What the flock? Staten Island’s angry turkeys get their own comic book
It’s a story most fowl.
Staten Island’s infamous, angry turkeys are getting the star treatment in a new comic book.
Patrick Hickey Jr.’s “Midland Beach Turkey Ninjas” tells the twisted tale of feathered warriors who crave to control the borough and beyond.
The dystopian fable is told from the point of view of Staten Island’s eldest turkey, “Deathclaw,” who wants to rule the roost.
The seeds of the 12-page book — out next month — were planted in July, when Hickey moved his wife and two young kids from Bensonhurst to Midland Beach for a taste of the ‘burbs — and encountered crazy birds instead.
“The first time we drove over the bridge to the new house, we went past Staten Island University Hospital and there they were — easily two dozen turkeys, perched on power lines and in nearby trees. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Hickey recalled.
“A few days later, I see 40 marching down my block. . . . They literally control this neighborhood.
“They are pretty fearless. They’re in front of my house literally all the time. My kids are scared of ’em,” said Hickey, a 40-year-old journalist and professor at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn.
In real life, the turkeys — who have been around since the 1990s — are minor celebs, having been fodder for SNL skits and just last week, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where the funnyman read a local news piece on how the troublesome turkeys block traffic, scratch cars and defecate on private property.
“You can’t do that on Staten Island — if it’s not St. Patrick’s Day,” Colbert snarked.
In November, a 60-year-old woman claimed she fell and permanently injured herself outside Staten Island University Hospital due in part to her fear of the wild turkeys roaming the facility’s Ocean Breeze campus. She’s now suing the hospital.
They are also bulletproof.
It’s illegal to hunt them and island residents have been told they have no choice but to live with them.
for pre-order. Legacy Comix
eldest turkey, “Deathclaw,” who wants to rule the roost.
“The bottom line is basically we’ve created a situation where we cannot harm them [the turkeys] and they can do whatever they want. It pokes fun at the political decisions regarding them and how humans have painted themselves into a corner over feral birds,” Hickey said. “It’s definitely grounded in reality, it’s just seen through the eyes of the turkeys,” he added.
The comic has the noir prese ntation of “Sin City” coupled with the storytelling devices used in “Howard the Duck” and “Mad Magazine.”
It was illustrated by South Carolina’s Joshua Adams, who drew from the scores of unhinged turkey photos and videos Hickey sent him.
Sales will dictate whether the $5.99 “Ninja Turkeys” — published by the Hickey-owned Legacy Comix — will live on in the comic universe. The comic is now available for pre-order.
“There’s definitely room for me to continue the series. It ends in a cliffhanger,” Hickey said.
Hickey, who is no pushover at 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, confesses he’s had dark thoughts about his 3 1/2-foot-tall, 50-pound neighbors.
“I see those turkeys and I would love to go to town and have some lunch.”
The comic book release was first reported by the Staten Island Advance.
