Batman
of JSU
It’s 2 a.m. on a Monday morning, and somewhere near Jacksonville State University, the Bat-Signal blares. It’s not a shining light or beacon across the night sky, though: it’s the popping sound of a Twitter notification on a smartphone.
his anonymity be maintained.
The Batman of JSU grabs his phone and checks the message: a few ladies are having car trouble on campus. He
replies that he’ll be on his way, rolls out of bed and straps
on his cowl, but the costume is going to rest tonight: he’s
responding to the case in his pajamas.
He’s amassed a following of students and appreciative
community members on social networking site Twitter,
which he uses to connect with the public, after only a few
days and two public appearances. It began as something of
a social experiment, to take the concept of an anonymous
Twitter profile and back it up with a real-life figure that
would also be anonymous.
“We decided to tweet Batman as a joke at first, but he really came to our rescue,” says Karli Estock, one of the young
women who reached out to the caped crusader. He posed
with her and her friends after the repair, wearing plaid
pants and a Batman t-shirt.
“I got out of bed at 2 in the morning to help fix a car, because I’m Batman,” he says. Today he’s out of costume, and
looks like any other 20-something college student you
might meet. He’s a JSU student, and he’s around the campus enough that you may have sat next to him without realizing it. His speaking voice isn’t anything like the gravelly
tone of Christian Bale, but when he’s in character, he takes
on a similar gruff tone, but still says “ya’ll,” even in his Batman voice. He’s quick to point out that who he is personally
isn’t important to his mission, which is why he requests that
“It’s not about the man behind the mask,” he says.“It’s about
what the mask represents.”
“I didn’t expect it to take off this quickly,” he says.
With overwhelming positive reactions from the public behind him, he realized that he could use his experiment for
the greater good, and started a campaign called “Be the
Hero,” a goodwill mission based in encouraging random
acts of kindness and everyday heroism from average citizens.
He reveals a private message from a JSU alumnus, who says,
“I think what you’re doing is great. Not only are you reaching out to help organizations on campus but you’ve caused
a sense of campus unity.” The sentiment is shared by many
of his other followers on Twitter, some of whom gave personal thanks for his taking pictures with their kids at a JSU
football game.
“My favorite [picture] was this little kid dressed like Batman,” he recalls from his first venture out in costume. “That
was my favorite picture I’ve taken. That’s when I knew I had
to keep doing this.”
He expects that there will be a point where everyone will
know who he is; keeping a lid on a secret at a school JSU’s
size is a tall order, even for the Batman. For now, he’ll keep
doing what he can with the attention while he wields it,
and come whatever may: JSU will have a Batman.
“There are so many bad things going on right now,” he says,
“and what we need is someone doing something good.” •
Check in with the Batman of JSU at @TheBatmanofJSU on Twitter.com
36
October 2013
INSIGHT