SWEENY TODDLER AS GUEST STAR IN WHIZZER AND CHIPS IN 1973 and 1974

Stephen Archer who is a regular reader of this blog sent me a list of characters from other IPC comic that appeared in the ‘Guest Star’ feature in WHIZZER AND CHIPS in 1972 - 1974. 

As it turns out, Sweeny Toddler, then still a SHIVER & SHAKE star, popped in as many as four times - once in 1973 and three times in 1974! 

I have three of those issues, and I am happy to share the pages here. I’d be curious to see the episode which appeared in WHIZZER AND CHIPS cover-dated the 1st of June, 1974 – the only issue of the four that I don’t have.

For some reason I doubt if the episodes will be included in the forthcoming Sweeny Toddler album by Rebellion... 

I believe the first two were drawn by Tom Paterson, imitating Leo Baxendale’s and Stan McMurtry’s styles, while the one at the bottom is by the ever-excellent Frank McDiarmid. 

Apologies for the image quality – my comics are in bound volumes and are impossible to scan so I photographed them with my phone…

Enjoy!

WEEKLY OUTPUT – MIKE LACEY

A look at the comics cover-dated 30th March, 1974 tells us IPC kept Mike Lacey very busy at the time. He drew at least 10 pages in COR!!, Shiver & Shake, Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee! Scared-Stiff Sam in Whoopee! is hands-down my favourite :) I believe Mike later used the drawing of Sam wearing his protective clothing in the last panel of that week's page 1 for a pull-out poster that came with one of the later issues of Whoopee!

There are 4 more pages in Shiver & Shake, Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee! that I believe are also by Mike, although the style is somewhat different. If they are indeed by him, Mike Lacey’s stats for that week were a whopping 14 pages, but even if they aren’t, 10 pages is still a very impressive number!

The next and final post in this series will cover the work of that week’s champion Robert Nixon!

Images are © Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

WEEKLY OUTPUT – REG PARLETT

Reg Parlett’s page count in IPC comics cover-dated 30^th March 1974 was 7 pages. The artist had such a natural and flowing style, that it seems almost effortless but still very appealing to the eye. The quality of the art shows no signs that he struggled drawing his pages or had to rush them in order to meet his deadlines. 

Two two-pagers in Whoopee! and Whizzer and Chips were centered around the much-overused but apparently very popular theme of poor kids vs the rich:

…while one page in Whoopee! represented the new favourite line of horror comedy:

And of course there were two pages of Billy Bunter in Valiant:

Had Buster not missed that week, the artist’s stats would have been not 7 but 10 pages. This is how Reg Parlett’s regular features in Buster looked like in the issue of the week before.  Happy Family was a reprint, so under normal circumstances Reg Parlett’s weekly output amounted to the impressive quantity of 9 pages at that time! 

Mike Lacey is next in line...

Images are © Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

WEEKLY OUTPUT – TERRY BAVE

Terry Bave’s page count in IPC comics cover-dated 30th March, 1974 was 7 pages. There was one in COR!!:

… two in Shiver and Shake:

.. two in Whoopee!:

… and two in Whizzer and Chips (my copies are in a bound volume and thus unscannable, so apologies for image quality):

Reg Parlett is next in line...

Images are © Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.