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The question of impact is at the heart of human service design, with governments searching perennially for the right approach to meeting citizen need while responsibly acquitting public funds. In this area, 'commissioning' has become a popularised approach, most recently in Australia. Although in theory commissioning is a strategic and relational practice offering to put communities at the heart of decision-making, commissioning in practice has proved less transformational. This paper explores the gulf between intent and implementation in the transition to commissioning human services in New South Wales (NSW) in the context of the Commissioning Project, a collaborative project facilitated by the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney to enable peak organisations in the community sector build a collective approach to commissioning. The collaboration resulted in the articulation of four guiding principles to facilitate better commissioning in NSW: putting relationships first, letting communities lead, investing in people, and embedding learning.

This article explores the motivations, actions and experiences of real-life superheroes, those individuals who adopt a superhero persona inspired by both comic books and films, to engage in a range of activities that involve, amongst others, fighting crime, providing community support and battling injustice. Drawing on 13 in-depth interviews with individuals from different countries, as well as an ethnographic content analysis of online material, this innovative research explores the merging of the fictional and the real, the virtual and the terrestrial in the lives of interviewees. The article also enriches our understanding of the 'carnival of crime' and 'edgework' by arguing that risk, pleasure, excitement and transgression can also be found in a carnival of 'doing good' as well as in 'wrongdoing'.

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