Page
21 was the site of the toothy funster's Thursday adventures in the
first two issues of Cheeky Weekly, but Friday muscled into the same
location for issue 3. Seven days later the first page of Mustapha Million's story came to rest on page 21, after which Friday returned
for a 6-week run.
In
the 31 December 1977 Christmas issue, Mustapha again occupied the
subject location with a tale in which a plan to visit his pals on a
sleigh pulled by two camels was thwarted by a heavy fall of snow.
Friday then resumed, this time for 4 issues. Home Movie then made its
single page 21 appearance ( a film entitled 'El
Bullfighter' was on show),
following which Friday was back again, this time for a marathon 11
week stint.
Our
pecunious pal Mustapha then made another of his irregular page 21
visits, before Friday again took up residence, this time for 5
issues. Page 21 in the comic dated 10 June 1978 was shared by a half-page
Joke-Box Jury and, as the summer months commenced, an ad for that year's Buster Holiday Fun Special.
Friday
returned for 2 weeks before being dislodged once more by Mustapha,
who this time was a little more determined and managed to hold on to
page 21 for 4 issues. Friday then moved back in for one week, after
which Mustapha resumed control, but only for one issue.
A
previously-unseen-on-page-21 combo then arrived in the 12 August 1978
comic, when advertorial feature What's New, Kids shared the page with the gag-evaluating
panel of Joke-Box Jury. This particular combination of elements would
not be seen again on the page under examination. A week later the
subject page was again host to a page 21 one-off as Cheeky Weekly's
silicon-chipped sage and human owner Charlie turned up on the page
for a single time.
Our
middle-eastern moneybags mate Mustapha then re-established his
presence for a 5-week run. This was followed, in the 30 September 1978 issue (which was the subject of some upheaval as a result of the commencement of the Mystery Comic in the centre pages), by Thursday returning for 9
issues. The comic dated 02 December 1978 included an ad on page 21
for Trebor Double Agents boiled sweets. Consumers of the spy-themed
confectionery could send off two wrappers and a 90p postal order and
in return receive a super, cap-firing Spy Gun.
The
following week page 21 returned to some sort of normality as Friday resumed occupancy, but this was to be the final time that Friday
appeared in that location, bringing the number of Fridays on page 21
to 31, and making Friday the most regular occupant of the site under
investigation.
Seven
days later Thursday moved in again. However it was all change once
more in the subsequent edition dated 13 January 1979 as two ads for
IPC titles shared the page in question; Roy of the Rovers was marking
the new year by printing part one of Roy Race's 1979 Calendar,
whereas Tiger's celebratory scissor-snipping sales incentive was the first instalment of the
6-part Sports Diary 1979.
In
a surprise move, filler feature Silly Snaps assumed control of page 21
for 3 issues before being ousted by yet another page consisting of
two elements. The first was an ad for IPC's Mickey Mouse comic which
that week was offering two packs of stickers based on Walt Disney's
animated-and-live-action feature, Pete's Dragon. The same title had
two weeks earlier given away a free Panini Pete's Dragon sticker
album in which to stow the sticky-backed images (on that
occasion the ad was on page 8 of Cheeky Weekly). The second half of
page 21 in that 10 February 1979 issue contained a message from Cheeky asking readers to name their favourite celebrity. The
responses would be used to compile a cut-out-and-keep Top Ten poster,
which was eventually published in the four April 1979 cover-dated
issues of the toothy funster's comic.
Thursday
then returned for a week, followed by Silly Snaps for a week, after
which The Burpo Special made its sole visit to page 21. The infant
interrogator's subject that week was Krazy Town's snootiest citizen, Posh Claude.
In
the 10 March 1979 issue, page 21 was again host to two
advertisements. This time an ad for the Smurfs Poster Magazine
Special shared the subject location with another advert for Mickey
Mouse comic, which was by this time running a competition to win a
trip to Disney World, Florida. In order to participate in the
excitement, readers of the squeaky-voiced rodent's title had to
collect a four-part Walt Disney World Giant Poster, which would later be the subject of questions. Readers supplying correct answers to the Disney posers would be in with a chance of a transatlantic trip to meet Mickey and his pals.
Page
21 in the following issue was again the subject of fillage, as a
Tease Break came to rest in that location, on its only outing to that
part of the comic.
Thursday's
final page 21 appearance happened in the 24 March 1979 issue,
bringing its total visits to that location to 14 and making Thursday
the third most regular page 21 resident.
The next week saw another pair of ads turn up on page 21. The first
was publicising the commencement of IPC's 'Comics Go Pop'
cut-out-and-keep promotion in Whoopee, Whizzer and Chips and Cheeky
Weekly as of the next week's issues (Cheeky would begin printing the
Top Ten poster mentioned earlier). The second ad was for the second
issue of IPC's short-lived adventure title Tornado, which came with a
free cardboard gift, the Mayday Pack.
The
presence of the Top Ten poster instalments in the April 1979 issues
resulted in the contents of The Mystery Comic being somewhat
displaced. Thus Disaster Des rocked up for a week, after which our
alliteratively-monikered mate Mustapha Million resumed occupancy for
2 weeks, then World War 2 amnesiac and Whizzer and Chips reprint
Mystery Boy made his sole page 21 appearance.
As
things got back to normal in the 05 May 1979 edition, page 21's
contents consisted of a half-page Joke-Box Jury and a cartoon-strip ad for North Pacific Flyers, a range of model 'planes, kites and 'whizz rings'
marketed by Hales.
There
were more ads on page 21 in the following issue, as IPC's 'Free
Milkshake' promotion entered its third week, and it was the turn of
Whizzer and Chips readers to enjoy a refreshing lactic libation
courtesy of Kellogg's (who only provided the flavoured mix, the milk
had to be sourced from the family fridge). Also on page 21 that week
was an ad for the Frankie Stein Holiday Special, tempting prospective
readers with the promise of 'the freakiest fun special ever'.
Seven
days later the same advert for Frankie's special appeared on page 21,
but this time its companion ad was publicising IPC's new entrant into
the humour/adventure comic category (the same group into which Cheeky
Weekly fell) – Jackpot, the third issue of which was in the shops
that week, with a less-than-scintillating 'magic numbers' card game
as the free gift. In the following Cheeky Weekly issue there were no
ads on the page under scrutiny, but neither was there a comic strip –
the second cut-out instalment of the Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and
Around (a rather boring variation on the I-Spy books, in which Cheeky Weekly readers
were invited to spot such objects as a street lamp or, rather less common on the streets of Britain, a French onion seller!), the launch of which coincided
with Cheeky Weekly's turn to offer a sachet of Milkshake mix, came to
rest in that location.
Page
21 in the 02 June 1979 comic was again the site of 2 ads, one for the
Buster Holiday Special, and the other for North Pacific Flyers
(although it was a different version of the NPF ad to that mentioned
earlier). The final part of he Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around
fetched up a week later.
This
6-week run of ads or cut-outs on page 21 came to an end in the 16
June 1979 edition when Joke-Box Jury moved back in. The judges of
joviality were in fact in control of the subject location for 2
weeks, but there followed 2 issues in which page 21 again hosted a
pair of ads for Summer Specials. On these occasions the identical
pairing of ads promoted holiday hilarity of the Cheeky and Whizzer
and Chips varieties.
After
10 weeks of ads, cut-outs and Joke-Box Juries, comic strip capers
returned to page 21 in the form of Lolly Pop, although as the
tight-fisted tyrant was in fact publicising his home comic, Whoopee,
as part of the Star Guest promotion, there was an element of
advertising to this resumption of strip activities. For the next 3
editions, wealth continued to be the subject examined on page 21, but unlike miserly
Pop, our chum Mustapha Million was back and generously splashing his
cash and dishing his dosh.
The
teeny entertainers of Stage School then made a speculative visit to
page 21 but evidently didn't like the location as they never returned
to that part of the comic. Our wealthy Arab chum clearly had no such
reservations and turned up for another 3-week sojourn which in fact
brought to an end his visits to the page under review. This made
Mustapha Million the second most regular inhabitant of page 21,
having clocked up 21 visits.
The
feuding father and son team from Why Dad Why?, having been freed from the confines of Cheeky Weekly's centre section when the Mystery Comic concept ended in the 30 June 1979 issue, then made a surprise
bid to take control of page 21 in the 08 September 1979 edition, but were ousted a week later by a
shared page consisting of Chit-Chat letters and the corpulent comedy
of Tub. Seven days later, Chit-Chat was sharing the page with an ad
for IPC's magazine aimed at those who enjoyed putting their mental faculties to the test, Puzzle Time.
The
29 September 1979 edition saw Disaster Des make his second and final
page 21 outing, after which the Chit-Chat/Tub combination appeared in
that location for 3 issues. The third page of an extended Joke-Box
Jury came to rest on page 21 in the 27 October 1979 comic, but the
following week Chit-Chat shared the page with a coupon inviting
readers to place a regular order to ensure their weekly dose of
Cheeky chuckles.
There
then followed the final Chit-Chat/Tub combo to appear on page
21, after which our portly pal got the whole of page 21 to himself
for the first time. However, the heavyweight humour was short-lived
as Why Dad Why? moved back in and monopolised page 21 for a 6-week
run. Tub then returned for the 5 weeks remaining before Cheeky
Weekly was cancelled.
| Elements | Total |
| Friday | 31 |
| Thursday | 14 |
| Mustapha Million 2/2 | 12 |
| Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC | 7 |
| Why, Dad, Why? | 7 |
| Tub | 6 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2\Tub | 5 |
| Mustapha Million 1/2 | 5 |
| Mustapha Million | 4 |
| Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around 1/2 | 2 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2\Advertisement: IPC | 2 |
| Disaster Des | 2 |
| Joke-Box Jury | 2 |
| Silly Snaps | 2 |
| Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: North Pacific Flyers | 1 |
| Advertisement: Trebor | 1 |
| Calculator Kid | 1 |
| Home Movie | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury 3/3 | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury\Advertisement: North Pacific Flyers | 1 |
| Mystery Boy | 1 |
| Silly Snaps 2/2 | 1 |
| Silly Snaps\What's New, Kids | 1 |
| Stage School 2/2 | 1 |
| Star Guest | 1 |
| Tease Break | 1 |
| The Burpo Special | 1 |
| What's New, Kids\Joke-Box Jury | 1 |
| Your chance to vote\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
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