The Whizzer and Chips Years - Random Cheeky Remnants - Part 2 - Big Comic Fortnightly Ads

In addition to carrying the weekly strips Stage School, Calculator Kid (plus spin-off puzzle feature Calculator Corner) and Mustapha Million in Whizzer and Chips' post-Whoopee-merge era (Whizzer and Chips dated 06 April 1985 until the 27 October 1990 final issue), a number of other Cheeky-related items not associated with any of the aforementioned features occasionally appeared in Whizzer and Chips across the period. 

Described in the publicity as being '52 Fun Pages Fat', Big Comic Fortnightly began appearing in newsagents in June 1988 (the first issue dated 11th to 24th of that month). A full page ad for the first issue appeared in Whizzer and Chips dated 18 June 1988, although it neglected to make clear that the comic strip content of Big Comic Fortnightly consisted entirely of reprints (it was only in tiny print on page 51 of the first edition that the vintage nature of the material was revealed). According to the advertising copy, the previous (and presumably reprint-laden) Big Comic Books (published in 1986 and 1987) and Big Comic Holiday Special (1987) had been 'Big Hits', hence the launch of the bi-weekly version. However, Fleetway Publications clearly weren't confident enough to schedule it weekly, the management possibly feeling that forking out 35p every 7 days would tax the average pocket money allocation to an unsustainable degree. Alternatively, as BCF was taking its place on newsagents' counters alongside the company's established monthly reprint collections Best Of Whoopee, Best of Whizzer and Chips, and Best of Buster, and considering that reprints were also regularly employed to pad out Fleetway's annuals, specials and surviving weekly titles, there may have been concerns at the rate at which revivified material was being burned through, leading to reprints of reprints as was happening with Mustapha Million (see below) and no doubt other veteran strips.

 

Whizzer and Chips 18 June 1988

Among the resuscitated characters adorning the advert was Cheeky Weekly's elephantine fugitive Walter, hero of the inconclusive Elephant on the Run. The image of the bearded tusker (top right of the page) was lifted from the second Elephant on the Run episode, drawn by Robert Nixon, which had originally appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 07 October 1978. The same advert was run in Whizzer and Chips dated 02 and 16 July 1988, but with the text 'On Sale Now' replacing the dates of the first issue as above.

Issue number one of BCF contained the first and second episodes of Elephant on the Run, as originally presented in the Mystery Comic sections of Cheeky Weekly issues dated 30 September and the aforementioned 07 October 1978. Did the person who decided this feature was suitable for reprinting realise that there was no conclusion to the story on its original run, and readers of the toothy funster's comic were left wondering why the grey-skinned hero was being pursued? I only have 3 issues of BCF, numbers 1, 66 and 102 and. although there is Cheeky-related material in all 3 issues, numbers 66 and 102 don't include any Elephant escapades. There were 63 episodes of Elephant on the Run on its first appearance in Cheeky Weekly, plus 1 episode in Cheeky Holiday Special 1980, and a final, 4 page Christmas-themed adventure in Cheeky Annual 1981 (neither of which shed any light on the enigma at the centre of the strip's premise).

Assuming BCF maintained a rate of 2 Elephant on the Run episodes per issue, the strip could have run until BCF issue number 32 if the reprints were restricted to those originally appearing in Cheeky Weekly, or issue 33 if the Special and Annual episodes were included. How did the series conclude in BCF? Was there an apology for the lack of a resolution, or was a special final episode produced to wrap up the story? Sadly, I don't know.

One might have reasonably assumed that the image displayed on the advert above was of the cover to the first issue, but that wasn't actually the case, and our peripatetic pachyderm pal didn't feature on the front page of the copies awaiting purchase across the nation, nor did Elephant's erstwhile Cheeky Weekly colleague Mustapha Million, who also appeared in 2 episodes in that first issue. However, in contrast to the amnesiac fugitive Walter, Mustapha's BCF adventures didn't commence with a reprint of his first appearances, instead launching this particular recycled run with tales from Cheeky Weekly dated 07 October and 23 September 1978 (reprinted in that order). These 2 episodes had previously been reprinted in Whoopee and Wow! issues dated 01 and 15 September 1984 respectively.

I always found committing to buying a fortnightly title somewhat fraught, as it was hard to keep track of the publication dates. I remember occasions when I was certain that I had bought a copy of a bi-weekly comic the previous week so didn't look for it in the newsagents, only to realise 7 days later that my erroneous recollection had resulted in me missing an issue. The next ad for Big Comic Fortnightly, in Whizzer and Chips dated 31 December 1988, addressed this concern, as it included a coupon allowing readers to ask their newsagent to reserve copies on publication. This would have solved my missed issue problem, but I was reluctant to 'place a regular order' due to the newsagent's insistence on writing the reservee's name and/or address on the cover, thus thwarting my objective of amassing a collection of comics in pristine condition. Unfortunately the newsagent coupon doesn't include an instruction PLEASE DON'T SCRAWL ALL OVER MY COMICS!, but it also doesn't feature the usual requirement for it to be countersigned by a parent or guardian. Although Cheeky [Weekly] is listed among the comics being plundered for content, none of the characters featured in the ad are Cheeky-related

Whizzer and Chips 31 December 1988

 

Whizzer and Chips carried one further ad for Big Comic Fortnightly, in the issue dated 17 March 1990. By that point BCF had reached its 47th issue, and although the advert implies that the publication is now known as Big Comic, the 17/30 March on sale dates would suggest that it was still on a bi-weekly schedule. There is no mention of any Cheeky-related content, and I can offer no insight as to the actual line-up for that issue, but I just wanted to note that the newsagent coupon has reverted to including the customary section for the adult countersignatory, possibly after complaints from paper shop proprietors who had suffered the ire of parents whose paper bills revealed they were funding Big Comic Fortnightly subscriptions which had been instituted without their knowledge.

Whizzer and Chips 17 March 1990

 

Other posts in The Whizzer and Chips Years - Random Cheeky Remnants series;

• Part 1 - Farmer Jokes, Farm Fun and Wacky West