Illustrated Chips

a.k.a.: Chips, Illustrated Chips and the Joker

Publisher: Amalgamated Press

Format: Weekly anthology comic / story paper

First Issue: Illustrated Chips#1 (26th July 1890)

Last Issue: Illustrated Chips#2997 (12th September 1953); 3003 issues (see comments)

Annuals and Specials: None

Absorbed: The Joker

Absorbed into: Film Fun

Strips: Addum's Academy; The Artful Allies, Bobby Bang the Drummer Boy; Canem College, Carraway College; Casey Court; Chip's Comic Cinema; Coffdrop College; Constable Crabapple, Dr. Canem's College; Dr. Birchem's; Dr. Swishem's' Flossie, Homeless Hector, Hounslow Heath the Highwayman, MacHaggis, Mickey the Merry Monkey; Out Artful Eskimo, Pa Perkins and his son Percy; Sunbeam: Our Innocent Little Imp, Weary Willy and Tired Tim

Text stories: Catch as Catch Can; The Cruise of the Cranky Ann; The Deadshots; The Hunted Heir; P.C. 99; Right Behind: Rip and his Master; Sexton Blake; So Lonely; Ten Horse Power Dick; While You Wait

Features:

Comments: Launched by Alfred Harmsworth's Amalgamated Press in July 1890, Illustrated Chips was the second (after Comic Cuts) of a slew of titles from that publisher intended to challenge the market dominance of the disreputable Penny Dreadfuls among younger readers, coming in at half the price and (initially at least) material that was intended to be more wholesome than that featured in the established rivals. After a brief six issue run the title reset to zero (perhaps because the initial run had been a limited regional tester), with the new #1 cover dated September 6th 1890.

   Its unusual title came from printer's jargon - "chips" was the term used for short text or illustrations used as space fillers, and several pages of Illustrated Chips were filled with short (2 to 3 panel) strips.

   Apparently many of the initial strips were unauthorized reprints of comic strips lifted from American newspapers, but over time home-produced strips replaced them. Issue#298, cover dated May 16, 1896, saw two tramp characters, Weary Waddles and Tired Timmy, feature on the cover; they would retain this coveted position for the remainder of the run, though their names would shift slightly over time to become Weary Willie and Tired Tim. As was not uncommon for comics in the first half of the 20th century the issues also featured text stories. The two tramps being added to the title boosted sales, which had previously been comparatively low, to over 600,000 copies a week.

   Illustrated Chips absorbed The Joker comic on 25th May 1940, and was ultimately itself absorbed into Film Fun on 19th September 1953.

   Below are a selection of characters and stories that appeared across Illustrated Chips' 63 year run. Obviously, with such a long publication history listing them all would be a massive task, even if I had access to every issue (which I don't, not by a long shot). As such, the dates noted for when these strips appeared in the comic only list the years I know of, and they may well have appeared years earlier or later as well.

   Before scrolling further down the page, a WARNING. Illustrated Chips ran in the first half of the 20th century, a period where sadly comics frequently depicted black people with offensively caricatured features and described them using terms no longer considered acceptable. The comic creators of the day probably didn't intend to be so offensive because such depictions were so common as to be considered the norm and so it likely didn't even occur to them; nevertheless, by our standards...yeesh. Though I'm uncomfortable including these characters, since this site is meant to be, in part, a record of past characters, I also didn't feel it would be right to omit them. So they are covered, but please do not feel their inclusion means I condone these depictions.

Created by Tom Browne, the tramps Weary Willie and Tired Tim (originally Weary Waddles and Tired Timmy) enjoyed an impressive unbroken run as Illustrated Chips' cover stars from their 1896 debut in #298 until the title's cancellation in 1953. While they've largely been forgotten today outside of hardcore British comic fans, their popularity at the time was widespread, and they made a notable impact on global pop culture as one of their fans was the young Charlie Chaplin, whose childhood love of the characters inspired the creation of his most famous on-screen persona, the Tramp.

Harry Blythe's detective Sexton Blake, who originally debuted in another Amalgamated Press title, The Halfpenny Marvel, featured in his first serial story, The Lamp of Death, in Illustrated Chips#225-245 (1894-1895); it was his only appearance in this title, and he moved on to Puck and then The Union Jack for his later stories.

Homeless Hector, The Tail of a Lost Dog 1922, 1930 1945 ..Illustrated Chips. London: 25 Bouverie Street [Amalgamated Press]. No. 944 (new series). 3 October 1908.

From homeless tramp to homeless dog. The first Homeless Hector strip, devised and drawn by Bertie Brown, appeared on 3 October 1908. Hector’s career ran for some 45 years, up to the demise of Chips in 1953, drawn for most of this time by Brown.

Created by artist Alexander Akerbladh, Hounslow Heath the Highwayman debuted in 1909.

Doctor Swishem's debuted in 1909.

Coffdrop College debuted in 1911.

Addum's Academy debuted in 1913.

During the Great War Illustrated Chips added in new, patriotic stories including The Artful Allies (which appeared in 1915, and likely other war years), a humour strip starring the British and French soldier pals Tommy and Jacques, who constantly humiliated their German foes.

Flossie appeared in 1915.

Scottish character MacHaggis starred in his own strip during 1915.

Toddles, the Big Booted Comedian from at least 1915 until 1918.

Ike and Mike were twin brothers whose strip appeared in 1916

Tom Bowline, Our Jolly Jack Tar appeared in 1916

Doctor Canem's College debuted in 1917.

Batsowl enjoyed a text story in 1918

Mr Black and Mr White appeared in 1918

Sunbeam appeared between 1918 and 1930

Sambo the Saucy Nig appeared from 1918 until 1922. .

The Deadshots appeared in 1922

Constable Crabapple appeared in 1922

Tom the Coastguard appeared in 1922

Pa Perkins and his son Percy appeared from 1922 to  1949

Canem's College appeared in 1922

P.C. 99 appeared in 1922

Right Behind: The Patter of Peter the Porter appeared in 1922

Ten Horsepower Dick appeared in 1922

Casey Court appeared from 24th May 1902 until 12th September 1953, an impressive 2385 installments. It was originally drawn by Julius Stafford Baker.


Our Artful Eskimo appeared in 1922 and featured the titular Beelo Zeero and his companion Charlie the Penguin.

So Lonely appeared from June-October 1922. It featured the story of Edwin Mansfield, wrongly convicted of a crime, who escapes from prison and seeks to rescue his daughter, Katie, who is in peril from her murderous uncle, Lord Cecil Carstairs, while also trying to prove his innocence.

Cruise of the Cranky Ann appeared in 1922

Rip and his Master appeared in 1922.

Catch-as-Catch-Can appeared in 1922 "The thrilling detective adventures of Marshal Hawke, Grip, his bloodhound, and Pompey, his dusky assistant, in their fight to overthrow Lupin the Leaper and his band of desperate law-breakers"

The Hunted Heir appeared in 1922 "Telling how Sir Oliver Darke and Simon Purdon schemed to cheat you Lord Roland Darke out of his title and fortune"

Doctor Birchem's debuted in 1923.

Dick Pick the Jolly Navvy appeared in 1930

Boys will be Boys appeared in 1930. The titular boys were Alby, Nobby, Fatty and Midge

Film Struck Fanny appeared in 1930. Fanny was a desperate wannabee movie star who kept trying to fool producer Ivor Notion into casting her in a leading role.

The Playful Pranks of Pen and Inky  appeared in 1930.

The Comical Jungle Capers of Monty Monk appeared from 1930 until 1936

Carraway's College debuted in 1931.

Tracey Air 'Tec appeared in 1933. A text story, it featured the titular detective Jack Tracey and his ally Greaser

The Secret of Stormcrack appeared in 1933

Mike and his Bike appeared in 1933

Laurie and Trailer were Secret Service agents working for General Sir Bloater Blazes. They appeared from 1936 until 1949.

Lord 99  appeared in 1936

Millie the Military Mascot appeared in 1936

Dane, the Dog Detective, and his master Clive Markham appeared from 1936 until 1949

Ivor Klue, the Detective appeared between 1937 and 1945.

Making a Champion appeared in 1939. Featured on the back page, it was a boxing strip.

Ace Pilot appeared from 1939 to 1940. Another back page strip, it was an adventure story.

Professor Jolly and his Magic Brolly appeared in 1941

The Jolly Larks of Happy Sammy Smiles appeared in 1945.

Skipper Kerrigan appeared between 1945 and 1947

Dickie Duffer the Dunce appeared in 1945

Grandpa appeared from 1945 until 1947

The Merry Skylarks of Alfie the Air Tramp appeared in  Illustrated Chips between 1945 and 1949. It had originally featured in The Joker from 1930 to 1940, before transferred over to Chips when the two weeklies merged.

Peter Quiz, the Lad Who Wants to Know appeared in 1947.

Paul Power appeared in 1949.

Cowboy Ken's Castle appeared in 1952. The story featured the American Ken Keeling, who inherited a castle in Britain.

Sally Sunshine and her Shadow appeared in the 1950s

Jimmy Joy, the TV Boy appeared between 1952 and 1953


CLARIFICATIONS:
Illustrated Chips should not be confused with:

First Posted: 12/06/2023
Last updated: 12/06/2023

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