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.