About us

Some general info

Chicken Wings is an aviation related cartoon which we try to keep it not too technical, yet accurate enough to amuse aviators and aviation fans alike. So if you're a professional pilot or e.g. "just" an airshow visitor, you should be able relate to these stories! For those of you who like the comic anyway even though you're not into aviation, we've compiled a short encyclopedia of technical terms where you can look up words like "squawk" or "zulu time".

We've started this comic a few years ago, because we felt that there definitely was a disproportionateness between pilot jokes, gossips and stories and comic strips dealing with this matter. And looking back, we now think that the creation of Chicken Wings was only a matter of time. Mike always wanted to become a pilot, and Stefan was always drawing comics since we both can remember. Ultimately, the idea of Chicken Wings was born in November 2001, when Mike came to visit our family for our mothers birthday. It all started with a few sketches on a kitchen paper towel, late at night, while we were watching TV and Mike was telling some hilarious stories from his work again. We came up with the setting, the characters and the storyline quite quickly. In the first couple of years the development was rather slow, because we were both busy with our "regular" carreers, but over time, Chicken Wings was gaining more and more momentum. It has now become a mixture of a hobby, a part time job and a serious passion. And rest assured, this is only just the beginning!
(We kept the paper towel of course.)

About Mike

Michael Strasser was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the first son to two Austrian parents. At the age of 1, the three moved to Amsterdam, where he spent a few years in Kindergarten. After that the family moved to Austria where he spent his childhood and forgot all the Dutch he learned. Then one day he decided to go abroad. First to serve as a UN soldier, and then to move to Los Angeles to study for his helicopter pilots license, which had been his dream since he was a little boy. It's been about ten years now since he said "I'll be back in a few weeks!"

Now he lives and works in California, has gathered many years of varied experience in aviation as a certified commercial pilot, mechanic and flight instructor and is now the chief pilot for a helicopter outfit in Van Nuys, California.

Their primary source of income is the fire fighting business. Every summer Mike flies on a government contract as the pilot of what is called a “Helitack Crew”. That’s a bunch of very skillful fire fighters who are based throughout the country to fly the “Initial Attack” on a developing wild fire. Helicopter crews and smokejumpers are usually the first resources to arrive at the fire site. The helicopter is used to deliver the fire fighters and then reconfigured to support them with water drops. Depending on the situation, it can also be used to deliver supplies, fly reconnaissance missions and sometimes medevacs. This is exciting work that will keep everybody on his/her toes and it gives Mike the chance to travel all over the country and meet a lot of interesting people in aviation.

And guess where these crews get their logos and shirts from?

About Stefan

Stefan is Mike's younger brother and was born in Amsterdam, during his family's three year long stay in the Netherlands. Soon they moved to Austria, where he was raised and went to school. He got himself something one could call a "decend education" (a masters degree in international trade). Just like his brother, he has inherited his parents' "traveling bug" and so his studies brought him to Tokyo, Japan, where he spent more than two years in total, ate a lot of Sushi during that time and received several scholarships to study at Keio University and Tokyo University.

After that he decided to become a freelancing illustrator and designer, lest he would have to find a real job. He has been reading and drawing comics since he was a little boy, and considers turning his hobby into a job as one of the best decisions he ever made. After all, the business degree has proven quite useful while setting up his own business.

Now Stefan is a successful cartoon artist who is living and working in Vienna, Austria. Chicken Wings is his most important, but by far not the only project he has going on. There are dozens of business magazines, firefighting magazines, company logos and a lots of other newsletters and such where you might find his work.

And when he is not studying or working you can probably find him rocking out in some dive bar in Tokyo or Vienna playing bass or guitar.

Photos


Some of Mike's colleagues got anxious during the flight and decided they'd rather walk home...

Just another day in the office...
At places like this Mike spends his hot summer nights.

Mike-closeup. Would you buy a second hand helicopter from this man?

This is what making a Chicken Wings strip looks like. Kinda boring, huh?
Stef showing off his tonsils.


Stef rocking out in Tokyo.