HEROES a Hit in Milwaukee!

RLSH and costume contest entries. Skyscraper, the towering robot in the back, won the contest. More pics to follow soon!

BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY PACKED--SURPRISE GUEST--SILENT AUCTION A SUCCESS 

What a fun night! I presented Heroes in the Night to my hometown crowd (as I pointed out, I was born just down the street at St. Mary's hospital) at Boswell Book Company. Lots of friends and family and a good number of curious people I didn't know. I read the book's introduction and showed some slides. Then for the Q and A I called up a surprise guest--Milwaukee area RLSH the Watchman. The crowd reaction was great.

I'm glad to say that book sales that night were good enough that Heroes in the Night was listed as Boswell Book Company's bestselling paperback non-fiction for the week! Here's the mention on their blog:
http://boswellandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/sunday-bestseller-post-mary-oliver-and.html

The after party was fun, too. We had a costume contest with  three honorary judges: fashion designer Miranda Levy (she was a contestant on the current season of Project Runway. She also has an exciting Kickstarter going on now HERE) as well as my friend, photographer, writer, and fashion guru Lacy Landre and comic book artist David Beyer, Jr., who contributed a few pages of art to the book.

Some of the local RLSH-- Watchman, Blackbird, and Night Vision-- proved they were good sports by entering the contest. A man dressed as Hermes got third, Watchman won second, and the crowd was wowed by first place winner Skyscraper, a giant homemade robot costume (over ten foot) who vowed to "tower over evil." Good show!

We also had great entertainment by Nineteen Thirteen and later DJ Beta.

From 9PM-Midnight we had a display of about 16 items generously donated by friends. Some of these included original art from the book, lots of certificates, and other unique items. After final bids were in, we had raised $531.00 for the RLSH run charity HOPE, which helps distribute supplies directly to homeless people.

All around a great night, and thanks for everyone who supported me and my book.

Up next:
Westfield Comics, Madison, WI 10/19
Common Good Books, Saint Paul, MN 10/20

Tomorrow on the blog, I'll be talking about another great RLSH charity event going on right now: Miss Fit's Warrior Dash to raise funds for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
Add us on:
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HERO PROFILE #12: Blackbird

Operates out of: Milwaukee, WI

Team Affiliation: The Challengers

Activities: Patrols, charity events

Author's notes: Tomorrow is a big day for me here in Milwaukee. I'm doing a hometown event to celebrate the release of Heroes in the Night. I'll be presenting my book at Boswell Book Company and then having an after party. Rumor is that local RLSH the Watchman and Blackbird might be around.

At the after party, I'll be doing a silent auction to benefit HOPE. Included in the items will be a nice print of the above photo taken of Blackbird by local photographer Paul Kjelland. It appears in the color photo section of the book.

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
Add us on:
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Tea Krulos at Quimby's Bookstore Tomorrow Night

Blackbird approved: the mysterious Milwaukee RLSH digs into the book!

First bookstore appearance for Heroes in the Night will be at Quimby's Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago tomoorow, Oct. 5, at 7PM. Excerpt, Slideshow, Q and A with surprise mystery guest.

If you're in Chicagoland, hope to see you there!

Other dates follow soon-- 10/11 in Milwaukee @Boswell Book Company, 10/19 in Madison @Westfield Comics, 10/20 in Saint Paul @Common Good Books.

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available  at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
Add us on:
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Heroes in the Night at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con: the report!

Thursday was truly a fantastic day for me as I made an appearance at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con to support my upcoming book Heroes in the Night (out Oct. 1, Chicago Review Press) by hosting a panel discussion with some Real Life Superheroes.

The panel included the Watchman and Blackbird of Milwaukee, WI, Electron from La Crosse, WI, Geist from Rochester, MN and Moon and Crimson Catalyst, both of the Chicago area.

After arriving at the con, I got a big stack of postcards that featured info on my book and on the panel from one of Chicago Review Press's marketing people, Mary. She was dressed for the con in a fantastic Doctor Who themed ensemble. Me and the RLSH handed out about 300 of this postcards before the panel and a quite a few more afterward.

Blackbird (left) and the Watchman field a question.

The panel took place in Room 42 at 5PM, and it went absolutely great. I was not sure what to expect for attendance and we had a really good turn out. I had the RLSH sit in the last row of the room and led with just under ten minutes of slides, quickly breezing through an overview of a short history lesson, how I first got involved in the story, and relaying some of my travel for the book. After the slides, I called forward the RLSH, introduced each panel member and asked them a question that I thought would be a frequently asked question or something relevant to who they are.

Panel members (l-r) Moon, Crimson Catalyst, Electron.

After that, I opened the floor up to the audience, and we got a lot of thoughtful, curious questions. Not one single stupid question.

The Defuser questions the panel.

We got an audience question from a surprise guest-- Jarrett Crippen aka "The Defuser," the winner of the second season of Stan Lee's reality show Who Wants To Be a Superhero?  As a law enforcement officer, he expressed concern about RLSH getting in the way of law enforcement, and the panel expressed how they try to avoid such situations.

Toward the end of the panel I pointed out two RLSH who we weren't able to get on the panel, but who had shown up in their gear to lend support-- Wraith and Crusader Prime. They helped me by handing out more postcards as the audience left. I invited the audience to pose for pictures in the hallway after the panel, and we spent another 30-45 minutes posing for pictures and answering more audience questions.

L-R: Electron, Geist, Crimson Catalyst, Tea Krulos, Moon, Crusdaer Prime, Blackbird, the Watchman, Wraith.

After that, I wandered around the con, taking in the sights. Wow! I was reminded yet again how important the superhero mythology is to our culture. At 7:30 we all met up again to take a walk down the road to a pizzeria to have dinner together. But first a small crowd gathered in the lobby and we had another photo session. In the pizzeria parking lot (while waiting for a table), we again had fans from the con (and some bewildered looking Chicagoans) request pictures. We sat down and as I sat down with the colorfully clad RLSH for pizza, I thought about how uniquely great this experience of writing Heroes in the Night has been.

We split ways after pizza. Thanks much to Mary from Chicago Review Press, my lovely assistant Mary Beth, my family who showed up to support me, and most of all the panel of RLSH who all did an excellent job of representing themselves. And, of course, the audience-- thank you, you guys were awesome! I'm really hoping to organize similar panels at future cons.

Meet the fans: the RLSH were a hit everwhere they went, even the parking lot of a pizzeria. 

P.S. We will have a video of the panel available soon, so you can watch it for yourself!

You can find a list of my upcoming October appearances in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and the Twin Cities HERE.

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HEROES IN THE NIGHT, available for pre-order at IPG///BARNES & NOBLE///AMAZON///POWELL'S///INDIEBOUND
GOODREADS///FACEBOOK
Book available OCTOBER 1, 2013!

Heroes in the Night Will be at Wizard World Comic Con Chicago!

The Watchman and Blackbird-- 2 of the 6 panel members.

We're happy to announce that Heroes in the Night author Tea Krulos will host a panel of six RLSH titled "Meet the Real Life Superheroes!" at this year's Wizard Con in Chicago.

Details below.

MEET THE REAL LIFE SUPERHEROES!

Thursday, August 8, 5PM, Room 42

     

Join Tea Krulos, author of the new book Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement, a non-fiction that explores the "Real Life Superhero" (RLSH) subculture-- people that invent their own costumed persona and hit the street to do charity events and sometimes even attempt crime-fighting. 

In a rare team up special, Krulos will be hosting a panel that includes actual RLSHs. They are: Razorhawk, who leads the Great Lakes Alliance in Minneapolis, Watchman and Blackbird of the Milwaukee team The Challengers, Electron from La Crosse, WI, and Chicago's own Moon and Crimson Catalyst.

The Challengers 2012 Christmas Mission

The Challengers, with special guest appearance by Santa Claus.

The Challengers’ annual holiday toy and art supply drive was a success. Through a donation box set up at Blush and an in-person appearance by The Watchman, Blackbird, and Night Vision at Brewed Cafe, the team collected donations.  that benefits the Gingerbread House (in West Bend) and Meta House (here in Riverwest). It was a rainy and cold day, but they stuck it out and collected donations of toys, art supplies, and cash. All together, they ended up getting a couple boxes worth of donations- good work, guys! 

Online fundraising (all monetary funds will be used to buy more toys and art supplies) will remain open until Friday, December 21 here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6Om35

Happy holidays!

The Challengers 2012 Christmas Charity Mission

Author's note: This is the third holiday season that I've helped out (mainly with press and e-mails) The Challengers- a local Milwaukee group of  RLSH. Each year they try to gather donations of toys and art supplies to donate to two charities. We had a good success with it in 2010. 2011 was a little disappointing, but we're hoping 2012 will be the strongest year yet. All the info for this year's event is below. Happy holidays!

Photo by Lacy Landre

LOCAL “REAL LIFE SUPER HEROES” ON A CHRISTMAS CHARITY MISSION

Superheroes to appear in person December 15 at Brewed Cafe

-December 5, 2012

Milwaukee’s team of “Real Life Super Heroes”-- The Challengers--  are once again working on their annual Christmas charity mission. Like the last two holiday seasons, they’ll be making an in-person appearance to collect toys and art supplies for two great local charities.

The Gingerbread House is a charity in West Bend that collects toys for low income families that need help buying gifts. Meta House, in Milwaukee, is a rehabilitation center for women and their families that has a need for toys and art supplies for their art therapy programs.

The Challengers are using their time and flashy appearance to help attract attention for these charities and collect donations for them. Monetary donations will be used to buy more supplies to donate.

This year, there are multiple ways you can get a donation to The Challengers:

In person: The Challengers will be making an in-person appearance at Brewed Cafe (1208 E. Brady Street) on Saturday, December 15, from 11-4. They will be accepting donations of toys, art supplies, and cash. This is a great chance to meet the “Real Life Super Heroes” in person and help them out with their cause.

There is also a donation box set up at Blush Beauty Boutique (249 N. Water Street) from now until December 15^th where donations can be dropped off anytime during business hours (Mon: 11-5, Tu-Sat: 10-6).

In addition, there is a page set up on Fundrazr where you can donate money online: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6Om35

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A CHALLENGERS CHRISTMAS

The Challengers outside of Fuel. Photo by Lacy Landre- Third Coast Digest.

The Challengers volunteered for a couple of holiday missions over the last few weeks. Their annual toy drive took place again this year outside of the Fuel Cafe here in Milwaukee (right in my neighborhood, Riverwest)where they took donations of toys and art supplies to be divvied up between two charities, the Gingerbread House and the Meta House.

The Gingerbread House is in nearby Washington County and provides toys to low income families who can't afford to buy gifts.

The Meta House is right down the street from me in Riverwest and is a rehab program for women and their families. They are always in need of art supplies for their art therapy programs.

Challengers The Watchman, Crimson Crusader, Night Vision, and Blackbird as well as Watchman heirs apparent Wonder Boy and Guardian Girl were on hand to collect donations. Things were slower this year compared to last year. We were not able to get the media placement like we did last season and--I don't know--times are hard.

Still, we did get some donations and these were delivered to Gingerbread House by The Watchman and to the Meta House by Blackbird and myself.

The Challengers helping out the Veterans for Peace. Photo by Gary Porter, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Something interesting that came out of the event was meeting a man named Terry who works with a group called Veterans for Peace. He was very interested in what the guys were doing and invited them to an event Monday night.

The event, at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, was a sort of unloading party. Fifty volunteers, including firefighters, veterans, and others unloaded and stacked a donation of 350 cases of food for the Veterans for Peace Food Pantry. Blackbird, Crimson Crusader, and Night Vision joined the human assembly line to help stock the food. The 484th Army Band played Christmas carols as the volunteers worked. The RLSH had a good reception and already are talking with Terry about more ways they can work with Veterans for Peace.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
No matter what you celebrate (even if it is the maniacal Real Life Supervillain holiday Ubermas) I wish you all a happy holiday season. I will have a short holiday hiatus myself, but expect a new blog post the first week of January.

LINKS
GINGERBREAD HOUSE: www.volunteernow.net/vc_no_menu_gingerbread.shtml
META HOUSE: www.metahouse.org
VETERANS FOR PEACE: www.milwaukeevfp.org

HERO PROFILE #83: Night Vision

Photo by Lacy Landre
Operates out of: Milwaukee, WI

Team affiliation: The Challengers

Activities: Night patrols, charity events

Author's notes: Night Vision is a local RLSH I've met up with a couple times now, once on patrol and once at a Christmas charity event last week. He got inspired to get involved after he found out that his friend was none other than the mysterious Milwaukee RLSH known as Blackbird.

THE CHALLENGERS CHRISTMAS CHARITY DRIVE

Editor's note- I'm continuing my own annual tradition of helping my local RLSHs by writing a press release for their holiday charity mission.
This year they are again collecting toys and art supplies for two great charities- The Gingerbread House in Washington County and the Meta House right here in my neighborhood, Riverwest. Press release follows.

The term “Real Life Super Heroes” (or RLSH) describes an international movement or subculture of people who adopt their own costumed personas and head out to try to make their communities a better place. For some this is charity or humanitarian efforts. Others use the concept as a platform for activism. And some choose to actively crime fight.

Milwaukee has its own team of RLSH- The Challengers. Much of the team growth has occurred over the last year. The founding member is The Watchman, who operated as Milwaukee's sole superhero for a few years, but is now joined by his team- Blackbird, Crimson Crusader, Charade, Night Vision, and Electron (of Madison).

The team has done charity events, handed out supplies to the homeless, and done a crime watching program similar to a neighborhood block watch (although in superhero gear).

This year, the team is continuing The Watchman's annual tradition of collecting toys and art supplies for a couple of charities- The Gingerbread House, of Washington County, provides toys to low income families. Meta House is a rehab program for mothers and their children located in Riverwest. In addition to toys, Meta House has cited a need for art supplies for their art rehab programs.

On Saturday, December 10, The Challengers will be in person in front of the Fuel Café (818 E. Center Street) from 10AM-3PM collecting donations. They are looking for (new) toys, art supplies, board games, or cash (which will be used to buy additional supplies). Donations will be delivered in person to the two charities the following week.

They aren't saving the world from killer aliens or battling escaped supervillains from Arkham Asylum, but here is an opportunity to meet some superheroes and help out some local charities.

At a glance:
WHAT: The Challenger’s charity toy drive
WHEN: Saturday, December 10, 10AM-4PM
WHERE: Fuel Café, 818 E. Center Street
Milwaukee's team of “Real Life Super Heroes,” The Challengers, is working to collect toys, art supplies, and money for two charities- the Gingerbread House in West Bend and the Meta House in Riverwest.

For more information or to set up an interview with the The Challengers, contact:
Contact: Tea Krulos
teakrulos@gmail.com

RLSH storyline on "Castle"

Heroes in the Night fans pointed out that the most recent episode of the ABC comedy-drama "Castle" featured a "Real Life Super Hero." In the episode, titled "Heroes and Villains," lead character Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion) is hip to the "real life super hero subculture." He shows his detective partner a YouTube video of a bumbling RLSH named "Red Maroon." The two then line up suspects for a RLSH named "Lone Vengeance" who may or may not have murdered a criminal with a samurai sword.

We won't spoil the ending- the episode is available to watch at ABC's website.

Although this is latest fictitious RLSH to appear on a TV show, it isn't the first. A year ago, Heroes in the Night reported on the ABC police drama "Rookie Blue," which also featured a story with a RLSH named "The Guardian."
(heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2010/09/090410-center-street-patrol-and-other.html)

ALSO: Yesterday was the birthday of The Watchman and I joined him and his Challengers team mates Blackbird, Crimson Crusader and a new recruit, tentatively named Night Vision at his house for a grill out- bratwurst of course, this is Wisconsin. Happy birthday!

Blackbird and Life- A Firsthand Account of a 9/11 Patrol

I've met local Milwaukee Real Life Super Hero Blackbird several times. Last year Blackbird took a trip to New York and met up with NYC RLSH and Superheroes Anonymous founder Life. On a return trip to NYC this year, the duo decided to meet up for a hand out of supplies to the homeless on September 11.

What follows is Blackbird's account of the evening, recorded in a phone call and transcribed by me.


I made plans to meet Life just before sunset on the 11th and went to a store and spent a ton of money on homeless supplies. Honestly I just wanted to stock him up on supplies, I thought for sure we would have a bunch of stuff left over. So I went crazy getting stuff and then his girlfriend was on the way with more.

So first we stopped and talked to a bunch of people, like this whole family and what was really cool was even though the whole family was homeless- the one dude, I kinda liked it- he was like 'you know what dude, I just got a job, I don't even need this stuff.' I thought that was really noble.

I told Life I think 95 percent of the homeless population in Milwaukee is a symptom of addiction but in New York I think a lot of times its just people that didn't make it, you know what I mean? Just couldn't work it out. Because you'll ask if they need anything, and they'll say- 'yeah, I could use some food.' Whereas when we visit the site (referring to a homeless camp in Milwaukee) they are like '(expletive) that, bring me some vodka and blah blah blah.'

Anyways, we were going to meet (Life's girlfriend) at Penn Station, and right when we were talking to this one nice lady and giving her stuff, all sorts of people started responding to something there. And I mean, it was just a little bit weird because like I said, I was a little freaked out about being here on the 11th.Once I got in Penn Station and saw how heavily populated it was in there I was like- this could be a target. Its shoulder to shoulder in there and there was probably 15 or 20 squad cars, and that was just on one side, and we saw 5 firetrucks responding too.

So we ran into Penn Station and started following all the fire chiefs and detectives that were running and it was a maze- it was like we would run, stop and go- 'where did that dude go?'

We ended up on the stop adjacent to where everything was happening and saw them pulling the first bag up, which was small. The subway engineer we talked to said it was a decapitation. There was probably about 30 cops on the track that was blocked off and they were all looking down at the rest of what was left, which ended up coming up in a bag like 5 minutes later.

We went back out with the supplies and soon were surrounded by about 15-20 people at that point and it was great. This one guy showed us a bunch of his street art he was doing on fabric, I have tons of pictures of that.

So we stopped there a long time and that's when the engineer came up to us and said 'it's awesome you guys are helping people out- this dude over there doesn't have a belt, he doesn't have any underwear on, his pants are falling down.' The guy was bleeding from the top of his head, streaming down his body. And he was just walking around. Life's girlfriend went up to him, but he wouldn't accept anything from her. He was kind of a dick. And she even got the vibe where you know if she was a guy he might have been more responsive. So I told them I'd be right back.

I saw him walking off, so I went and gave him one bag and then I went back and was talking to the engineer about him. He said he had seen the guy there for months and that he had lost tons of weight, stopped accepting food and was only accepting water here and there and picking up cigarette butts.

As he's telling me this, the guy starts walking into traffic so I kinda ran after him into traffic myself, grabbed him by the shoulders and hurried him along. Then I gave him another bag of food and he accepted it. The engineer said he never saw the guy accept food before. And I literally have one belt and its with me right now and its in (expletive) shape and I took it off to offer it to him. He got a little weird about that and kinda hurried along to get away from me.

The rest of the night wasn't too crazy, we went back to talk to the group we were with before. And the guy that does the street art and stuff he looked pretty well put together. They were all about getting the razors and soap, toothpaste, deodorant and stuff. I had the personal health stuff and Life had food stuff. We walked around and handed almost all of it out.

THE CHALLENGERS FEATURED in WISCONSIN TRAILS MAGAZINE

photo by Jerry Luterman- Wisconsin Trails magazine- The Challengers in Gordon Park

Local Real Life Super Hero team The Challengers will be featured in an upcoming issue of Wisconsin Trails magazine and photographer Jerry Luterman shares the photos and some Q and A with the members here-

wisconsintrails.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/the-challengers/

The featured members include The Watchman, Blackbird, Charade and Crimson Crusader of the Milwaukee area and Electron from Madison.

Riverwest 24 Bonus

THE CHALLENGERS TEMPORARILY BECOMES LARGEST RLSH TEAM AS OVER 150 PEOPLE SWORN IN AS HONORARY MEMBERS UNTIL 8PM

The Riverwest 24 is an annual bicycle race organized by members of the community of Riverwest. Riders in solo or team divisions test their endurance by seeing how many laps of the route they can complete in a 24 hour period.

Along the way there are several opportunities to complete bonus checkpoint challenges to gain extra points. Last year I was invited to come up with a bonus checkpoint that featured local Real Life Super Heroes The Watchman and Blackbird. We had people assemble a superhero costume and talk about what it means to be a hero in front of a video camera. He can see my blog post on that effort HERE.

We were invited to return with a bonus checkpoint this year, and decided to set up in Gordon Park midnight- 2AM.

As riders approached the entrance to the park, they were given two options- travel down path A or path B. Going down the right path would lead them out of the checkpoint, going down the wrong path (path B) would be a dead end where they would meet the mysterious Blackbird...


Going down the correct path (path A) led them into the woods where they encountered The Watchman and Crimson Crusader. They had the riders raise their right hand and recite this oath:

AS a deputized member of The Challengers, I vow to perform the following duties until the end of the Riverwest 24-

Keep myself hydrated

Obey traffic laws

Keep vigilant about my safety, the safety of other riders and the citizens of Riverwest.

A rider pledges her support as an honorary Challenger

The Watchman and Crimson Crusader, leading riders in reciting the oath

After their pledge was completed, the riders were recorded as having completed the checkpoint and reentered the race route. The person tallying the bonus tells me 151 people completed the checkpoint. In addition, a couple groups of people not signed on for the race heard about the checkpoint and ventured into the woods to check it out.

More riders sworn in as Challengers

A somewhat surly looking David Beyer, Jr. and his assistant Courtney being sworn in. David is a cartoonist and has contributed a few illustrations to Heroes in the Night

After the checkpoint I headed out but The Watchman and Crimson Crusader carried on to do a foot patrol.

As always, a good time. The race ends today at 8PM, so I'm heading out now to cheer the riders on! (and you can see live updates on their site-riverwest24.com/leader-board)

CHALLENGERS PATROL--07/05

Members of The Challengers. L-R: Charade, author Tea Krulos, The Watchman, Blackbird, Crimson Crusader in a Riverwest alleyway.

"Walk toward the light," The Watchman told me over the phone. It was 10:30pm and I was standing near the basketball courts on Center. A car with headlights on idled across the street. I walked over to it. Blackbird was behind the wheel, listening to Tupac. The Watchman was in the passenger seat and I joined Crimson Crusader in the back. Blackbird took off.

* * *

We drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes, then cruised by the courts again to pick up Charade. Then we headed to a quiet corner near some forest trails. Charade grabbed a couple bags filled with food and supplies and we headed into the forest.

* * *

Back in February I had been informed that there were people living in the woods. Blackbird and me headed down there to check it out (See "Out in the Cold."). We found a base camp and later Blackbird returned and actually found what turned out to be not one, but a four people living down there. He talked with them a long time. He has returned a few times, sometimes bringing others.

* * *

We descended the trail and found the base camp. The firepit was cold, an empty pack of cigarettes sat on top the charred wood. Blackbird attached a night vision camera to his shirt and handed me a small monitor. The Watchman and me stayed at the base camp while the other three went further into the woods. The river was still in front of me and the air was thick with mosquitoes. On the monitor we could see the tent huts. Blackbird wasn't sure if they were inside sleeping or not, so they left the bags outside the hut.
"Shall we roll out?" Blackbird asked. We headed back up the trail.

* * *

From there we walked through the neighborhood to Reservoir Hill. This was the scene of a disturbing crime over 4th of July weekend. The night of July 3 a mob of teenagers began to amass on the east side, crossing the river to Riverwest. They looted a gas station, stealing armfuls of chips and candy, and then headed to Reservoir Hill. A group of about 20 people from the neighborhood were hanging out there, they had been watching fireworks. I know several of these people- a friend from high school, a former room mate, guys from a band I wrote about, etc.

As the mob ran into the park and encountered more youth, the two groups decided they would suddenly run and beat down everyone else in the park- men, women, everyone. In a split second people were being pushed over and kicked in the head and hit with bottles. A couple people had wallets stolen. Racial epithets were shouted at the victims, who were white. Race relations are poor in Milwaukee, to say the least.

It is a big story here, the chief of police and the mayor have held press conferences and a community meeting here in Riverwest.

The Challengers took a walk to the top of Reservoir Hill. Great view of the skyline. In fact I had written a blurb for Milwaukee magazine's "Best of" issue stating that this was the best view of the skyline in the city. There was no chaos up here tonight. Just the view. As we walked back down we encountered a young man giving his girlfriend a piggyback ride.
"Y'all going to kick some ass?" He asked.
"Only if we have to," The Watchman replied.

* * *

Quarters had a band howling away inside, but other than that Center Street was quiet. A man in a dirty orange t-shirt asked the group for spare change. He was not at all surprised or interested that they were dressed as superheroes- he didn't even raise an eyebrow. The RLSHs felt up their pockets, but none of them had brought cash on patrol. The man wandered away.

* * *

Smokers are more likely to spot a RLSH since the smoking ban has gone into effect.
Outside Riverhorse:
Girl (slurring): "Heeeey- where's your helmets?"
RLSHs: ?
Guy: They're...
Girl:..they're trying...
Guy: Superheroes!
Girl:...they're trying..
Guy: Ha!
Girl:...they're trying...
Guy: Ha!
Girl: they're trying to SAVE THE WORLD!

* * *

Outside Foundation

Guy: (after long stare inhaling a cigarette) uh, is it Halloween today, er....?

* * *
Sometime after 1AM I parted ways and Charade walked home. The Watchman, Blackbird, and Crimson Crusader got into Blackbird's car and did a rolling patrol around the neighborhood and the UWM campus. The only thing they saw was a huge police presence at the scene of a crime near Holton and Locust.

* * *
The Challengers plan to patrol again next week.

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

MOTIONARY COMICS, Page 1

I've been meaning to post the finished results of Motionary Comics 2.0 for some time, but a series of deadlines and technical issues has kept me from it.

But at long last here are the six pages created for the event. All photographs were taken by Kelly Crandall, and if you click on the thumbnail, larger versions will pop up.

You can read more behind the scenes stuff in a series of entries from the first week of this month- Motionary Comics Week, in which the artists, RLSHs, villains and various other angles are discussed.

MOTIONARY COMICS, Page 2

The two panels of Page 2 were split here into two separate pics.

MOTIONARY COMICS, Page 3

MOTIONARY COMICS, Page 4