Sometimes ‘taking out the trash’ just means you gotta take the trash outside

Sandy pointed me toward this article about the “Heroes Next Door” photo exhibit in Honk Kong, which puts well-known superhero characters into everyday situations. The work, by photographers Chow Kar Hoo and Chris Lam, is good stuff, both in terms of technical expertise and the staging and casting. Wolverine up there is pretty great, and I don’t know why someone hasn’t put the pair’s Wonder Woman in a movie yet.

The concept isn’t an original idea, but it’s certainly one of the better executed. Also (for me at least) the reaction of the average citizen on the street is just as interesting as the intended contrast between the hero and their setting. In the series of shots you’ll see Batman — the somber and serious Dark Knight — striding through a narrow market as people dare to glance at him only after he’s passed, or out of the corner of their eyes. Superman, on the other hand, ambles down a wide boulevard, surrounded by smiling folks taking pictures and angling for a handshake.

A picture really does say a thousand words, I suppose, and more eloquently than any nerd debate. (And from what I can tell, Green Hornet is a real douche.)

Go to the Chow Kar Hoo Photography site to see more from the recently closed exhibit.