WHOOPEE! PULL-OUTS AND FREE GIFTS IN 1982

In 1982 the first four issues of WHOOPEE! comic came with pull-out Cheeky Diary 1982, illustrated by Cheeky’s godfather Frank McDiarmid. The front covers of the four issues (Jan. 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd, 1982) are shown below, followed by a few sample pages of the fun calendar. The comics had eight pages of the pull-out each, so it was quite a thick one, once assembled. 

No pull-outs were offered for the next three months, but then the first four issues of May, 1982 came with Crazy Graffiti cut-out booklet. 

Notably, the issue of May 1st was the first with a new WHOOPEE! logo (the paper’s fifth since its launch back in 1974). The booklet itself was quite unusual because it was a straight-forward promotion of a 96-page ‘proper’ book with illustrations by David Mostyn, as advertised on the back cover of the WHOOPEE! pull out:

It was probably not a coincidence that at the time when Crazy Graffiti booklet was  printed, David Mostyn was already working for WHOOPEE!, drawing the relatively short-lived weekly strip Little Ed, soon to be followed by Snack-Man which lasted for quite a while. In 1983 David Mostyn drew at least a few episodes of another short-lived WHOOPEE! strip – KBR Kid’s Band Radio.

The issue of June 12th, 1982 had free Weetabix badge sellotaped to the front cover. Different Weetabix badges were given away that week with other IPC titles – BUSTER, WHIZZER AND CHIPS, TIGER and TAMMY. My copy of that week’s BUSTER still has the badge, but my WHOOPEE! does not. Here’s an image of it that I found online: 

The issue of July 10th, 1982 had FRUIT GUMS free poster, shown in the image below that I found online. It wasn’t a pull-out: folded and inserted into the paper, it wasn’t exactly part of the comic. The same poster was advertised on the front page and included in at least two more later issues that year (August 7th and Sept. 11th).

Next week’s issue (July 17th, 1982) carried this advert:

The game appeared over the next three weeks (24th and 31st July, and 7th August, 1982). 

The first two issues had the target printed on the centrespread - check out the result of my attempt to paste the two parts together:

…while the third one came with the rules and a lot of text crammed into four pages:

The four issues of 18th September, 25th September, 2nd October and 9th October, 1982 had a 4-part pull out book Toby's Animal Rescue Service by Toni Goffe. 

It was that year’s second promotion of a ‘proper’ book from an outside publisher. There were four pages in each of the four WHOOPEE!s, and what made this one stand out among all the previous WHOOPEE! pull-out booklets was that each page was given the full size of the paper’s page. 

Toni Goffe did some work in COR!! comic, but to the best of my knowledge he wasn’t involved with WHOOPEE!, or at least I don’t know of any strips that he illustrated for the paper. 

The issue of October 23rd, 1982 had a pack of Anglo Bubbly sellotaped to the front cover (missing from my copy, but not missed :) ).

Brian Walker never failed to come up with an impressive Guy Fawkes’ mask, and 1982 was no exception. It arrived with the issue of 30th October, 1982:

Brian Walker was also responsible for the last WHOOPEE! pull-out of the year. The poster/dot-to-dot puzzle occupied the centre pages of the 1982 X-mas edition (December 25th, 1982):

 Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

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