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| Copyright REBELLION |
"Two comics in one, double the fun!", but WHIZZER & CHIPS was really just one comic with two names. However, it was a good idea to make readers think that they were getting more bang for their bucks. (Or in this case, more pages for their pennies.) I recall seeing WHIZZER & CHIPS upcoming launch advertised in a centre-spread insert in SMASH! and being instantly fascinated by a picture of the friendly ghost from HARRY'S HAUNTED HOUSE.
On sale on 11th October 1969 (cover-dated 18th), I was up around 7a.m. and across like a rocket to the newsagent's over the road from me, eager to immerse myself in this new comics experience. The title lasted for one week past its (un-celebrated) 21st birthday before being merged with stablemate BUSTER, thereby ensuring that at least a few W&C characters survived a bit longer. I bought a copy of the last issue in the same shop that I had purchased the first, even though I no longer lived in the area.
Y'know, sometimes I think that any point in my past life is as near to me as 'over the road' was then, but it's a short-lived feeling that soon dissipates when I realise that all my yesterdays are quite a bit farther removed than that. Anyway, that's enough melancholy introspection - enjoy the 'Whizzer' section to start with, and we'll be back right after it with its companion paper 'Chips'. (Were you a Whizz-kid or a Chip-ite? Don't be shy now. )
And below is the CHIPS section to help you recapture a long-vanished slice of your childhood - if you were a child back in 1969 that is. It's hard for me to believe I originally bought this comic when it first came out 50 years ago, but yes - I really am that old, despite my youthful good looks and full, luxuriant head of hair. I've even got all my own teeth - and I don't mean the kind that are kept in a glass of water at night. However, before this starts to read like an ad in a dating agency, I'll shut up and let you get on with reading the following strips. I could then end by saying "You've had your Chips!", but that would be too obvious a pun, wouldn't it?
BONUS: Here are a couple of flyers from SMASH! comic (it probably also appeared in other IPC titles) for the new weekly WHIZZER & CHIPS.
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This was a great comic - the title I always considered, from primary school age onwards, to be the 'main one' of the IPC humour titles (admittedly, only because my real favourites, Cor & Shiver and Shake had met their maker by then).
ReplyDeleteI can remember the excitement of being given the 10th anniversary issue of W&C in '79 which included pages to collect for a mini-facsimile of W&C no.1! The idea that this comic had existed for 10 years (and I was only 10 at the time) amazed me (I had no idea of the Dandy/Beano's longer existences - they were slopppy seconds for me as an IPC fan). Harry's Haunted House is still one of my fave strips ever, despite it's repetitive format. The idea that a deceased tenant has more rights to a property than the current landlord still intrigues me...
It would be hard to explain to today's kids the thrill of poring over every panel trying to spot the 'raiders' for the issue! And can you imagine getting 'Karate Kid' accepted and published now in this shite modern PC world?
Incidentally, I was always a Whizz-Kid, but as I've told you before, my best mate at primary school made his allegiance more official by having a joke published (also in '79) and receiving a Whizz-Kid t-shirt and what he always referred to as his 'Whizz-Kid' pound note!
Thanks for some great memories there, Kid...
Harry's Haunted House was great when illustrated by Reg Parlett, HS, but then it was taken over by another artist and didn't look quite so good, I thought. Reg had a way of drawing Harry that was cute and funny at the same time, which the other artist couldn't quite capture. Strange to think that W&C lasted for only 21 years, because it accompanied me from primary school, through secondary school, right up into my adult working life. I even lettered for it! Hard to believe that it 'bit the dust' 29 years ago - it's now been gone longer than it was here.
ReplyDeleteA lot of these artists and art styles are familiar to me, from later issues, comics and reprints, even if I don't have the names to go with them. But there are a few that are new to me. I have to say I really like the art for the Kookoo Klub. Any info on who was responsible for that? Give A Dog A Bone is interesting too, and Minnie's Mixer has a kind of european, franco-belgian look to it - like Pierre Culliford or André Franquin. All things to check out...
ReplyDeleteKooKoo Klub is by comics historian and collector, the late Denis Gifford, WJB. I believe that Minnie's Mixer is by Angel Nadal, though there was another artist with a similar style. And Give A Dog A Bone was by Graham Allen.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kid! I checked out the name on wikipedia and boy, Denis kept himself busy, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteHe sure did, WJB. Incidentally, he drew Steadfast McStaunch in W&C too. Steadfast was originally a dog in Knockout (the original version, not the '70s one), and Denis revived him as a human for W&C.
ReplyDelete