Ch'p
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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.
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[edit] History
A native of the planet H'lven, Ch'p participated in the defense of his homeworld from an invasion by the Crabster army of Doctor Ub'x. Captured and sentenced to death, Ch'p was given the power ring of the previous Green Lantern who fell attempting to stop the invasion by one of the Guardians of the Universe. Using the ring, Ch'p was able to defeat Doctor U'bx and free his homeworld. Ch'p went on to become the Green Lantern of sector 1014, and became good friends with Hal Jordan, Mogo, Salakk 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. 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, 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Trivia
- 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.
- There was a Welsh musical group named Ch'p Run Roadkill, after the issue of Green Lantern: Mosaic in which Ch'p was killed.
- Ch'p has appeared in numerous flashbacks since his death. He appears in the 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.
- 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.
- 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.
