Why I Read: Chicken Wings

Hi, everybody.Delta-v again, and I’ve got a new webcomic to tell you about.  This one is a  pretty straightforward slice-of-life comic without much of a “What if?” component–unless you consider the fact that all the characters are birds, and the main characters are chickens to be a significant “premise”.  Co-creators Michael and Stefan Strasser create the comic intercontinentally by lots of Germany-U. S.  communicating, and the result is worth all the fuss.  Stefan said it would be all right (I didn’t hear from Michael–this will be our little surprise for him, I guess), so let’s take off with Chicken Wings.

Synopsis:

The comic chronicles the goings-on at charter air service Roost Air, with Chuck, the pilot, Julio, the mechanic, Sally, the receptionist, and Hans, owner of Roost Air, and their boss.  The comic is laid out newspaper-style, with bright Sunday comics color, and usually, but not always a 3-panel format.  The pages are usually stand-alone, but short arcs are fairly common.  It’s joke-a-day delivery works well, and the writing manages to give the characters that three-dimensionality that makes you care about them.

How I Found It:

Gaah, I clicked on an ad link, but it was over a year ago, and I can’t for the life of me remember which one it was.  I’m going to have to plead “Senior Moment”, here.

Why I Like It:

It has two of my favorite attributes–humor, and insider geekiness, and lots of both.  I know very little about aviation itself, but the creators painstakingly explain the situations, and the terminology, so that non-aviation types like me get to laugh, too.

The character’s attitudes and actions drive the humor, and I really like the way they do it.

In Chuck’s opinion, he is the greatest pilot he knows, an opinion which no one else shares.  In fact when any pilot does something breathtakingly boneheaded in the air, the tower always asks….

And, of course, it always is.

Julio is conscientious, hard-working, and usually appalled at the damage that Chuck does to the aircraft that Julio must now repair.  He and Chuck have an uneasy work relationship that occasionally boils over into exasperation, but most of the time, Julio contents himself with sticking pins into Chuck’s over-inflated ego.

Sally doesn’t know the difference between an aileron and an altimeter, but then she doesn’t need to.  Brisk, efficient, and cheerful, she keeps the office operating in spite of the problems that Chuck causes, and can even handle her rarely-satisfied boss.  On the other hand, she doesn’t tolerate aviation acronyms well at all.

Hans is money-hungry, tight-fisted, and Human Resources tone-deaf.  He’s the kind 0f a boss that would take down his employee’s orders for pizza, then order sausage and sauerkraut instead.

He considers this leadership by executive decision.

One measure of how much I like this comic is found in the fact that while I was searching for appropriate images to share, I spent several hours re-reading the Archives and laughing.  I particularly like the expressions that Stefan comes up with.  It’s amazing what he can do with a chicken’s beak.

If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll know how much I like learning stuff I’ll probably never need, but is sufficiently geeky to keep my attention.  Well,  Chicken Wings has enough to keep me happy–for hours.

What I Think Could Be Better:

I really wish there was a way to access the comic pages from the old website.  A lot of wonderful stuff got tucked away there.

Final Thoughts:

I’m very glad I found Chicken Wings.  I even shared it with my brother who didn’t read webcomics, and he was so delighted that for Christmas he got me a Roost Air ball cap (just like Julio’s, Yay), as a thank you.  That pretty much sums up my opinion, too.  Oh, and they’re on the Top Web Comic site and they deserve a higher ranking, so if you’d like, please vote.