Cheeky Weekly cover date 25 February 1978

The Pin-Up Pal poster gets a plug on the top of the front page again this week, and the main part of the cover gives the current James Bold tale a boost with, as we might have guessed, artwork taken from a panel of this week's story.  The cover version of this panel is coloured in a rather fraudulent way, to give the impression of a transparent, spectral highwayman, but as we have seen in an earlier post, the final episode reveals that the 'ghost' is entirely human.  Of course, readers of Cheeky Weekly will only discover next week, when this Bold story reaches its conclusion, that their expectations have been cynically manipulated.  Cheeky's stooge for the What A Cheek strip this issue is a generic housewife rather than one of his pals.

There is something of a trend emerging in the comic, as this issue it's the turn of Louise to appear on all but Wednesday's Cheeky's Week pages, after vowing on Sunday, "I'll think of a way to make Cheeky kiss me, if it takes all week!"  She can be seen plotting furiously over the following days.

 

On Sunday evening, as Cheeky puts another plan into operation to watch 6 Million Dollar Gran, we note that Cheeky's mum has had her hair dyed since we saw her in the previous issue.

There's a close encounter of the Gran kind, as the robotic pensioner blasts off to confront the occupants of a UFO.

Cheeky wears a false beard as he enters the newsagents to read the cover-featured James Bold episode, but this disguise doesn't stop him from being ejected from the shop just as his reading reaches a peak of excitement, as usual.

On Friday, someone in the Cheeky Weekly office couldn't resist inserting a joke referencing playwright Harold Pinter (the lettering is different to that on the rest of the page).  This is the most highbrow joke to appear in the comic's run, so if you're expecting anything better than this, you're reading the wrong comic.

There's another Mustapha Million slap-up-feed-ending story this week. Boilk!

 

On page 24 there are 2 IPC ads - a plug for Misty number 4, and news of a free gift with Buster and Monster Fun; a set of Corona soft drink stickers featuring the 'every bubble's passed its fizzical' theme of the concurrent TV ad campaign.  I seem to remember that the stickers were also given free with every purchase of Corona drinks.

On page 31, Louise finally carries out her osculatory threat from Sunday, and kerzunks a smacker on the toothy funster, before the comic rounds off with the back page poster of feeble fitness fanatic Jogging Jeremy.

 

 

There are only 4 'pure' Frank McDiarmid Cheeky's Week elements in this issue, with the remaining 9 being provided by the Frank McDiarmid pencils combination.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 25-Feb-1978, Issue 19 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'The Ghost Highwayman' - Art Mike White (single art on feature)\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	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
8	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
9	James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 8 of 9 - Art Mike White
10	James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 8 of 9 - Art Mike White
11	Suddenly - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
13	Old Comic reprint from TV Fun 'Reg Varney'
14	What's New, Kids
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
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 Frank McDiarmid pencils
20	Home Movie 'Defeat of the Spanish Armada' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Ad: IPC 'Misty' 3 of 5 Ad: 'Buster' 2 of 5
25	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
26	Road Runner 'A Bird in Hand'
27	Road Runner 'A Bird in Hand'
28	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid
29	Space Family Robinson 'The Tunnel of Terror' - Art John Richardson
30	Space Family Robinson 'The Tunnel of Terror' - Art John Richardson
31	Bam Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster\Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Pin-up pal 'Jogging Jeremy' - Art Frank McDiarmid