Charlie Chicken Lives!

Let's talk about Charlie Chicken. "Who is that?" you may ask. He's a not-so-well-known fowl who has been around for decades.

A Walter Lantz creation, Charlie Chicken appeared in two Andy Panda cartoons in the 1940s: Andy Panda's Victory Garden and Meatless Tuesday. Oddly, he fought Andy in both cartoons. They chased each other around Andy's farm. I call this odd because in the comics (New Funnies and Andy Panda's own series) Charlie was Andy Panda's pal.

Charlie first appeared in print in New Funnies No. 79 as a small chicken. As far as I can tell from my research (I don't own all the issues), Charlie was a full-grown chicken by his next comic book appearance. He was one of the stars in New Funnies for decades, even getting his own comic strip in the series. He also hung around with Andy in the bear's own series later on.

Although he did not have much of a personality in the cartoons--he was only in two, after all--Charlie was often stubborn yet fun-loving in the comics.

He has not been seen in print since the 1970s but he lives on in back issues and in Andy Panda cartoons now available in DVD sets.