Cheeky's New Year

A week after his round of festive gags to celebrate Christmas 1980 in the pages of Whoopee! with Cheeky!, our toothy pal was back with some forecasting fun as he prognosticated on the doings of his pals over the coming year. There are some gems nestling in these four pages, my favourites being;

• Frank McDiarmid's reference to his expected earnings (whatever they paid him, it wasn't enough!) and Cheeky's allusion to Uncle Hamish's calendar-related transaction a year earlier.
• The note about Cheeky's direction of gaze in the first panel of May, and his grin of sheer delight in the final panel of the same month (we all know he doesn't really mean it).
• The first panel of June!
• In August, Walter Wurx being tested by a scene of liquid mayhem that would tax the most resolute of urinary tracts.
• Cheeky's September speculation on Teacher's domestic dolor (no doubt based on the troubling scenes he witnessed in the 'Teacher's breakdown' issue).
• October's depiction of a swimsuited Lily Pop.
• Baby Burpo's brother making his debut in November (although in January 1981 this was clearly among the most speculative of Cheeky's predictions).
• Cheeky's entirely accurate December preview of the designs that would grace the covers of the 1982 Whoopee Annual and its Cheeky companion, set to hit the shops some months hence (that year's Whoopee! and Cheeky annuals were first advertised in Whoopee! in the edition dated 29 August 1981). Nice to see that the toothy funster predicted a cheerier end of the year for Teacher and Glad.

 

Whoopee! 03 January 1981
Art: Frank McDiarmid

  

Whoopee! 29 August 1981

All the best for 2017, pals!

More Christmas Cheekiness

Bruce is looking back at Cheeky's yuletide doings from 1979 (among other festive goodies). You can see the toothy funster's seasonal silliness from the following year here.

Mergey Christmas

To get you into the seasonal spirit here's four pages of festive fun starring Cheeky, from the first Christmas issue of Whoopee! to hit the shops after it absorbed an ailing Cheeky Weekly in February 1980.

Whoopee! with Cheeky! 27 December 1980
Art: Frank McDiarmid

The One-Offs - Cheeky's Granny, Grandad, Aunt and Uncle (and sundry relatives)

Over the weeks there were many anonymous stooges who shared a joke with Cheeky and were never seen again. Certain of these ephemeral members of the Cheeky cast, however, were introduced in such a way that one expected them to become regular characters. This series of posts examines those 'one-off' appearances.

Cheeky's mum and dad were regularly featured from the debut issue, but until the first Christmas edition (dated 31 December 1977), readers hadn't witnessed any other member of the Cheeky clan.

Art: Frank McDiarmid
I like the legs heralding the approaching horde
in panel 3

It's no wonder our grinning hero has such a magnificent mouthful of dinner-manglers when both sides of his family are so chromosomally-disposed to having titanic chompers.

In Flash Harry's photo above we can see what looks like Cheeky's Granny and Grandad, plus sundry unspecified relatives and a canine with remarkably familiar teeth. None of these characters appeared again.

However, it appears Cheeky had an uncle and aunt who didn't make it into the above family portrait, but did appear in the 11 February 1978 issue.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

Having served their purpose as part of Cheeky's plot to view his favourite TV programme, Auntie and (presumaby) Uncle's services were no longer required and they never returned.


Uncle Hamish, who did become a regular participant in Cheeky's Week, made his debut in the following issue.

See also Great Uncle Daniel.

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 21

New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which the Gang originated, expired in April 1978. However, the Krazy Gang's Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986.

By the time of the next raid involving one of our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums, Mustapha Million's run of reprints had ceased, and new adventures of the middle-eastern moneybags were being drawn by Barry Glennard. But can you spot the intruder (or maybe there's more than one) in this story? Scroll down, where all will be revealed.

 

Whizzer and Chips 05 April 1986
Art: Barry Glennard

Whizzer and Chips 12 April 1986

Yes Mustapha, always entirely comfortable with his wealth, was subjected to a multi-panel raid by the Bumpkin Billionaires, who strove vainly every week to jettison their unwelcome fortune and return to 'the simple loife'. Maybe the affluent agriculturalists were hoping to stash their cash in amongst the wads of moolah sloshing around in Mustapha Mansion.

Just in case you didn't spot all of them, the raiders can be found in page 1, panel 6 and page 2, panels 3 and 6.

This is the first time that the Bumpkins en masse have staged a raid on our plucky pals - Pa raided Cheeky (as part of The Krazy Gang) in the 13 July 1985 issue. 

By this stage the Cheeky survivors had suffered 17 raids but had perpetrated 9. More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date	Raider	Raided
06 April 1985	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
04 May 1985	Bloggs (Store Wars)	Mustapha Million
11 May 1985	Joker	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985	Calculator Kid & Calc	Odd-Ball
01 June 1985	Animalad Mustapha Million	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Boy Boss
08 June 1985	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
06 July 1985	Toy Boy	Calculator Kid
13 July 1985	Pa Bumpkin	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985	Joker	Mustapha Million
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake
14 September 1985	Odd-Ball Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid Store Wars
05 October 1985	Mustapha Million	Animalad
19 October 1985	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
23 November 1985	Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler	Calculator Kid The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Mustapha Million
18 January 1986	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
25 January 1986	Odd-Ball Cheeky	Mustapha Million Odd-Ball
08 February 1986 The Krazy Gang ends this issue	Animalad	Mustapha Million
15 February 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
15 March 1986	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
29 March 1986	Calculator Kid	Master P Brain
05 April 1986	Bumpkin Billionaires	Mustapha Million