This is another post in the series that sees me ruthlessly 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.
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Boy Boss meets Jasper Ferret - the first episode of Boy Boss, Wow! 07 August 1982. Art: Frank McDiarmid
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The latest feature to come under the spotlight as I work alphabetically through the list of turncoats is one whose disloyal nature was exposed by AndyB in his comment here. Boy Boss, a feature relating the tribulations and triumphs experienced by a young lad while running a multinational conglomerate (rather unimaginatively named The Company) was clearly popular with comic audiences of the time, first appearing in Wow!, migrating to Whoopee, then making a further transition to Whizzer and Chips, where it was allocated a regular slot within the comic's Whizzer section as of the first 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee' issue dated 06 April 1985. Following his 14th Whizzer appearance in the comic dated 13 July 1985 the curiously-coiffed tycoon, whose hairstyle had become more angular as time passed, no doubt a symptom of the stress of his executive position, seemingly took early retirement and was absent for a number of weeks.
However, it became clear in the 26 October 1985 edition, when BB returned within the Chips portion (sorry) of the comic, that the suspension of corporate capers had been due to high-level negotiations between chief Chip-ite Shiner and The Company's accountant (and Boy Boss' nemesis) Jasper Ferret regarding the youthful magnate's relocation from Whizzer to the rival title.
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Whizzer and Chips 26 October 1985
Frank again |
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I'm guessing that the caption with which the above story commences (clearly designed for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the strip's premise) was included because IPC management hoped that Whizzer and Chips would recruit new readers who were attracted to the comic by the 28 September 1985 issue's Zoom Balloon free gift, thus joining the ranks of Whizz-kids and Chip-ites after Boy Boss' summer '85 hiatus began. A jubilant Shiner and frustrated Sid appear in the final panel, but the strip is also intruded upon by a sneaky Whizz-kid raider.
In order to accommodate Boy Boss within the pages of Chips, another youngster in an adult role, Captain Kid ('The Pint-Sized Pirate'), was ousted when his seafaring shenanigans ended in a final timber-shivering appearance dated 21 September 1985. Boy Boss didn't immediately move into the junior mariner's former location in the comic due to the disruption caused over the following 4 issues by the presence of weekly Cut-Out Pocket Story Books featuring the antics of JR, The Bumpkin Billionaires, Lolly Pop and Joker respectively. In the same edition that contained the final Pocket Story Book, dated 19 October 1985, readers were informed that Sweeny Toddler had infiltrated all of them, and that a 'surprise prize package' would be won by the first 50 respondents to correctly identify the number of times the teeny terror had been present. Sharing the same half-page panel in which the competition was announced was the news that a new character, Glow Boy, would be joining Whizzer (thus filling the gap resulting from Boy Boss' defection to Chips) the following week.
Having transferred his allegiance, Boy Boss remained a Chip-ite until his strip was retired after the 26 July 1986 edition. The story wasn't brought to any sort of conclusion and the young executive retained his position as head of The Company.
Unlike the two traitors exposed in the earlier instalments of this series of posts, whose betrayals went unremarked in the comic, Boy Boss' crossing of the ideological boundary was not only acknowledged but worked into the big-business ethos of the strip.
