Cheeky Weekly cover date 26 Nov 1977

The cover of this issue leads with the Friend of Cheeky T-Shirt competition (did anyone reading this win one?), with the toothy funster looking rather odd as a result of not wearing his customary jersey. The What a Cheek strip is another 'Frank McDiarmid pencils' job, as are the rest of the Cheeky's Week strips in the comic, except the second part of Tuesday which is pure Frank.



On the first Tuesday page, Bubblegum Boy manages to generate two speech balloons without parting his lips from the confection that's keeping him aloft. He's probably developing ventriloquial skills by now.

Later on Tuesday, after Cheeky has read an old Dodger Caine page from Tiger, 1954, Frank McDiarmid is back on the inks (although I don't think the Doodle Doug illo is by Frank) and making reference to himself.

There's some superb Reg Parlett art on the Mustapha Million story. Reg is surely one of the best artists for depicting physical comedy. Love the fish and chip feed at the end as well.

Burpo's cousins make their first appearance this issue, and Cheeky ends up being scared by a Creepy Sleepy Tale concerning the Loch Ness Monster's day trip to London.

A Henery Hawk strip represents the cartoon element of the Saturday morning pictures sequence for the first time.

Page 31 announces that part one of the super Cheeky Diary 1978 will appear next week. This will replace the Skateboard booklet which concludes in this issue. The final page of the booklet to be printed appears on the back cover and features the Skateboard Squad, Cheeky and Snail. The art is by Peter Maddocks, who supplied all the art for the booklet. I know of his newspaper strips, of course, but is this the only work he did in comics? In his interview in Crikey 15 he doesn't mention any comics work. UPDATE 11 February 2011 - Of course Peter Maddocks drew The Family Ness strip in Beeb Magazine, as featured on Peter Gray's blog.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 26-Nov-1977, Issue 6 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Cheeky T-Shirt Competition' - Art Frank McDiarmid\What a Cheek - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
5	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 6 of 11 - Art Lopez
6	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 6 of 11 - Art Lopez
7	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
8	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
9	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
10	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
11	Friends of Cheeky competition (single appearance)
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
13	Old Comic reprint from Tiger 'Dodger Caine' 1 of 3
14	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid\Doug's Doodle - Art Terry Bave
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Mike Brown
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Mike Brown\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils (first art on feature)
18	What's New, Kids
19	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
20	Home Movie 'The Vikings' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
25	Henery Hawk (first appearance) 'Little Orphan Henery'
26	Henery Hawk (first appearance) 'Little Orphan Henery'
27	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
28	Space Family Robinson 'Tunnel of Terror' - Art John Richardson
29	Space Family Robinson 'Tunnel of Terror' - Art John Richardson
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
31	Skateboard booklet (final appearance) - Art Peter Maddocks (final art on feature)
32	Skateboard booklet (final appearance) - Art Peter Maddocks (final art on feature)