Billy Whizz - how did he get his skill?

[tolworthy]

Flatterer.

[philcom55]

Regarding the source of Billy's superhuman speed - perhaps there was a mysterious meteor shower in Beanotown during the 1960s. How else can one explain the simultaneous appearance of George Martin's Janie B. Quick over in the pages of Judy?


- Phil Rushton

[Raven]

And isn't it an amazing coincidence that these skills should manifest in people whose surnames coincidentally happen to be 'Whizz' and 'Quick.'

[tolworthy]

How else can one explain the simultaneous appearance of George Martin's Janie B. Quick?[/i]
- Phil Rushton

With the same distinctive cranial shape. Siblings? Sounds like a controlled experiment. Release them both at the same time and compare results.

And isn't it an amazing coincidence that these skills should manifest in people whose surnames coincidentally happen to be 'Whizz' and 'Quick.'

Sounds like a code name. The 'B' is a giveaway. Note panel 15, where subject B's speed is clearly less than the speed of a typical truck - a huge disappointment to the lab no doubt. Or possibly she isn't a pure blood - the result of experimental cross breeding perhaps? It must be a real concern that the Whizz population has remained so small over so many centuries.

[Peter Gray]

Always nice to see humour pages in comics I don't collect which I've missed...thanks for that..

[Digifiend]

Just to add, as I recall Smiffy's full name was once given in The Beano as James Smith. This has also been cited in at least one reference book I've read, though I can't recall offhand which one.

It was the 1950s themed Beano and Dandy 60 Years book. And it wasn't mentioned in Beano to my knowledge, just in that book and The Wizard.

[tony ingram]

Just to add, as I recall Smiffy's full name was once given in The Beano as James Smith. This has also been cited in at least one reference book I've read, though I can't recall offhand which one.

It was the 1950s themed Beano and Dandy 60 Years book. And it wasn't mentioned in Beano to my knowledge, just in that book and The Wizard.

That can't be it-I've never read the 60 years book...hmm...

[Kashgar]

Continuity tends to count for nothing in comic strips so it tends to be quite pointless trying to pin down a definitive answer to particular questions. If a storyline has its comedic value enhanced by a revelation one week this doesn't mean that in a years time that that revelation might not be downright contradicted for the self-same reason.
The Whizz family (actual family name Wuzz changed by deed-poll by Billy's great-grandfather) owe their turn of speed to an intermittent genetic predisposition brought about by centuries of moorland dwelling and a diet consisting mainly of hare dishes. For verification of this fact you need look no further than the two long out of print volumes 'The decline of the moorland hare in the West Country - the Wuzz family connection' and 'Really quick meals!'

[felneymike]

Living on a remote moor and living on herbal stew and hares never did Wilson any harm, after all.

[tony ingram]

Living on a remote moor and living on herbal stew and hares never did Wilson any harm, after all.

I always wondered why Wilson never got pneumonia. He never even seemed to bother finding shelter-what happened if it rained in the night?

[Kashgar]

Wilson was in stark contrast to Thomson's other famous fleet-footed athlete Alf Tupper who dieted almost exclusively on fish and chips ( fried in beef dripping no doubt). Both great runners but whereas the perennially whippet-thin Wilson celebrated birthdays that wouldn't shame an old testament patriach Alf was over 20 stone by the time he was 35 and running for Heaven's Harriers before he reached fifty.

[tony ingram]

Wilson was in stark contrast to Thomson's other famous fleet-footed athlete Alf Tupper who dieted almost exclusively on fish and chips ( fried in beef dripping no doubt). Both great runners but whereas the perennially whippet-thin Wilson celebrated birthdays that wouldn't shame an old testament patriach Alf was over 20 stone by the time he was 35 and running for Heaven's Harriers before he reached fifty.

Do you have any evidence to support that slanderous accusation? I have it on good authority that the one time 'Tough of the Track' had a wake up call in the form of a minor heart attack a few years back and is now a reformed character, living on organic carrots and muesli and regularly running charity half marathons with Jimmy Saville!

[Jonny Whizz]

As a long time Whizz fan, I have always thought that he runs at least as fast as the speed of sound, and probably faster than that. I don't think he is as fast as the speed of light. He normally seems to run at something like 500 miles per hour, but can go even faster if he wants to (certainly, he has no problem getting round the world in a day).

I read once that Billy's brother, Alfie, could at one point run as fast as Billy but later he lost this ability. His parents have never had the superhuman speed. I think there must just be a fast gene in the family, which explains his ancestors, but has only been found in a select few (and these are the interesting ones that Billy tells us about from time to time in the Whizz family history book).

In one old strip (January 2003, issue 3158), Billy reveals how an ancestor of his discovered that the world was round. This ancestor was offered food to prove that the world was flat. However, as he was a young urchin, he wanted to get even more food, and so every time he lied to the other people that he didn't get far enough to discover whether it was flat or not. He kept the 'the world is flat' theory going for years!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

my favourite-ever BILLY WHIZZ strip idea dates from the very early 70s; in this one, he is warned he is traveling so fast, he will quite literally pass himself in the street in a warp-drive notion that actually comes to pass; courtesy of a PROF SCREWTOP creation.

[philcom55]

Alf was over 20 stone by the time he was 35 and running for Heaven's Harriers before he reached fifty.

I have it on good authority that the one time 'Tough of the Track' had a wake up call in the form of a minor heart attack a few years back and is now a reformed character, living on organic carrots and muesli and regularly running charity half marathons with Jimmy Saville!

I'm afraid you're both wrong. As this Judy cover clearly reveals the shocking truth is that Alf Tupper was a deeply troubled individual who suffered with persistent Gender Dysphoria for many years until in the mid-1970s he finally changed his name to 'Jess Haliday' and underwent Gender Reassignment Surgery!!!


- Phil Rushton