New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was
incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had
originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and
continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered
in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the
surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge
and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather
inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The
survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only
twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The
Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which
the Gang originated, expired in April 1978. However, the Krazy Gang's
Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986. Calculator Kid survived a little longer, his run of reprints coming to an end in the 26 July 1986 edition and leaving Mustapha Million as the sole Cheeky Weekly survivor.
Concerns about the amount of time kids spend looking at screens have probably existed since magic lanterns first radiated their beguiling beams across well-to-do 18th century living rooms. Mustapha's story in Whizzer and Chips dated 20 June 1987 takes 20th century screen-time worries as its kicking-off point. During the tale, in which our middle eastern pal demonstrates a typically Mustapharian misunderstanding of British phraseology, a wily Whizz-kid manages to infiltrate the proceedings. Can you spot the trespasser? Answer below...
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Whizzer and Chips 20 June 1987
Art: Barry Glennard |
Yes, it's that plaything-preoccupied pipsqueak, Toy Boy, who had previously raided Mustapha in Whizzer and Chips dated 06 December 1986. Unfortunately, the intensely annoying 'I made a mug of Mustapha Million' slogan now seems to have become permanent. It's just not cricket (sorry).
What makes the description of Mustapha as a drinking vessel even more galling is that it's drawn and lettered by Jack Oliver, who'd literally made a career out of drawing AND SCRIPTING his own material. You've only got to look at his IPC output (Robin Good, Cliff Hanger, etc) to see this. And here he's jumped on someone else's bandwagon. RIP Jack - even if you did sell out. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know your comment is tongue-in-cheek but yes, Jack is a legend and to be fair his trademark imagination/sense of fun is in evidence on the Whizz-kid and Chip-ite pages that he illustrated (e.g. the ceramic mug you mentioned), it's just a bit watered down given the constraints of illustrating what was essentially a letters page. He could have just done the minimum required but he clearly put a bit of thought and effort into making the pages fun. I did actually toy (if you'll pardon the pun) with the idea of posting the whole of that particular Whizz-kid page but decided against it. Can't blame him for taking the letters page gig when he was offered it, or maybe he proposed to the editor that he could enliven the pages.
DeleteI’m glad you took my comments in the sense they were meant; I’d never insult Jack. He probably did have to follow some editorial policy or other, and the letters page was a handy canvas for his style. Soon enough there’d not be that many, so it’s likely economics came into it. Jack being Jack (and unlike Peter Grey I never met the man) he couldn’t help but bring his own flair and fun to it – with superb results.
ReplyDeleteThere is one particular artist on the IPC comics (not going to name them) that whenever I see their work I think 'you've done the absolute minimum required - you've taken the script, illustrated it, but put no effort into enlivening it by even making the drawings funny'. The greats such as Leo B, Ken R, Frank McD particularly on Cheeky, Tom P and JEO expended such effort in their creations that the pages just zing with life. Rant over - goodnight.
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