Whizzer and Chips - From The Drawing Board To The Final Product

Here's an interesting glimpse into the production process of comics from back in the days before computers. This piece shows how Whizzer and Chips issue dated 25th September 1982 made it from the art stage to the final product. Before this step, of course, the lettering would have been added on to the strip, either written onto the board itself or more likely glued on top.

These images were shared by Phil-Comics so I'll let his explanation do the talking.

"On a recent visit to a collector's house he mentioned that back in 1982/83 (aged 23/24), he was such a fan of the IPC comics that he got into some dialogue with IPC and was able to visit Kings Reach Tower, on the south bank of the Thames, the home of IPC comics, several times and met some of the editors including David Hunt (Eagle), Steve MacManus (2000AD), Ian Vosper (Roy of the Rovers), plus group editor Barrie Tomlinson. He told us he became interested in the comics when he bought the first issue of Whizzer and Chips in 1969 (aged 10), being intrigued by the “2 comics in 1” format, so the highlight of his IPC visits was when he went to the Whizzer and Chips office and was presented with a front cover of Whizzer and Chips by the editor Bob Paynter.

"The production process was to scan the original artwork and to print it at a reduced size of the actual comic. The printed scan of the original artwork was stuck manually onto white board, in this example the cover, where a date of issue and reader cover joke were also stuck on, plus the copyright line at the bottom. The transparent sheet was then applied over the artwork and colours applied. As a point of interest, we thought we'd message Barrie Tomlinson, on Twitter, who added the following when we sent him a few pics of the cover "That looks like a thing which was sent to the printers. Editorial was doing the colour separations so it was cheaper at the printers. The printer would use the black and white outline cover and then strip in the various colours shown on the overlay."

Phil said this piece will be up for sale on his ebay page soon.

Comic Branded Clothing

While doing some research for my series on the free gifts given away with Whizzer and Chips (link to part 1 here) I came across the above image from Phil-Comics of a Whizzer and Chips hat, apparently a competition prize from 1974. Whizzer and Chips gave away all manner of clothes throughout its 21-year run, most notably t-shirts that depicted various designs throughout the years promoting either Whizz-Kids or Chip-ites, depending on which half of the comic the prize was from.

Promotions for the shirts from 1978. There were
many different shirt designs over the years.

I've been looking for images of such clothes for years to share on the blog as I find comic-related promotional items an interesting part of their history. But so rarely do they come up that I seriously doubt many, if any, survive. It's not hard to see why - you can tell from the above photo the production quality of the hat isn't exactly that of Prada. Nonetheless, if you have a photo of the shirts or any other comic related clothing please do get in touch. It could be a photo taken yesterday or in 1984 - a photo is a photo and I'm keen to see!

Whizzer and Chips wallet 1986

Whizzer and Chips bag 1987

Meanwhile, here's another cap, also from of Phil-Comics. This one is an Action cap, apparently a runner-up prize in the Action Superstars Competition from 1976.

Every Whizzer and Chips Free Gift (Part 3 of 3)

As we move into the final years of Whizzer and Chips, the free gifts became a little more frequent. I left off in 1984 (there's a link to parts 1 and 2 at the bottom of this post), and the next free gift came with issue dated June 11th 1985. It was another badge from Heinz, this time of a Haunted House! Although I'll be honest in saying that I quite like the artwork of this badge (halloween is probably my favourite comic theme, when done well), the fact that it's promoting spaghetti is a little less exciting. Here's a picture of the badge, along with an image of the cans found elsewhere on the internet (although to be fair, those cans do have a cool spooky design too).

The next gift was another Weetabix badge with issue dated 8th June 1985. In similar vein to the previous Weetabix badge giveaway in 1982, four badges were created for four comics - Whizzer and Chips, Buster, Eagle and Tiger. Here's a photo of the badges, as well as a promotional advert taken from Eagle. 

Now here's a gift that I like a bit more - a free zoom balloon! I'm sure you're familiar with the concept, but if not it's basically a super noisy balloon that when released flies quickly and directionless around the room. Great fun, it came with issue dated 28th September 1985. This issue also came with a J.R (Junior Rotter) cut-out story book - it was definitely the comic to have that week.

Issue dated 25th October 1986 came with a "Sssuper free gift" - the Whizzer and Chips quiz wallet. This was essentially a piece of card that could be folded up with various questions and answers printed on it - thus creating a quiz. This issue contained the wallet and the first "quiz strip", and three more were given away in issues dated November 1, 8 and 15.

Tom Paterson drew a wonderful front cover to promote the free stickers that came with issue dated 7th November 1987. As you can see, one set of stickers was for the Whizz-Kids, and the other for the Chip-ites. Good fun.

I think there might be something poetic in the final gift ever given away with Whizzer and Chips being a set of stickers, given such a gift was also used to promote the first issue back in 1969. The free "snappy stickers" came with issue dated 18th March 1988, with an issue that also included a Chip-ite mini mag drawn on a computer. Oh, how times (and technology) have changed. This was actually the second set of snappy stickers, the first set of seven were given away the previous week.

That wraps up this three-part series on every gift given away in Whizzer and Chips over its 21 year run. The comic certainly gave away quite the variety of stuff, no doubt all of which were very quickly lost and few survive - I'd say we are lucky to even have these photos of them!

Whereas I'm fairly certain I've mentioned all the gifts that were given away, if you're an eagle-eyed reader and know of any that I've missed please comment below and let me know. Even better if you can provide a picture, and I will of course update the post.

Part 1: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/05/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Part 2: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Every Whizzer and Chips Free Gift (Part 2 of 3)

First off: whoops! I know this post was promised for a quite some time ago but I got swept up in things and then it slipped my mind! I do apologise, but better late than never. I left off in 1975, with the Super Jet Joke Camera, and pick up again in 1979. That may seem like a long time to go without a gift, but until more recent years such a length of time was not unusual. A set of rub down transfers known as Kalkitos were given away with the 10th birthday issue. It's striking to see how different the comic looks from its first issue (see here for my post on the first issue), and of course it would look vastly different again in another ten years. Whizzer and Chips was absolutely a comic that continued to evolve with the times, surely a reason for its longevity. 

A packet of Sweet Tooth drops were given away with issue dated 4th October 1980. These "fruit flavour drops", also available to buy in stores, were identical on the outside but had a Sweet Tooth comic printed on the inside. There were twenty different strips all up, here's a couple (and please email me pictures if you have any of the others!).

A Weetabix badge was the next gift given away. Obviously a promotional item, this badge was one of five, each of which were given away with a different IPC comic the week dated 12th June 1982. As you can see from this advert, they came with that week's Buster, Tiger, Whoopee, Tammy and, of course, Whizzer and Chips. The badges reflected an advertising comic strip that appeared in the comics at the time (and apparently a television advert too), with each badge depicting a different character - Dunk, Brian, Crunch, Brains and Bixie. Unfortunately I'm not sure who the artist was. Brains came with Whizzer and Chips, although the advert mistakenly calls the comic just Whizzer, perhaps mistaking Chips for a merged-in comic similar to Jackpot was with Buster and Jinty was with Tammy. Yikes! I'm not sure how that mistake made it past the editor...

Readers didn't have to wait too long for their next gift, however, with the Magic Messages Writing Pad given away with issue dated 10th February 1982. As the pad explains: "You can write secret messages with this magic writing pad. Using a soft lead pencil, write your message on the top sheet and when it has been read, erase the words by lifting both sheets together. The magic pad will then be ready to use again". Sounds perfect for passing notes in class without the embarrassment of the teacher reading it aloud for all to hear!

Next up is this Playmobil figurine. I"m not sure if a selection of characters were given away or just the one, but nonetheless this American-style Sheriff came with issue dated 4th June 1983. I always thought Playmobil was aimed at a slightly younger audience than Whizzer and Chips' target range of 8-12 year olds, but I could be wrong.

The 14th birthday issue dated 8th October 1983 had a free gift to accompany the celebrations, this time a Smurfs sticker book and a packet of stickers to help readers get started. I used to be into stickers as a kid, in fact I actually completed (but have sadly since lost) an Indiana Jones sticker book, so I bet a gift like this went down a treat. I know I'd have been happy with it anyway.

The next gift wasn't quite so exciting: a Heinz Invaders Badge given away with issue dated 12th May 1984. Basically, this was pasta that was shaped as spaceships. It certainly seems that by this point the free gifts were more of an advertising product than the toy that they had been in the comic's earlier days. 

The next gift just further goes to illustrate this point, with another Weetabix-themed gift with issue dated 16th June 1984. This one was very simple, basically a picture of Crunch, one of the Weetabix gang, with the front cover claiming the reader could turn him into a badge, key fob or pendant.

The next gift was a set of Stinky Stickers, which came with issue dated 3rd November 1984. "As advertised on TV", these stickers could apparently be scratched and sniffed, with 88 flavours to collect ranging from skunk and old shoes to liquorice and popcorn. 

I'll wrap it up there for Part Two to keep all three parts roughly even in length. As you can see above, most of the gifts around this time were paid promotional products, which I'm sure was all well and good for the financial situation at the Whizzer and Chips offices but aren't quite as fun for us to look back on. The final few years offers a bit more of a mixture and includes some original Whizzer and Chips themed gifts, so stay tuned! I promise Part 3 will be published soon.

Part 1: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/05/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Part 3: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part_3.html

Every Whizzer and Chips Free Gift (Part 1 of 3)

For those of you who were following my blog in the early days, you may remember me saying more than once that Whizzer and Chips is my favourite comic. This may come as a surprise to many, but the reason is simple: although my first comic was a copy of the Beano, my first "old" comic (i.e. not from the newsagents) was Whizzer and Chips, purchased probably from a junk shop or a car boot sale.

I should note that the contents of this post are not new, but in fact make up part of my Whizzer and Chips blog, a clunky old website that can be found here, if you are so inclined.

But to begin, the very first Whizzer and Chips free gift came with, surprise surprise, the very first issue, and was advertised on the cover as 'Twelve Super Stickers'. They included phrases such as "Keep Teacher off the Moon" and "England for the World Cup" - all very topical for the late 1960s.

Issue #2 came with a "super cartoon flick book", a double sided card for the viewer to turn into a flick book for two short cartoons of Sid's Snake. The first cartoon was called Sid the Charmer, and the second Slippy's Solo. I'm not sure they will win any storytelling awards, but the are fun enough.

The third issue coincided with bonfire night and thus came with a free "super full-colour Guy Fawkes mask". It was the third gift in a row to be described as "super" - I think someone at Fleetway needed a thesaurus.

The next free gift came along with issue dated 21st February 1970. The colourful Lunar Launcher and Splashdown Capsule capitalised on the hype of the moon landings and was accompanied by a fun front cover Sid's Snake story.

The following issue (28th February) came with a free disguise kit that I must say looks very familiar. Both of these gifts were promoted with front cover stories, but at risk of clogging up this blog post too much I'll let you hunt those down for yourself.

The next free gift came with the merger of Knockout on 30th June 1971. Alongside the introduction of a number of new characters, the comic came with two joke books - one for the Whizz Kids and one for the Chip-ites.

A rubber bat came with the 5th birthday issue. Spooky!

Next up - the Superjet Joke Camera came with issue dated 8th March 1975. To be honest I'm not sure how many people would be fooled by this but I love the optimism of the illustration on its paper bag, also used as the front cover image.

This post will get quite lengthy if I include all the gifts that came with Whizzer and Chips over its 21 years run, so I've decided to break it down into three posts. Part 2 tomorrow!

Part 2: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part.html

Part 3: http://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2023/07/every-whizzer-and-chips-free-gift-part_3.html