One might have expected James Bold to return to pages 5 and 6 after the Christmas disruption, but with the new year came a slight reorganisation in the comic, and antediluvian android, 6 Million Dollar Gran, became firmly established as the resident of page 5. However, there were a number of interruptions to Gran's tenure as custodian of this page, the first coming on 13 May 1978 when ads for IPC stablemates Tiger and Whizzer and Chips appeared in Gran's spot. After this, Gran was back in control of page 5 until another 2 IPC publications, Whoopee! and Look and Learn, were plugged on 21 October 1978.
Gran regained her hold on page 5 again until the 02 December 1978 issue when the Monday feature deposed her, and again the following week when the advertising feature, What's New, Kids kept Gran from resuming her usual place.
The robotic pensioner was then back in charge of page 5 for 2 weeks, before being ousted again on 20 January 1979 by 2 IPC ads, this time for Tiger and Shoot respectively. After another 4 weeks of Gran fun on page 5, 24 February 1979's issue saw the puzzle feature, Tease Break, take over from Gran, and the following week the 'funny photos' feature, Silly Snaps, kept Gran from the 5th page.
However, Gran's run on page 5 was not over, as she returned for the following 6 weeks until 21 April 1979 when a half-page Joke-Box Jury and ad for the Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special interrupted her in this location again. The following week, another ad, this time for WH Smith, kept Gran from page 5, but she was back for another 2 weeks before Tease Break returned to page 5 on 19 May 1979.
Not to be deterred, Gran resumed her position on page 5 for a further 7 weeks, the interruption in 14 July 1979's issue coming in the form of What's New, Kids again. Another 6 week run of robotic pensioner fun followed on page 5, until the comic dated 01 September 1979 when renamed reprint from Whizzer and Chips, The Gang, had the second page of their adventure in that location.
Gran was then back for a further 5 weeks until the second page of Stage School's strip made a bid for control of the 5th page. However, the young thespian upstarts proved no match for feisty Gran who returned to page 5 for a further 4 weeks up to and including the 10 November 1979 comic. This was the last time Gran was to occupy page 5, as she was subsequently relegated towards the rear of the comic, but the synthetic senior citizen had done her robotic stuff on page 5 in a creditable 80 issues, 31 of which hosted the third page of her story, 37 the first page and 12 the second page.
The Monday feature then moved into page 5 for 7 weeks, until the issue dated 05 January 1980, when Elephant on the Run moved in for one week only. Monday was back on page 5 for 2 weeks until 26 January 1980, when two IPC ads took up page 5, one for Mickey Mouse comic, and the other for Shoot. Monday returned to page 5 in the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, dated 02 February 1980.
Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 5
Elements | Total |
6 Million Dollar Gran 3/3 | 31 |
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/3 | 30 |
6 Million Dollar Gran 2/3 | 11 |
Monday | 11 |
James Bold 1/2 | 8 |
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/2 | 7 |
Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC | 4 |
Sunday evening | 3 |
Tease Break | 2 |
What's New, Kids | 2 |
6 Million Dollar Gran 2/2 | 1 |
Advertisement: IPC\Joke-Box Jury | 1 |
Advertisement: WH Smith | 1 |
Christmas Dinner | 1 |
Elephant On The Run | 1 |
Silly Snaps | 1 |
Stage School 2/2 | 1 |
The Gang 2/2 | 1 |
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