''Whizzer and Chips'' was a

British comic A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. British comics are usually Comics anthology, comics antho ...

s magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic '' Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of the day it actually appeared on newsstands in Great Britain. It had no relation to the earlier British comic ''

Illustrated Chips ''Illustrated Chips'' was a British comic magazine published between 26 July 1890 and 12 September 1953. Its publisher was the Amalgamated Press, run by Alfred Harmsworth. Priced at a half-penny, ''Illustrated Chips'' was among a number of Harm ...

'' (which ran from 1890 to 1953). The format of ''Whizzer and Chips'' presented the comic as being divided into two separate parts — a novel idea at the time. One part was called ''Whizzer'' and the other was called ''Chips'', with ''Chips'' existing as a separate pull-out section in the middle. The slogan "Two comics in one, double the fun!" was used. In the offices of publisher

Fleetway Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...

, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was always regarded as one comic. In common with most British comics of the time, both sections originally had some of their strips printed in semi-colour using black, white, and red (

duotone Duotone (sometimes also known as ''Duplex'') is a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting color halftone over another color halftone. This is most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an ...

), with others in plain

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

. To reinforce the distinction between the two sections, the duotone strips in ''Chips'' were later changed to black, white, and blue. ''Whizzer and Chips'' went full

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

on the week of 4 May 1990. The comic ''

Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

'' merged with ''Whizzer and Chips'' on 30 June 1973, as did '' Krazy'' in 1978, ''

Whoopee! ''Whoopee!'' is a 1928 musical comedy with a book based on Owen Davis's play, ''The Nervous Wreck.'' The musical libretto was written by William Anthony McGuire, with music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Gus Kahn. The musical premiered on Bro ...

'' in 1985 and finally ''

Scouse Mouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an accent and dialect of English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive; having been influenced h ...

'' in 1989.Gray, Peter
"Whizzer and chips with Scouse mouse!!!!
" ''Peter Gray's Comics and Art'' (17 December 2008).

Concepts

One ongoing concept was that the two comics were fierce

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

s. A guest appearance by a character from one of the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s in the

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

of one in the other magazine would be described as a "raid", and the other comic would seek its revenge with a raid of its own the following week. The first raid did not appear until issue 2. Readers were encouraged to become either a "Whizz-Kid" or a "Chip-ite", depending on which section they preferred. The leader of the Whizz-Kids was a boy called Sid and his

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

Slippy, from the '' Sid's Snake'' comic strip. The leader of the Chip-ites was a boy called Shiner from the comic strip of the same name, who had aspirations to become a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. In the first issue of ''Whizzer and Chips'', ''Sid's Snake'' was on the cover of ''Chips'', for Shiner did not appear until issue 2.

''Whizzer'' strips

Notable comic strips or characters in ''Whizzer'' throughout the comic's 21-year run included: * '' Belle Tent'' * '' Bobby's Ghoul'' * '' Champ'' * ''

Doodle A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...

'' * ''

Happy Families Happy Families is a traditional British card game usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete fami ...

'' * '' Joker'' (from ''

'') * ''

Lazy Bones ''Lazy Bones'' was originally a comic strip in the British comic ''Whizzer and Chips''. It made its first appearance in 1978. The strip was about a boy called Benny Bones, who would constantly fall asleep everywhere, much to the annoyance of h ...

'' * ''Me and My Shadow'' (from issue one – 18 October 1969 – to 26 December 1970, then rested until its return on 1 January 1972) * '' Memory Banks'' * ''Minnie's Mixer'' (from issue one until 23 June 1973 and the merger with ''Knockout'') * ''The Mummy's Curse'' (from issue one until 26 December 1970) * ''

Mystery Museum Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in '' Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ...

'' * '' Odd Ball'' * '' Sid's Snake'' * '' Slowcoach'' (from issue one until the merger with ''Knockout'') * ''Space School'' — by

Mike Higgs Mike Higgs is a British comic book artist, writer, designer, and editor. He is the creator of the oddball humor strip ''The Cloak'' and the daily comic strip ''Moonbird''. In July 1964, Higgs created a pastiche of The Shadow called "The Shudder" ...

* '' Store Wars'' * '' Strange Hill'' (also appeared in ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after ''Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oct ...

'') * '' Sweet Tooth'' * '' Sweeny Toddler'' (from ''

'') * ''

The 12½p Buytonic Boy ''The 12½p Buytonic Boy'' was a British comic strip, created by Robert Nixon, although Brian Walker frequently deputised when Bob was on leave. It debuted as "Half a Dollar Boy" in issue 37 of Monster Fun comic, before becoming a regular featur ...

'' (from '' Krazy''; later known as ''Super Steve'') * '' The Bumpkin Billionaires'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * '' Timothy Tester'' (from 1 January 1972) * '' Tiny Tycoon'' * ''

Toy Boy "Toy Boy" is a song by American-British singer Sinitta, and was her first collaboration with producers Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was released on 25 July 1987, and became the fourth single in her self-titled debut album, which came out on 2 ...

'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * '' Whizz Wheels''

''Chips'' strips

Notable comic strips or characters in ''Chips'' throughout the comic's 21-year run included: * '' Bewitched Belinda'' * '' Beat Your Neighbour'' (from ''Knockout'') * '' Boney'' * ''

Bookworm Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

'' (from ''

'') * '' Bottom Of The Class'' * '' Boy Boss'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * ''

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...

'' * '' Calculator Kid'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * ''

Cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

'' * '' Creepy Comix'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * ''

The Double Deckers ''Here Come the Double Deckers!'' is a 17-part British children's television series originally broadcast from 1970 until 1971 on BBC1, revolving around the adventures of seven children whose den was an old red double-decker bus, double-decker R ...

'' (22 May 1971 to 13 May 1972) * '' Footsie the Clown'' * '' Fuss Pot'' (from ''Knockout'') * '' Ginger's Tum'' * '' Guy Gorilla'' * '' Hal's Holdall'' * '' Harry's Haunted House'' * '' Junior Rotter'' * '' The Krazy Gang'' (from ''Krazy'') * '' Loser'' * '' Lucky Dick'' * ''Ma, Pa and Baby Ba'' (from 20 May 1972) * ''

Mustapha Million Mustapha Million was a British gag-a-day comic strip, created by Reg Parlett. It appeared in '' Cheeky Weekly'' in its first issue on 22 October 1977. The magazine would later merge with ''Whoopee!'' and on its turn with ''Whizzer and Chips'', whi ...

'' (from ''Whoopee!'') * ''The Name Game'' (from 20 May 1972; charted the fictitious origins of a different name each week) * '' Phil Fitt'' * '' Percy's Pets'' (from '' Smash!'') — by

Stanley McMurtry Stanley McMurtry MBE (born 4 May 1936), known by his pen name Mac, is a British editorial cartoonist. McMurtry is best known for his controversial work for the British '' Daily Mail'' newspaper from 1971 to 2018. Career McMurtry was born in Ed ...

* '' Police Dog and Cat Burglar'' * '' Sammy Shrink: The Smallest Boy in the World'' (originated in ''

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

'', moved to '' Pow!'', then ''Knockout'') — about a boy who is only two inches tall; by Dave Jenner. * '' Shiner'' * '' The Slimms'' (from ''

Cor!! ''Cor!!'', a British comic book, was launched in June 1970 by IPC (International Publishing Corporation), their sixth new comic in just over a year. ''Cor!!'' was edited by Bob Paynter. The comic had 32 pages and included a full colour center ...

'') * '' Super Dad'' * ''Toffee Nose'' (29 July 1972 to 23 June 1973) * '' Town Tarzan'' * ''

Watford Gapp ''Whizzer and Chips'' was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic ''Buster (comic), Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of t ...

'' * '' Wear Em Out Wilf''

Adventure stories

Adventure stories in the magazine included the following: *''Alfie in Africa'' (2 January 1971 to 25 December 1971) *''Archie's Angels'' (29 July 72 to 23 June 73) *''The Castaways'' (from 1 January 1972) *''Danny Drew's Dialling Man'' (1974/75) *''The Perils of Paul White'' (1970) *'' Pursuit of the Puzzler'' (2 January 1971 until 29 July 1972) *'' Revenge of the Puzzler'' (5 August 1972 until 23 June 1973) *''The Space Accident'' *''The Spectacular Adventures of Willie Bunk'' (18 October 1969 to 26 December 1970) *''Trip to Terror'' (from 30 June 1973; replaced the Puzzler series) *''Who is Sandy?'' (2 January 1971 to 25 December 1971) *''Wonder Car'' (1970 to 25 December 1971)

References

{{Buster Fleetway and IPC Comics titles Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct British comics 1969 comics debuts 1990 comics endings Magazines established in 1969 Magazines disestablished in 1990 British humour comics Magazines about comics