The Features - Bam Splat and Blooie and Cocky Doodle

Half-page reprints from Buster, Bam Splat and Blooie and Cocky Doodle were used occasionally to represent the animated cartoon portion of the Saturday morning cinema show sequence that featured in Cheeky Weekly's first 59 issues. Strips featuring Warner Brothers characters such as Road Runner and Daffy Duck were most frequently employed to fill the cartoon-representing slot, but the frenetic escapades featuring Bam, Cocky et al (dialogue-free in the manner of Tom and Jerry in the case of BS&B as Peter Gray notes here while providing some examples of their original, colour run) were well-suited to the requirement for animation-like features. The basic cat-vs-bird premise of BS&B was similar to that of the most regular Warner Brothers strip to appear in Cheeky Weekly, Tweety and Sylvester, although Splat's pursuit of Blooie was moderated by Bam, while Tweety survived on his wits alone with no canine intervention. Cocky's adventures were driven by his urge to fill his stomach with whatever foodstuff was on hand.

The characters' first Cheeky Weekly outing,
in issue number 2, 29 October 1977
I don't know who the artists were

Cocky doodled his way through 5 adventures, while much Bamming, Splatting and Blooieng was in evidence on 9 occasions. On 4 of his 5 appearances, Cocky shared a page with his erstwhile Buster buddies, but in the 31 December 1977 issue our poultry pal found himself on page 27 above an ad for Roy of The Rovers while Bam and associates were placed on the following page beneath an ad for another soccer-related publication, Shoot!. Presumably Cheeky and his cinema-going pals saw these IPC adverts on screen as part of their Saturday morning show.

In Cheeky Weekly dated 17 June 1978, two half-page BS&B adventures appeared on page 27, the second being introduced with a caption reading 'And here's a second helping of cartoon fun!' in place of the original title panel. This double portion brought to a close the trio's run in the weekly comic. The final Cheeky Weekly doodle had been cocked for the gluttonous fowl in the edition dated 04 March 1978. However, both features appeared (3 episodes each, none of which were presented as being part of a cinema show) in the first Cheeky Annual, cover-dated 1979, published in September 1978.

Both Bam Splat and Blooie and Cocky Doodle were written by Ron "Nobby" Clark (significantly as regards the manner of the strips' employment in Cheeky Weekly, Nobby had worked at Gaumont-British Animation studios early in his career), and I suspect the artists on these features were among the Spanish contingent he recruited to work on Buster in its early years.


Bam Splat and Blooie in the Cheeky Weekly Index

Cocky Doodle in the Cheeky Weekly Index
 

Date	Page	BSB	Page	CD
29-OCT-77	27	Bam Splat and Blooie	27	Cocky Doodle
05-NOV-77	26	Bam Splat and Blooie	26	Cocky Doodle
12-NOV-77	26	Bam Splat and Blooie	26	Cocky Doodle
31-DEC-77	28	Bam Splat and Blooie	27	Cocky Doodle
04-FEB-78	28	Bam Splat and Blooie
25-FEB-78	31	Bam Splat and Blooie
04-MAR-78	20	Bam Splat and Blooie	20	Cocky Doodle
15-APR-78	31	Bam Splat and Blooie
17-JUN-78	27	Bam Splat and Blooie

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Bam Splat and Blooie	29-Oct-77	17-Jun-78	9	25	20,26,27,28,31

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Cocky Doodle	29-Oct-77	04-Mar-78	5	14	20,26,27