Cheeky Weekly cover date 05 May 1979

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Posh Claude makes his sixth cover appearance this week, as the butt of Cheeky's morning mirthmaking. Then it's the turn of front page veteran Manhole Man, appearing on the cover for the fifteenth time, to engage in pachyderm punnery with our toothy pal. Unfortunately, we can't read the full name of Cheeky's sunken sidekick's newspaper. The Sunday Subterranean? Sunday Sewer Servicer? MM's choice of Sunday reading is revealed on the cover of Cheeky Weekly dated 09 June 1979.

This edition coincides with week 6 of IPC's Star Guest promotion, and the current visitor (Cheeky's erstwhile Krazy co-star, now of Whizzer and Chips, the 12½ p Buytonic Boy) fetches up in the Cheeky Weekly section rather than the Mystery Comic as it has on 3 previous occasions. This week's Star Guest strip, including a brief introduction which fails to expand on the source of the pick-me-up powered Steve Ford's extraordinary abilities beyond what must be to the uninitiated, confusing, references to his Buytonic feats, can be seen here.

In the final panel on the Tuesday page, we witness one comedy superstar(?) paying homage to another as, in a nice touch by Frank McDiarmid, Cheeky gives us his creditable impersonation of Julius Henry Marx.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

On Wednesday, thanks to the mesmeric influence of Hypno-Tessa, we get a glimpse of that most rare of Krazy Town events – a smiling Gloomy Glad (as can be seen here).

Later the same day Cheeky has an encounter with Louise who is planning to shred what she refers to as an “old comic”, and thus fashion some hair rollers. Our toothy pal realises that the funny paper in question is actually the latest Mystery Comic, so rescues it from such an ignominious fate.

There is a reciprocal, recursive comic appearance on the mysterious title's cover, as Tub happens upon a comic-within-a-comic-within-a-comic issue of Cheeky Weekly just prior to his fateful brush with yet another great comedy icon, that slapstick staple - the banana skin.

Tub art: Nigel Edwards
Page surround: Ed McHenry

A full page ad within the Mystery Comic section whets readers' thirsts with a reminder that in 2 weeks, Cheeky Weekly will carry a free sachet of Kellogg's Two Shakes milkshake mix (as first publicised 2 weeks ago). The staggered nature of this promotion means those unwilling to wait can slake their craving now, as a packet of said raspberry-flavoured powder is affixed to the cover of this week's Whoopee! which is (not coincidentally) also presenting the first part of the Sports and Games Spotter Book.

We meet Mustapha Million's cousin Ahmed in this week's tale of the middle-eastern moneybags. Mustapha's mate Jimmy remains stoic despite losing his bike at the end of the story.

Art: Joe McCaffrey

Disaster Des is absent from this week's Mystery Comic, and the apparent reason is revealed later on the Chit-Chat page...

Des and Bernie would meet in
the 1982 Cheeky Annual

IPC's latest entrant in the same category of comic as Cheeky Weekly (humour/adventure aimed at boys and girls), Jackpot, features on an ad occupying the whole of page 22. The similarities between the two titles didn't end there – both featured characters who had originated in earlier comics. In the case of Jackpot the inductee was inveterate participant in games of chance Jack Pott, who had first appeared in Cor!! although he didn't feature as prominently in Jackpot as Cheeky did in his own comic - note Jack is absent from this ad.

Despite Krazy's demise just over a year before this issue of Cheeky Weekly, IPC continued to publish Krazy Annuals and Holiday Specials. Phantoms of failed IPC titles in the form of Specials and Annuals would often manifest themselves on newsagents' shelves for some years after the weekly version had expired. The spectral metaphor is apt because these publications were often pale shades of the original comics, featuring ghosted art and strips exhumed from the catacombs of IPC in the form of reprints. Thus it was no surprise to readers of this copy of Cheeky Weekly to find an ad for the 1979 Krazy Holiday Special on page 29. Sharing the same location was news of that year's Frankie Stein Holiday Special. This wasn't a case of Special based on a resurrected title - Frankie was still appearing in Whoopee! at the time and there was never a Frankie Stein comic.

As has become customary in recent weeks, the comic concludes with a Burpo Special, and this episode echoes Tub's unfortunate experience a few pages earlier, as Teacher suffers a similarly slippery scene.

Art: Mike Lacey

There's pure Frank McDiarmid art from Sunday to Saturday in this issue, with Mike Lacey doing the honours on the Burpo Special.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 05-May-1979, Issue 78 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cheeky's Week - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
4	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
7	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
8	Ad: Palitoy 'Pippa' 3 of 4
9	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
10	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
11	Star Guest 'Buytonic Boy' - Art Robert Nixon (single art on feature)
12	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Tub 'Mystery Comic' 27 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards
14	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 29 of 37 - Art John Richardson
15	Ad: IPC 'Free milkshake promo' 2 of 3
16	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 27 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
17	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 27 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
18	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 27 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey
19	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 27 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey
20	Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 22 of 28 - Art John K. Geering
21	Joke-Box Jury\Ad: North Pacific Flyers
22	Ad: IPC 'Jackpot' 1 of 7
23	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
24	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
25	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
26	Menace of the Alpha Man reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury
27	Menace of the Alpha Man reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury
28	Chit-Chat
29	Ad: IPC 'Krazy Holiday Special' 2 of 4 Ad: 'Frankie Stein Holiday Special' 1 of 3
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	The Burpo Special 'Teacher' - Art Mike Lacey

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 05-May-1979

Artist	Elements
Frank McDiarmid	9
Mike Lacey	1

The Rejects – Greg's Gran

A number of the supporting cast who populated Cheeky's Week in his own comic originated in the Cheeky pages in Krazy. However not all the characters who appeared more than once in the toothy funster's Krazy strip made the transition into Cheeky Weekly.

One such was Greg's Gran, who first appeared in the 'Ello It's Cheeky strip in Krazy number 16, dated 29 January 1977.

Greg's Gran's first appearance.
Apologies to artist Frank McDiarmid for my rather crude
assemblage of panels, which originally spanned 2 pages

Two weeks later Greg and the toothy funster suffered a second drive-by soaking as Gran directed her new car through another kerbside puddle.

Greg's Gran's final Krazy appearance, less than a month after her debut, was in the 19 February 1977 issue where her back-story occupied a full 'Ello It's Cheeky page, plus two panels overleaf.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Possibly Cheeky scriptwriter 'Willie' Cook (apparently a semi-pseudonym according to Frank McDiarmid's interview in Crikey! magazine) considered there was little scope for development of this idea (what would her next mode of transport be - a space ship?), or it was felt that Cheeky Weekly was already replete with Grans (6 Million Dollar and Gumdrop).

Cheeky Weekly Star Guests in Whizzer and Chips (part 3)

Week 5 of IPC's 1979 run of Star Guest saw a third circulation-boosting attempt by a character from Cheeky Weekly in the pages of Whizzer and Chips (Whoopee! welcomed Cheeky Weekly visitors on even-numbered weeks during the promotion). On this occasion it was Cheeky himself who was welcomed into W&C to promote his own comic.

Rather surprisingly, bearing in mind that the toothy funster dominated each issue of Cheeky Weekly, it wasn't until this 5th week that he appeared in a full Star Guest strip (although he had introduced the Burpo Special Star Guest in Whoopee! dated 07 April 1979). On the other hand, the 7-day nature of Cheeky's strips in his own title may have actually delayed his appearance, as it was clearly not possible to condense a week into a single page. I suspect that anyone unfamiliar with Cheeky Weekly would find the set below, with its rather feeble jokes and brief appearances by some seemingly random characters, somewhat less than scintillating. Thus the Cheeky Weekly editor may have felt that using some of the more conventional strips to lead off the promotional visits to other titles was more likely to lure readers of Whoopee! and Whizzer and Chips into making a speculative purchase of our grinning pal's comic.

Whizzer and Chips 28 April 1979
Art: Barrie Appleby

Unfortunately Whizz-Kids and Chip-Ites didn't get to witness the wonder of a Frank McDiarmid Cheeky page (over in Cheeky Weekly the same week, Frank was sharing the Cheeky's Week artwork duties with Barrie Appleby and Mike Lacey), but Barrie did a nice job on Star Guest. It's a little odd that Cheeky felt the need to introduce himself in this strip, because he'd been appearing in Whizzer and Chips (as a member of The Krazy Gang) since that title had absorbed Krazy almost exactly a year earlier. It looks to me as though the text in Cheeky's speech balloon in the first panel on the second row has been altered - the lettering of 'Whizzer & Chips' seems different to the rest of the text. Maybe this page was originally planned to be presented in Whoopee!, explaining why Cheeky announces himself.

Unlike the preceding Star Guest features, there was no caption exhorting readers to follow Cheeky's adventures in his own comic beneath the strip, as the toothy funster and his mollusc mate handled that crucial aspect of the promotion themselves within the page. Any W&C readers thus enticed into placing a regular Cheeky Weekly order could have enjoyed a further 40 issues of Cheeky's comic before it folded and was merged into Whoopee!

Profile - Libby

The first of Cheeky's painful encounters with the business end of Libby's protest placard occurred on Friday in the third issue of Cheeky Weekly. After accusing the toothy funster of being a male chauvinist piglet due to his treatment of Nosy Nora, Libby (whose attitude, name and placard were of course humorous references to the Women's Liberation Movement) literally struck a blow for downtrodden females that left our grinning pal in need of medical attention.

Libby's first cranium-crushing appearance
Cheeky Weekly 05 November 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid

This set the trend for the majority of Libby's 27 Cheeky Weekly appearances, as she responded violently to what she considered to be Cheeky's slights against female members of the supporting cast.

Libby had actually made her comic debut the week before in the 29 October 1977 issue of Krazy.

Page from the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip,
Krazy 29 October 1977
Art: Jim Watson
Unfortunately Cheeky's final witticism is cut off at the
bottom of the page. I have seen two copies of this
Krazy issue and both have suffered from
the same printing error.

In a retaliatory move, our grinning pal deviously engineered a titanic punch-up between Libby and Louise in the 03 December 1977 issue.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

On a few occasions Libby leapt to the defence of Ursula, only to realise that the lumbering lolly lady was more than capable of dealing with any insults.

Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1

The first of Libby's front page appearances was on the cover of the 17 December 1977 issue, where the feisty feminist was seen threatening Cheeky, and in the same comic she appeared throughout the Friday page.

In the 31 December 1977 edition, Libby was one of the guests at the Vicar's Boxing Day party but thankfully she appeared to have left her placard at home. However, Libby fetched Cheeky a nasty knock on the noggin the following day, and was back again on New Year's Eve, albeit only as a frightening figment of the toothy funster's imagination as he pondered who would be the first across the threshold of the Cheeky household at midnight. This issue featured the highest number of elements in which Libby appeared in a single edition of the comic. Unlike some of the Cheeky's Week cast, Libby never appeared throughout a whole week in a single issue (much to Cheeky's relief, no doubt).

   

I don't normally adjust the quality of my scans but the amount of ink soaking
through from the other side of this page necessitated an attempt at corrective action.
Art: Jim Watson

A Cheeky's Pal strip (the forerunner of Cheeky Weekly's Burpo Special) was devoted to Libby in Krazy dated 28 January 1978.

Krazy 28 January 1978
Art: Jim Watson

Libby suffered another unfortunate interval event in the 03 June 1978 issue.

Art: Jim Watson

Libby's third and final Krazy appearance came in that comic's final issue dated 15 April 1978 as the toothy funster and his pals encouraged readers to follow them to Cheeky Weekly.

Back in Cheeky Weekly, the pugnacious protester was seen in the 24 June 1978 Skateboard Squad episode.

Libby made her second and final front page appearance, as a member of the Joke-Box Jury panel, on the cover of the 17 February 1979 edition and on the J-B J page, three jokes elicited a 'snigger' from the placard-wielding wildcat.

The cantankerous campaigner appeared in only 4 issues in 1979; 13 January (with a note from Frank McDiarmid reading “Remember Libby, kids?” as her previous appearance had been in the 07 October 1978 comic), 17 February (the aforementioned Joke-Box Jury), 09 June and the Christmas issue dated 29 December, which was the final time she featured in the comic. However, I suspect that the Cheeky's Week pages that appeared in the 29 December 1979 issue were drawn for the Christmas 1978 edition, which failed to appear due to an industrial dispute. If I'm right, this would mean that Libby's 09 June 1979 outing was the last to be written and drawn. Maybe Hypno-Tessa's influence turned out to be permanent.

Cheeky Weekly 09 June 1979 - Libby's real final appearance?
Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Libby	27	05-Nov-1977	29-Dec-1979

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Libby	Frank McDiarmid pencils	12
Libby	Frank McDiarmid	9
Libby	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	4
Libby	Barrie Appleby	3
Libby	Jim Watson	2
Libby	Mike Lacey	1
Libby	Dick Millington	1