Real-Life Superheroes 0, Real-Life Criminals, 1
A lot of people have been sending me articles about Phoenix Jones, Seattle’s real-life superhero. It was certainly worthy of coverage on TR except that I didn’t really have anything to say about him that I haven’t said about the other knuckleknobs who dress in costumes and try to fight crime (which mostly seems to be getting interviewed by the local news, but whatever). That is, until Topless Roboteer Chris R. sent me this update about Mr. Jones, specifically that after he broke up a crime in progress, the criminals immediately turned on him and broke his fucking nose. I’ve decided to laugh now, because when one of these guys gets shot — and odds are looking pretty good for Phoenix — it’s not going to be funny at all.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.