Welcome to the Cheeky Weekly blog!


Welcome to the Cheeky Weekly blog!
Cheeky Weekly ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT ©  REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED was a British children's comic with cover dates spanning 22 October 1977 to 02 February 1980.

Quick links...
Basic Stats
Cheeky Weekly Index - Cheeky Annuals and Specials Index
Cheeky Weekly Artist Index
Features by Number of Appearances
Cheeky Weekly Timeline
Major Characters from the Cheeky pages
Features Ordered by Date of Commencement

*** ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ©  REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used with permission. ***
*** CHEEKY WEEKLY, KRAZY, WHOOPEE!, WHOOPEE, WOW!, WHIZZER AND CHIPS and BUSTER ARE ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT ©  REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ***
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Tuesday 21 May 2024

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 57

 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.

My previous post in this series identified Mustapha Million as the victim of a raid in Whizzer and Chips dated 02 December 1989. I have been able to pinpoint raiders/raided in the issues dated 09 and 16 December 1989, and Mustapha is not involved in either incursion.

However, the edition dated 23 December 1989 is another problematic one, as although I have located Junior Rotter as the Chip-ite intruder in the Sid's Snake strip, I haven't been able to detect a Whizz-kid infiltrator into any strip within Chips.

 

Whizzer and Chips 23 December 1989 - Sid's Snake (art: Mike Lacey), including raider

 

Our Chip-ite chum Mustapha appears on the Sid's Whizz-kids page but as an object of ridicule, so that can hardly be considered a raid (and anyway, as seen above, JR was the 'official' interloper into Whizzer). Am I being cynical in thinking the true purpose of the request for top ten votes (plus least favourite and choice for revival) from across Whizzer and Chips (on his own page, chief Chip-ite Shiner encourages his loyal followers to complete the voting coupon on Sid's equivalent site in the comic) was to assist the editor in deciding which strips would survive and be transferred to Buster when the mighty 'two comics in one' was cancelled 10 months later? Sadly, the result of the vote was never published.



Mustapha is involved in
the delivery of 2 readers' jokes

 

Having identified JR as the Chip-ite raider into Whizzer, I would only need to record a raid into this pre-Christmas edition of Chips if Mustapha Million was the victim. As far as I can see, Mustapha's strip was not intruded upon, but I'll show it here just in case someone out there can spot an interloper who I have missed.


Art: Frank McDiarmid

More raiding fun soon!


Whizzer and Chips Cover Date Raider Raided
06 April 1985Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
04 May 1985Bloggs (Store Wars)Mustapha Million
11 May 1985JokerThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985Calculator Kid & CalcOdd-Ball
01 June 1985
Animalad
Mustapha Million
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Boy Boss
08 June 1985Odd-BallCalculator Kid
06 July 1985Toy BoyCalculator Kid
13 July 1985Pa BumpkinThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985JokerMustapha Million
24 August 1985CheekySid's Snake
14 September 1985
Odd-Ball
Calculator Kid
Calculator Kid
Store Wars
05 October 1985Mustapha MillionAnimalad
19 October 1985Odd-BallMustapha Million
23 November 1985
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Calculator Kid
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Mustapha Million
18 January 1986Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
25 January 1986
Odd-Ball
Cheeky
Mustapha Million
Odd-Ball
08 February 1986
The Krazy Gang ends this issue
AnimaladMustapha Million
15 February 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid
15 March 1986Odd-BallCalculator Kid
29 March 1986Calculator KidMaster P Brain
05 April 1986Bumpkin BillionairesMustapha Million
12 April 1986AnimaladCalculator Kid
31 May 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid
07 June 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
28 June 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
26 July 1986
Calculator Kid ends this issue
No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
16 August 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
23 August 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
18 October 1986Winnie the Royal NagMustapha Million
06 December 1986Toy BoyMustapha Million
13 December 1986Mustapha MillionOdd-Ball
17 January 1987SidMustapha Million
14 February 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
11 April 1987Pa BumpkinMustapha Million
25 April 1987Mustapha MillionOdd-Ball
20 June 1987Toy BoyMustapha Million
27 June 1987Mustapha MillionMemory Banks
25 July 1987Lazy BonesMustapha Million
22 August 1987Winnie the Royal NagMustapha Million
12 September 1987Mustapha MillionSweet Tooth
19 September 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
24 October 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
12 December 1987JokerMustapha Million
13 February 1988Bloggs (Store Wars)Mustapha Million
20 February 1988Mustapha MillionJoker
12 March 1988Odd-BallMustapha Million
23 April 1988JokerMustapha Million
28 May 1988
Readers asked not to let their Whizz-kid or Chip-ite sympathies colour their favourite strip votes
No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
11 June 1988SlippyMustapha Million
16 July 1988Toy BoyMustapha Million
30 July 1988 New raids halted

05 August 1989 (raid reprinted from 25 Aug 1984)CheekyStore Wars
12 August 1989 Resumption of new raids (one per week)No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
02 September 1989JokerMustapha Million
16 September 1989SlippyMustapha Million
23 September 1989 Weekly reciprocal raids resumeNo Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
28 October 1989
Mustapha Million

Sweeny Toddler
Bobby's Ghoul

Mustapha Million
11 November 1989 - Tarman is the Chip-ite raider into Whizzer, but I have been unable to identify any raider into Chips


18 November 1989 Mustapha MillionSid's Whizz-kids page
02 December 1989 JokerMustapha Million
23 December 1989 - Junior Rotter is the Chip-ite raider into Whizzer, but I have been unable to identify any raider into Chips


Wednesday 8 May 2024

Whizz-ites vs Chip-kids - Part 2

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.

 

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?

Monday 6 May 2024

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 56

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.

The previous post in this series documented my somewhat inconclusive examination of Whizzer and Chips dated 18 November 1989. The next issue to involve a former Cheeky Weekly character in a raid is dated 02 December 1989. Since by this time Mustapha Million was the only character to have originated in our toothy pal's comic who was still appearing, the only remaining question is - was he raider or victim? Sadly, he was intruded upon. Can you spot the Whizz-kid weasel? Scroll down for the revelation...

Art: Frank McDiarmid




...It's Whizzer's perennial prankster Joker, who is evident in the 5th panel of the story, and coincidentally this is the 5th time that the junior japester has raided our middle eastern mate (Mustapha has perpetrated 3 retaliatory raids on Joker). Surely Mustapha could have paid for some netting to be erected at the golf course to prevent the errant balls annoying the locals, but that would of course have ended the plotline rather early. I'm a bit puzzled by Mustapha's order for 'some extra large' things, as the delivery consists of snooker tables that are certainly not larger than normal, furnished with miniature goal posts, basketball hoops and tennis net. It's good to see our Arab chum is still pals with Jimmy, who first got a name check way back in Cheeky Weekly dated 04 March 1978. Hopefully their friendship will survive Mustapha's launching of a snooker ball into Jimmy's gob.

More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date Raider Raided
06 April 1985Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
04 May 1985Bloggs (Store Wars)Mustapha Million
11 May 1985JokerThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985Calculator Kid & CalcOdd-Ball
01 June 1985
Animalad
Mustapha Million
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Boy Boss
08 June 1985Odd-BallCalculator Kid
06 July 1985Toy BoyCalculator Kid
13 July 1985Pa BumpkinThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985JokerMustapha Million
24 August 1985CheekySid's Snake
14 September 1985
Odd-Ball
Calculator Kid
Calculator Kid
Store Wars
05 October 1985Mustapha MillionAnimalad
19 October 1985Odd-BallMustapha Million
23 November 1985
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Calculator Kid
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Mustapha Million
18 January 1986Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
25 January 1986
Odd-Ball
Cheeky
Mustapha Million
Odd-Ball
08 February 1986
The Krazy Gang ends this issue
AnimaladMustapha Million
15 February 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid
15 March 1986Odd-BallCalculator Kid
29 March 1986Calculator KidMaster P Brain
05 April 1986Bumpkin BillionairesMustapha Million
12 April 1986AnimaladCalculator Kid
31 May 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid
07 June 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
28 June 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
26 July 1986
Calculator Kid ends this issue
No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
16 August 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
23 August 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
18 October 1986Winnie the Royal NagMustapha Million
06 December 1986Toy BoyMustapha Million
13 December 1986Mustapha MillionOdd-Ball
17 January 1987SidMustapha Million
14 February 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
11 April 1987Pa BumpkinMustapha Million
25 April 1987Mustapha MillionOdd-Ball
20 June 1987Toy BoyMustapha Million
27 June 1987Mustapha MillionMemory Banks
25 July 1987Lazy BonesMustapha Million
22 August 1987Winnie the Royal NagMustapha Million
12 September 1987Mustapha MillionSweet Tooth
19 September 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
24 October 1987Odd-BallMustapha Million
12 December 1987JokerMustapha Million
13 February 1988Bloggs (Store Wars)Mustapha Million
20 February 1988Mustapha MillionJoker
12 March 1988Odd-BallMustapha Million
23 April 1988JokerMustapha Million
28 May 1988
Readers asked not to let their Whizz-kid or Chip-ite sympathies colour their favourite strip votes
No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
11 June 1988SlippyMustapha Million
16 July 1988Toy BoyMustapha Million
30 July 1988 New raids halted

05 August 1989 (raid reprinted from 25 Aug 1984)CheekyStore Wars
12 August 1989 Resumption of new raids (one per week)No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
02 September 1989JokerMustapha Million
16 September 1989SlippyMustapha Million
23 September 1989 Weekly reciprocal raids resumeNo Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
28 October 1989
Mustapha Million

Sweeny Toddler
Bobby's Ghoul

Mustapha Million
11 November 1989 - Tarman is the Chip-ite raider into Whizzer, but I have been unable to identify any raider into Chips


18 November 1989 Mustapha MillionSid's Whizz-kids page
02 December 1989 JokerMustapha Million

 

Friday 3 May 2024

Whizz-ites vs Chip-kids - Part 1

My realisation that Kid Comic was, at different points during his comic career, both a Whizz-kid and a Chip-ite, together with the revelation by an anonymous commenter (now revealed to be AndyB), which can be seen by following the above link, that Boy Boss had also traversed the boundary between the two 'titles' that supposedly constituted Whizzer and Chips, has spurred me to investigate whether more characters were of a similarly traitorous disposition.

This is relevant to my quest to document the 'Cheeky raids' - sometimes I'm uncertain as to whether a character is affiliated with either Whizzer or Chips (or, as I am now aware is a possibility, both).

I first have to make clear that my investigation is based on analysis of data contained in my comics database which at present does not hold details of the entire run of Whizzer and Chips. The full issues I have recorded in my database commence with the comic dated 06 April 1985, the week of Whoopee's merge. I have decided to focus my investigation (for now) between the issues dated 06 April 1985 and 28 April 1990, which was the final 32-page edition.

In order that I can effectively interrogate my data in pursuit of the relevant facts, I need to establish which pages constitute 'Whizzer' and which 'Chips' within each issue during the target era, regardless of their content.

During the period under investigation, the majority of Whizzer and Chips issues consisted of 32 pages. This classic '2 comics in one' format saw 16 pages allocated to each 'title', with Whizzer occupying pages 1-8 (although once Jimmy Hansen's cover illustrations depicting characters from across the entire comic engaging in various activities replaced the comic strips that had previously occupied the front pages, as of the edition dated 27 August 1988, the front cover was actually shared by Whizz-kids and Chip-ites - nevertheless I have considered all front pages to be within Whizzer) and 25-32, while Chips nestled at the centre of the whole package, across pages 9 -24. Page 9 was thus Chips' cover.

However, certain issues in the period under review deviated from what we may refer to as the classic format...

10 May and 29 November 1986

Both issues contained a 4-page advertising flyer on pages 17-20 (publicising the first 'proper' issue of Oink!, and Fleetway Annuals cover-dated 1987 respectively). In these expanded issues Whizzer occupied pages 1-8 and 29-36 while Chips was ensconced on pages 9-28 (I originally considered the flyer pages to be neutral territory rather than falling within Chips, but have revised that opinion because in a later issue Chips lays claim to a part of another flyer - more details below).

14 November 1987

Another 36 pager, and the reason for the 4 extra pages was again a flyer for Fleetway Annuals (bearing the cover year of 1988 of course). However, the flyer's position was moved to pages 23 to 26 because Alan Sugar, having recently acquired the ailing Sinclair microcomputer business had, no doubt with an eye on the Christmas market, paid good money to locate a colour advert on pages 16 and 17 (the centre of a 32-page edition) publicising the Sinclair ZX Spectrum + 3 which boasted a built-in floppy disk drive, and the rather cheaper Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 with the less sexy integral cassette recorder, or 'datacorder' as the ad would have it in an attempt to glam it up. The Chips front page was to be found on page 9, its normal location.

If I may be allowed a brief digression (but relevant to the topic in hand) - Sammy Shrink was promoted to the front cover of Chips as of the 'new look' issue dated 13 June 1987, deposing previous occupant the pugilistic head Chip-ite Shiner, but only in terms of his location within the comic - the juvenile boxing enthusiast continued to carry out his duties as Chip-ite chief on the Shiner's Chip-ites page. In the same edition the Chips front cover began to carry a warning that Whizz-kids were not welcome in the 'next 16 pages', not that this deterred raiders from the Whizzer faction. The final issue to carry the Whizz-kids Not Welcome warning on Chips' cover was dated 30 April 1988.

Sammy moves to Chips' cover
Art: Terry Bave

OK, now back to the the 14 November 1987, 36-page issue of Whizzer and Chips - the signage on Chips' cover declaring that Whizz-kids were banned for the next 16 pages means that, despite the bigger issue, the Chip-ites laid claim to only their normal quota of pages, i.e. 9-24 (pages 23 and 24 being the first 2 pages of the Annual flyer). However, the dilemma here is that page 9 in a 36-page issue is printed on the same sheet of paper that also contains page 28, so we have to assume that actually Chips spans page 9 - 28 (the allocation of these pages either way doesn't make much difference to my quest to identify boundary-crossing strips since pages 25 and 26 are the final 2 pages of the flyer, and pages 27 and 28 contain a How To Draw booklet). Whizzer must therefore be considered to assert its influence over pages 1-8 and 29-36.

A while back I examined some 36-page issues of Whoopee.

14 April 1990

The standard, 32 page format resumed after the 14 November 1987 edition, but came to an end as of the issue dated 14 April 1990, when the presence of the Chip-ite Chumps booklet on pages 13-20 disrupted the long-established boundaries and shunted the front page of Chips to page 21. Since Chip-ites would hardly refer to themselves as 'Chumps', we must assume that the booklet pages are to be considered part of Whizzer. Thus Whizzer occupied a bumper 20 pages that week, with Chips consisting of a meagre 12 pages.

21 April 1990

A retaliatory Witless Whizz-kids booklet took up residence on pages 13-20 in the issue dated 21 April 1990. The less-than-complimentary-to-Whizz-kids title places the booklet within Chips territory and consequently, although the Chips title page is again to be found on page 21, Chips that week actually began on page 13, so Whizzer spanned only 12 pages while Chips luxuriated in a 20 page edition.

28 April 1990

Whizzer and Chips were once again allocated 16 pages each, but in this issue the Whizz-kids' humorous undertakings were in evidence across pages 1-16, while Chip-ites found themselves sporting through pages 17-32. This new layout was in effect for just that one issue, as the situation changed again the following week when Whizzer and Chips went 'all colour', with a concomitant drop in the page count from 32 to 24.

 24 Page Issues

The obvious assumption regarding the 24 page issues (which commenced with the comic dated 05 May 1990 until Whizzer and Chips' final edition dated 27 October 1990) is that Whizzer and Chips would each claim 12 pages, i.e. 1-6 and 19-24 (Whizzer), and 7-18 (Chips). As mentioned above, I have decided to exclude these issues from my investigations at the moment, but hope to return and analyse the distribution of Whizz-kids and Chip-ites across their pages at a future date.

My analysis is only based on weekly issues of Whizzer and Chips, not Annuals or Specials (I may get round to doing that at some point as well).

So having devised a database query that will assign the Whizzity or Chipness of the pages of all the weekly issues in the target period, and then select those features who have been hosted on both sides of the ideological divide, I can now identify the traitors, the first (alphabetically) being...

Beaky

Beaky's first episode
Whoopee! 01 May 1982

Aggressive avian Beaky, who would seem to share not a small amount of DNA with Rod Hull's similarly fearsome Emu, first flew into Whoopee! dated 01 May 1982. The Beaky strip, which mainly focused on the antithetical and often violent relationship between the fiesty fowl and Benny's dad, was unusual among British humorous features in that the story reached a definitive conclusion in Whoopee! dated 25 June 1983, when the half page allocated to the ornithological 'orror ended with the titular bird departing for his island home. It would seem Beaky's adventures, all of which were drawn by Jim Watson, were brought to an end because Robert Nixon's Ossie, a feature with a very similar setup although starring a friendlier-looking plumed protagonist, was among the survivors of the cancellation of Wow! who were absorbed into Whoopee a week after Beaky migrated homeward.

Beaky bids farewell - Whoopee! 25 June 1983. Beaky first spoke (albeit in the manner in which a parrot mimics sounds) in the 26 March 1983 episode.

 

Ossie is introduced to Whoopee readers - 02 July 1983

Beaky was exhumed from the Fleetway vaults for a reprint run commencing in Whizzer and Chips dated 29 October 1988 (although rather than the original first episode, the reprints began with a somewhat unseasonal seaside-based story originally presented in Whoopee! dated 24 July 1982), appearing on page 11, placing the feathered fiend in Chips territory. The following week, however, the belligerent bird was to be found on page 30 which is within Whizzer. Beaky was then absent until the issue dated 04 March 1989, when he occupied page 22, returning him to the pages of Chips. For the remainder of his Whizzer and Chips run (or flight), Beaky appeared on pages 18 or 22, so he remained a Chip-ite after his one-week dalliance with the Whizz-kids. The final strip of Beaky's Whizzer and Chips career was not a reprint of the original semi-pager that brought his Whoopee! run to an end, but a full page episode selected from Whoopee dated 11 December 1982.