First issue:
   Mon 18th October 1969

   First issue gift:
   12 super stickers                                               

  1st issue strips:

   Angel Face And
   Dare Devil
   Aqua Lad
   Batty Bat
   Champ
   Fred's Family Tree
   Ginger's Tum
   Give The Dog A Bone
   Harry's Haunted
   House
   Hetty's Horoscope
   Hot Rod
   Karate Kid
   Kings Of The Castle
   Little Saver
   Me And My Shadow
   Minnie's Mixer
   The Mummy's Curse
   Odd Ball
   Parker The Parky
   Puddin' Tops
   Sid's Snake
   Slowcoach
   The Space Accident
   Space School
   Steadfast McStaunch
   The Stealer
   Wear 'Em Out Wilf
   Willie Bunk

 

  from Cheeky
  Calculator Kid
  Musrapha Million

  from Cor!!
  Tomboy

  from Knockout
  Beat Your Neighbour
  Boney
  Fuss Pott
  Joker
  Pete's Pockets
  Sammy Shrink
  The Slimms
  The Super Seven
  The Toffs And
  The Toughs
 
  from Krazy
  Buytonic Boy
  Hit Kid
  Krazy Gang
  Paws
  Pongo Snodgrass

  from Shiver
  And Shake
  Ghost Getters
  Lolly Pop
  Sweeny Toddler

  from
  Whoopee!
  Animal Lad
  Book Worm
  The Bumpkin
  Billionaires
  Evil Eye
  Stage School
  Super Mum
  Toy Boy

  from WOW!
  Boy Boss
  Creepy Comix

 ________________________________________________

    Facts and figures...

  Whizzer & Chips was launched in 1969. Chips was actually a rival
  comic to Whizzer, nestled within its pages. The idea was for readers
  to choose allegiance to one or t'other, remove the center staples
  and discard the offending pages. But of course, no one you knew
  actually did that. As the comic continued through the 70s, so the
  rivalry between Whizzer fans (Whizz-Kids) and Chips fans
  (Chip-Ites) was played upon even more, with characters from one
  comic frequently 'invading' character strips in their opposite
  number. Eventually there was even a crossover strip - 'Whizz-Kids
  Vs Chip-Ites' - playing in each comic...

        

  The Whiz-Kids were lead by Sid, who had a dexterous pet snake
   called Slippy. Sid and Slippy hogged the colour front page through
   out the first decade of the comic, eventually rescinding to that
   Fleetway stalwart, Joker, in the mid-80s. The Chip-Ites, meanwhile,
   found leadership from Shiner, who was always getting into scraps
   and scrapes which left him with a black-eye - hence that name...

   However, it wasn't always that way. In the very beginning - horror
   of horrors - our Sid actually featured on the front of the Chips
   section - take another look at that first issue scan, if you don't
   believe me!

   As you can imagine, collating the strip info and histories for this
   title is a huge undertaking - but regular visitor Darrell Perry has
   assisted me with strip details for that first issue, thanks Darrell!
   I'm working on things, slowly but surely, but if anyone else has
   any strip detail they think might be of interest I'd be delighted to
   hear from them...
  _______________________________________________

    Cheeky thoughts...

   This was the Big One folks! - Or rather, one of Fleetway's Big Three
   (the others being Buster and Whoopee!). Sid, Slippy and Shiner
   were there in our newsagents week-in, week-out for over twenty
   years, whilst other Fleetway titles came and went and merged
   around and with them. That's an awful lot of black-eyes for the
   Chip-Ite leader, and inumerable uses for a zig-zag patterned snake.

   The Whizzer And Chips formula really didn't change much
   during its run. Strips weren't the most adventurous, perhaps,
   but the line-up was steady and dependable and gave the strip
   stars time to develop within the format. It was bolstered too by
   those merging titles, whose top strips continued in the WhCh
   pages. The continued rivalry between Whizz-Kids and Chip-Ites
   was equally reliable and unstoppable, and most of all, inexplicable.
   I mean 30 years on from the start of battle and we still don't know
   why they hated each other so much!...                         
  _______________________________________________

    Annual development...

   Tony from www.tonystrading.co.uk tells me that the first Whizzer
   & Chips annual actually appeared in 1971 and not 1973 as I first
   thought. What's more, that first edition only featured Sid and
   Slippy on the cover with ne'er a Shiner in sight:

          

   What doesn't need correcting is the fact that after this Sid, Shiner
   and Slippy featured on each year's cover, regular as clockwork
   until 1989, with just two more exceptions. These were the 1978
   and 1984 editions. The first, surprisingly, stars Lib An' Archie at
   their tinkling 'pee-anah'. The second drops the boys in favour of
   Slippy on his own. Thumbs lead to larger scans:

                

   In 1988 the annual 'went large', increasing in size to 230 x 285mm.
   This was just as well because it was now incorporating strips from
   Whoopee! too. There were also more reprints, and strips from other
   defunct titles, and - well - it all became a bit of a mess, actually.
   Sid, Shiner and Slippy appeared on the 1988 and 1989 covers,
   but the cover of the 1990 edition dropped Sid and his slithering
   mate and featured Shiner, Odd Ball, Ted from Store Wars and
   Benny Bones alongside newcomer Watford Gapp, Joker (from
   Knockout, of course) and Sweeny Toddler (from Whoopee! via
   Shiver And Shake). Sadly, mercifully even, the whole annual
   concept was put to bed with the comic and a final edition
   - the 24th - hit newsagents in 1994...