Citizen Prime: Arizona's Caped Crusader

40-something, 40 hour a week sales executive by day, masked crime fighter by night: meet Citizen Prime, Arizona's newest superhero.

His bat mobile is a Nissan X-Terra. His weapon of choice is a cell phone. He is Citizen Prime, an anti-crime activist on a mission reminiscent of The Guardian Angels, but with a comic book flair.

A couple of nights a week, this valley business executive named Jim (I agreed to conceal his last name) dresses up as his invented superhero character, and patrols valley streets. When you meet him, you can't help but notice his sincere enthusiasm and his incredibly well-crafted costume. Half embarrased, he admits the outfit cost about 4,000 dollars to create. It includes a silk cape, leather mask, and a steel-plated upper body shield designed by a professional armor maker.

His crime-fighting techniques leave a little to be desired, though: he takes photographs and calls the cops, but doesn't seem to do the bare minimum we expect of superheroes... to kick the crap out of the bad guys. Call me crazy, but calling the cops to report loitering teenagers smoking pot out back of the Circle K probably doesn't require a $4,000 suit of body armor.

Valley Superhero: Who is Citizen Prime? [AZ Central] (via Boing Boing)