MISTER
CHICKEN
MISTER
CHICKEN
Real Name: Unrevealed.
Identity/Class: Human, technology user
Occupation: Former chicken rancher (and full-time nutjob)
Group Membership: Former owner of Fairer Fowl Farms
Affiliations: Formerly Hank Skidoo
Enemies: Howard the Duck, Hank Skidoo, Lee Switzler, Beverly Switzler
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Fairer Fowl Farms, somewhere just west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, off interstate 80.
First Appearance: Howard the Duck II#1 (October, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Mr. Chicken wore a big rooster costume, which could fire rocket-powered feather darts. He could use the advanced technology of Fairer Farms Fowls against his opponents, and Hank Skidoo could formerly be counted on to use his pitchfork against anyone Mr. Chicken sent him after. He also had hunting hens, trained to follow scents, though they were less useful in the rain.
He saw people in the form of humanoid chickens, though it wasn't clear whether this was due to the special glasses he wore, or just one of his psychoses.
History:
(Howard the Duck II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The man who would be Mr. Chicken discovered
that America had grown tired of bland birds and would gladly pay to eat on the
best. To this end, he turned Fairer Fowl Farms into a super-productive farm,
using the adage that it takes a tough man to make a tender chicken. He found
fulfillment in the breeding of the most perfectly developed fowl ever to be
served up on America's tables, and he was soon the leading seller of chicken
meat and eggs.
At some point he went crazy and started dressing like a big
rooster.
(Howard the Duck II#1) - Howard the Duck, Lee Switzler, and
Beverly Switzler stopped off at Fairer Fowl Farms when their car got a flat,
hoping to either stay there for the night or use their phone. Foreman Hank
Skidoo tried unsuccessfully to get them to leave, and when Howard began to snoop
around Mr. Chicken appeared before them. Mister Chicken explained his mission,
but Howard--feeling avian sympathy for the chickens--took offense to Mister
Chicken's operations, calling it genocide. Mister Chicken had Skidoo take his
guests to the henhouse, but Beverly convinced her uncle Lee to escape and get
help. Skidoo and the pugilistic poultry herded Howard and Beverly to the Coop,
where Mr. Chicken described his operations via television transmission. Beverly
was then assaulted by the automatic plucker, while Howard was taken to the
Rooster Room to become one of the breeders or, failing that, to be sold as
goose-down. Using Skidoo's pitchfork to vault onto and activate the conveyor,
Howard was launched through a screen window, intending to rescue Bev, but
instead being stunned by a series of impacts. However, when the pluckers got a
little too fresh, the irate Beverly tore off of the mechanical limbs and used it
to bludgeon the pluck out of the machine. She grabbed the dazed Howard and made
for the door, running directly into Mr. Chicken again.
The fiendish fowl farmer fired fast-moving feathers at Howard
and Beverly, and Howard unwittingly activated the egg conveyor belt, kicking it
into high gear. The Grade-A assault only slowed Mr. Chicken down, but Howard
delayed him further by opening the Coop's steam cabinets, fogging Mr. Chicken's
glasses and befouling his vision. Before Mr. Chicken could gain his bearings,
Lee Switzler returned, crashing a truck through the wall of the Coop and
knocking Mr. Chicken into the mash he fed his chickens. Howard and Beverly
escaped with Lee, while Mr. Chicken was overrun by a flock of hungry birds. Mr.
Chicken ordered Skidoo to assemble the Hunting-Hens, but--having had his eyes
opened by Howard's arguments--Skidoo was done with his boss's inhuman methods.
Shouting "Tt takes a tough man to take a tougher chicken," Skidoo charged Mr.
Chicken with his pitchfork.
(Howard the Duck II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The agribusiness section of the following day's newspaper mentioned a change of ownership at Fairer Fowl Farms, though there was no mention of the sudden disappearance of the previous farms. "Life is cheap in the country--and rural murders are rarely solved."
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, and Klaus Janson.
Hand Skidoo...Frank Purdue...
I would name Mr. Chicken as "Rufus Cogburn"
Perhaps Mr. Chicken could get together with Black Talon, Gamecock, and the Battling Bantam to form the "Cocks of the Walk" or something equally asinine. Or maybe he could just play chess with the Chicken Colonel.
I included the last sentence in the history to show the strong
hint that Mr. Chicken was killed, though it strikes me as a sentence made by a
New Yorker who sees the rest of the planet as being backwards.
:)
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Fairer
Fowl Farms
"The fairest fowl in fifty states"
The end result of years of research, the Coop utilized a special mash to increase the chickens' size and steam treatments to make them tender and tasty. Egg production was quadrupled due to an incentive program: Hens lay to piped-in Muzak, and those who exceeded 350 eggs per annum were treated to a month's vacation in Fort Lauderdale. Mechanical arms (waldos) and/or conveyor belts were used to move chickens (or uncooperative guests) about. The waldos were also used in mechanical pluckers, and the outside fences and chicken-wire partitions were charged with high voltage electricity.
--Howard the Duck II#1
Hank
Skidoo
The former foreman of Mr. Chicken, he was quite obedient initially, enforcing his orders with a pitchfork. However, after Howard had compared the Coop to a Nazi concentration camp and had taken Mr. Chicken a peg, Skidoo apparently slew Mr. Chicken with his pitchfork and took over ownership of Fairer Fowl Farms. He voiced the intent of using more humane methods on the chickens.
Yesh, Shkidoo shometimesh shpoke with a lishp. But not in that picture--->
--Howard the Duck II#1
images: story pages
Howard the Duck II#1, p5, panel 4 (Skidoo, profile)
p6, panel 4 (Mr. Chicken)
p9, panel 2 (Coop)
p17, panel 3 (Skidoo face (And fork))
Appearances:
Howard the Duck II#1 (October, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Mike Golden (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Rick Marschall (editor)
Last updated: 05/12/12
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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