| George Chin Chillar | |
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 George Chin Chillar (rear) and wife | |
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First Appearance: |
June 14th, 1967 |
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Known Relatives: |
Notta Chin Chillar, Wife |
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Known Associates: |
Mr. Bribery (Deceased) |
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Appearance of Death: |
January 22nd, 1968 |
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Created By: |
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George Chin Chillar was an employee of Diet Smith Industries on the moon. He had light hair and wispy chin whiskers. He wore earrings, which was uncommon at the time. Chin Chillar and his wife, Notta Chin Chillar, resembled each other closely.
Alliance with Mr. Bribery
Chin Chillar had a criminal past, and he was contacted on the moon by Mr. Bribery. Bribery had been incarcerated, but was able to contact the Chin Chillars and enlist their aid in recovering the $100,000 cash that had been left orbiting the Earth following Bribery's failed plot to kidnap Honeymoon Tracy.
The Chin Chillars stole one of Diet Smith's magnetic Space Coupes and used it to break Mr. Bribery out of jail. They also attached a special net that Bribery had constructed in the prison workshop, and snagged the floating bundle of cash. Bribery drank too much champagne to celebrate his achievement and passed out from intoxication. The Chin Chillars then returned Bribery to prison, dropping him through the roof from a great height. Bribery died in the fall (6/26/1967).
Fleeing in the Space Coupe
George Chin Chillar & wife 6/29/1967
The theft of the Space Coupe and Bribery's escape had not gone unnoticed, and the Chin Chillars soon found themselves pursued by Diet Smith and Dick Tracy. The Chin Chillars managed to evade capture, but discovered that they were running low on food and water. Desperate, George Chin Chillar threw the Coupe into a steep, high-speed dive into Earth's atmosphere. This caused the special net that Bribery had attached to the coupe to catch fire, along with the money. Debris from the net damaged Smith and Tracy's coupe, and they had to waylay their pursuit. The Chin Chillars finally escaped, but the money was burned beyond recovery.
Desperate now for food, the Chin Chillars raided one of Diet Smith's moon supply stations, and subsequently decided to go into hiding.
Hiding Out with Piggy
Chin Chillar piloted the Space Coupe to the farm of another one of his criminal associates, the mob boss Piggy Butcher. Piggy agreed to hide the couple, disguising the Space Coupe as a silo. In exchange for concealing them from the police, Piggy worked the Chin Chillars tirelessly, treating them like slaves and making them sleep in the barn.
George Chin Chillar and wife 9/19/1967
Piggy then enlisted Chin Chillar in his car theft scheme. Piggy forced Chin Chillar to pilot the Space Coupe under cover of darkness and carry cars away to Piggy's secret underground smelting plant, where the cars would be stripped for parts then melted down for steel. Piggy held Notta as a hostage to insure Chin Chillar's cooperation.
Eventually, the police were able to track the Chin Chillars to Piggy's farm. Dick Tracy found and met with the Chin Chillars at night, sneaking past the guards at the barn. The Chin Chillars provided Tracy with information that he would need to successfully raid Piggy's hideout. By this point, the Chin Chillars preferred the prospect of jail over continuing their miserable existence in Piggy's service.
With Moon Maid's help, the police successfully raided Piggy's farm and ended his stolen car operation and steel mill. Piggy was stunned by Moon Maid's finger beams during the raid and was taken into custody (10/15/1967), but he was soon released on bail. The Chin Chillars were also taken into custody, but were eventually released on bail as well. George swore an oath to kill Piggy, and he and his wife were determined to get their revenge.
Revenge of the Chin Chillars
George Chin Chillar - deceased 1-22-1968
Piggy had suffered a string a of losses and had descended into alcoholism and depression. The Chin Chillars found him drunk and nearly unconscious on the street one night, and they dragged him to their basement apartment home. They put a noose around Piggy's neck and hoisted him onto a table, intending to torture him before finally killing him.
Meanwhile, Sam and Tracy had tracked down the couple for questioning. Their arrival enraged George, who began shooting wildly through the apartment door. Return shots were fired, and George was killed (1/22/1968). Piggy died from strangulation, and Notta was taken into custody.
Notes
- A chinchilla is a small rodent native to South America that is highly prized for its fur. There does not seem to be any obvious connection between the animal and the Chin Chillar family.
- It is unrevealed if "Chin" was George's middle name, or if "Chin Chillar" was some kind of compound surname. It was never shown to be hyphenated, but both names were always used. The given name "George" was not used until the character had already been in the strip for some time, leading some readers to assume that "Chin" was the character's first name until that time.
- Regarding the Chin Chillars' clothes, the common thinking has been that they were supposed to look like hippies. The evidence from the strip suggests a different reason. Per a conversation between the couple on 6/28/67, the Chin Chillars dressed in a way reminiscent of the "good old days" of the 1890s, also referred to in history books as the "gay 90s" (see the 7/1/67 strip). Because of the apparent unhappiness of their lives, the Chin Chillars pretended that they were from a happier time and dressed as part of an escapist fantasy.