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!