Citizens in Lynnwood, Washington are protected by a masked figure, wearing a rubber cowl, bullet proof vest and carrying a taser-baton: Phoenix Jones.

Lynwood is a sleepy little burg of 35,000, north of Seattle, nestled between the Puget sound and Interstate 5– an unlikely place as any for a superhero, but Jones prowls the streets on most nights looking for crimes to stop. His mission? Jones says “When I walk into a neighborhood, criminals leave because they see the suit. I symbolize that the average person doesn’t have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing.”

Rather than changing in a phone booth, Jones emerges every night from a secret room in the back of a comic book store.  His constant vigil was much less Kick-Ass and more Stan Lee’s Who Wants to be a Superhero? until last week when Jones interrupted an attempted car-jacking.  See the news video from Seattle, via CNN, here:

Jones is a part of the burgeoning Real Life Superhero movement, and despite being warned by Seattle police to not get involved and just dial 911 instead, continues his lonesome vigil.  Actually, it’s not so lonesome:  Seattle, it seems, is busting with superheroes like “Buster Doe,” “The Green Reaper,” “Thorn,” “No Name, “Gemini,” “Catastrophe,” “Penelope” and “Thunder 88.”  They call themselves the Rain City Superheroes.

I salute them, I salute Jones’ actions, and am glad people like him are around.  We need more folks who stand up for their convictions and act on them  (says the blogger from the comfort of his chair).

But what does everyone else think?  Someone might eventually get killed.  Is this a type of movement we should embrace, or is it best left to comic books and movies?