Ch'p

Ch'p
File:Chp.jpg Ch'p, Green Lantern of H'lven. Art by Joe Staton.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Green Lantern vol. 2, #148 (January, 1982)
Created by	Paul Kupperberg (writer) Don Newton (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Ch'p of H'lvenCh'p
Species	H'lvenite
Place of origin	H'lven
Team affiliations	Green Lantern Corps
Notable aliases	Green Lantern (maintains secret identity on H'lven)
Abilities	Power Ring allows user the power of flight, interstellar travel, and the ability to create constructs of anything he imagines.

In the DC Universe, Ch'p of the planet H'lven was a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Like all H'lvenites, he resembled a somewhat anthropomorphic combination between a squirrel and a chipmunk. He was created by Paul Kupperberg and Don Newton.

History

Ch'p's early history was recounted in Green Lantern Corps #203. A native of the planet H'lven, he participated in the defense of his homeworld from an invasion by the Crabster army of Doctor Ub'x. He was captured and sentenced to death, but one of the Guardians of the Universe gave him the power ring of the Green Lantern who fell attempting to stop the invasion. Using the ring, Ch'p was able to defeat Doctor U'bx and free his homeworld. Shortly afterward he travelled to Oa where he was instructed by Kilowog in the same group of recruits as Hal Jordan. Ch'p went on to become the Green Lantern of sector 1014, and became good friends with Jordan, Mogo, Salaak and other members of the Green Lantern Corps. Ch'p maintained a secret identity on H'lven until he married his longtime girlfriend M'nn'e. While not serving the Guardians on Oa, Ch'p defended H'lven from various threats, many of them engineered by his old nemesis Doctor U'bx.

Ch'p's history as a Green Lantern was fairly typical until his participation in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since the crisis had affected the entire universe, it was thus also a Crisis on Infinite H'lvens, and when he returned to his home, he discovered that history had been rewritten so that he had died in an accident fifteen years earlier. In the new timeline, his wife M'nn'e had remarried his best friend, D'll. Stunned and disheartened, Ch'p abandoned H'lven for Earth, where he served with the team of Green Lanterns that were assigned to safeguard the planet. Unlike the rest of the universe, the members of the Corps were able to recall pre-crisis events. They were thus the only people who recalled the Green Lantern from H'lven. During this period, Ch'p once again battled Doctor U'bx, the only other person from H'lven who recalled the pre-crisis timeline. The two adversaries eventually realised the important connection they shared and set aside their differences.

Ch'p's experiences on Earth were primarily negative, however, so he eventually returned to H'lven to start over. When the power battery on Oa was destroyed following the execution of Sinestro, Ch'p's ring was one of the few that still functioned. The strain of living on a world where nobody remembered him led to depression and a suicide attempt that was halted by his fellow Green Lantern, Salakk, who became Ch'p's advisor and friend on H'lven. The two friends later travelled to Oa to participate in the reconstruction of the Green Lantern Corps. Ch'p was assigned to patrol the Mosaic World on Oa. There teaming up with John Stewart, he was struck and killed by a yellow tractor-trailer. An image of the deceased Ch'p occasionally appeared to the Green Lantern John Stewart, although the exact nature of the apparition was never fully explained. When the Corps was refounded following the defeat of Parallax, another native of H'lven, B'dg, was selected as the new Green Lantern of sector 1014.

Ch'p has appeared in numerous ways since his death. He appears in the alternate reality comic JLA: Another Nail as a member of the Corps strike force attacking Apokolips; in an Alex Ross painting of the Green Lantern Corps; and in one of the last Kyle Rayner Green Lantern stories, where Kyle visits his sector. In an issue of the DC comic 52, the character Ambush Bug is shown enjoying a snack food called "Ch'ps" that apparently has a certain space squirrel as a mascot. Ch'p also appeared in a flashback story in the current Green Lantern series (#31) training in the same class as Hal Jordan. A statue of Ch'p stands alongside those of other prominent Green Lanterns on the planet Oa of the 31st Century in the miniseries Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (Issue #2).

Keen-eyed fans have noted an obvious correspondence between the names "Ch'p" and "D'll" and the Disney characters Chip & Dale. This is reinforced by Ch'p's girlfriend being named M'nn'e, similar to Minnie Mouse. Ch'p's nemesis Doctor Ub'x, was named after Disney animator Ub Iwerks.

Crisis Survivor

Ch'p's status as a surviving anomaly of the first Crisis has not been fully explained since his death. His existence in the timeline is confirmed just prior to Infinite Crisis, as he is mentioned in a Kyle Rayner Green Lantern story from that period. He also appears in flashback panels in the current Green Lantern series. In effect, Ch'p would be a remnant of the Earth 1 timeline just as Power Girl is a remnant of Earth 2. While this point is generally rendered moot because of his demise, the character remains one of the few pre-crisis anomalies that has not been resolved by the events of Infinite Crisis.

Other Media

• A version of Ch'p was seen on the Duck Dodgers cartoon series, in the episode "The Green Loontern." This Ch'p was only capable of communicating in squirrel-like chatterings. The sounds were provided by Frank Welker.

• There was a Welsh musical group named Ch'p Run Roadkill, after the issue of Green Lantern: Mosaic in which Ch'p was killed.

• Most recently, Ch'p was selected to be included as a figure in a special Green Lantern Collection box set for the Heroclix miniatures game.

External links

• The Book of OA
• The Green Lantern Shrine
• Ch'p's Heroclix Figure at Wizkids Games
• Online petition to bring back Ch'p