In my previous post documenting the final run of Mustapha Million I revealed that (36-year spoiler alert for the benefit of those who are a bit behind with their comic reading) our middle eastern mate was not among the strips to transfer to Buster following Whizzer and Chips' 1990 demise.
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| The penultimate page of the final Whizzer and Chips. Art: Jimmy Hansen |
Mustapha had been present in all 291 issues of Whizzer and Chips published between 06 April 1985 (the first merged issue with Whoopee) and the terminal 27 October 1990 edition. Admittedly, 49 of those episodes were reprints, but the character must have been popular to not only survive that long but to have a blameless attendance record. Let's compare that to the performance during the same period of those who were chosen to relocate, and were seen in the final edition of Whizzer and Chips racing towards their new home in a souped-up jalopy driven by Whizz-kid-in-chief, Sid...
Bumpkin Billionaires
The unhappily wealthy rustic rascals had a pretty good crop of appearances, being absent from only 2 issues (02 and 09 June 1990).
Sid and Slippy
The youthful ophiophilist and his serpentine sidekick appeared in a strip entitled Sid's Snake for the majority of the period covered by this investigation, but that feature was replaced by the combative vehicle named Sid vs Shiner between 14 January and 05 August 1989, after which Sid and Slippy returned to the Sid's Snake feature except for one further outing of Sid vs Shiner in the 19 August 1989 edition. Thus the human/reptilian duo slithered into every issue during the subject period.
Fuss Pot
Our fastidious female chum was clearly not too fussed about turning up each week, as she went missing 183 times during the era under review! She only began appearing regularly as of 31 March 1990, with Trevor Metcalfe becoming her artist from 05 May that year. In retrospect the instigation of new material seems surprisingly proximate to Whizzer and Chips' cancellation (I'm guessing her previous intermittent appearances, drawn by Norman Mansbridge, were reprints).
Joker
Pesky prankster Joker wasn't joking when it came to reporting for duty, being present in every edition.
Sweeny Toddler
The full horror of niffy-nappy-fuelled Sweeny strip mayhem wasn't to be found in 8 issues (27 August 1988, 04 March [although he was included in the cover illustration], 25 March [included on cover], 01 April [included on cover], 06 May [included on cover], 13 May [Sweeny's canine associate Hairy Henry included on cover but not Sweeny] and 30 September 1989 [included on cover], and 20 October 1990 [included on cover]). So how you score Sweeny's attendance record hinges on whether you consider his inclusion in an ensemble cover illustration, but not a strip, to constitute a full contribution to that particular issue. Personally I don't, so in my book Sweeny didn't fulfil his contractual obligation to provide at least one full page of potty-based pandemonium per issue in 8 editions.
Odd-Ball
The elasticated larks of Odd-Ball didn't stretch to the issues dated 24 September and 19 November 1988 [included on cover both times], and 26 May and 13 October 1990.
So while only Sid, Slippy and Joker could match Mustapha's record of being present in every issue between that dated 06 April 1985 and the final edition, the Bumpkins, Sweeny and Odd-Ball weren't far behind in terms of regularity of appearance. But Fuss Pot's attendance record fell far below that of the others, so why was she chosen to carry on in Buster and Whizzer and Chips, while Mustapha was terminated? I can only assume that either the Mustapha scriptwriter had run out of ideas* (from the first issue of Cheeky Weekly until Whizzer and Chips' final edition inclusive, our generous chum had appeared in 556 original episodes including those in Specials and Annuals plus Star Guest promotional outings), or maybe reader reaction to Fuss Pot's reintroduction to Whizzer and Chips was so overwhelmingly positive that her presence in the combined title was felt to be essential.
Sid's transfer into Buster, while long-time rival Shiner was left behind, means that Whizz-kids ultimately triumphed over their Chip-ite rivals at the end of the years of enmity between the opposing ideologies.
*Mustapha did enjoy 3 further original post-Whizzer and Chips adventures - in the 1991 and 1992 Whoopee Holiday Specials.
Thus
the demise of Whizzer and Chips also brought to an end the 14-year
presence of Cheeky-related characters as weekly features in British
comics, an era which began with the first issue of Krazy, dated 16
October 1976, in which the toothy funster made his debut. Spinoff title
Cheeky Weekly appeared a year later, Mustapha Million being one of the
characters introduced in the first issue. Following Cheeky Weekly's
cancellation, a band of survivors, including Cheeky and Mustapha, migrated to Whoopee! in 1982. Whoopee itself, by that time cruelly shorn of its
exclamation mark, came to and end in 1985. Cheeky's existence as the star of a solo weekly strip
ended with Whoopee's final issue, but Mustapha
transferred into Whizzer and Chips. Cheeky continued to appear in
Whizzer and Chips as a member of the Krazy Gang until 1986.
While Cheeky joked his way through a 10 year chucklesome career in weekly comics, Mustapha enjoyed 13 years of weekly affluent antics.
