Gee whizz!

    "Whizzer & Chips" was launched in 1969. Chips was actually
    billed as 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...

    Er, did they?

    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.

    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, with Shiner nowhere to be seen!

    The rather forced rivalry between these two star characters
    lasted for 20 years - 20 years! - That's one heck of a grudge
    match. And during those years the comic, or comics, altered
    their line-up quite considerably, as other Fleetway stablemates
    folded and merged around them...

     

    Merging stars

    In the course of that 20-year run, "Whizzer & Chips"
    had to endure three big comic mergers, and strips were
    dropped and reshuffled to accommodate those pesky new
    arrivals. And let's not forget, one key merging title,
    "Whoopee!" had already merged with a couple of
    stablemates of its own. Plus, in those later years, strips
    popped up in the line-up from comic past as well. Which
    confuses things even further. But here follows a
    breakdown of some of those arrivals, and their
    original comic appearamces....
    
     from Cheeky                             from
     Calculator Kid                               Shiver & Shake
     Mustapha Million                          Ghost Getters Ltd 
                                                          Lolly Pop
     from Cor!!                                  Sweeny Toddler
     Tomboy
                                                          from
     from Knockout                         Whoopee!
     Beat Your Neighbour                    Animal Lad   
     Boney                                           Book Worm
     Fuss Pott                                       The Bumpkin Billionaires 
     Joker                                             Evil Eye       
     Pete's Pockets                               Stage School     
     Sammy Shrink                               Super Mum
     The Slimms                                   Toy Boy   
     The Super Seven
     The Toffs & The Toughs                from WOW!
                                                           Boy Boss
     from Krazy                                 Creepy Comix
     The Buytonic Boy
     Hit Kid
     The Krazy Gang
     Paws
     Pongo Snodgrass
  
    

    Adventure strips

    Whizer & chips had its fair share of adventure tales,
    dotted between the fun strips. Here are a few
    of them...

    1969                                                          1978
    The Stealer                                                Thingumajig!
    Kings of the Castle
    The Spectacular Adventures                      1979
    of Willie Bunk                                             Whizz Wheels
                                                                      Run, Rogan, Run!
    1970                                                              
     Wonder-Car                                               1981 
    The Perils of Paul White                             Big Ben
                                                                             
    1972
    Archie's Angels
    Revenge of the Puzzler
    
    1973
    Trip to Terror

    1975
    Danny Drew and His Dialing Man