Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 24

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.

Whizzer and Chips dated 07 June 1986 - for the first time since the 29 March 1986 edition, a Whizz-kid was subject to a raid by one of our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums. Can you spot the intrepid interloper? Scroll down to see who it was...

Whizzer and Chips 07 June 1986
Art: Sid Burgon

I'm a bit puzzled as to what's happening on the roof of the school in the first panel of Joker's story above. At first I thought there was a large flower growing up there, but on looking closer there appear to be wisps of smoke above whatever it is. Is it supposed to be a lit fuse?

This is the fifth raid carried out by our moneyed mate, bringing to 10 the total incursions into Whizzer by ex-Cheeky Weekly characters. Our Cheeky pals had been the victims of 19 raids by this stage.

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
12 April 1986	Animalad	Calculator Kid
31 May 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
07 June 1986	Mustapha Million	Joker

Jim Crocker's Cheeky

Cheeky, as a member of The Krazy Gang, transferred into Whizzer and Chips as of the issue dated 22 April, following the demise a week earlier of Krazy, the comic which spawned our grinning chum. By the time of this Chip-ites letters page in Whizzer and Chips dated 02 August 1980, Cheeky Weekly had itself been defunct for 6 months and subsequently Cheeky's bifurcated comics career saw his solo strips decamp to Whoopee!

Included on this page is a rendition by Jim Crocker of the toothy funster. Unfortunately Jim left our gagster pal somewhat deficient as regards his jersey.

All gags drawn by Jim Crocker

Profile - Sherlock

Subtlety was never a priority for the creators of the multitudinous Cheeky's Week cast, so when the decision was made to include an aspiring detective among the ranks of the toothy funster's pals, said sleuth was equipped with a deerstalker hat, magnifying glass and named Sherlock.

Cheeky's investigative chum made his debut in the first issue of Krazy.

Krazy issue 1, 16 October 1976
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Sherlock's powers of deduction in his first appearance were positively Holmesian compared to those on display during his run in Cheeky Weekly. Although he did get a mention in the first issue of the toothy funster's comic, it wasn't until issue 7 that Sherlock actually appeared, cropping up on Friday and again on Saturday.

Sherlock's first appearance in Cheeky Weekly,
issue dated 03 December 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

In the comic dated 24 December 1977, Sherlock was hired by Nosy Nora to help her locate that week's copy of the ever-elusive Mystery Comic.

Art: Barrie Appleby

The issue dated 10 June 1978 featured Sherlock's first front cover appearance as he joined Cheeky in the What A Cheek strip.

Sherlaock gets a one-off page to himself - Krazy 10 September 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid

In the comic dated 24 June 1978 Petula recruited Sherlock to find a missing elephant, (no, not that one - his adventures didn't start until September that year) and the tiny 'tec's search continued in the following edition. Despite appearing on 5 pages in that issue, Sherlock was unable to locate the errant pachyderm, which had spent the week on Krazy Town High Street inside a cosy created for it by the agile knitting needles of Granny Gumdrop.

Art: Mike Lacey

It seems that Petula was rather lax in securing her betrunked pet, as Sherlock was again on its trail in the comic dated 05 August 1978. The success or otherwise of his search was on this occasion not disclosed.

The adolescent investigator was once more in pursuit of one of Petula's AWOL animals in the 16 September 1978 edition...

 

Art: Frank McDiarmid

...sadly, the species of the missing creature was not revealed.

Sherlock had the honour of being the star of the back page Cheeky's Pal Puzzle in the comic dated 04 November 1978, and the junior detective's second and final cover appearance was on the front of the 17 February 1979 edition, where he was shown as a member of that week's Joke-Box Jury panel.

The youthful gumshoe was the subject of the Burpo Special in the comic dated 30 June 1979.

Art: Mike Lacey

 

Prior to his appearance in Cheeky Weekly dated 31 December 1977, Sherlock was always depicted with pupils in the centre of his eyes, as are many comic characters. However in the aforementioned issue, Frank McDiarmid drew the junior sleuth's eyes as black ovals with no white of the eyes showing. When Frank next drew Sherlock, on the cover of the 10 June 1978 comic, he included whites, but when depicting the young investigator on 5 pages in Cheeky Weekly dated 01 July 1978, Frank showed him on some pages with whites around his pupils and on others without. All Frank's subsequent renderings of Sherlock included whites. Mike Lacey always drew Cheeky's sleuthing pal without whites, whereas Barrie Appleby drew him on some occasions with and on others without.

The daft detective's final Cheeky Weekly appearance was in the issue dated 19 January 1980, concluding a run during which he appeared in 47 issues.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Sherlock	47	03-Dec-1977	19-Jan-1980

Sherlock - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Saturday	16
Interval	12
Friday	9
Monday	3
Thursday	3
Tuesday	3
Wednesday	2
Cover Feature	1
Sunday	1
Sunday evening	1
The Burpo Special	1
What a Cheek	1

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Sherlock	Frank McDiarmid	23
Sherlock	Mike Lacey	12
Sherlock	Frank McDiarmid pencils	11
Sherlock	Barrie Appleby	4
Sherlock	Jim Watson	1
Sherlock	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	1
Sherlock	Jimmy Hansen	1

Frank's Having a Gas

Bruce has posted some examples of Frank McDiarmid's Gasworks Gang strip from Cor!!