The end of Whoopee...

Whoopee was Fleetway's third longest living comic, surviving for over 10 years between 1974 and 1985. Throughout it's run, Whoopee created many fantastic characters, including Toy Boy, The Bumpkin Billionaires and the less lived Ad Lad, to name a few! However, despite having such a strong array of characters, Whoopee ended on 30th March 1985. 

Usually when the final issue came out, the strapline read something along the lines of "Great News Inside Pals", but for Whoopee it simply read "Me's Got To Fly". This strapline tied in with the cover story, as Sweeny Toddler was out flying a kite, but I can't help but wonder if it is also hinting us about the end of the comic!

Inside, Snack-Man, who had been in the comic since 1982, met the girl of his dreams. Unfortunatly for him, Snack-Girl thinks he is far too fat, and he must go on a diet - of one lettuce leaf and a carrot a day! That of course, was the end of the series.

That wasn't the only strip to end. Family Trees was about a group of trees who are always running away from axes and saws. Illustrated by Robert Nixon the tree's have finally found a home after years of searching!

The centre pages featured a two page ad for next week's Whizzer and Chips with Whoopee. 

As well as the advert, another way to get readers to Whizzer and Chips was to have a competition. The competition in question is for a Yamaha keyboard, and part one appeared in Whoopee, and part 2 appeared in the following Whizzer and Chips! Of course, to make it fair to Whizz-kids and Chip-ites, part one of the competition also appeared in Whizzer and Chips of the same week.

Also in that same issue was a two page advert drawn by Frank McDiarmid, where Sid and Shiner are choosing who will be coming into their comics! Sweeny isn't pleased about not being picked!

And there was a final one panel advert reminding you about the merge at the bottom of Joker's strip!

When the merge finally came Sweeny Toddler kept popping up throught the issue trying to find his strip. When he discovered that he was on the back cover, he wasn't happy, and resolved to get revenge on the editor "next week"!

But a message from Sweeny that following week revealed that it didn't go according to plan! Despite that he managed to secure his place on the front cover, becoming one of the comics most succesful characters, even lasting until the end of Buster in 2000!