| Element | Eventually published in | Published as | Notes |
| Monday | Cheeky Weekly 22 December 1979 | Monday | Christmas card storyline continues. In December 1978 the introductory page of each daily Cheeky feature had a Cheeky's Week… title panel. These panels ceased to appear as from July 1979. This page in the 22 December 1979 comic has clearly had the title panel removed and replaced with a cut-and-paste Cheeky and some text in a different style to the rest of the page. Calculator Kid would have evidently followed in December 1978, but Cheeky's dialogue has been amended because CK had actually appeared on the preceding page in the 22 December 1979 issue. The artwork at the foot of the page has been resized because the 'What did YOU do today? diary section, which was also present in December 1978, but not in December 1979, has been removed. Disco Kid's badge references a character from TV series Roots, which was first shown on the BBC on 08 April 1977. See below for what I believe was the Calculator Kid strip that would have followed in the lost 23 December 1978 issue. |
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
| Element | Eventually published in | Published as | Notes |
| Calculator Kid | Cheeky Weekly 20 January 1979 | Calculator Kid | This was one of four strips that I suspect were originally intended for the lost 23 or 30 December 1978 issues, but were converted into non-festive-season stories (the other conversions being the Disaster Des strip that eventually appeared in the same 20 January 1979 issue as this CK story, and Elephant On The Run and Skateboard Squad published in Cheeky Weekly dated 17 February 1979 ). It would be my guess that this story originally saw Charlie setting out to buy Christmas presents - note the snow, suspiciously festive wrapping paper on Charlie's presents and what look like Christmas decorations inside the store. If I'm correct, the original version of the story was set prior to December 25th, so it's likely that it was intended for the 23 December 1978 issue (I suspect the Calculator Kid strip that eventually appeared on page 114 of the 1980 Cheeky Annual was originally intended for the 30 December 1978 issue). Update 08 October 2020 - see Stephen Archer's interesting observations in the comments section below. It may be that the Cheeky Weekly editor decided that the Christmas story conversions were not entirely successful, and as a consequence the rest of the non-Cheeky strips originally created for the 23 and 30 December 1978 issues were held over for use later in the year. |
Cheeky Weekly's lost 23 December 1978 issue - Reconstructed! Part 3
Would I be off base to wonder if Charlie’s pile of presents might’ve originally been a lot higher, e.g. with presents for people besides his mum? There seems to be a yawning space above the topmost parcel, and the background boy seems to be expressing inordinate surprise over just three presents (at least he does to me). Might be worth mentioning that Charlie also mentions his mum’s birthday in Whoopee on 18/6/83, much later in the year than here. Just some mind candy for you…
ReplyDeleteYou're right - it does look as though there is something missing from that final CK panel above. Excellent spotting on your part of the 'mum's birthday' story in Whoopee 18 June 83. That hadn't registered with me. It's a very similar tale to the one above. I have updated my post to highlight your interesting observations. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI was wrong – there’re FOUR parcels in the picture – but why would the mouse want to give Charlie’s mum a present? She’d surely only want to give him the bristly end of her broom. Also, seems like Charlie’s head’s (very) slightly tilted back, suggesting he was trying to see over a larger pile of presents than we have here.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the rodent's present wasn't intended for Mrs Counter?
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