This is the second post in the series in which I'm unmasking the traitorous characters who posed as both Whizz-kids and Chip-ites during their appearances in Whizzer and Chips. My investigation covers Whizzer and Chips' weekly editions dated 06 April 1985 to 28 April 1990. For the reasons why, see the first post in this series.
The feature under scrutiny this time was based around the rivalry between the father and son occupants of two households. George Shiers helpfully explains that Beat Your Neighbour originated in Knockout in 1971 but migrated to Whizzer and Chips (more specifically Whizzer) in 1973.
I don't know when Beat Your Neighbour's original run came to an end, but the strip was revived (presumably as reprints) in Whizzer and Chips dated 30 January 1988, when it appeared on page 27, placing it within Whizzer, in accordance with its earlier affiliation. A week later, the generational japes returned to Whizzer (page 30), and their next appearance, in the issue dated 23 April 1988, was in the same location. However, the warring clans' next outing was in the 22 July 1989 comic on page 19, meaning they had crossed the boundary into Chips. The antagonistic families made a further 7 forays into Chips, their final one being in the comic dated 28 April 1990, where they turned up on page 30. In a 'standard' layout that would place them within Whizzer, but the issue in question was the final 32-page edition, in which Whizzer occupied pages 1-16 and Chips pages 17-32.
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| Whizzer And Chips 30 January 1988 I can't identify the artist UPDATE - AndyB has identified Jim Crocker (see comments below) |
This is clearly not a reprint of the original first episode of the strip. Rather than choosing a home-based tale in order to ease readers into the premise of the feature, a story set in a library was selected to initiate the reprint run. When did child beatings cease to appear in British comic strips?
Reading Big Comic Fortnightly recently, I realised that the 1988 run of BYN was a mixture of reprint and new strip, and the way to tell the difference was the masthead - so the one you've shown is a reprint.
ReplyDeleteThe one you posted is drawn by Jim Crocker (compare Ivor Lott and Tony Broke plus the early 1980s Whizzkids and Chipites pages) but he was not the regular artist in Knockout. I wish I knew who was;
Thanks Andy - I've updated the post re the artist id. I'm puzzled as to why they produced new episodes of BYN at this late stage in the comic - very odd!
DeleteThe provision of new BYN strips possibly has to do with the fact that it’d been reprinted before around 1981. It was part of a pull-out in which individual strips from W&C’s first dozen or so years were reprinted to make a 16-page mini comic, as happened all the time. The secondary aim in this case was to poll readers for which story they’d like to see return as a regular feature. As for the assignment of a new artist it’s not so odd: Tom Williams drew new Belle Tent strips for quite some time from 1972, as they were running out of Buster’s original Dinah Mite strips to reprint. I can only conjecture that it made a third comeback in 1988 because of the popularity of these conflict-based stories, such as Jackpot’s Class Wars/Top of the Class which ran in Buster for years after that merger had happened. I must get around to make a list such as I’ve sent you before with the BYN dates; haven’t been in the British Library much since October; bloody cyberattack…
ReplyDeleteHi Stephen - yes, those are all good points which could explain the reason for the return of BYN in new episodes. I have also been wondering whether the return of the feature had anything to do with the popularity of TV soap Neighbours around that time.
DeleteOn close inspection, I'm not at all sure that BYN's 1988 iteration was brand new: note the distortion suggestive of an old-style pagination converted to W&C's A4 format (and that’ll be enough long words from me!). A simple online search for BYN/Knockout will confirm this point at the very least. Where precisely it's from is another matter; this is where the BL will come in. To assist my research do you know when the pull-out and subsequent BYN repeat run were published? The BL are only permitting readers to call up 6 items per day, as a consequence of the cyberattack, so this’d aid me considerably. Of course, it may also enable you to pull the rug out from under me by doing your own research!
ReplyDeleteAt present my database only contains details of Whizzer and Chips from 1985 to the final issue, so I'll have to look through the physical comics to check for the earlier BYN run, which could take a little time. Once I've found the info I'll put a comment here with the details. I'm only too glad to have you identify the reprints if you're willing to take the task on - saves me doing the work!
DeleteI'd hardly have offered were I not willing! But if it helps I think the 1981 date was pretty accurate; you realise of course you need only find ONE date for BYN's presence and could thence skip back in blocks of three months say till you find the start pointing. Not to insult your intelligence, naturally...
ReplyDeleteAhh, how our fickle memories tease us - the 4-part Merry Memories Booklet appeared in W&C dated 17 April 1982 - 08 May 1982, with BYN appearing in the final part. The result of the readers vote on which feature should return was printed in the issue dated 31 July 1982 and the winner, BYN, began to appear in that issue. I'll do some more investigating to find out how long BYN continued.
DeleteThanks for that; I'll be going to BL on Thurs. Sorry if I seemed a bit terse; it's the second anniversary of my mum's death today and I've a bloody toothache only a week after having dental work done. Incidentally, the Merry Memories booklet, along with Buster's '81 reprinting of covers from its first 21 years, are what got me into the BL in the first place - I wanted to know more! It's more than conceivable that BYN from '88 reused the same reprints from '82, however tautological that may seem. Understandable not to be aware though - I didn't realise in '81 that Jackpot's Sherlock Jnr. had been in Buster twice before.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your research at BL.
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