Mum's the Word
   
                             
   This one starred Mum, Dad and their son (referred to simply
   as "Son", "Lad" or "Dear"). We were never actually told their
   names. And that was the point. See, the strip was a spoof
   on the typical family unit, with Dad supposedly in charge
   of the house, always bossing his wife and child and
   telling them what to do, when in actual fact it's sly old
   Mum working who's keeping the trio afloat from
   behind the scenes...

   Sexist? - Yep. Out of date? - Horribly, now. But it was
   certainly a brave attempt at something different from Fleetway.
   It even looked utterly different to those other strips, with its
   thick black shadows and fills, and hard crosshatched tones.
   And there wasn't a pongy sock or ghost or zapping thing
   in sight. Here are just two of the storylines:

   • Mum cannily cons Dad into buying expensive Xmas
     pressies for their Son.

   • Dad wants to hog the tv all night, but Mum works
      with the lad to unseat him

   Of course, it all falls apart under scrutiny. Heck, if Mum's
   so darned clever, how come she got herself saddled with that
   balding old bossy boots in the first place?

   Trivia Hounds will note that the family also owned a pet
   puppy, called Puddle (er, for obvious reasons). Here's a rare
   appearance from Whoopee! #25:

     

   And that panel also reveals a second piece of 'useful' trivia;
   namely that our happy family lived at no. 38. Precisely which
   street that was, we're not told, but - hey - every bit of trivia
   counts...
   

   ...Like this little snippet from 7th December 1974, in which
   we learn that Dad was a rather musical fellow in his youth.
   He used to play trumpet for Chilly Willy and his Red-Hot
   Peppers at the local dance hall, which really got young
   Mum grooving. Give it away, give it away now...

   Mum's the Word didn't commence its run until Whoopee! #15.
   and although it survived the Shiver & Shake merger in October
   1974 , it was another one of those unfortunate strips to be
   given the runaround by Fleetway HQ. Appearances were
   intermittent in 1975 and spotlighting an end date is tricky.
   Certainly, the family popped up in the September 6th edition.
   But whether they appeared again is proving ellusive right now...

   The strip didn't actually fare much better in the annuals either,
   only appearing up until the 1978 edition. But they did return,
   five years later, in the Jackpot Annuals - and in colour too...