Line #1 ComicBook/WhizzerAndChips


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wac1994.jpg]]
2	''Whizzer and Chips'' was a {{British comic\|s}} which first started in 1969. The comic ran until 1990 when it [[ComicsMerger merged]] with a comic called ''ComicBook/{{Buster}}'' (a spin off of sorts of ComicStrip/AndyCapp). It was similiar in style to ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' and ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' and was a direct competitor to the two being published by a different publisher, Creator/{{Fleetway}}, as opposed to ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' and ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' which were published by Creator/DCThomson.
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4	The comic's gimmick was that it was two comics in one, one called ''Whizzer'' and the other called ''Chips'' which was a pull-out section. These comics were supposedly rivals with so called raids (which involved characters from one comic entering the other) between the two being a common occurrence, readers were encouraged to become Whizz-kids or Chip-ites (this referred to which comic they supported) and each comic had a different leader; Sid from a strip called Sid's Snake for Whizzer, and Shiner for Chips. The distinction between the two titles was later emphasised by changing the duotone strips in ''Chips'' from red to blue.
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6	It incorporated many, many other comics in mergers over the years and finally merged with ''ComicBook/{{Buster}}'', but in any case the distinctions were unclear at any point because Fleetway would publish compilations drawing on strips from all their comics put together and would reprint strips which debuted in other comics. Therefore, not all the strips mentioned below will necessarily have appeared under the original title.
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8	Though they eventually died out in TheEighties, formerly occasional adventure strips with an ArtShift to a more realistic style were included as well as the humour strip majority.
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10	----
11	!!This comic (and its strips) provide examples of:
12	* AllGhoulsSchool: A strip called "Strange Hill" which featured a normal teacher with monster students. The title was an obvious play on ''Series/GrangeHill''.
13	** "Strange Hill" was actually one of several strips based on the concept of 'weird school where normal teacher vainly tries to carry on as usual'. Others included "Stage School" (all the students are budding superstars who don't care about normal lessons) and "Shipwrecked School" (stuck on a desert island).
14	* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: "Animalad", who can transform into any animal.
15	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: "My Bruvver"
16	* AnythingYouCanDoICanDoBetter: The "Beat Your Neighbour" strip, in which two boys boast that their dads are better at/have a better one of something and egg them on in an EscalatingWar, only for this to cause a disaster that in the last panel leaves them boasting that their dad "has more broken bones than your dad!" or similar.
17	* ArabOilSheikh: "Mustafa Million", with the twist that he's a young boy and living in the UK, often misunderstanding British traditions and getting the help from his British friends to escape his private tutor.
18	* BookWorm: A character by that name (one or two words varied), who had various adventures based on solving problems with books, trying to get peace to read, or taking what he read too seriously.
19	* BrainyBaby: Baby Boffin from the S.O.S. Squad, who invents all kinds of advanced technology and vehicles for the team but inevitably they all end up being pram-themed. (At the time this was probably intended as a [[ExaggeratedTrope parodic exaggeration]] of the common ChildProdigy / TeenGenius trope in adventure series).
20	* ComicsMerger: Despite the premise, ''Whizzer'' and ''Chips'' had never been separate comics. However, there were ''a lot'' of mergers. ''Knockout'' merged with ''Whizzer and Chips'' in 1973, followed by ''Krazy'' in 1978, ''Whoopee!'' in 1985 (which itself had merged with three other comics -- ''Shiver and Shake'' in 1974, followed by ''Cheeky'' in 1980 and ''Wow!'' in 1983) and finally ''[[UsefulNotes/FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Scouse]] Mouse'' in 1989.
21	* ComedicUnderwearExposure: In the series "Bottom" (originally titled "Bottom of the Class") the protagonist Rock has the unfortunate habit of constantly splitting his pants to reveal his underwear.
22	* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: "Hit Kid" (played for laughs). A [[VigilanteMan Vigilante Boy]] who goes around getting revenge on people (usually adults) who steal from kids and the like, and is paid in sweets.
23	* CrossThrough: The 1986 Christmas issue had two: in ''Whizzer'', every strip featured Mr Superstore from "Store Wars" trying to entice the characters into doing their Christmas shopping at the superstore, and in ''Chips'' every strip had Mizz Marble recruiting the characters to help solve what happened to Shiner's Christmas presents.
24	* CuteWitch: The titular ''Bewitched Belinda''.
25	* EnfantTerrible: Sweeny Toddler.
26	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Strips involving a team of kids who each embodied a single characteristic such as the fat one, the dim one, etc. were (and are) common, but this was parodied/deconstructed with "The Group" strip, whose members had ''actual names'' like "Brain", "Fatso", "Shorty" and "Stupid".
27	* ForegoneConclusion: A lot of strips always ended the same way, such as Shiner getting a black eye; often the humour came from how the result would come from an unexpected source, given that the characters were frequently GenreSavvy and avoided the obvious.
28	* FunWithAcronyms: Super Steve's usual villains were the '''NME''', a KGB-type group of DirtyCommunists from {{Ruritania}}.
29	* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Sammy Shrink, originally from ''Knockout''. Unusually it wasn't a reversible transformation, he was stuck that way.
30	** Initially at least. Later he was restored to normal height, but suffered random shrink attacks. He had no control over when he suddenly grew back, either.
31	* InvoluntaryShapeshifting / JekyllAndHyde: "Guy Gorilla", who transforms into a gorilla every time he (usually accidentally) eats peanuts.
32	** This was a common thing for "Bewitched Belinda" to enact on others, though she never leaves them transformed.
33	* KidDetective: Mizz Marble, a young girl who thought she was a great detective and ''[[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]]'' was.
34	* LiteralGenie: The strip "Pete's Pockets" sometimes worked this way, with his pockets capable of giving him anything he wanted but messing up in this fashion. Other times they failed due to MondegreenGag (he asks for a toaster, they send him a boaster, a coaster and a poster).
35	* MagicalGirlfriend: "Bobby's Ghoul" was about a boy who had a ghost for a girlfriend.
36	* MagicalNativeAmerican: In "Sonny Storm", one of the longest-lasting adventure strips, a boy discovers his grandfather used to live with the Sioux Indians and, among his old things in the attic, finds a magical rattle that lets him control the weather.
37	* MergingMachine: There was a strip called "Minnie's Mixer", which played this for laughs. The eponymous device looked like an electric food mixer, but when pointed at two objects in close proximity could fuse them together. Most often used to mix people or pets with objects. Fortunately the process was reversible.
38	* MundaneFantastic: The "S.O.S. Squad" strip. It's yet another strip based on a team of kids each embodying a 'hat' of an attribute going around helping people, yet the people they help out include an alien who's crashed his flying saucer, retrieving a possession from a house in a now-flooded valley by turning it into a giant hovercraft, and so on.
39	* NationalStereotypes: "Worldwide School" was about a multi-national group of students travelling around the world to all their home countries in turn, accompanied by their accident-prone teacher. About 50% of the time stereotypes were played straight and the other 50% they were referenced and then debunked.
40	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: One "Store Wars" strip from TheEighties had the visit of the Lady Mayoress, "Mrs Hatcher", an expy of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher who had the same background and views. Unusually for British comics in this period it didn't get too political, with the joke being that "Mr. Superstore" thinks she'll like him because of her approving of free enterprise--which she does--but she likes Bloggs and Son even more because it reminds her of growing up in her father's own small grocery shop.
41	* OriginsEpisode: Several strips were given one, usually years after they started, with the subtitle ''Special "How It All Began" Story''.
42	* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Often used with the Super Seven.
43	* PunnyName: Used more often than not.
44	* RecycledInSpace: A lot of strips basically consisted of taking whatever was popular on television (especially imported American programmes) and putting a spin on it that was either 1) British, 2) involved children or school to fit the target audience, or 3) both. Some renamings over the years were required to avoid being sued.
45	** "The 12 1/2p Buytonic Boy", later "Super Steve", was a British version of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' as a boy. Made obvious by his civilian identity, Steve Ford (the original being Steve Austin, both Ford and Austin being car companies).
46	** "Shipwrecked School" was ''Series/GilligansIsland'' but with schoolkids and their teacher.
47	** "The Bumpkin Billionaires" was ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'', but set in the UK and with the twist that they were forever trying to get ''rid'' of their money, only to be foiled by the ResetButton.
48	** "The Krazy Gang" were based on ''The Double-Deckers''.
49	** "Animalad" (from ''Whoopee!'' originally) may have been inspired by ''Series/{{Manimal}}''.
50	** "Bewitched Belinda" was basically ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' with the protagonist aged down to a girl.
51	** "Junior Rotter", like ''The Nutty'''s "Jay R Hood", was a kid version of TheEighties' favourite TV villain, [[Series/{{Dallas}} JR Ewing]]. Although this mostly meant being a generic greedy/mean character, only in a ten-gallon hat.
52	** "Mizz Marble" was an aged-down Literature/MissMarple, the [[Series/MissMarple1984 BBC adaptations]] being big at the time
53	* TheScrooge: "Lolly Pop", to a ''ludicrous'' degree, to the point where one wonders how he even manages to run such a profitable business empire if he refuses to spend any money on even the barest essentials.
54	* SlobsVersusSnobs: A very common basis for strips. Examples include:
55	** "The Toffs and the Toughs" (who eventually became supporting characters to the similar-concept "Smarty Pants and Tatty Ed")
56	** "Ivor Lott and Tony Broke" (originally from ''Cor!!''; later incorporating their [[DistaffCounterpart Distaff Counterparts]] Milly O'Naire and Penny Less)
57	** "Top of the Class". A harassed teacher tries to cope with the fact that half his class are posh swots, the other half are lower-class roughs, and the two groups hate each other. Unlike the other examples above, where editorial sympathy was clearly with the lower-class characters, UpperClassTwit / AristocratsAreEvil were in full play and UnderdogsNeverLose, in this case both sides were presented as equal and one side usually didn't come out on top.
58	* SpringtimeForHitler: Fairly common plot. The Bumpkin Billionaires' plans to lose their fortune often end up making them even richer. Mr Superstore's plans in "Store Wars" to drive Bloggs and Son out of business often make them even more successful at his own expense.
59	* SuperTeam: The Super Seven (originally from ''Knockout'' before the merger) who all had their own separate strips, but would team up for specials.
60	** BlowYouAway: Windy
61	** CoolCar / ThemeMobile: The Sevenmobile
62	** GadgeteerGenius / WrenchWench: Wanda Wheels
63	** ImprobableAimingSkills: Dead Eye Dick (with catapults), Booter (with footballs) and Thunderball (with marbles)
64	** StinkBomb: Stinker
65	* TotallyRadical: Ringo, from "The Group" (deliberately; the strip ran in TheSeventies and he was a DiscoDan still stuck in TheSixties)
66	* UnderdogsNeverLose: "Store Wars" was about a CorruptCorporateExecutive villain running a huge supermarket and his rivalry with a small traditional corner shop down the road run by Mr Bloggs and his son. Had a similar dynamic to the WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner cartoons -- although you should in theory sympathise with the one who's being targeted, in practice the villain becomes sympathetic just because of the ForegoneConclusion of his EpicFail every week.
67	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Quite a common gimmick.
68	** "Animalad", who can transform into any animal.
69	** "Faceache", 'The Boy with a Thousand Faces', though most of them are TheGrotesque.

Context ComicBook / WhizzerAndChips