Character Name: | Ch'p |
Publisher: | DC Comics |
Debut: | Green Lantern #148 (January 1982) |
Full Name: | Ch'p of H'lven |
Species: | H'lvenite |
Homeworld: | H'lven |
Alliances: | Green Lantern Corps Black Lantern Corps Legion of Super-Pets |
Aliases: | Green Lantern |
Powers: | Green and Black Lantern Power Rings |
Ch'p is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is a member of the Green Lantern Corps in the . An extraterrestrial, he resembles an anthropomorphic rodent, such as a squirrel or chipmunk.
Diego Luna voices a version of the character named Chip in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets (2022).
Ch'p first appeared in Green Lantern #148 (January 1982) and was created by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Don Newton.[1]
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 came secretly to induct him into the Corps with the power ring of his predecessor, who had fallen attempting to stop the invasion. Using the ring, Ch'p was able to defeat Doctor Ub'x and free his world. Shortly afterward[2] 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 Ub'x.
Ch'p's history as a Green Lantern was fairly typical until 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 15 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 assigned to safeguard the planet.[3] 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 Ub'x, the only other person from H'lven who recalled the pre-Crisis timeline. The two adversaries eventually realized the important connection they shared and set aside their differences.
Ch'p's experiences on Earth were primarily negative, such as his shocked realization that his Earthly counterparts were non-sapient animals, 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, Salaak, who became Ch'p's advisor and friend on H'lven. The two friends later traveled to Oa to participate in the reconstruction of the Green Lantern Corps. Ch'p was assigned to patrol Oa, specifically the makeshift city called Mosaic World.[4] There, he teams up with John Stewart, who is under the subtle influence of Sinestro. A yellow tractor-trailer hits and kills Ch'p. An image of the deceased Ch'p occasionally appears to the Green Lantern John Stewart, although the exact nature of the apparition was never fully explained. When the Corps was re-founded 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 is shown 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 book 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.
See main article: Blackest Night. Ch'p is one of the many fallen Lanterns to be risen from his grave on Oa to become a Black Lantern. He is one of the many Black Lanterns beginning a stand against the living Green Lanterns on Oa.[5] The re-animated Ch'p is destroyed by Guy Gardner wielding Red and Green power rings.
Ch'p appears as a character summon in .[12]