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How many editions of a weekly comic will there be in any one year? Many of us (including myself until this whole vexed topic was unleashed on me by the chronologically enlightened Stephen Archer) would confidently state the answer to be 52, but that is not in fact always the case and there can often be 53 issues a year.
Any year on which the first of January falls on a Saturday will contain 53 Saturdays because there will be 5 Saturdays in each of January, April, July, October and December (= 25 Saturdays), and 4 in all other months (= 28 Saturdays). Leap years in which the first of January falls on a Friday (as is the case with 1988, a fact which will become relevant below) will also contain 53 Saturdays for the same reason.
The cover dates shown on the front page of Whizzer and Chips always referred to a Saturday although, due to the arcane practices of the British comic industry, Saturday was not actually the day on which the comic went on sale .
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