Short, but sweet

[causticlad]

A fistful of Fantagraphics' Critters came out of the latest Box from the Closet thus reminding me of J.P. Morgan, who made me laugh quite a lot at the time with his Fission Chicken. I'd guess I wasn't the only one, as the character ended up getting his own series for a few issues before falling afoul (ha!) of one of Fantagraphics' periodic money crises some time around 1993.

Lo! and behold Google tells me that the Chicken of Wrath is still a going concern, running as a web comic after a hiatus that lasted until 2006. But let me introduce Morgan's creation to y'all via the very first comic to feature him (though published second, in Critters #22, February 1988). This is sort of Fission Archeopteryx, as he had a redesigned head starting from his second story (and first appearance), but on the other hand the script is more representative of the current run's humour -- the other Critters stories are, in retrospect, slowed down by some pretty heavy-handed satire.

Two pages of two:







A sequel (BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT!), featuring Fish's sidekick Skip Squirrelhard, was posted by J.P. Morgan to his personal website in 2004:

http://home.earthlink.net/~johnpmorgan/Ineptune/RetInept1.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnpmorgan/Ineptune/RetInept2.htm

While two long stories have been completed at the webcomic's site:

http://www.fissionchicken.com/

and apparently this two-pager and the other Critters strips have been self-compendiumanated and are available via Lulu.com:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-collected-fission-chickenvolume-i/2531196

Buy one and maybe he can purchase some food this month, if what I hear about web cartoonists is true. Please note I've no connection to the man, I just figure I owe him for the jokes back in the day.

Comments

[superfangirl1]

Really cool and thanks for sharing. :)