s crime fighting uniform is made of puncture proof rubber, although he admits a knife has never been close enough to test the material. His “Batmobile” is his trusty 1986 Nissan pickup truck. There are other heroes like Master Legend, living in our midst, many of them are listed on the “World Superhero Registry”. Some heroes are even police-sanctioned and in communication with police officers and chiefs all over the country.

“If there existed a Master Legend Issue 1, it would flash back 26 years to his origin story in New Orleans, where the teenage hero’s identity was forged in poverty and abuse. ‘My momma and daddy were not good people,’ he says. ‘Through them, I saw how cruel the world can be.’

To be honest that last line made my stomach hurt, I wish Master Legend would publish an auto-biography.