Simply Super
Mike Brownlow
Superhero Supply Co. |
“If you are invisible, please make your presence known to a member of staff” one of the signs on the door warned. Inside we stood marvelling at the goods on display. They were wonderful, and they were very definitely weird. We searched the shelves, found the items our friends had asked us to buy for them, and placed them by the checkout counter.
"Ah, a tin of Immortality and a can of spray-on Mind-Control," intoned the assistant, " Excellent choices. Can I interest you in a cape today? We have a special offer. And we would like to remind our customers that no purchases can be made until the Vow of Heroism has been read."
We were in the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. "The choice of many a well-regarded Brooklyn Superhero" it boasts. "Dastardly plots will be foiled. Swinging into action our speciality. Serving Brooklyn and the Greater Metropolitan Area."
The capes looked tempting. You could choose from two colours, blue or red, both of which came in several sizes.
"Hm," mused my wife, "Medium or small?"
"Perhaps Madam would care to view them on our specially constructed pedestal?"
Madam tied on a cape, stepped onto the pedestal and the fans were started. She struck a suitably heroic pose and the cape billowed pleasingly in the uplift of air. Definitely the medium. Much more of a flowing line to the cape in mid-flight. My daughter favoured the cute and sassy sidekick cape, although the 58” black satin number (“Save the day, then own the night”) was tempting.
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Capery |
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Carb Gumption |
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The portal is revealed! |
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The portal |
The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company is actually a front, a front for an after school literacy programme to help students aged 6 – 18 to develop their writing skills, and to help teachers inspire their students to write. There is free access to writing workshops, publishing projects, and one-to-one help with homework and English language learning. And what’s likely to attract young kids through the door to do that kind of thing? Well, by hiding the door amongst all this superhero exotica for a start.
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Through the portal door |
The writing and tutoring room |
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The boring store |
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Gravity cans |
Shop front |
Mike Brownlow is a writer and illustrator of books for children. His website, (which is in need of a jolly good spring clean,) is www.mikebrownlow.com
Ah, I fondly remember my husband being a bit shy about reciting the Vow of Heroism...
ReplyDeleteFor something similar in London, have a look at the Ministry of Stories http://www.ministryofstories.org
Great article - thanks Mike! Just wish I'd read this when I was in Brooklyn this Feb. Oh well, next time I'll zoom over in my humanoid onesie. See if we can some of those cans of Intelligence and get our Past and Future fully stocked over here.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fabulous idea, Mike and a wonderful article, Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI read Dave Eggars' 'Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius' which was truly heartbreaking - about brothers soldiering on after their parents have died sooner than they should as I remember - so to read of this brilliantly upbeat idea to get kids reading is wonderful.
I LOVE this idea! Genius. Though I suspect I would have wound up disappointed...I remember seeing an ad when i was a kid for a doll, 'she's really magic'. She wasn't t really magic. They lied. I was crushed.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to go back to NYC to visit this. Yes the equivalent here in London is The Ministry of Stories.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article Mike, and such a great idea, so much fun! It would be a tough thing here though, I can just imagine the consumer watch scoop investigations "this shop claims their spray will make you invisible, but it only contains water".
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