New York City has Spider-Man, The Punisher, Daredevil and a whole crew of Avengers. Philadelphia has War Machine and Doctor Strange. New Orleans has Gambit and Los Angeles has Jubilee (diminished though they both are in the current crop of X-Men movies). Dayton, Ohio has the Hulk while its Midwestern neighbors Waukegan, Illinois and Waverly, Iowa lay claim to Ghost Rider and Hawkeye, respectively. Lubbock—freaking Lubbock—has its own superhero, for Stan Lee's sake: the Blob.

So where is Houston's comic book hero?

Below, we summoned a superhero from the depths of Buffalo Bayou itself—but the Bayou Beast's adventures here have only just begun.