Profile - Rex Press

The toothy funster's jolly journalist chum Rex Press made his debut in Cheeky Weekly dated 29 September 1979. Or did he? I suspect that the newspaper reporter named Reg Press who made a single Cheeky Weekly appearance in the issue dated 15 September 1979 was intended to be the same person, but maybe an admin mix-up resulted in his name being changed. Rex is obviously a more appropriate appellation since, when coupled with the surname (which is itself a nod to machinery crucial to the journalistic profession), it references newspapers containing Express in the title.

Reg Press - Cheeky Weekly 15 September 1979
Art: Jimmy Hansen

'Reg' was drawn by Jimmy Hansen and the fact that the journalist's face wasn't seen on this occasion makes me wonder whether Frank McDiarmid hadn't designed the visuals for the character at that point. However, by the time that Rex made his debut two weeks later his trademark 'tache, trilby, and check jacket were fully formed.

Rex Press' debut - Cheeky Weekly 29 September 1979
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's 2-page Saturday strip in the 10 November 1979 issue showed our grinning hero visiting the newspaper office, and Cheeky popped back to Rex's workplace for a quick Tuesday gag in the edition dated 24 November 1979.

Art: Bob Hill

Although he played a major role in the Speed Squad story in Cheeky Weekly dated 15 December 1979, the intrepid trio failed to recognise Krazy Town's roving reporter. 

 
Rex Press didn't quite make it into Cheeky Weekly's final issue. His last appearance was in the penultimate editon, dated 26 January 1980. Nevertheless Rex, despite being a rather late entrant into the Cheeky Weekly supporting cast, turned up in a creditable15 issues (16 if we include Reg). Neither Reg nor Rex ever appeared in Cheeky's strips in Krazy.