Introducing THE CHALLENGERS and HOPE 2011 Update

Members of The Challengers at Motionary Comics 2.0 (l-r) Electron, special guest Geist, Charade, Blackbird, The Watchman, Crimson Crusader

Over the last few months, new Real Life Superheroes have appeared here in my hometown of Milwaukee. These folks have chosen to join local RLSHs Blackbird and The Watchman in their quest to patrol the streets of Milwaukee and participate in charity and humanitarian efforts.

As such, a new team has officially been launched- The Challengers. In addition to The Watchman and Blackbird, the team includes Crimson Crusader, Charade, Argo, and Electron (of Madison, WI) as a reserve member. There are other prospects, too.

The team patrolled the Riverwest neighborhood on Sunday, after the popular Locust Street Art and Music Festival, and here is an account from The Watchman:

Sunday went well. I met up with Charade, Electron, and Trig (a RLSH prospect) around 10:30pm, and we were joined by Crimson Crusader about an hour later. We arrived on the streets of Riverwest as the Locust Street Festival was shutting down and things were getting packed up. We were amazed at how quickly it was cleared out. Still, a fair amount of people remained at the bars and on the streets of Riverwest for a Sunday night.

We walked down Center Street before weaving up and down the streets that cross it. As usual, there was no set route. We simply enjoyed the freedom to travel whichever course suited us, visiting whatever locations we felt needed visited along the way.

There was no set mission save for one - to meet Trig. He doesn't even have all of his gear together yet, but my first impression was positive. I would love the opportunity to meet with him where we could discuss his plans more in depth, and give him a better opportunity to ask me questions.

It was also an opportunity for me to talk to Electron in person for only the second time since he started. The first time being the Motionary Comics 2 event, during which I was kept far too busy to really get a feel for what he is like, I had to form my previous opinions of him based on his online postings and personal messages sent to me. I was pleasantly surprised.

There wasn't much going on. There was a good police presence in the area, and although we heard a lot of sirens, they seemed to be mainly due to traffic violations.

We did hear the typical things called out like "What, is it Halloween?", and were called everything from Batman to the Power Rangers, but the night was filled with a lot of positive reactions.

We heard a lot of thank yous and got to answer some questions about what we do from some people who lit up at the idea of people like us being out there. One man even mentioned being friends with the owner of the Art Bar, and suggested swinging by the next time we're trying to raise money for a charity.

H.O.P.E 2011

HOPE 2011 is an event conceived by Razorhawk of Minneapolis- the idea being a large scale RLSH meet up to coincide with the San Diego Comic Con. The heroes, through donations and their own means are assembling about 200 backpacks filled with supplies to hand out to San Diego's homeless population.

The main hand out will be Saturday, July 23. Approximately 28 RLSH have been confirmed as attending, many of which have been written about here at Heroes in the Night.

In realizing that not everyone can make it to San Diego, Razorhawk and others developed the concept so that RLSHs in other cities around the country by hosting their own HOPE event on the same day in their own city. The Challengers, for example, will be hosting a Milwaukee event on that day.

I myself will be attending the event in San Diego, to join a good mix of people I've met before and many I haven't. Of course I will be reporting the experience here on Heroes in the Night.

You can see the full list of attending heroes, find more info (including a list of the contents of the supplies in each backpack) and make a donation towards buying the supplies on HOPE's webpage:www.hope2011.info