Comic Book / Pink Chickens

Dolly: Just think, Mustard! We've left our dull lives behind and are headed for new and exciting careers as Space-Babes!

Mustard: I don't wanna be a Space-Babe. I wanna be a Pink Chicken.

Dolly: Pink Chickens ^TM it is then! Just don't blame me if it doesn't sell.

— Episode 1: "Spoooog!"

Pink Chickens is an Australian comic created by Patrick A. Reid^note Patrick Alexander. It ran in the Australian kid's magazines Mania (from 2001 to 2002, when a parent complained and "spoiled everything for everyone") and Krash (2005-2006), coming to a total of 14 "episodes". The comic has since been hosted on the official Pink Chickens website, which can be found here. According to said website, the current status of the comic is "WHO KNOWS!" - Mr. Alexander saying that he wants to complete the comic, but also that he "...may not be capable of finishing it (or willing to finish it) in its current form."

The comic mainly follows the adventures of Dolly Douglas and Mustard Custard, with two episodes (5 and 10) following Beaver-B of The Baddy-Beavers/Throttle-Me-Beavers (alphabetically-named beavers who like to play Badminton). It blends at-times surreal/"silly" humour with a fairly well-established plot.

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This work contains examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Blernk towards Mustard.
• Animorphism: A page in episode 13 has "the characters you've come to know and tolerate" drawn as penguins "due to stuff".

• Art Shift: Basil's comic in episode 4 and the Lice panels.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Some of Mucus and Pidgie's lines in Episode 10 are in Japanese.
  Mucus: 私は魚です！^note I'm a fish!
  Pidgie: ワンワン！^note Wanwan!
  • The Baddy-Beaver's war cry in Episode 5
  Soy un alce importante!^note Spanish for 'I am an important moose/elk' Muerte a todos los molletes!^note Spanish for 'Death to all the muffins/Kill all the muffins!' Os nabos comeram meus pastéis!^note Portuguese for 'The turnips ate my crayons!' Ich bin ein furry vampire!^note German for 'I am a furry vampire' Ich sauge saft!^note German for 'I suck juice' Café con pan!^note ???
  • The shoelace cross-stitch that Dolly holds up in one panel in episode 8 reads ばか (Japanese for "idiot").
• Calling Your Attacks:
  PRETTY DRAGON FAIRY STAR CLOBBERING THING!! of doom!
  MAGICAL FANCY TIGER WISH HURTING MOVE!! of doom!
• Cat Girl: Dolly inexplicably becomes one for episode 13.
• Drugs Are Bad: the aesop derived from the I Ate WHAT?! situation below.
• Finger in the Mail: Trevor the alien says he's going to remove Dolly and Mustard's feet in revenge because they have stolen his spaceship, and to demonstrate his threat shows the cut and mounted feet of Mustard's parents.
• Funetik Aksent: The Baddy-Beavers.
• Funny Background Event: Many.
  • Basil being hit out of one panel and into a later one (and into Mustard) in episode 3.
• Mundane Made Awesome: At one point Thor randomly appears and begins to use Mjollnir, which is... a completely normal hammer, treated as if it were some mystical artifact. Dolly isn't pleased and makes Thor's head blow up with her thoughts, even if she probably didn't mean it...
• No Fourth Wall
  Dolly: Brrrrr! No panel border! That's spooky.
• Non Sequitur:
  • So many.
  Mr. Custard: So I said to the boss: "Dang froogie-poop, sir! Gimmie the gosh-jiminy cookie-nut before I blow your head up! Arrr!! I'm a pirate!
  Mrs. Custard: CITRUS FRUIT!! CITRUS FRUIT!!
  • "We interrupt this comic to annoy you! [...] It's an Arctic Neen!"
• Only Sane Man: Basil and Victor.
• Shout-Out: Several.
  "But you see, this is no ordinary wardrobe! This wardrobe is a gateway to the magical land of Nanria ^TM! [...] Yes, Nanria! A magical land of only two metres by one metre by one and a half metres! Nanria: Where it is always dark and smells suspiciously like a musty old cupboard."^note  Dolly: sold!
  "And make sure they tape Seachange! It's the Shaun Micallef wacky out-takes special!"
  • Regius Flartus has a Garfield plush and a poster for Linkin Park and Nikki Webster in his room.
  • In a few pages Basil wears Spider Jerusalem's spectacles.
  • Dolly and Mustard escaping from certain death in the vacuum of space before being picked up by another spaceship, as well as the space restaurant and Thor's unexplained appearance, could be considered Shout Outs to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• Slasher Smile: Some of Dolly's smiles are positively creepy.
• Start My Own: In episode 4, Basil tries to start his own comic, The Sensible Adventures of Basil! The Handsome Goldfish.
• Take That!: Regius Flartus has a K-Zone (a rival magazine of Mania and Krash) poster in his room - and right across from a poster of Satan.
• Talking with Signs: Frupert uses this as his only form of communication "on-screen", so to speak.^note It should be noted that he might not be entirely mute - Dolly says that they will not leave the ship until he says Goodbye to it. She does end up leaving, though she might have left without him saying it.
• Trade Snark
  "The shoes are Red^TM and were designed by Somebody^TM [...] This panel brought to you by Mutual Hatred^TM
• Unsound Effect: Many throughout the series.
  "DOOR-OPENING AND RAMP-EXTENDING SOUND EFFECTS!!"
  "Zʊʃ!"^note This could be interpreted as writing in the International Phonetic Alphabet, in which case it would be pronounced as 'zoosh' where the 'oo' sound is much shorter than usual

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