CRIVENS! IT's WHIZZER & CHIPS #1 50TH ANNIVERSARY...

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"Two comics in one, double the fun!", but WHIZZER & CHIPS was really just one comic with two names.  However, it was a good idea to make readers think that they were getting more bang for their bucks.  (Or in this case, more pages for their pennies.) I remember seeing WHIZZER & CHIPS upcoming launch advertised in a centre-spread insert in SMASH! and being instantly fascinated by a picture of the friendly ghost from HARRY'S HAUNTED HOUSE.

On sale on 11th October 1969 (cover-dated 18th), I was up around 7a.m. and across like a rocket to the newsagent's over the road from me, eager to immerse myself in this new comics experience.  The title lasted for one week past its (un-celebrated) 21st birthday before being merged with stablemate BUSTER, thereby ensuring that at  least a few W&C characters survived a bit longer.  I bought a copy of the last issue in the same shop that I had purchased the first, even though I no longer lived in the area.

Y'know, sometimes I think that any point in my past life is as near to me as 'over the road' was then, but it's a short-lived feeling that soon dissipates when I realise that all my yesterdays are quite a bit farther removed than that.  Anyway, that's enough melancholy introspection - enjoy the 'Whizzer' section to start with, and we'll be back right after it with its companion paper 'Chips'.  (Were you a Whizz-kid or a Chip-ite?  Don't be shy now. )

And below is the CHIPS section to help you recapture a long-vanished slice of your childhood - if you were a child back in 1969 that is.  It's hard for me to believe I originally bought this comic when it first came out 50 years ago, but yes - I really am that old, despite my youthful good looks and full, luxuriant head of hair.  I've even got all my own teeth - and I don't mean the kind that are kept in a glass of water at night.  However, before this starts to read like an ad in a dating agency, I'll shut up and let you get on with reading the following strips.  I could end by saying "You've had your Chips!", but that would be too obvious a pun, wouldn't it?

BONUS:  Here's one of the flyers for the new weekly WHIZZER & CHIPS.

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