Those of you who have been following my series examining the poll results will know the question that's coming next - what features had ended between the results of 22 January and 02 April? I always begin by identifying any such features as it could well be that they were culled due to the lack of support from readers.
Here's what ended...
| START_DATE | END_DATE | CE_ELEMENT |
| 05-MAR-83 | 19-MAR-83 | Snack-Man's Munch Maze Game |
Having satisfied ourselves of that, we must proceed to the corresponding issue of the strips that had commenced in the same period...
| START_DATE | END_DATE | CE_ELEMENT |
| 12-FEB-83 | 26-JAN-85 | Freaky Frankie |
Freaky Frankie was a (possibly reprint - Update: Thanks to Stephen Archer for confirming that Freaky Frankie originally appeared in Monster Fun) strip featuring Whoopee's horrific humour superstar, Frankie Stein. Consisting of three panels per strip, and featuring no dialogue (aside from the mechanical utterances of a speak-your-weight machine on one occasion), the strip was used as filler in 6 issues between February and June 1983, pending the arrival of features from Wow! Something of a harbinger of doom, Freaky Frankie reappeared one more time in January 1985 as Whoopee entered its final few months.
Other than Frankie's silent outings, no new features had begun since 04 December 1982, and none had ended since November 1982. This is of course because the comic was coasting towards the restructuring of its content that would result from the impending adoption of the survivors from Wow! in July '83, and a concomitant cancellation of Whoopee strips that was necessary to accommodate the newcomers.
So the ongoing Whoopee features (i.e. those with start dates <= 22 January 1983 and end dates >= 02 April 1983 - that's why the Guy Fawkes masks are included) at the time of the 02 April 1983 results were...
| START_DATE | END_DATE | CE_ELEMENT |
| 09-FEB-80 | 25-JUN-83 | Smiler |
| 09-FEB-80 | 12-JAN-85 | Cover Feature |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Bookworm |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Bumpkin Billionaires |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Calculator Kid |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Frankie Stein |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Lolly Pop |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Mustapha Million |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Paddywack |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Stage School |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Sweeny Toddler |
| 09-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Toy Boy |
| 16-FEB-80 | 30-MAR-85 | Chip |
| 01-MAR-80 | 19-JAN-85 | Top Ten voting coupon |
| 10-MAY-80 | 09-MAR-85 | Top Ten Results |
| 01-NOV-80 | 27-OCT-84 | Guy Fawkes Mask |
| 09-MAY-81 | 25-JUN-83 | Robot Granny |
| 12-SEP-81 | 25-JUN-83 | Tom Horror's World |
| 31-OCT-81 | 05-NOV-83 | Guy Fawkes Supermask |
| 02-JAN-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Teacher's Pets |
| 27-MAR-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Little Ed |
| 01-MAY-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Beaky |
| 01-MAY-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Kids of Class Five |
| 01-MAY-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Smile-In |
| 01-MAY-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Whoopee Winners |
| 22-MAY-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Cheeky (second run) |
| 23-OCT-82 | 30-MAR-85 | Snack-Man |
| 27-NOV-82 | 23-MAR-85 | Calculator Corner |
| 04-DEC-82 | 04-JUN-83 | Rambling Rhymes |
| 04-DEC-82 | 25-JUN-83 | Quizmaster |
These are the poll results as printed in the 02 April 1983 comic...
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| Paddywack art: Jack Clayton |
Stage School finally attain the number 1 spot. They've secured placings in all 11 polls to date, but have on a couple of occasions fallen perilously to number 10.
| Poll Date | Feature | Position |
| 10/05/80 | Stage School | 8 |
| 15/11/80 | Stage School | 6 |
| 20/06/81 | Stage School | 10 |
| 20/02/82 | Stage School | 7 |
| 07/08/82 | Stage School | 8 |
| 21/08/82 | Stage School | 10 |
| 02/10/82 | Stage School | 5 |
| 06/11/82 | Stage School | 3 |
| 04/12/82 | Stage School | 8 |
| 22/01/83 | Stage School | 4 |
| 02/04/83 | Stage School | 1 |
Calculator Kid's Whoopee career has seen him for the most part hovering around the middle of the top ten, a situation which remains unchanged this time.
| Poll Date | Feature | Position |
| 10/05/80 | Calculator Kid | 4 |
| 15/11/80 | Calculator Kid | 2 |
| 20/06/81 | Calculator Kid | 5 |
| 20/02/82 | Calculator Kid | 4 |
| 07/08/82 | Calculator Kid | 6 |
| 21/08/82 | Calculator Kid | 5 |
| 02/10/82 | Calculator Kid | 6 |
| 06/11/82 | Calculator Kid | 8 |
| 04/12/82 | Calculator Kid | 6 |
| 22/01/83 | Calculator Kid | 3 |
| 02/04/83 | Calculator Kid | 5 |
Mustapha Million is the third of our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums who has gained a place in each of the top ten polls since Whoopee absorbed the survivors from the toothy funster's comic, although his popularity has been dwindling fairly steadily since early '82.
| Poll Date | Feature | Position |
| 10/05/80 | Mustapha Million | 1 |
| 15/11/80 | Mustapha Million | 1 |
| 20/06/81 | Mustapha Million | 1 |
| 20/02/82 | Mustapha Million | 3 |
| 07/08/82 | Mustapha Million | 4 |
| 21/08/82 | Mustapha Million | 4 |
| 02/10/82 | Mustapha Million | 4 |
| 06/11/82 | Mustapha Million | 7 |
| 04/12/82 | Mustapha Million | 4 |
| 22/01/83 | Mustapha Million | 7 |
| 02/04/83 | Mustapha Million | 9 |
Robot Granny has failed to appear in the top ten since just scraping into the November '82 results. Cheeky and Paddywack have never appeared in any of the poll results.
My examination of the fortunes of the ex-Cheeky Weekly funny folk in the Whoopee Top Ten polls continues in part 10.
good ole Paddywack.... love the hats popping off..
ReplyDeletePaddywack is lucky to be able to read the Whoopee annual in the library. I would have loved it when I was a kid if my local library had stocked annuals. I used to borrow the Tintin books which were the nearest thing to an annual that they had.
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