Whizzer and Chips


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. 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.
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, 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, with others in plain black and white. 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 on the week of 4 May 1990.
The comic Knockout merged with Whizzer and Chips on 30 June 1973, as did Krazy in 1978, Whoopee! in 1985 and finally Scouse Mouse in 1989.

Concepts

One ongoing concept was that the two comics were fierce rivals. A guest appearance by a character from one of the comic strips in the story 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 appeared in 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 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 and always ended up with a black eye. 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
  • Happy Families
  • Joker
  • Lazy Bones
  • Me and My Shadow
  • Memory Banks
  • Minnie's Mixer
  • The Mummy's Curse
  • Mystery Museum
  • Odd Ball
  • Sid's Snake
  • Slowcoach
  • Beat Your Neighbour
  • Store Wars
  • Strange Hill
  • Sweet Tooth
  • Sweeny Toddler
  • The 12½p Buytonic Boy
  • The Bumpkin Billionaires
  • Timothy Tester
  • Tiny Tycoon
  • Toy Boy
  • Whizz Wheels
  • Boney
  • The Super 7

    ''Chips'' strips

Notable comic strips or characters in Chips throughout the comic's 21-year run included:
  • Bewitched Belinda
  • Space School – by Mike Higgs
  • The Magic of Films
  • Bookworm
  • Bottom Of The Class
  • Boy Boss
  • Buffalo Bill
  • Calculator Kid
  • Cocoa
  • Creepy Comix
  • The Double Deckers
  • Footsie the Clown
  • Fuss Pot
  • Ginger's Tum
  • Guy Gorilla
  • Hal's Holdall
  • Harry's Haunted House
  • Junior Rotter
  • The Krazy Gang
  • Loser
  • Lucky Dick
  • Ma, Pa and Baby Ba
  • Mustapha Million
  • The Name Game
  • Phil Fitt
  • Percy's Pets – by Stanley McMurtry
  • Police Dog and Cat Burglar
  • Sammy Shrink: The Smallest Boy in the World – about a boy who is only two inches tall; by Dave Jenner.
  • Shiner
  • The Slimms
  • Super Dad
  • Toffee Nose
  • Town Tarzan
  • Watford Gapp
  • ''Wear Em Out Wilf''

    Adventure stories

Adventure stories in the magazine included the following:
  • Alfie in Africa
  • Archie's Angels
  • The Castaways
  • Danny Drew's Dialling Man
  • The Perils of Paul White
  • Pursuit of the Puzzler
  • Revenge of the Puzzler
  • The Space Accident
  • The Spectacular Adventures of Willie Bunk
  • Trip to Terror
  • Who is Sandy?
  • ''Wonder Car''

    Annuals and monthlies

Whizzer and Chips annuals were produced from 1972 to 1994, and again in 2015. Monthlies entitled "The Best of Whizzer and Chips Monthly" were also published in the late 1980s and early '90s. Holiday Specials were also published in the summer for most of the run.