For a profile of Bubblegum
Boy's career in the pages of Krazy, see here.
Bubblegum
Boy had the honour of appearing on the cover of Cheeky Weekly's debut issue, where he narrowly avoided a collision with the flying free
gift. Inside that same edition, BB's appearance on the Sunday page saw
him musing philosophically on Krazy Town's signage before drifting
away on the breeze. From thereon BB continued to float, silent and unnoticed for
the most part, across the cartoon skies as depicted in Cheeky Weekly,
in exactly the same way as he had in Cheeky's strip in Krazy prior to
the launch of Cheeky's own title. Indeed, our aerial chum continued
to appear in Krazy while concurrently floating across the pages of
Cheeky Weekly.
 | |
| Cheeky Weekly No 1 Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the art in this post, unless noted otherwise |
Soon after the debut of the toothy funster's comic, BB
was honoured with his own episode of the Cheeky's Pal feature in Krazy's 10 December 1977 edition, wherein it was revealed that the
reluctant aviator's name was Fred, although this fact was never referred to again in Krazy, and only once more in Cheeky Weekly.
A
month after his cover appearance on the first Cheeky Weekly, Fred was
again on the front page of the 19 November 1977 issue.
Fred's
third cover appearance occurred on Cheeky Weekly dated 03 December1977, and his fourth on 28 January 1978.
Thanks
to a note from Frank McDiarmid which appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated
18 February 1978, readers learned that Fred's surname was Holroyd.
Young
Master Holroyd was back on the front cover of the 22 April 1978 comic, where his likeness was in fact the same image that had
appeared on the cover of the first issue.
Our
airborne chum made yet another front page appearance on the edition dated 13 May 1978.
A catastrophic mid-air clash between BB and B-BB occurred on Monday in the
05 August 1978 comic.
In
Cheeky Weekly's '60 years into the future' edition, it was prophesied
that an aged Fred will still be airborne in the year 2038.
The
hapless chewer was again on the cover of the 14 October and 28 October 1978 issues, on these occasions observing events within the front
page gag strips.
The
cinema Commissionaire employed a gum-bubble to evade his customary
Saturday trampling in the issue dated 04 November 1978.
 | ||
| Art: Mike Lacey BB first took to the skies in Krazy dated 08 January 1977, so by November 1978 he hadn't been aloft 'over two years' but no doubt the aerial banishment seemed longer to him. |
The reluctant aviator was once again on the cover of the comic dated 25 November 1978, and he narrowly avoided a rapidly-descending Tub on the 27 January 1979 cover.
High-flying Fred
was yet again witness to front page frolics as of the 02June 1979 edition.
A plaintive cry from the sky on Sunday in the 09 June 1979 edition
revealed that our airborne chum's birthday was the 2nd
of June.
 |
| Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils |
Bubblegum
Boy's aerial wanderings took him to the coast in Cheeky Weekly dated
07 July 1979, just in time for a wee joke with Walter Wurx.
Our
drifting pal had a speaking role on the cover of the 11 August 1979 issue.
 |
| Six-Gun Sam caused BB some concern |
Bubblegum Boy appeared on the Pin-Up Pal poster featuring Disco Kid that appeared in the 16 September 1978 comic.
Fred joined Cheeky Weekly's front cover fun for the final time as of the 03 November 1979 issue, and his final appearance within the pages of the toothy funster's title was on the Friday page of the last issue dated 02 February 1980.
 | ||
| BB's final Cheeky Weekly outing. The mystery was revealed later in the comic to be the imminent merge with Whoopee! |
This last appearance brought to 73 the number of Cheeky Weekly issues through which our soaring pal drifted, 13 of which featured BB on the front cover.
| Character | Total Issues | First Appearance | Final Appearance |
| Bubblegum Boy | 73 | 22-Oct-1977 | 02-Feb-1980 |
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Artist | Total Elements |
| Bubblegum Boy | Frank McDiarmid | 96 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Frank McDiarmid pencils | 25 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Barrie Appleby | 6 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Mike Lacey | 3 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Jim Watson | 2 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Dick Millington | 1 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 | 1 |
| Bubblegum Boy | Nigel Edwards | 1 |
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