''Illustrated Chips'' was a British comic magazine published between 26 July 1890 and 12 September 1953. Its publisher was the

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

, run by

Alfred Harmsworth Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...

. Priced at a half-penny, ''Illustrated Chips'' was among a number of Harmsworth publications that challenged the dominance in popularity of the "

penny dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to ...

s" among British children. After a brief initial run of six issues, ''Illustrated Chips'' was relaunched and ran for 2,997 issues. Harmsworth titles would enjoy a virtual monopoly of comics in the UK until the emergence of

DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...

comics in the 1930s. In 1953 ''Illustrated Chips'' merged with ''

Film Fun ''Film Fun'' was a British celebrity comics comic book that ran from (issues dates) 17 January 1920 to 15 September 1962, when it merged with ''Buster (comic), Buster'', a total of 2,225 issues. There were also annuals in the forties and fiftie ...

''. From May 1896 to the last issue in 1953 the cover page held a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

featuring the

tramp A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''t ...

s Weary Willie and Tired Tim (initially named "Weary Waddles and Tired Timmy"). A reader of ''Illustrated Chips'' as a boy, the Weary Willie and Tired Tim characters helped inspire

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

to create his

Little Tramp : ''See The Tramp for the character played by Charlie Chaplin''. ''Little Tramp'' is a musical with a book by David Pomeranz and Steven David Horwich and music and lyrics by David Pomeranz. Based on the life of comedian Charles Chaplin and na ...

character. Weary Willie and Tired Tim was created by illustrator Tom Browne, with Browne playing a major role in the evolution of the British comic style, influencing

Bruce Bairnsfather Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather (9 July 188729 September 1959) was a prominent British humorist and cartoonist. His best-known cartoon character is Old Bill. Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather's weekly "Fragments from Fr ...

, Dudley D. Watkins and

Leo Baxendale Joseph Leo Baxendale (27 October 1930 – 23 April 2017) was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the '' Beano'' strips ''Little Plum'', ''Minnie the Minx'', ''The Bash ...

. 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. 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. ''Illustrated Chips'' is no relation to the comic ''

Whizzer and Chips ''Whizzer and Chips'' was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic '' Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of the day it actu ...

'', which launched in 1969. Coincidentally, however, both comics were eventually merged with '' Buster'', with ''Illustrated Chips'' initially merging into ''

''.

References

Sources

* * {{Buster Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct British comics Magazines established in 1890 Magazines disestablished in 1953 British humour comics 1890 establishments in the United Kingdom 1953 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1890s comics Comic strips started in the 1890s 1953 comics endings