Pictures of Statesman allegedly "playing" attacking Rikti craft have been met with outrage by Paragon City mother's groups as "irresponsible" and "reckless". The groups, including Mothers Against Vigilantes And Villains (MAVV) and City Child Carers of Paragon (CCCP) claim that such shows of "machismo" are nothing but bad examples for children to pick up on.

Margaret Tracing of the MAVV says that it is already hard enough to get children to treat super-heroism as a dangerous profession. "Too often all the children see is the flash and glamour and success inherent with being a hero," she says. "It's hard to teach them that it's a difficult and dangerous job. Having someone as high profile as Statesman shirking his duty by 'having some fun' while he's fighting villains sends out the wrong message and is bound to be absorbed by the children who see it."

Vanessa Curtis of the CCCP agrees, saying, "[...] the Rikti are the most dangerous enemy the world has ever faced and for Statesman to perform playground tricks while stopping them undermines this reputation. He should apologise for such behaviour and take things more seriously in the future."

Statesman could not be reached for comment.

In a shock to the superhero watching industry, Uberleet magazine's list of the most popular heroes showed that Ajax had taken out the award, with Statesman coming in a surprising third. This is the first time in five years that Statesman has not finished in the top position, which is decided by popular vote of the magazine's readers.

Terrence Beech, who worked on the poll in question, says that Statesman's position in the poll was surprising but perhaps not completely unexpected. "Statesman is Paragon City's greatest defender, but this really has been a comparatively bad year for him. He was highly involved in repelling the Rikti invaders, but the ships he plunged into Paragon City killed hundreds of people. If he was a more fledgling hero, perhaps this would have been overlooked, but he's Statesman... Also the defence of Paragon City was very costly in terms of both hero and citizen lives, so perhaps Statesman is bearing the brunt of sentiment that things could have been handled better."

Mr Beech said that Ajax's involvement in the final demise of the Rikti and his witness to what happened was the key to his winning this poll. "Ajax was there to tell the world what happened after everyone else was gone. He was sorta like the messenger of great news and a symbol of victory at the same time. Suffice to say, he got very popular!"

Coming in second in the poll was Maiden Justice who "did a fantastic job in protecting Paragon City and its citizens from the Rikti [...] plus she wears such skimpy costumes, which never hurts with voting from the male demographic."

War Witch and Apex came in as an honorable mentions in the poll. Uberleet's Hero-of-the-Year edition will be released later this week.

An original Statesman helmet, worn during his adventures during World War II, has been discovered as missing during the recent rebuilding of the Paragon Museum. The Museum had been damaged in a Rikti incursion but nothing had been recognised as missing until late yesterday.

The theft has surprised Museum administration who had recently finished upgrading security features for a number of exhibits. Melville Katz works in exhibit security administration and says that although the Statesman helmet isn't seen as a high-risk exhibit, it does have a number of security counter-measures protecting it and that none of these were activated.

"Statesman's original masks have always got a reasonable stream of people who come to see them, but we didn't believe that it needed Omega-level security that is used to protect exhibits such as Ato-Mick's Ultimate End-Time Bomb or the Collective's Core Driver," says Mr Katz. "Stateman's property has had attempted thefts before, but mainly from over-enthusiastic collectors. This theft is the work of a professional who only wanted this item."

"Stateman's World War II helmet might be desirable to a collector, but I don't believe it poses a threat to either him or Paragon City that it has gone missing," said Mr Katz. It has been indicated that the Museum would be reviewing current security measures in light of the theft.

A picture of Statesman in his stolen helmet.