Masked crusaders take on crime in their own fashion

SALT LAKE CITY – By his own admission, Dave Montgomery was a functioning drunk who hated himself. Not that many years ago he might guzzle 30 Rolling Rocks to mask the memory of a hit-and-run life that included two divorces and a precious daughter who died in childbirth.

After he quit boozing, his very existence bored him. Then one night in 2006 the suburban tattoo artist typed into a computer search the words he now says have made all the difference: “real-life superheroes.”

Since then, he’s joined a world of masked crusaders, morphing from flawed human to a fantastic creation straight out of his imagination. At least one night a month, he dons a black leather outfit that suggests pure urban menace, inserts blue contact lenses that give his eyes an eerie glow, and steps into industrial-goth boots that rise nearly to his knees.

And then comes the piece de resistance: a blood-red wrap-around mask in the shape of a cross with no nose or mouth.

“It’s like reapplying a very old skin you forgot you had, finding out all over again what you really look like,” he says of his costume. “It just feels natural.”

He calls himself Nihilist, a thing without rules, and he’s the founder of the so-called Black Monday Society – a collection of two dozen characters with such names as Asylum, Fool King, Red Voltage and Iron Head who walk Salt Lake City streets looking for trouble – not making it, but trying to prevent it.

At 41, Montgomery is among the growing ranks of self-styled superheroes prowling the pavement in places like San Jose, Boston, Minneapolis, New York, Cleveland and Kansas City. They’re teachers, artists, students and blue-collar Joes who transform themselves into crime-fighters similar to the comic-book characters they cheered on as children.

On their irregular forays, the Black Monday Society forms up in groups of four or more to patrol troubled downtown neighborhoods like Drug Alley and Area 51. They stride with the assurance of rock stars.

For the most part, they have only themselves for company. They have yet to encounter a crime in progress, although they have broken up fights and helped drunks passed out on the sidewalk.

All the while, passers-by gawk. Cars slow and people shout praise or hurl insults, most of which involve a similar theme: “I thought Halloween was in October.” Montgomery waves it off with a gloved hand.

“There just aren’t any role models out there anymore, so we created our own superheroes,” he says. “Our message: Believe in yourself. Become your own hero.”

The Black Monday Society, a name coined to express the hopelessness many feel on the first working day of the week, doesn’t carry weapons. Members insist they’re not vigilantes. When one potential recruit emailed that he was “an experienced swordsman” who “makes his own weapons,” the group didn’t respond.

But superheroes in other cities have armed themselves with mace, pepper spray and clubs, causing many to fear that the idealistic crusaders are soon going to hurt themselves – or someone else.

In May, a member of the Rain City Superhero Movement in Seattle allegedly pepper-sprayed protesters in the city’s downtown, saying he was trying to stop an anarchist from throwing a bomb at the courthouse. Such violence has led many police departments to distance themselves from the masked crime fighters.

“We don’t approve or condemn these characters,” said Detective Joshua Ashdown, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department. He noted that unlike police department volunteers, Montgomery and his group have no formal training.

Despite the dangers, the superhero trend is spreading. “Just like the old Guardian Angels, they get organized and create their own manifesto,” said Michael Barnett, director of the documentary “Superheroes” that ran on HBO. There are only two rules to being a real-life superhero: Put on a mask, and go out and do good. It’s just that simple.”

Stan Lee, the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics who collaborated on such characters as Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, has another explanation for the movement’s popularity. “There’s not much glamour in the average guy’s life, but if you can put on a costume and give yourself a name and walk down the street, you’re something special,” he said. “Everybody wants to be a superhero.”