WHOOPEE! PULL-OUTS in 1980

In 1980 the first 4 issues of WHOOPEE! (January 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th) included the Giant All-Year X-Word and 1980 Calendar consisting of 4 pull-outs printed on the centre pages.

Assembly instructions and X-word solutions came with the last part:

… and, once assembled, the X-word/calendar looked something like this: 

One of the issues mentioned above also had this page that gives us an idea of the most popular WHOOPEE! strips at the time:

I find it a bit surprising that Frankie Stein and Scared-Stiff Sam were in the ‘supporting cast’ category. I would have hoped that at least Frankie was still a big star at that point...

Many fans hated the GOOD NEWS INSIDE issues because they marked the end of their favourite comic, but let us not forget that defunct papers were usually merged into other comics that had nice adverts heralding the expansion of their character lineup. WHOOPEE! issue, cover dated 2nd Feb., 1980 came with a Special Announcement of WHOOPEE! and CHEEKY merger next week:

Starting from the issue of 9th Feb., 1980, WHOOPEE! became another two-comics-in-one package  - IPC’s third after WHIZZER AND CHIPS and SHIVER AND SHAKE. The intention of this blog-series is to cover WHOOPEE! pull-outs, so it is worth-while pointing out that, technically speaking, starting from that week, every single issue of the paper published in 1980 came with a pull-out – a 16-page CHEEKY comic inside WHOOPEE! Here are the first 4 covers of the CHEEKY section, drawn beautifully by Frank McDiarmid. I have to say I find them more appealing that those of the WHOOPEE!s where they were included:

Of course, very few readers actually detached the CHEEKY section, and when you buy WHOOPEE! comics for your collection today, it is unlikely the “pull outs” will be missing.

The first 4 combined WHOOPEE! and CHEEKY comics, cover-dated February 9th, 16th, 23rd and March 1st, 1980, also had ‘proper’ pull-outs – a 4-part 'FIB' Card Game:

Instructions how to play the game came with the last part:

Next up was the Ticklish Allsports Pocket Book in the issues cover-dated March 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th, 1980:

Here is a selection of pages, many drawn by Jack Clayton, with a few by other artists:

The Editor took a break with WHOOPEE! pull outs till Autumn and came up with quite a unique and educational one in the 4 issues of October 11th,18th, 25th and Nov. 1st, 1980. 

It was How to Draw Comic Strips, with 14 cartooning lessons by Terry Bave. I thought it would be a good idea to show the booklet in full – maybe you’ll find it a useful tool to share with someone taking their first steps at drawing:

The issue with the last part of Terry Bave’s booklet was the Firework number, so it came with yet another Guy Fawkes’ mask drawn by Brian Walker (I think…), from an idea devised by a lucky reader who won the contest and pocketed a grand prize of 50 pound – enough to buy 416 issues of WHOOPEE!, priced 12 p. at that time! 

The last pull-out for 1980 was in the Christmas issue – the only one without a front cover of the CHEEKY section inside since the WHOOPEE!/CHEEKY merger. The front cover below was by Robert Nixon:

The pull-out was The Whoopee! Flip the Kipper Game drawn by Mike Lacey and printed in full colour on the centerspread:

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

WHOOPEE! PULL-OUTS IN 1979 – PART TWO

As I said in my previous post where I covered the first seven months of 1979, WHOPPEE! was particularly generous with its pull-outs in that year. Let us resume the overview starting from the months of August and September, when the comic surprised its readers with a further six posters in the issues of 11th, 18th and 25th August and then 8th, 15th and 29th of September: 

The approach of the Bonfire Night of 1979 was marked with Gunpowder Plot cut-out game in the four issues of 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th October. 

The first three had the board and some cards:

...while the fourth had more cards and the rules how to play the game:

The next issue cover dated 3rd November, 1979 came with Guy Fawkes’ cut-out mask, drawn by Brian Walker, who had already contributed two of those in the Firework issues of 1977 and 1978, with quite a few more still to come in the eighties:

The 1979 poster spree concluded in the issues of 10th November, 24th November and 1st December, bringing the total of WHOOPEE! character posters offered in the course of the year to a whopping eleven:

The next three issues (8th, 15th and 22nd December) ran a series of twenty Xmas labels. 

I showed them in two of my posts at the end of last year, so here are just a few examples to refresh your memory:

Finally, the 1979 Xmas issue of WHOOPEE! came with the Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey pull-out game on the centrespread:

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd 

And while you’re here, I would like to remind you that my promotion for the POWER PACK OF KEN REID is still on. Get your copies of the books and BONUS FREE PRINTS on eBay or from my online shop HERE!