Illustrated Chips
Illustrated Chips was a British comic magazine published between 26 July 1890 and 12 September 1953.
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Its publisher was the Amalgamated Press, run by Alfred Harmsworth.
After a brief initial run of six issues, Illustrated Chips was relaunched and ran for 2,997 issues. In 1953 it merged with Film Fun.
From May 1896 to the last issue the cover page held a comic strip featuring the tramps 'Weary Willie and Tired Tim' (initially named 'Weary Waddles and Tired Timmy'). Beginning in 1909 with Hounslow Heath the Highwayman, Alex Akerbladh created various cartoon strips for the magazine. Another notable feature in Illustrated Chips was Casey Court beginning in 1902 and continuing to the last issue [1] this cartoon involved a single and very busy picture where many kids from Casey Court led by Billy Baggs, who were collectively referred to as the Nibs, would get up to some crazy scheme.
It is no relation to the comic Whizzer and Chips, which launched in 1969. Coincidentally, both comics eventually merged with Buster, with Illustrated Chips initially merging into Film Fun.
The Weary Willie and Tired Tim characters helped inspire Charlie Chaplin to create his Tramp character.[2]
References
- The Nostalgia Collection - Casey Court!. London: Hawk Books Ltd. 1990. p. 3. ISBN 0-948248-67-X.
- Garvett, Paul (2014). Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK. British Library. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-7123-5735-7.