Profile - Hid Kid

The extremely shy Hid Kid first didn't appear in the 18 February 1978 issue.  In fact, he didn't appear twice in that week's comic, first on Thursday and again during the cinema interval.  In total, Hid Kid failed to appear in 65 issues of Cheeky Weekly, with his last non-appearance occurring in the 26 January 1980 comic.

First 'appearance'

OK, you get the idea - Hid Kid's gimmick was that he never fully revealed himself, but hid somewhere in the panel while the other characters referred to him.  In the early part of his run, Hid Kid often lurked behind lamp-posts, but later he varied his hiding-places to include post-boxes, dustbins, trees and bushes.  Over the weeks we did get to see Hid Kid's arms, legs and hair.  In the issue dated 15 September 1979 we saw Hid Kid in one of Bump-Bump Bernie's old plaster casts.

Hid Kid had the honour of handing Cheeky a copy of the Mystery Comic on 3 occasions, 18 March 1978, 06 May 1978 and 28 April 1979.

Hid Kid 'appeared' more than once in a number of issues, but the issue that really showcased the coy Kid was that dated 28 April 1979, which featured Cheeky's bashful buddy no less than 6 times, but he failed to appear on Friday.  Or at least no-one on the Friday page acknowledged he was there, though there was a caption in the panel as Lily Pop propelled Cheeky across the road, which said "Did you spot Hid Kid in this picture?  No? Neither did we!".

In the 14 July 1979 issue Cheeky speculates that Hid Kid's reticence to reveal himself may be due to a wardrobe malfunction.  This would seem a reasonable assumption, since in the Kid's earlier under-bucket appearance (see above), he appears to be deficient in the trouser area.

However, in the comic dated 28 July 1979 it is evident that Hid Kid, incontrovertibly fully trousered, still chooses to conceal himself.

A half-page announcement in 27 May 1978's comic invited readers to send in their drawings of Hid Kid.  The £2 prize-winning entries were published in the 05 August 1978 issue.

 

Hid Kid's name may have been a play on that of Krazy comic character Hit Kid.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Hid Kid	66	18-Feb-1978	26-Jan-1980

Missing From Issues

22-Oct-1977

29-Oct-1977

05-Nov-1977

12-Nov-1977

19-Nov-1977

26-Nov-1977

03-Dec-1977

10-Dec-1977

17-Dec-1977

24-Dec-1977

31-Dec-1977

07-Jan-1978

14-Jan-1978

21-Jan-1978

28-Jan-1978

04-Feb-1978

11-Feb-1978

25-Feb-1978

04-Mar-1978

11-Mar-1978

25-Mar-1978

01-Apr-1978

08-Apr-1978

13-May-1978

20-May-1978

03-Jun-1978

24-Jun-1978

01-Jul-1978

22-Jul-1978

05-Aug-1978

19-Aug-1978

26-Aug-1978

02-Sep-1978

09-Sep-1978

23-Sep-1978

04-Nov-1978

11-Nov-1978

18-Nov-1978

13-Jan-1979

03-Feb-1979

24-Feb-1979

03-Mar-1979

10-Mar-1979

14-Apr-1979

02-Jun-1979

30-Jun-1979

21-Jul-1979

29-Dec-1979

12-Jan-1980

19-Jan-1980

02-Feb-1980

Hid Kid - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Saturday	17
Tuesday	14
Monday	9
Sunday	9
Thursday	9
Wednesday	8
Friday	7
Interval	4
Cover Feature	2
Sunday evening	1

Hid Kid - Number of appearances by Page

Page	Number of Appearances
2	9
10	9
31	7
6	6
26	5
30	5
8	4
9	4
19	3
21	3
22	3
23	3
1	2
7	2
12	2
18	2
24	2
29	2
4	1
13	1
15	1
25	1
27	1
28	1
32	1

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Hid Kid	Frank McDiarmid	41
Hid Kid	Mike Lacey	16
Hid Kid	Frank McDiarmid pencils	10
Hid Kid	Barrie Appleby	6
Hid Kid	Jim Watson	2
Hid Kid	Dick Millington	2
Hid Kid	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	2
Hid Kid	Bob Hill	1