Written by Zachary Bayers, Editor-in-Chief
This past Wednesday, The Brackety-Ack used the Raven-Signal to call in the help of a special guest for an interview: The Roanoke Raven himself! Our paper had the pleasure of inviting our very own real-life superhero onto campus to learn more about his hero origin story, community service, dastardly villains, and the inspiration behind his drive. For those who aren’t familiar, the Roanoke Raven is a masked protector of Roanoke City as Batman is to Gotham; however, with a much kinder and non-violent method of fighting crime. He’s passed out bottled waters to citizens struggling within the heat wave last summer, supported all sorts of donation drives, cleaned up hefty amounts of litter and even returned any and all shopping carts back to their locations. With a passion for serving and supporting the Roanoke community, here’s what he had to say in response to our questions:
Q: How did you become the infamous “Roanoke Raven”? What was the moment you created that identity, and what drove you to put on the mask?
Raven: “Well, I’d like to say it’s an accumulation of a lot of what I’ve done in my life. The actual idea for the Raven started last summer. It was a very short and quick decision; I kept seeing these videos of ‘real-life superheroes’ pop up everywhere, and I was wondering, ‘why does Roanoke not have one?’ I worked on it all night! Roanoke started with an ‘R,’ and crows are local to Virginia, so I settled on the raven. I made the [Tiktok] account, and it’s just been one big sky-rocket on the way up!”
Q: Have you ever crossed paths with one of your signature villains, such as the Vinton Vulture? What dastardly plans have you thwarted to protect the citizens of Roanoke?
Raven: “I’ve never met him personally, […] but I have met with a couple of the supervillains: The Hollow King, the Berglund Center Ladybug — that was an arch-nemesis for a while — and you know what? I like to turn enemies into friends, you know? I don’t like to fight. I have thwarted some evil plans, though!
There’s a serial cart-leaver in the Target parking lot, and I’m currently fighting him pretty badly right now; but we’re winning the fight! Everytime I go there, I make sure to put the carts back and encourage everyone else to do the same. I’m fighting back against what people consider to be ‘mundane’ things, such as litter. I don’t think we think about litter enough. That’s something I’m pretty passionate about: picking up our trash, putting things back where they came from, and making sure we’re leaving things cleaner than we found it. This is our world, and we all share it.”
Q: What kind of training do you undergo to prepare yourself for “fighting crime”?
Raven: “Training wise, I have done six years of martial arts and jiu-jitsu; a little bit of boxing and wrestling, too. As far as training for the humanitarian efforts though, I feel like a lot of that comes from work experience I’ve had. I currently work in the healthcare field, so I’m no stranger to getting out there and helping people. I’ve done retirement homes, ambulances, hospitals; so I’ve seen a lot of real situations daily. I think that experience comes very hand-in-hand, such as passing around water bottles in a heat wave. It sounds small, but it does take a certain kind of people-person to do that. I try to encourage people that, while yes it takes a certain personality to want to do those things, anyone can buy a case of water and hand it out when it’s hot. […] It’s something that everyone can do to help the immediate community around them.”
Q: Who is your favorite superhero, and why?
Raven: “Oh, that’s a tough one! I am a basic person when it comes to superheroes, I like the big three: Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. […] I’m a big DC guy, so I hope this doesn’t cause any hate with the Marvel fans!
I specifically really like Superman and Batman because they stand for the same thing in a very opposite way. What I always tell people is that Batman is not a superhero vengeance, […] he’s actually a very hopeful superhero if you really dive deep into him. There’s a reason why he has a ‘no-kill’ rule; it’s not because he can’t bring himself to kill people, he believes there is something to be saved. There’s a reason why he saves the Joker every time he does something crazy, and it’s because maybe this time, the Joker will get help; or maybe this time, he’ll actually be able to save him. I think that level of hope is very important for a superhero to have. It’s something we see very adamantly with Superman — he’s very loud about it — but I think quiet hope is something that is very important, too.”
Q: You’ve mentioned in your previous videos your love for superheroes, especially your favorite: Superman Red and Blue No. 5. How do stories about superheroes, including the chapter Generations, shape your persona? How have superheroes in general influenced your morals and identity?
Raven: The [Tiktok] video I made about that comic is actually my most popular! It’s a vignette comic: it’s not one story, it’s three or four stories in one book. That one [Generations] was actually about Jonathan Kent, not Clark Kent; A.K.A. Superman. That story does follow common threads of love, hope, and self-sacrifice.
I think my morals come from a lot of places. I’m very religious, and I like to find where my morals interlap with some of these personal interests that I have. I like reading the story of Jesus, then read the Superman comic and be like, ‘yo, they’re saying the same thing!’
I definitely think there’s an idea that society does need superheroes, you know? I’m not calling myself a ‘superhero,’ I’m not saying that I’m actually going out there and fighting crime, but I think the idea of superheroes existing is very important for a community; someone to look at and put our hope in. Hope is a very powerful thing. Optimism is a very powerful thing. They’re something that — as a whole — I think we’re going in the opposite direction of. It’s very easy to look at the bad stuff and say, ‘wow, this sucks, look at all the bad!’ It’s hard to be around ‘bad stuff’ all the time and work actively to find ‘the good’. That’s why the perspectives from superhero comics [positivity throughout negativity] is something I like, especially with that comic [Generations] where halfway through the story, Superman’s dad dies. Yet, the next panel is not him giving up, but him carrying Jonathan’s message [love and optimism] forward to other people.”
Q: What pushes you to help and support the Roanoke community? What does the city of Roanoke mean to you?
Raven: “The reason I like Roanoke so much…I’m not originally from Roanoke — I’m from Virginia — but not the actual city. I’m from a small town. I moved up to Roanoke, and was very inspired by the amount of people, the art; and I thought it was a great city! I kept hearing every time my parents came up to visit that it was ‘so bad, horrible, homeless people on the streets, violence, and full of crime.’ Not to say that none of those things are going on, but I was looking around and thinking, ‘where is it?’ I see a city with potential. I don’t do this specifically for Roanoke. I believe every city, every town, should have someone out there who can help with some of these problems. I think the reason why I started it [becoming a hero] was because I wanted to spread this message, and Roanoke was where I was at during that time. It’s a place I really enjoy and a community that I like serving; whether I’m in the hospital, or working on the ambulance, I really haven’t had a lot of bad interactions with people at Roanoke.
People respond with how you approach them. The homeless guy who’s sleeping outside the bench at your apartment? If you treat him like a bum, he’s going to respond in a non-friendly way. If you approach every person like a person — like someone who deserves the same dignity as you — in my experience, I find that you have a much better time communicating with others. I really like learning about peoples’ stories and talking to others. It’s something I’ve grown a lot more passionate about [in the field of helping people]. It doesn’t stop at the door where you work, especially when you’re a healthcare worker. What you do doesn’t stop the moment you clock out, it should be something you carry everywhere you go.”
Q: What do you hope to accomplish in the future? Are you planning on finding more ways to help the Roanoke community, or perhaps even join the fight against Dr. Doom in Avengers: Doomsday?
Raven: “The Avengers did ask me about the Dr. Doom thing, but I didn’t want to be unfair to him, so I declined!
I’m very much working on a lot of things. Some aspects I won’t say for now because they’re still in the process [of being developed], but I’m trying to get to know a lot of people within the area. For example, I went down to Virginia Tech the other night […] and got to meet the Blacksburg Banana and local students. It’s very important to me that this is a project that doesn’t just stop at Roanoke, and make it something that I extend to other places, too. I very much plan on doing more [outreach], but also getting into more fields. I would love to mix my hospital work with the Roanoke Raven project. I want to see how we can advocate for the medical side of things in relation to the Raven. If I keep making videos, I want to see how far I can go. That’s a pretty big question I think everyone should ask themselves about their passion: ‘Is this a reality where this can become a big thing?’ I’d love to find out!”
Q: Is there anything you’d like to say to Roanoke, your supporters, and people aspiring to become a hero like you?
Raven: “Just do it, man! I started with $15 dollars of items from Amazon. Now, I have come all this way to a point where people are asking me for my opinion; which I didn’t think would ever happen. So, if you want to become a hero and do what I do, I say just get involved! Find people that you can help, those who need your help. Hold the door for them, give them a smile on a bad day, or provide food and water if you’re able. I think we put ‘helping people’ on this pedestal that it’s a hard task — an inconvenience — when it’s really not. I’m one that thinks it should be second nature to people, and that’s what I’m trying to teach. I encourage everyone to do it!
The last thing I’d have to say is my good ol’ catchphrase: ‘Fly high, citizens!’”
For more details and in-depth questions, be sure to check out our in-person interview on our official Youtube channel! You can also check out the Roanoke Raven’s social media on Instagram and Tiktok.
