My Rating
“Black Helicopter”
It’s late afternoon somewhere deep within the remote forests of Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains. The Challengers of the Unknown have been airlifted into the region and now make their way toward a predetermined contact point. Their host is Hec Warden, leader of the Freedom Ridge Militia, and the man responsible for bringing the Challengers into this wilderness.
Unfortunately, Warden isn’t providing many details.
All he wants to discuss are mysterious black helicopters that have been appearing throughout the region. Warden believes the unmarked aircraft belong to the United States government and, even worse, that someone aboard them has been abducting members of his militia.
Clay Brody steps over a fallen tree trunk as the Challengers move toward higher ground. Before he can survey the surrounding area, a high-powered rifle cracks in the distance. A bullet whistles past his left leg!
The other Challengers immediately dive for cover. Clay doesn’t. He hears voices somewhere beyond the trees and scans the forest for movement. Within moments, the shooters abandon their concealed positions and begin pursuing the group. Several armed men emerge from the woods wearing vaguely similar uniforms.
They’re members of the Freedom Ridge Militia!
A chase through the forest follows until the Challengers discover a secluded cave and temporarily escape their attackers. Now they have a serious problem. Why are the same people who requested their assistance trying to kill them? Something doesn’t add up, and the Challengers need answers fast.
Then a teenage boy carrying a Browning twelve-gauge shotgun stumbles across their hiding place.
Marlon Corbet attempts to explain that the Challengers came to help, but the frightened teenager isn’t interested in conversation. He raises the shotgun toward the group. Before he can chamber a shell, an incredibly bright light suddenly engulfs his body!
The teenager screams in terror.
The black helicopter!
Then, in a flash, the boy, his shotgun, and the mysterious white light disappear.
Why are unmarked black helicopters terrorizing the Freedom Ridge Militia? Who—or what—is abducting people from the Bitterroot Mountains? Did Marlon see something hidden inside the brilliant light that took the teenage boy? Can Hec Warden maintain control over his increasingly paranoid followers? And have the Challengers stumbled into a government conspiracy, an alien abduction operation, or something even stranger? Collect the series to find out!
Review
Black helicopters, militia men, mysterious disappearances, and blinding lights in the middle of the wilderness? You have to love it!
“Black Helicopter” has a great premise, especially for a comic published during the late 1990s. Steven Grant takes the conspiracy theories surrounding unmarked helicopters and secret government operations and drops the Challengers right into the middle of them. The Freedom Ridge Militia doesn’t know exactly what is happening, but they’re convinced the government is responsible. Considering people really are disappearing, you can’t completely blame them for becoming paranoid.
I also like how Grant leaves open the possibility that something much stranger is happening. Are these actually government helicopters? Are people being abducted by some secret organization? Could extraterrestrials be involved? That brilliant white light certainly raises some questions, especially considering how often mysterious lights have appeared throughout this series. Here we go again, Steven. I’m still waiting for an explanation!
The confrontation with the teenage militia member was probably my favorite part. The Challengers have already been attacked by the very people who asked them for help, so nobody knows whom to trust. Then this frightened kid points a shotgun at them and suddenly disappears in a burst of light. That’s exactly the type of unexplained weirdness I want from Challengers of the Unknown.
Unfortunately, the story became a little disjointed toward the end. I understood the basic events, but some of the transitions and revelations left me wondering whether I had missed something. This series has done that to me before. Sometimes the confusion adds to the mystery; other times I find myself flipping backward through the issue trying to figure out what the hell just happened. This was one of those times.
Still, the basic storyline is very interesting, and the black-helicopter conspiracy angle is a perfect match for the Challengers. I’m deducting a couple of stars for the confusion toward the end, but there is enough strange stuff happening here to keep me reading. Three out of five stars.