The cinema-based shenanigans of Interval
occupied page 29 in Cheeky Weekly's first issue, but the following
week the main feature of the Saturday morning picture show, the
sci-fi thriller Space Family Robinson, began a 9 week run in the
subject location, at the end of which Interval moved back in, that
particular issue being the 1977 Christmas edition.
After the festivities, the Robinsons resumed
occupation of page 29 for a marathon 25 week run, which brought them
to the conclusion of their story and saw them (spoiler alert) return
to Earth after a hazardous sojourn on an distant planet. The space
family appeared on page 29 a total of 34 times, making them the most
regular visitors to that location.
Interval
then enjoyed a 2 week page 29 run, after which the big-screen
adventures of James Bold on The Island of Fear moved in as from the
serial's 3rd
episode and ran to the conclusion of that particular adventure, which
also brought to an end Bold's Cheeky Weekly appearances, 3 weeks
later.
Taking over from Bold as the adventure serial
element of Cheeky's cinema visits as of the 12 August 1978 comic was
Archie's Angels, a tale of fearless flying reprinted from Whizzer and
Chips. Page 29 hosted the entire 6-week Angels adventure (or at least
page 2 of their debut 3-page instalment, and page 1 of each of the
subsequent 2-pagers).
Following the Angels as the thrill-providing
segment of the cinema show, and occupying page 29 a week later, was
another reprint, this time resurrected from the pages of Cor!!, the
punningly-named Sonny Storm who appeared in only one issue of the
toothy funster's title.
Interval then returned to page 29 for what was
to be a 9-issue run that concluded its appearances in the location
under review and making it the third most regular occupant of page 29
with a total of 13 visits.
In the 2 subsequent issues, dated 02 and 09
December 1978, there was no page 29, as industrial action led to the
page count being reduced from the usual 32 to 28. The industrial
troubles then evidently worsened, as Cheeky Weekly failed to appear
for 3 weeks.
It seems the dispute was resolved by
mid-to-late December, as publication resumed with the issue dated 06
January 1979, in which The Burpo Special came to rest on page 29, initiating a run in
that location which would last for 7 weeks.
Cheeky Weekly's letters page, Chit-Chat, then
took over page 29 for 2 weeks, being ousted in the 10 March 1979
edition by a returning Burpo Special, that week focusing on Krazy
Town's risible rozzer, Constable Chuckle. A week later however, Burpo
was again displaced, this time by a rather scrappily- constructed
page consisting of the answers to the Disaster Des
spot-the-difference puzzle that appeared on page 14, 2 stamp
collecting ads (“please tell your parents”), an ad for IPC's
Mickey Mouse comic which was running a competition to win a holiday
at Walt Disney World in Florida, plus a reminder to readers that
successful contributors to the Chit-Chat feature would bag £2 and a
Friend of Cheeky badge.
In the following issue the subject location
listed the 50 the lucky winners of a Smurfs LP from the competition
which had appeared in the 09 December 1978 comic, and below that list
of kids who would soon be tormenting their parents with the warblings
of the shrill-voiced blue elves, was an ad alerting readers to the
presence of a knitting pattern for Cheeky's jersey in the following
edition.
Chit-Chat came to rest on page 29 in that
special jersey issue, but in the 07 April 1979 comic it was Cheeky's
Saturday doings that were related there. 7 days later the subject
location contained instructions for assembling the Top Ten poster,
the second part of which was included in that issue, plus an ad for
that year's Cor!! Holiday Special (despite the weekly title having
ceased publication in 1974). The poster instructions were repeated on
page 29 in the next issue, but sharing the page this time was an ad
announcing that packets of Kellogg's milkshake mix were to be given
free with upcoming editions of Buster, Whoopee!, Whizzer and Chips,
Cheeky Weekly and Mickey Mouse.
Cheeky guided readers through the complexities
of assembling the Top Ten poster yet again a week later, which was
the issue containing the final section of the
(less-than-scintillating) wall adornment. Below the instructions were
2 stamp collecting ads, a reminder that cash was to be won by
contributing to the Joke-Box Jury, Paddywack and Chit-Chat pages, a
coupon enabling readers to order their Cheeky Weekly from the
newsagent and, to fill an empty space, a drawing of Snail with
associated thought balloon, placed in such a way that he was depicted
as thinking, in his own molluscy fashion, the 'cash prizes' reminder.
In the 05 May 1979 comic, with the holiday
season looming, page 29 was the site of ads for 2 more IPC Specials –
that year's Krazy (another posthumous special, Krazy - the title
which spawned our toothy pal - having bit the dust a year earlier) and
Frankie Stein summer collections.
Chit-Chat then returned for 2 weeks, being
usurped by Joke-Box Jury, after which page 29 was again given over to
ads for IPC product, this time promoting the company's newest humour title Jackpot and long-running educational mag Look and Learn.
More IPC ads were to follow in the next issue when the Buster Holiday
Special was allocated a half-page slot prominently featuring that
comic's humorous take on Jaws, Gums, below which Cheeky turned up to
announce the following week's special Disco issue of Cheeky Weekly,
and helpfully providing another coupon with which to order the comic
from your local newsagent.
The lively letters of Chit-Chat then enjoyed
another 2 week page 29 outing (on the second occasion sharing the page with an ad for IPC's piscatorial publication Angler's Mail), after which an ad for model aircraft
from the North Pacific Flyers range shared the page with yet another
announcement by Cheeky, this time informing readers that as of next week,
the Mystery Comic was to be incorporated into Cheeky Weekly, ending its run as a comic-within-a-comic (although all the Mystery Comic features would continue). Our
grinning pal was so excited by this development, together with the news that two new stories would join his comic, that on this occasion he forgot to provide a
newsagent's coupon.
Erstwhile Mystery Comic cover star, the rotund rascal Tub, finding himself freed from the constraints of the centre pages of the comic, then made his sole visit to
the subject location, sharing the site with an ad for Dunlop's
Playsport line of outdoor game equipment. It was then the turn of
Stage School to make a single appearance on page 29, after which
another pair of IPC ads turned up, this time the first Jackpot
Summer Special was promoted alongside Walt Disney's Puzzle Time.
Paddywack made his debut page 29
appearance a week later, and the 2 subsequent editions carried in the subject
location the same ad for retailer WH Smith, who were offering free
posters (although little detail was given about the content) with purchases of Corgi, Dinky and Matchbox toys.
The following week an ad for the first merged
issue of 2000AD and Tornado shared the location under review with an
ad for Freshen-Up chewing gum and more poster assemblage
instructions, this time relating to the Giant Cheeky Poster, the
first part of which, featuring our toothy pal's feet, was included
that week.
7 days later another ad appeared, this time
placed by confectioners Trebor, who were running a promotion whereby
consumers of their Double Agents boiled sweets could obtain a Double Glow Seven kit, consisting of an iron-on transfer and sheet of
stickers, both of which would glow in the dark (“tee shirt not
included in offer”).
In the 01 September 1979 comic, page 29 was the
location of another ad for IPC's Walt Disney's Puzzle Time, together
with an ad for Whizz-Kids – nothing to do with IPC's
Chips-encapsulating title, but rather a line of instructional
paperback books published by MacDonald Educational on topics such as
ponies, bikes and birdwatching (not to be carried out simultaneously,
I hasten to add).
Mustapha Million then brought his brand of
affluent adventures to the subject location for a single time, and a
week later the whole page was given over to an ad publicising the
debut issue of IPC's new footie mag, Top Soccer, which included a
free autograph album (blank, presumably).
Top Soccer was advertised again on page 29 in
the following issue, but this time the ad was reduced to a half page
which shared the site with a promotional boost for the 1980 Cheeky
Annual, the first time that year's hardback collection of Cheekiness
had been advertised in Cheeky Weekly.
The perplexing prattlings of Paddywack then
returned to the subject location for one week, after which our
mayhem-generating mate Disaster Des moved in for his single,
catastrophic visit. Paddywack then returned, but a week later was
deposed by the gagsters of Joke-Box Jury. Paddywack then fetched up
for a 3 week run that was to conclude his visits to page 29.
Chit-Chat then moved in for the 12 weeks that
remained before the toothy funster's comic was cancelled, bringing
the number of times that this reader participation feature appeared
in the subject location to 19, making it the second most regular
occupant.
Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 29
| Elements |
Total |
| Space Family Robinson 1/2 | 21 |
| Chit-Chat | 13 |
| Interval | 13 |
| Space Family Robinson 2/2 | 13 |
| The Burpo Special | 8 |
| Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC | 5 |
| Archie's Angels 1/2 | 5 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2 | 5 |
| James Bold 1/2 | 4 |
| Paddywack | 4 |
| Advertisement: IPC | 3 |
| Advertisement: WH Smith | 2 |
| Paddywack 2/2 | 2 |
| Page 29 not present | 2 |
| Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: Whiz Kids | 1 |
| Advertisement: North Pacific Flyers\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Advertisement: Trebor | 1 |
| Archie's Angels 2/3 | 1 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Disaster Des | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury 2/2 | 1 |
| Mustapha Million 2/2 | 1 |
| Poster instructions\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Saturday 2/2 | 1 |
| Smurfs competition results\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Sonny Storm 1/2 | 1 |
| Stage School 2/2 | 1 |
| Top Ten Poster instructions | 1 |
| Top Ten Poster instructions\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Tub\Advertisement: Dunlop Playsport | 1 |
