The first instalment of this The Whizzer and Chips Years series examined the very brief history of Stage School in Whizzer and Chips. This second part will focus on another of the three features that originated in Cheeky Weekly and survived Whoopee’s merge with Whizzer and Chips.
Calculator Kid (a strip relating the adventures of Charlie Counter, owner of a sentient pocket calculator) made its debut in Cheeky Weekly’s 37th issue, dated 01 July 1978, and appeared in a total of 78 editions before the comic’s February 1980 cancellation. Calculator Kid was among the features to continue in the pages of Whoopee!/Whoopee, where the strip enjoyed a 259-issue run, along the way spawning a calculator-based puzzle spinoff named Calculator Corner, prior to Whoopee’s own demise in March 1985.
In the first combined issue of Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee, Calculator Kid’s strip was allocated a spot on page 15, locating it within the Chips section of the comic. Readers who were unfamiliar with the Calculator Kid premise were left to work out what was going on as the script progressed, but no doubt would have understood the situation by the point at which proceedings concluded with Calc’s ‘as calculated!’ catchphrase. However, Calculator Kid’s real name was not revealed. The script doesn’t entirely make sense as it appears that the choice of insults hurled at the Krazy Town populace by our young hero is left to Charlie, but maybe Calc did in fact direct his owner as to the requisite ruderies (either verbally or by some type of previously-undemonstrated thought control), but this was left out either for reasons of brevity or, if the latter, for being too disturbing. Terry Bave, who created the feature and who drew all 78 CK episodes that featured in Cheeky Weekly plus a further 259 in Whoopee, continued to illustrate the strip when it transferred into Whizzer and Chips. On this first Whizzer and Chips outing, Calculator Kid shares a page with Calculator Corner, which occupies the bottom row, and is drawn by Jack Oliver, who was the puzzle feature’s regular artist during its Whoopee run.
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| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee 06 April 1985 |
Charlie’s first name was mentioned in the following issue, and a week later readers who hadn’t previously been aware of the strip were introduced to Charlie’s mum and extravagantly-moustachioed dad.
The introductory episode utilised a version of the Calculator Kid title
banner which had been in employed in Whoopee since the 02 July 1983
edition, although condensed into the top left of the page rather than
spanning its width as had been the case previously. However, the
following week a new title banner was introduced, showing Charlie
beaming at Calc, who was embedded in the 'o' of the word Calculator (see above). The 'embedded' title banner featured in 9 issues, the final occasion being 15 June 1985. In the issues dated 27 April and 22 June 1985, the page-spanning version of the title as featured in the 06 April 1985 edition returned.
After an unbroken 12-issue run of original Calculator Kid
stories, 11 of which were accompanied by Calculator Corner (the exception being 01 June 1985, in which Calculator Corner was supplanted by a bottom-row ad for the forthcoming free Weetabix Badge), Whizzer
and Chips dated 29 June 1985 saw the commencement of reprints of CK
strips which had previously appeared in Cheeky Weekly. The tale
chosen to kick off the recycled CK series was sourced from Cheeky
Weekly dated 14 April 1979, the 38th CK episode in the series, and the reprints
didn’t follow the original sequence (see table below).
The 18 May 1985 edition was the first in which
Calculator Kid mounted a Chip-ite ‘raid’ into the Whizzer section
of the comic, invading the page occupied by the rubbery rascal Odd-Ball. The issue dated 08 June 1985 was the first in which
Calculator Kid was subject to a Whizz-kid raid when Odd-Ball and Nobby undertook a retaliatory incursion.
Despite lapsing into reprints, Calculator Kid was subject to a raid by the plaything-obsessed Toy Boy in Whizzer and Chips dated 06 July 1985, and was invaded by Odd-Ball again in the 14 September 1985 edition, but in the same comic our curiously-coiffed pal mounted his own raid against the retail father and son team of Store Wars. The issue dated 23 November 1985 saw teeny terror Sweeny Toddler undertaking no less than 3 cross-border incursions into Chips, one of which targeted Calculator Kid. In the comic dated 15 February 1986, Lazy Bones summoned enough energy to infiltrate the CK page. Odd-Ball seems to have had some sort of resentment against the kid-and-calculator duo, as they suffered another raid by the alien sphere in W&C dated 15 March 1986. CK took the initiative in the 29 March 1986 comic and infiltrated Master P Brain's adventure. Animalad and Lazy Bones trespassed on CK territory in the 12 April and 31 May 1986 issues respectively.
Calculator Kid had no further involvement in raids, and the feature's last W&C appearance occurred in the issue dated 26 July 1986 (the comic launched a 'new look' the following week), with a reprint that originally featured in the 05 May 1979 issue of Cheeky Weekly (40th in the CW run). Actually, the reprint only contained half the original page (the strip shared the page with an ad for the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game) but, with the judicious addition of Calc's 'as calculated' to the final panel, readers of the truncated version wouldn't have suspected they weren't getting the full story. A total of 50 reprints were published, but the feature was absent from 7 issues during the period in which recycled material was being used.
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| Cheeky Weekly 05 May 1979 When reprinted in W&C, the strip ended at the end of row 2... |
Since Calculator Corner wasn’t created until after Cheeky Weekly had been cancelled, all of the reprint strips occupied a full page, and subsequently Calculator Corner was divorced from CK, although its continuation was somewhat sporadic, featuring in a further 8 issues until its final Whizzer and Chips outing in the 22 February 1986 edition. Of those final 8 appearances, 4 shared a page with the literary larks of Bookworm, 3 were on the concluding page of Krazy Gang adventures and 1 was shared with miniscule mirthster Sammy Shrink. Surprisingly, although the Calculator Kid strips printed effective from the 29 June 1985 edition had been reprints, Calculator Corner continued to present original puzzles up to and including its final instalment, testament to the fertile mind of Jack Oliver.
Charlie and Calc also made some appearances outside of their own features. The issues of Whizzer and Chips dated 03 to 17 May 1986 carried a puzzle strip entitled Whizz-kids Prize Mystery. Readers were invited to deduce which Chip-ite had stolen the flag from outside the Whizz-kids' gang hut. Charlie and Calc were among the suspects, and appeared in all 3 puzzle episodes, with Calc assisting chief Whizz-kid Sid to eliminate Charlie from his investigations in the second instalment.
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| Whizzer and Chips 10 May 1986 (as is extract below). Art: Bob Hill |
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| Whizzer and Chips 17 May 1986. Having eliminated Charlie and Calc, Sid's attention turns to Mustapha Million. Bob Hill again. Don't worry, Charlie was seen holding Calc again in the final panel. |
Sid was rather trusting of Calc and Charlie, simply taking the word of the electronic marvel and his human handler, while demanding no evidence of their innocence (no doubt Calc planned that his tortuous poser would discombobulate Sid). It was revealed in the comic dated 31 May 1986 that the flag-filching fiend was... SPOILER ALERT... Town Tarzan.
A character who looked rather similar to Charlie was featured in the Sammy Shrink episode dated 14 February 1987. Sammy and CK of course shared the same artist, Terry Bave. Either there is a mistake as the story opens - the arrow indicating 'Uncle Bob' is actually pointing at Sammy's dad, or maybe the editor felt that dad's behaviour in denying his diminutive offspring a cake was too cruel for a father so added the caption.
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| Whizzer and Chips 14 February 1987 Art: Terry Bave |
Overcome by a wave of nostalgia, reader Kamran Qureshi of Harrow submitted a request for the return of old Chips characters which was printed on the Shiner's Chip-ites page in Whizzer and Chips dated 09 January 1988. Although the accompanying illustration by Jack Oliver showed Shiner dusting down Charlie and Calc, Calculator Kid sadly didn't get another outing.
Unlike some characters, Calculator Kid and Calculator Corner remained loyal to Chips throughout their Whizzer and Chips runs.
Terry Bave applied Charlie Counter's distinctive hairstyle to a new character which he introduced in Whizzer and Chips dated 12 August 1989 - Tarman of the Jungle.
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| Whizzer and Chips 12 August 1989 |
The table below lists all the issues of Whizzer and Chips between the first and the final appearances of Calculator Kid. An entry in the REPRINT? column shows the origin of the CK strip, if its Whizzer and Chips appearance was a reprint. A blank entry in the CALCULATOR KID column means CK was absent that week. The CALCULATOR CORNER column shows all the appearances of Calculator Corner in the same period (CC came to an end before CK), and again, if the CC column entry is blank it signifies the absence of the puzzle feature that week. None of the Calculator Corners were reprints.
| TITLE | DATE | CALCULATOR KID | REPRINT? | CALCULATOR CORNER |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 06-Apr-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 13-Apr-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 20-Apr-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 27-Apr-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 04-May-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 11-May-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 18-May-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 25-May-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 01-Jun-1985 | Calculator Kid | ||
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 08-Jun-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 15-Jun-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 22-Jun-1985 | Calculator Kid | Calculator Corner | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 29-Jun-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 14-Apr-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 06-Jul-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 31-Mar-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 13-Jul-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 17-Mar-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 20-Jul-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 26-Aug-1978 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 27-Jul-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 29-Jul-1978 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 03-Aug-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 25-Aug-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 10-Aug-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 23-Jun-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 17-Aug-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 04-Aug-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 24-Aug-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 20-Oct-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 31-Aug-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 29-Sep-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 07-Sep-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 14-Jul-1979 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 14-Sep-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 15-Sep-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 21-Sep-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 24-Mar-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 28-Sep-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 05-Oct-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 08-Jul-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee | 12-Oct-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 21-Jul-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 19-Oct-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 11-Nov-1978 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips | 26-Oct-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 27-Jan-1979 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips | 02-Nov-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 09-Nov-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 27-Oct-1979 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips | 16-Nov-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 23-Nov-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 22-Jul-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 30-Nov-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 07-Dec-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 14-Dec-1985 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 21-Dec-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 04-Nov-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 28-Dec-1985 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 29-Dec-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 04-Jan-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 20-Jan-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 11-Jan-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 23-Sep-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 18-Jan-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 13-Oct-1979 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips | 25-Jan-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 19-May-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 01-Feb-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 25-Nov-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 08-Feb-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 02-Jun-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 15-Feb-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 28-Oct-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 22-Feb-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 10-Feb-1979 | Calculator Corner |
| Whizzer and Chips | 01-Mar-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 25-Aug-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 08-Mar-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 03-Mar-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 15-Mar-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 06-Jan-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 22-Mar-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 18-Nov-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 29-Mar-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 30-Jun-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 05-Apr-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 19-Aug-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 12-Apr-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 03-Feb-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 19-Apr-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 11-Aug-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 26-Apr-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 18-Aug-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 03-May-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 16-Jun-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 10-May-1986 | |||
| Whizzer and Chips | 17-May-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 05-Aug-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 24-May-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 15-Jul-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 31-May-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 28-Jul-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 07-Jun-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 30-Sep-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 14-Jun-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 26-Jan-1980 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 21-Jun-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 03-Nov-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 28-Jun-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 15-Dec-1979 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 05-Jul-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 02-Feb-1980 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 12-Jul-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 16-Sep-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 19-Jul-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 07-Oct-1978 | |
| Whizzer and Chips | 26-Jul-1986 | Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 05-May-1979 |
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