Profile – Vicar

Ministering to the spiritual needs of the various obsessives that populated Krazy Town was surely an unenviable task, but the Vicar remained cheerful despite the odd nature of his flock. The comical clergyman (who was created for Cheeky Weekly and hadn't previously appeared in Cheeky's strips in Krazy) made his debut in the first issue of the toothy funster's own title, and went on to revel in religious raillery in a total of 68 issues.

Never without what we originally assumed to be The Good Book under his arm (but revealed on many occasions to be a one of a selection of tomes with joke titles), the Vicar's first gag centred on his two children, neither of whom ever appeared again.

The Vicar's first appearance - Cheeky Weekly No 1
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Vicar appeared most regularly in the Sunday evening element of Cheeky's Week, a feature that was dropped from Cheeky Weekly as of the 30 September 1978 issue to make way for the inclusion of The Mystery Comic. In Sunday evening's 48-issue run, Vicar appeared on that page in 39 editions (Vicar also featured in the Christmas 1977 issue on the Boxing Day page, which that year was on a Sunday). Following the demise of Sunday evening, Vicar was most regularly to be found on Saturday. Possibly the result of a decision by the editor to avoid any contentious matters that may have arisen from his inclusion on such significant days in the Christian calendar, Vicar was absent from Christmas Day 1977 (there was no Christmas issue in 1978 due to industrial action), Easter Day 1978 and Christmas Day 1979 (which was in the comic titled Tuesday; although inconsistent, this was logical because that was the day of the week on which the celebrations fell that year).

Frank again, as is all the artwork in this post

Of course, as would be expected in a mainstream title for children, the humour derived from the Vicar's presence on the streets of Krazy Town was of an entirely innocuous, pun-based nature.

 

Our cheerful church-based chum's nemesis was Herman the Traffic Warden, who had a fondness for affixing parking tickets to the vicar's velocipede.

Cheeky Weekly's skateboard issue

Vicar's first cover appearance was on the comic dated 11 February 1978, where he was among that week's Joke-Box Jury panel as they were given a front page boost.

A month later, in the 11 March issue, Vicar was to be found at the opposite end of the comic, where he was the subject of that week's Pin-Up Pal poster.

  

The mirthful minister was again on the cover, this time featuring alongside our toothy pal in a What a Cheek strip, on the front of the 05 August 1978 edition.

Vicar, developing a reputation as something of a party animal, was seen toasting the new year (with a drink poured from a bottle labelled Pop) at the Cheeky family's new year party in the comic dated 13 January 1979.

The second instalment of the Cheeky Snap Game occupied the centre pages of the 20 January 1979 issue, and a selection of the cut-out cards featured on that week's cover, including one bearing a likeness of the Vicar that was in fact the same image that graced the Pin-Up Pal poster back in March 1978.

The Vicar fired the starting pistol at the commencement of Krazy Town's cross country run in the comic dated 04 August 1979. He was also at the finishing line to welcome home the surprise winner, not realising at the time that his bike had yet again been the subject of Herman's attention.

Our preaching pal's fourth and final cover outing was on the front of the 01 September 1979 edition.

Vicar's penultimate appearance was in the comic dated 05 January 1980, where he was yet again glimpsed at the new year festivities chez Cheeky. Sadly, despite his plethora of parish puns, we never learned the risible rector's real name.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Vicar	68	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980