Frankly it's Frank on Frankie

Peter has posted a Frankie Stein strip drawn by Frank McDiarmid from the 1988 Whoopee! Summer Special.

The features – Tease Break

The Tease Break feature was the third puzzle series to appear in Cheeky Weekly, following on from the brief  run of Teacher's Teasers (3 issues from 26 August to 23 September 1978) and the slightly longer-lived Cheeky's Pal Puzzle (10 issues, 30 September to 02 December 1978). Whereas the aforementioned series prominently featured Cheeky and pals and were clearly prepared specifically for Cheeky Weekly, Tease Break had a somewhat generic feel about it, and was probably sourced from publisher IPC's filing cabinet of old puzzles originally created for other titles. Cheeky and some of his Krazy Town neighbours did appear sporadically during Tease Break's run, but I suspect that this was as a result of some deft cut-and-paste work on behalf of the quiz compiler. I'm fairly certain that the punning Tease Break title itself was recycled from another comic. All this gives Tease Break a strong feeling of 'filler', which is compounded by its intermittent nature, appearing in only 9 issues spanning cover dates 17 February 1979 to 03 November 1979.

The first Tease Break was the only one printed in red and white -
all the others were black and white.

6 Tease Breaks occupied a full page, with the remainder being half pages.

Question 4 was cunningly designed to be used in any comic -
here, Cheeky's ugly mug has been pasted in.

During Tease Break's Cheeky Weekly run, a page entitled Cheeky's Summer Tease Break appeared in the 1979 Cheeky Summer Special. This was the only Special/Annual Tease Break appearance.

Tease Break in the Cheeky Weekly Index

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Tease Break	17-Feb-79	03-Nov-79	9	29	5,8,11,15,21,22,24

The One-Offs – Slurping Sophie

Slurping Sophie (sister of deafening diner Crunching Chris) was seen once during Cheeky Weekly's run, appearing during 18 February 1978's Interval. Her failure to return was probably due to the limited scope for liquid laughs (at least at the point of ingestion – Walter Wurx had of course monopolised micturatory mirth).

Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1

Sid Burgon's Cheeky

Almost a year before Cheeky Weekly was launched, the toothy funster had made his debut in the pages of Krazy comic, where he had featured in 2 strips. Not only was he the star of 'Ello It's Cheeky, which was very much the template for the Cheeky's Week pages in Cheeky Weekly, but he was also a member of The Krazy Gang who appeared in the strip of the same name.

Despite (or possibly because of) its bold deviation from the traditional British humour comic format, Krazy ceased publication after a 19-month run. Following Krazy's final issue dated 15 April 1978, the most popular features decamped to IPC's long-running Whizzer and Chips, which then became known as Whizzer and Chips with Krazy (WCK). Whizzer and Chips had a particular gimmick (evidently highly effective in view of the comic's longevity) whereby it was presented as being two separate comics, with Chips located in the centre of Whizzer (the same idea was appropriated by Cheeky Weekly, although clearly much less successfully, during the 37 issues in which The Mystery Comic was found in its centre pages).

The Krazy Gang, still featuring the toothy funster, was one of the strips that transferred from Krazy to WCK. Here's the cover of the first combined issue, on which the Krazy refugees met the stars of the host comic. Artist Sid Burgon is somewhat restrained when it comes to depicting Cheeky's trademark choppers.

Cheeky Weekly cover date 03 March 1979

The menacing, cowled figure of The Alpha Man - anti-hero of this week's new adventure strip on pages 26 and 27 – looms over the cover, while in lighter vein Cheeky enjoys a wild west witticism with Six–Gun Sam, and a piscatorial pun with Mr Haddock in the front page cartoon strip.

6 Million Dollar Gran takes the Potts kids to the cinema to see Jaws III this week, but there's much disappointment when the movie house manager tells the queuing patrons that the film has failed to arrive. Gran sets off to track down the missing reels of celluloid and discovers that the delivery van has been unable to cross a collapsed bridge. Heading back to the cinema, Gran's grip on the film canisters proves surprisingly weak and the film ends up in what the synthetic senior citizen assumes is a Dolphinarium. It's actually the local shark research facility (you mean there isn't one in your area?) and our robotic pal fends off several of the fearsome fish to recover the film and deliver it to the cinema. Jaws 2 had been released in the UK on Boxing Day 1978, and the third film in the franchise, Jaws 3-D, would not burst through the big screen until 1983.

Art: Ian Knox

A late-for-school Charlie is dismayed to observe ferocious teacher Mister Thwackem prowling for tardy pupils at the school gate in this week's Calculator Kid tale. Ever-reliable Calc devises a plan to sneak Charlie past the grizzly gatekeeper without revealing his identity. Is that a cameo appearance by Shiver and Shake's somewhat-deficient-in-the-leg-department spider star Webster in the final panel?

Art: Terry Bave

Cover co-star Six-Gun Sam joins Teacher, Crunching Chris and The Vicar on this week's Joke-Box Jury panel of judges, none of whom seem to mind that there are 2 'fly in my soup' gags among the submissions up for scrutiny.

On page 9, the introductory extract from Cheeky's diary shows the day as Shrove Tuesday. Of the two Shrove Tuesdays which occurred during Cheeky Weekly's brief existence – 07 February 1978 and the current issue's 27 February 1979 – this was the only one to be referred to as Shrove Tuesday in the comic - the other was just called Tuesday and included no pancake reference. Shrove Tuesday 1979 was the only one to occur during the period in which the Cheeky's Week title panel introduced the toothy funster's daily adventures.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

After a page of boneheaded bamboozlement courtesy of Paddywack, and a selection of perplexing posers on the Tease Break page, Cheeky's Week resumes with Ash Wednesday. As with Shrove Tuesday this was the only time Ash Wednesday got a specific mention in the comic's run.

Footbal-mad feline Goalie Cat is the source of this week's Mystery Comic.

There's a seismic collision between our portly pal Tub and the Fattest Girl in the World on The Mystery Comic's cover. Rotund romance appears to ensue. I'm not quite sure what the 'super-bulge' in the final panel refers to but thankfully it's attributed to the female half of the couple.

Posh Claude is the subject of this week's Burpo Special interview, and on Thursday there's a reference to another movie blockbuster when Bump-Bump Bernie has a close encounter of the painful variety. Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters had premiered in the UK almost a year earlier on 14 March 1978.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Page 22 sees Charlie and Calc encouraging readers to place a regular order for the toothy funster's comic. 

Constable Chuckle makes an uncredited cameo in this week's Skateboard Squad tale, appearing in the final panel to take into custody the smash -and-grab jewel thief that the intrepid trio have apprehended.

Art: Mike Lacey

The final panel of Friday's strip sees Cheeky sneaking a crafty read of Teacher's copy of Teacher's Weekly, as he has for each of the previous 7 issues. However, because the story he was previously reading (Eagle Eye) came to an end last issue, this week Teacher's Weekly serves as the framing device for the first installment of Menace of the Alpha Man (reprinted from Shiver and Shake).

Cheeky pays a return visit to Krazy Town Harbour on Saturday, arriving just as ex Prime Minister Edward Heath is having a spot of maritime misfortune with his yacht, Morning Cloud.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

This week's comic rounds off with the now-customary Pin-Up Pal poster, this time featuring compost connoisseur Dan-Dan the Lavender Man.

This is another all-Frank McDiarmid Cheeky's Week issue, with Frank delivering 10 daily elements plus the back cover poster. The apparent policy of having every other issue featuring a pure Frank McD Cheeky's Week, seemingly introduced as of September 1978 (bar a few minor deviations along the way), is still in effect .

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 03-Mar-1979, Issue 69 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Menace of the Alpha Man' - Art Eric Bradbury (final art on feature)\Cheeky's Week - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
4	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
5	Silly Snaps
6	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
7	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
8	Joke-Box Jury
9	Shrove Tuesday (single appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (single art on feature)
10	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
11	Tease Break
12	Ash Wednesday (single appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (single art on feature)
13	Tub 'Mystery Comic' 18 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards
14	Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 15 of 28 - Art John K. Geering
15	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 37
16	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
17	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
18	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey
19	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey
20	Disaster Des 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey
21	The Burpo Special 'Posh Claude' - Art Frank McDiarmid
22	Ad: IPC 'Cheeky Weekly: Want to win some extra cash?'Ad: 'Do you have trouble getting copies of Cheeky Weekly' 1 of 5
23	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
24	Skateboard Squad - Art Mike Lacey
25	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
26	Menace of the Alpha Man (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature)
27	Menace of the Alpha Man (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature)
28	Chit-Chat
29	Chit-Chat
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Pin-up pal 'Dan-Dan The Lavender Man' - Art Frank McDiarmid

The Features - Eagle Eye

Cheeky Weekly dated 06 January 1979 was the first issue to appear after the 3 week gap in publication in December 1978. The main cover pic on this issue announced the commencement of a new (to many readers, anyway) adventure serial featuring Eagle Eye. The new strip's schoolboy star was seen on the cover in a variety of poses demonstrating his talent for bird watching, train spotting, peering at shipping on the horizon and taking down vehicle registrations. Hardly the stuff to set pulses racing, but let's reserve judgement until we've read the story.

Turning to the Eagle Eye strip on page 26, readers were treated to a repeat of the scenes printed on the cover (although in black and white) before the story commenced. London lad Tommy Trotter (aka Eagle Eye due to his keen observational skills) is travelling home from school on the bus when he spots a suspicious baker's van. Alighting from the bus, Tommy chases the vehicle on foot and discovers the van is being used by a gang who are staging a bullion robbery. Eagle Eye rips the mask off one of the gang but is kidnapped by the felons. Young Tommy manages to escape and, using his powers of observation, leads the police to the robbers and their haul of gold. Along the way Eagle Eye, armed only with a couple of brooms, fights his way past three of the hardened criminals, and at the climax of the story brings down the lead villain following a tense, armed (apparently) stand-off. How the local constabulary allowed a young boy to approach a firearm-wielding felon was no doubt the subject of a later police inquiry.

Eagle Eye, which ran for eight two-page instalments, coming to a conclusion in Cheeky Weekly dated 24 February 1979, was in fact a reprint from Shiver and Shake, where it had commenced in the issue dated 18 August 1973. In its original format, a prize competition was based around the story, but on its outing in Cheeky Weekly no prizes were on offer, in the same way that the competition element was removed from The Terrible Trail To Taggart's Treasure (another tale exhumed from the Shiver and Shake vaults) when it ran in the toothy funster's comic.

As was the case with the Taggart reprints, the Cheeky Weekly version of Eagle Eye was for some reason re-lettered.

The second page of the first Eagle Eye instalment -
comparison of original and reprint versions.
For some reason the final letter of the van's licence plate
has been changed.
The mystery has been solved - see C_Oliver's replies in the comments section.
Acknowledgements to the scanner of the S&S page.

Not only was Eagle Eye featured on the front of the issue of Cheeky Weekly in which the strip made its debut, but the story also got a boost on the cover of the issue containing the final episode of Tommy Trotter's adventure (although Tommy himself was absent from the cover pic used on that occasion).

At this point in Cheeky Weekly's history The Mystery Comic was occupying the centre pages, and located within it was the adventure serial Mystery Boy. The most recent non-Mystery Comic adventure strip, The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure, had been incorporated into Cheeky's Week as a film serial watched by Cheeky and pals on their regular outing to the Saturday morning picture show. Since the picture show visits had by this time come to an end, another framing device was required for Eagle Eye.

The first Eagle Eye episode was introduced in the final panel of the Friday element of Cheeky's Week, when the toothy funster whipped out his new Eagle Eye book for a surreptitious classroom read, but in the introduction to all the subsequent instalments, Cheeky was seen sneaking a Friday read of Eagle Eye which was being serialised in Teacher's copy of Teacher's Weekly. It appears Teacher's Weekly was a comic, the title suggesting it was equivalent to Cheeky Weekly but starring the toothy funster's form master. Sadly, Eagle Eye was the only strip from this publication that we saw.

The first and second introductory panels
(06 January and 13 January 1979)

I suspect that Eagle Eye was slated to start in one of the issues that failed to appear due to industrial action.

The story proved more exciting than the cover pic which announced its debut suggested (albeit stretching credulity beyond its limit on occasion - but that's common in comics). As there was no associated competition in Cheeky Weekly, readers were left to work out for themselves how the schoolboy hero picked up some of the clues or achieved certain feats, although to be honest the solutions were pretty clearly signposted.

I don't know who the artist was.

Final panel of Cheeky Weekly's final Eagle Eye episode

Followers of this blog should monitor future posts on the highly-recommended *Kazoop !! blog, where Irmantas is currently examining the contents of Shiver and Shake - no doubt he will cover the original run of Eagle Eye in due course.

Eagle Eye in the Cheeky Weekly Index

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Eagle Eye	06-Jan-79	24-Feb-79	8	0	26,27

The Pages - Page 15

On my exploratory mission through the contents of each of Cheeky Weekly's pages we have arrived at page 15 which, in a 32-page comic, is the page before the centre spread.

In Cheeky Weekly's debut issue, page 15 was the home of the What's New, Kids advertising feature, as it was in issue number two. However, in issue three, the concluding part of that week's Creepy Sleepy Tale and the related Wednesday (conclusion) came to rest on page 15 for the only time in the comic's run (CST was prevented from appearing in what became its regular centre-pages slot in the first 3 Cheeky Weeklies due to the presence of posters in the middle of those issues).

With effect from the 12 November 1977 comic, the Wednesday element of Cheeky's Week commenced a run on page 15 that would last for 34 issues.

When that run concluded, for the following 2 weeks page 15 was home to advertisements for the first Cheeky Summer Special and a '5 Papers competition' (in which readers of IPC's humour line could win prizes of super summer games) respectively. The following week a half-page Joke-Box Jury and ad for the Whoopee! Holiday Special shared page 15.

Wednesday was then back on page 15 for 2 weeks, after which Thursday moved in for a fortnight (its only appearances in this location) until Wednesday regained control for another run, this time of 4 weeks duration. In the 23 September 1978 issue, the second page of that week's Silly Snaps feature landed on page 15 for the only time in the feature's run, because big changes to Cheeky Weekly were afoot...

Cheeky Weekly dated 30 September 1978 saw the comic undergo a major overhaul, the most significant change being the introduction of The Mystery Comic, a comic-within-a-comic idea akin to Chips in IPC's long-running Whizzer and Chips. Since for this and the following 36 issues, the centre pages would be the home of The Mystery Comic, a whole new set of features shouldered their way onto page 15 as the weeks progressed. The first of these was Mystery Boy, Mystery Comic's wartime adventure serial. Mystery Boy, whose real name was David but was known for the duration of this adventure as Sandy, appeared on page 15 for 4 weeks until his run in this location was interrupted in the 28 October 1978 comic by 2 half-page ads, one for the 1979 Shiver and Shake Annual (S&S being another comic to adopt the one-comic-inside-another template) and the other for Whoopee! which that week included the customary Guy Fawkes mask as it always did in the run up to bonfire night (or did it? See later).

Mystery Boy/Sandy/David then resumed his page 15 slot for another 2 weeks until he was ousted for 4 weeks - firstly by the second page of Mustapha Million's story, then an ad for the Woodcraft Village modelling kit, after which the second page of the Elephant On The Run 2-pager came to rest on page 15 for 2 issues. Our plucky wartime amnesiac chum then returned to page 15 for one week before being dislodged again by page 2 of Mustapha Million for 2 weeks.

Not to be deterred, Mystery Boy then commenced an 8 week page 15 run, until in the 24 March 1979 comic he was displaced by an ad for the first issue of IPC's new adventure title, Tornado.

The following week saw page 2 of Mustapha Million return to page 15, and the week after that the same location was home to a half-page Tease Break puzzle collection and an ad for IPC's 'Comics Go Pop' posters promotion running across Whoopee!, Whizzer and Chips and Cheeky Weekly.

For the next 4 issues, IPC ads appeared on page 15, and it's apparent that IPC were pushing Tornado hard, as 2 more ads for their new comic appeared on page 15 (Tornado ads appeared in 4 issues of Cheeky Weekly in total).

Date	Details
14-Apr-79	Ad: IPC 'Tornado' 3 of 4 Ad: 'Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special' 1 of 3
21-Apr-79	Ad: IPC 'Tornado' 4 of 4 Ad: 'Cor Holiday Special' 2 of 2
28-Apr-79	Ad: IPC 'Jackpot No 1'Ad: 'Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special' 3 of 3
05-May-79	Ad: IPC 'Free milkshake promo' 2 of 3

An ad alerting kids that sachets of Kellogg's milkshake were to be given away in IPC's humour titles appeared on page 15 in the comic dated 05 May 1979.

Page 15 in the next 5 issues was again home to the second page of Mustapha Million's stories, then a 'Star Guest' feature, which IPC ran in their humour line to introduce readers to characters from their other titles (in this case Sheerluck and Son from Whoopee! ghosted by Barry Glennard in place of regular artist Trevor Metcalfe) appeared in the 16 June 1979 comic.

Mustapha Million then returned for 2 further weeks, the second of these 2 appearances coinciding with the final appearance of The Mystery Comic in the 30 July 1979 issue, as Cheeky Weekly geared up for another revamp.

Cheeky Weekly dated 07 July 1979 was that revamp issue, which saw the arrival of the second page of a new strip on page 15 – Stage School. However, the following week old favourite Mustapha Million was back on page 15, but for the next 2 issues the newcomers of Stage School moved back in before relocating elsewhere in the comic for the remainder of its run.

An ad for Palitoy's Pippa doll occupied page 15 in the 04 August 1979 Cheeky Weekly, then our middle-eastern mate Mustapha was back for one week before being displaced by What's New, Kids.

Another ad relating to IPC's nascent title, Tornado, appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 25 August 1979. However, this ad informed readers that, just 22 weeks after its debut, Tornado had folded and been absorbed into 2000AD. Somewhat confusingly, the ad claimed the first combined 2000AD and Tornado was on sale 'next week' and also 'out now' (it was in fact on newsagents' shelves that week). Sharing the page with the news of Tornado's untimely assimilation was an ad for the second issue of IPC's Walt Disney's Puzzle Time.

In a surprise move, the final page of that week's 6 Million Dollar Gran occupied page 15 of the 01 September 1979 issue, the only occasion on which the synthetic senior citizen fetched up on page 15. What's New, Kids was then back for 2 weeks, a brief run that brought its page 15 appearances to an end.

Elephant On The Run then made its second and final page 15 showing, before Mystery Boy made three more appearances in that location, the third bringing his story to a happy conclusion in Cheeky Weekly dated 13 October 1979. In the following issue, 2 IPC ads shared the fifteenth page, one for the 1980 Krazy Annual, and the other for Whoopee! which for bonfire night 1979 seems to have foregone the Guy Fawkes mask and in place included the final part of a cut-out Gunpowder Plot Game.

Mustapha Million then made the last of his 14 page 15 appearances, before Wednesday moved back in for a 14 week run, culminating in Cheeky Weekly's final issue. This makes Wednesday the feature to occupy page 15 the most times, with a total of 54 appearances, followed some way behind by the WWII escapades of Mystery Boy with 18 appearances, then in third place Mustapha, who flaunted his Millions on page 15 a total of 14 times.

Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 15

Elements	Total
Wednesday	54
Mystery Boy	18
Mustapha Million 2/2	14
Advertisement: IPC	10
What's New, Kids	5
Stage School 2/2	3
Elephant On The Run 2/2	2
Thursday	2
6 Million Dollar Gran 3/3	1
Advertisement: Palitoy	1
Advertisement: Woodcraft Village	1
Elephant On The Run	1
Joke-Box Jury\Advertisement: IPC	1
Silly Snaps 2/2	1
Star Guest	1
Tease Break\Advertisement: IPC	1
Wednesday (conclusion)\Creepy Sleepy Tale 2/2	1