Flying Fred Holroyd, aka Bubblegum Boy, is back on the cover to see Cheeky announce a Four Comics competition. What a Cheek is bumped from the cover by a teaser advising skateboarders that they will find super news on page 30.On the second panel of the Sunday page, Cheeky sets Baker's Boy a riddle and allows him a whole week to provide the answer. Those curious to learn the answer should look here.
Skateboard Squad have an unpleasant encounter with the terrible Thomson twins. Is this a dig at IPC's rival comic publisher, DC Thomson? Probably not.
On page 11 is the cut-out coupon required to enter the Four Comics Competition, also running in Krazy, Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee! Readers are invited to identify the two identical kites from the ten shown, then enter their choices on the coupon and get an adult to sign it to certify that it is the entrant's own, unaided work. All that remains is to cut out and post the coupon for the chance to win one of 500 Peter Powell Stunt Kites ('stunt kite' is a phrase one has to be very careful with to avoid an unintentional spoonerism), 250 Peter Powell T-shirts, or one of 250 packs containing stickers and a year's membership of the Kite Club. Readers can enter as many times as they like, so why not buy another of the Fabulous Four comics this week for an extra entry form? The message is further enforced on page 30, which carries a half-page ad for what this time are referred to as the Funtastic Four Comics (the same titles again). IPC are really battling to increase comic sales, and who can blame them?
Page 4 carries 2 in-house adverts, more evidence of the publishers' campaign to boost sales. The first is for the debut issue of Misty, 'the fantastic new mystery paper for girls', which will be on sale on Monday January 30. The free gift given away in the debut issue is a shimmering blue fish bracelet. Not sure what connection there is between fish and the contents of the comic, but I don't think that's a prime consideration when editors are sourcing free gifts. The other ad is for Shoot, which this week includes 2 more packets of stickers for your Football 78 Album. These 2 ads demonstrate the multi-gender nature of Cheeky Weekly's target audience.
On the Wednesday page preceding the Creepy Sleepy Tale, Cheeky emerges from his house to find Krazy Town has had a fall of snow. However, when Cheeky departs Burpo's house at the conclusion of the tale, no snow is in evidence. By Thursday it's back, but gone again on Friday. The artwork for Wednesday (main), Thursday and Friday is all by Frank McDiarmid Pencils 2, and one might have expected consistency within a single penciller/inker collaboration in a single issue. I suspect, however, that on occasion, if they were short of artwork for a particular day of Cheeky's Week, the editor would substitute a page from the collection of unpublished pages they were holding for later issues.
This week's Home Movie, Frankystein, features an irate milkman. Again the editor/scriptwriter decided not to use a character from Cheeky's Week who may have fitted the bill (Milkie in this case), instead featuring a generic pinta purveyor from the stock of cartoon extras.
Page 30 carries the super news for skateboarders - next week's Cheeky Weekly will be a special skateboarding issue, including a cut-out skateboard snap game. Order it now!
The current cut-out feature, The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun, reaches its concluding instalment this issue. There are no character debuts or departures this week. The Cheeky's Week artwork consists of 5 elements by Unknown Cheeky Artist 1, 4 by Frank McDiarmid Pencils and 1 by Frank McDiarmid.
This post updated 03 September 2020 to revise artwork attribution on 'Skateboarders! Super News' cover feature from Mike Lacey to Jimmy Hansen (and to add Spoonerism reference above).
| Cheeky Weekly | Cover Date: 28-Jan-1978, Issue 15 of 117 |
| Page | Details |
| 1 | Cover Feature 'Kite Competition' - Art Frank McDiarmid 'Skateboarders! Super News' - Art Jimmy Hansen (first art on feature) |
| 2 | Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils |
| 3 | Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen |
| 4 | Sunday evening - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils |
| 5 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
| 6 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
| 7 | Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils |
| 8 | James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 4 of 9 - Art Mike White |
| 9 | James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 4 of 9 - Art Mike White |
| 10 | Suddenly - Art Cut and Paste (single art on feature) |
| 11 | 4 Comics competition (single appearance) |
| 12 | Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils |
| 13 | Old Comic reprint from Swift 'Our Gang' |
| 14 | Ad: IPC 'Misty No 1' 1 of 2 Ad: 'Shoot' 5 of 13 |
| 15 | Wednesday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
| 16 | Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds |
| 17 | Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid |
| 18 | Joke-Box Jury |
| 19 | Thursday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
| 20 | Home Movie 'Franky Stein' - Art Jack Clayton |
| 21 | Friday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
| 22 | Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett |
| 23 | Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett |
| 24 | Saturday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
| 25 | Daffy Duck 'Ducking Out' |
| 26 | Daffy Duck 'Ducking Out' |
| 27 | Interval - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
| 28 | Space Family Robinson 'The Captives' - Art John Richardson |
| 29 | Space Family Robinson 'The Captives' - Art John Richardson |
| 30 | Ad: IPC 'Funtastic Four comics' |
| 31 | The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun (final appearance) - Art Jim Petrie (final art on feature) |
| 32 | The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun (final appearance) - Art Jim Petrie (final art on feature) |
Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 28-Jan-1978
| Artist | Elements |
| Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 | 5 |
| Frank McDiarmid pencils | 4 |
| Cut and Paste | 1 |
| Frank McDiarmid | 1 |
I was at the Newspaper Library in London recently and just had to delve into a volume or two of 'Whoopee & Cheeky'. (My own collection was thrown out but I've most copies of Krazy/Cheeky weekly).
ReplyDeleteI could dimly remember the 'What a Cheek' feature being kept for the start of the Cheeky section and the movie-themed strips with his usual ensemble but had forgot how lively the strip became for a while within the more standard IPC formula of the 80's.
It was sad the way that Cheeky eventually ended up among the 3 panel strips but the Frank McDiarmid stories were every bit as anarchic as those that appeared in Krazy; right down to the Bubble gum boy!
Great to see a factual resource as well as a fun one. Did you get your badge from a letter in Cheeky btw or like me from the huge freebie when the title merged with Whoopee?
Quite good of them that I thought but might have felt a bit peed-off if I'd been awarded one and then they appeared all over the school playground!
Hi John - I got my badge as a free gift in issue 3. Sorry, I misread your comment originally and thought you said you got yours for having a letter published. I got all excited and wanted to find which issue it was in!
ReplyDeleteI've got a Friend of Cheeky T shirt!
ReplyDeleteI hope you're still wearing it!
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