Cheeky is 34!

No, that's not his age - he will of course remain a perennial schoolkid. However our toothy pal has attained 34th place in the top 40 favourite comic characters as voted by members of the ComicScene Community facebook group. See also downthetubes.

Cheeky Annual 1979

By Christmas Day 1978, Cheeky Weekly had been missing from newsagents for three weeks, a victim of the industrial unrest which afflicted the turbulent 70s. Friends of Cheeky, deprived of that year’s Christmas edition of Cheeky Weekly, were anticipating the first Cheeky Annual which most kids would have received as a Christmas present, even more keenly than they otherwise would have been. The 128-page hardcover publication was first advertised in Cheeky Weekly dated 16 September 1978, and ads appeared in a further 2 issues before publication was suspended. The year emblazoned on the cover was one ahead of the year of publication, in keeping with the tradition. Cheeky Weekly's October 1977 launch was too late for an Annual to be issued that year.

 

As was the case with the inaugural Cheeky Summer Special, the editor wisely chooses to omit the ‘Weekly’ from the Annual cover, thus avoiding a ‘Weekly Annual’ oxymoron. The bladder retention capabilities of Walter Wurx are put to the test by our toothy hero on this rather rude cover, although the significance of Cheeky taking the P will only be apparent to those familiar with the various foibles of Cheeky’s Krazy Town pals. Snail chooses a somewhat risky vantage point from which to observe the micturition-based mirth. This very cheeky cover is a nice piece of work from Frank McDiarmid.

Easing open the front cover to avoid damage to the spine, readers are invited to enter their personal details onto the traditional ‘This book belongs to’ page, which is accompanied by what I refer to as the standard Cheeky face, an illustration of our grinning chum that has been seen many times since first appearing in the Cheeky Weekly flyer a week before the launch of the toothy funster’s own title.

 

Starting across the page is a sequence entitled ‘January with Cheeky’. Drawn by Jim Petrie and printed in colour, this opening strip leads us to suspect that within the forthcoming pages we are to enjoy a full year with the grinning gagster, making this literally a Cheeky Annual. As with the first Cheeky Summer Special, the marginless page design harks back to Cheeky’s Krazy origins. During the course of this 4-page strip, Cheeky swaps gags with a selection of his chums while wandering the snowy Krazy Town streets. In the final panel Cheeky addresses the audience, ‘I hope you enjoy the stories we’ve got for you now – I’ll see you in a few pages time, in February’. So it seems this is the extent of the framing of the ensuing pages (the use of framing devices to make each issue of Cheeky Weekly into an ongoing narrative was a unique feature of the weekly comic).

 

Art: Jim Petrie

Jim Petrie’s work in Cheeky Weekly was limited to cut-out features The1978 Diary (December 1977) and The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun (January 1978).

The colour printing continues over the page, as frenetic dog, cat and bird antics play out. Bam Splat and Blooie, reprinted from Buster, fulfilled the role of the animated cartoon enjoyed by Cheeky and pals on their weekly trip to the cinema in the regular comic, but their final appearance there was in the issue dated 17 June 1978 (although some Bamming, Splatting and a not insignificant amount of Blooie was in evidence in the first Cheeky Summer Special). This is a full-page adventure rather than the half-page stories reprinted in Cheeky Weekly, so this particular strip may have been sourced from a Buster Book rather than the weekly comic. On the following page, B,S & B’s erstwhile Cheeky Weekly cartoon-representing colleague, the gluttonous fowl Cocky Doodle (another resurrection from vintage issues of Buster or Buster Book), also enjoys a full page colour outing which concerns his visit to the zoo in search of sustenance.

 

I don't know who the artist is.
Surely Blooie should have
been blue?

Turning to page 9 it’s a little disappointing to see that the 8-page (including the cover) run of colour features has come to an end, as Mustapha Million takes to his bed with a chill in a 4-page set drawn by Joe McCaffrey. At this point in Cheeky Weekly, Joe was occasionally deputising for original Mustapha artist Reg Parlett. In this story our middle-eastern mate commands his servant to provide amusements to entertain him while indisposed, among which are a pile of comics. A copy of Whizzer and Chips is seen, partially obscuring what is probably an issue of Whoopee! lacking its exclamation mark, but surprisingly no Cheeky Weekly is on view. Unlike Mustapha’s weekly appearances at this point, there is no attempt to frame his Annual outing with the ‘search for the Mystery Comic’ device.

 

Art: Joe McCaffrey, who includes a depiction of the iconic Test Card F
with which kids throwing a sickie during the 70s were very familiar

By the end of the tale Mustapha is feeling chipper (and possibly a bit whizzy), following which Cheeky is back with the promised 4 pages of February fun, literally kicking off with his encounter with the Goalie Cat. This 4-page sequence includes a surprise appearance of Short-Sighted Dustman whose brief, 4-appearance run in Cheeky Weekly concluded in the 14 January 1978 edition. Kudos to Jim Petrie for researching the character design.

Jim again

 

Cheeky signs off for now, telling us he’ll be back later, but he doesn’t introduce Skateboard Squad (who follow over the page) as he does in his weekly comic.

Jimmy Hansen, the regular Squad artist in the weekly, does the honours on this 4-page set. The first panel would seem to tie in with the preceding Cheeky ‘February’ section, as the Squad complain of the cold as they travel (on their boards, naturally) to the school basketball match, where they take on and (spoiler alert) triumph over the visiting team of big kids.

Following this brief basketball battle, we’re back with the toothy funster who treats us to 4 pages of March mirth, before saying he’ll see us (predictably) in April.

The dusty IPC archives are again the source of the strip on page 24, as Ringer Dinger, last seen in the 1978 Cheeky Summer Special, is exhumed from the resting place of ancient comics. The employment of previously published material can be problematic if the page height/width ratio of the title in which it originally appeared differs from that in which it is to be re-used. Sometimes an artist would be tasked with re-sizing the original drawing by expanding some of the frames to better fit the page, but this often unbalanced the original artist’s design, making the alterations highly visible. It’s clear from the way Ringer Dinger is presented here, that the page sizes of Whizzer and Chips (where Dinger originated) were out of whack with the Annual. However, the strategy in this case is to leave the strip itself untouched from its original appearance, but to enlarge the Ringer Dinger title, then add a title for the story (in this case ‘Putt-ing on the Style’). This ploy works reasonably well and is certainly preferable to re-sizing.

Art: Terry Bave

 

The following page demonstrates another strategy for handling different-page-size-ratio reprints. The double-entendre-titled Biddy’s Beastly Bloomers was not, as smutty-minded readers no doubt assumed, a strip about a young lady’s unsavoury undergarments, but instead a tale concerning the owner of some frightful flowers. Biddy’s original run appeared in Shiver and Shake, as documented by Irmantas. The ‘story so far’ caption with which the Biddy strip on page 25 of this Cheeky Annual commences suggests that this is not in fact her debut from Shiver and Shake.

Unlike Ringer Dinger, whose initial appearances featured a banner-style title panel extending across the whole of the page, Biddy had a single title panel on the first row. Thus the ‘enlarge the title panel’ ruse will not work here. The preparation of this reprint has seen the title panel being excised, and a new title positioned across the top of the page, creating something that looks extremely odd. Again, we have to be grateful that no re-sizing of the artwork has been carried out, but why leave the first panel blank? An easy solution would have been to assign an individual title to each story (in the same manner as was done with Dinger) to fill the space created by removal of the original title. As it is, the page looks very slipshod and unprofessional. I’m surprised it was allowed to appear this way.

Art: Sid Burgon

 

Over the page, with no ‘Cheeky rushing home to watch the latest instalment’ intro as there would be in Cheeky Weekly, we are treated to an episode of 6 Million Dollar Gran. We know it’s a TV episode because it uses the same cathode ray tube title panel design as is seen in the regular comic. Pete Pott’s opening remark links the tale to the March that Cheeky experienced a few pages earlier. Gran’s line in that same panel serves as a subtle hint as to her robotic nature, for the benefit of kids who receive the Annual for Christmas but are not readers of the toothy funster’s comic. Gran’s creator, Professor Potts, then tells the synthetic senior citizen that she must take a trip to the north pole, after which she gives another clue as to her real origin.

Nigel Edwards is the artist for this Gran 4-pager. Nigel had by Christmas 1978 deputised on 4 occasions in Cheeky Weekly for regular artist Ian Knox. Gran’s icy escapade concludes without the Cheeky-watching-the-closing-credits-on-TV panel which is customary in his weekly comic.

 

Art: Nigel Edwards
More comics on view, but non-specific this time

 

Also lacking its usual for Cheeky Weekly introduction is a 2-page Home Movie, although that title is not applied here. Instead Oscar’s latest filmic flop is entitled Robin Hood or How Not To Make a Movie (the alternate title being another hint to those unfamiliar with the young director’s output, who would otherwise wonder what’s supposed to be going on). Jack Clayton, the regular Home Movie artist, provides the visuals, although the strip had come to an end in the weekly issue dated 10 June 1978, but had appeared in the 1978 Summer Special.

On page 32 we join Cheeky again as he progresses through April with the usual collection of corny jokes.

More Jim
April Fool's Day in 1979 was indeed a Sunday

 

Then we’re treated to a rare instance of seeing the grinning gagster as rendered by Sid Burgon, as we enter the Cartoon Gallery - a nice way of presenting a collection of single-panel gags, which could otherwise just have been a filler consisting of a random set of gags from the archives. This wasn't the first time Sid had depicted our punning pal.

 

Art: Sid Burgon

 

The next sequence is entitled Baby Burpo Strikes, as the terrifying toddler announces that he’s going to take over from Cheeky. Over the course of the 2 pages allocated to this feature, Burpo does indeed proceed to engage in gags with a selection of Krazy Town folk in the manner usually essayed by our toothy chum. This set, drawn by Jim Petrie, ends with Cheeky unaware that his role has been usurped, and Burpo promising he will taker over again later.

IPC’s overflowing filing cabinets are again the source of the feature on the next page as Soggy the Sea Monster drifts into view in an adventure first seen in the pages of Shiver and Shake. The editor can’t seem to decide on a standard method of preparing reprint strips which originally had a banner-style title. Unlike the similarly-bannered Ringer Dinger, where the reprint on page 24 was allocated a story title in order to use up some of the blank space and allow the strip to fill the width of the page, no such courtesy has been afforded poor old Soggy, whose recycled adventure is shorn of its original title, then just plonked in the middle of the page and surrounded by Letratone. Not quite as egregious as Biddy’s treatment, but could have been better.

 

Art: Robert Nixon

 

Speaking of the lad with the troublesome telephone, Dinger returns on page 41 with a chronicle of canine confusion. The reprint has been handled in the relatively sympathetic way as was his previous appearance, and the story has been given the title ‘It’s a Dog’s Life’.

We then spend time (amounting to 4 pages) with Cheeky and pals as they enjoy merriment in May. Among the folk encountering our toothy pal is the TelephonePole Man, whose final Cheeky Weekly appearance was in the 24 June 1978 issue, although he was seen again (but not by Cheeky who remains puzzled as to who calls a phone box just as he’s passing) in the 1978 Cheeky Summer Special.

Jim

 

There then follows another 4-page strip entitled The “Girls”, wherein the female contingent of Cheeky’s Krazy Town pals are to the fore. This feature is drawn by Jim Watson, who delivered some Cheeky’s Week art in the regular comic between the issues dated 11 February and 10 June 1978 (and also had an old strip of his reprinted in the 16 September 1978 edition).

 

The "Girls" - Art: Jim Watson

Jim clearly took Frank McDiarmid's renditions of Lily Pop as printed in Cheeky Weekly dated 05 November 1977 as his inspiration.

Cheeky Weekly 05 November 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Page 50 sees the commencement of a feature completely unrelated to Cheeky; entitled Moon Loon, it’s a comedic tale describing how Britain landed the first man on the lunar surface a year before Neil Armstrong impressed his boot upon the regolith encrusting our orbiting neighbour. The 6 page set is illustrated by Paul Ailey.

A filler follows in the form of that old favourite (of editors, at least), the ‘spot the similarities page’. The subject of this one is Cheeky’s slithering sidekick, Snail, 12 versions of whom are on display, three of which (we are told) are identical. The images of the mirthful mollusc are based on that which accompanied the name snail competition in Cheeky Weekly dated 11 February 1978.

There’s a welcome return of colour on page 57 as Cheeky embarks on June jests and japes with the folk of Krazy Town. This 4-page sequence ends, as we have come to expect. with our grinning chum telling us he’ll see us again in July.

Mustapha Million then gets a second outing, this time in colour and concerning his attempts to revive the fortunes of a hopeless football team. Some of the methods Mustapha uses to boost the players’ fitness (setting ferocious dogs on them to make them run, dunking them in cold water if they fail to stop or score a goal) are a little at odds with the caring fellow we know from the weekly, but the team win their next match, so everyone is happy at the conclusion of the 3-page episode drawn by Joe McCaffrey.

On page 64 we witness the opening of The Robot Olympics, in which 4 mechanical athletes are vying for medals, including an R2-D2-resemblant contestant who’s not particularly sporting in his quest for victory. Things would have turned out differently if Gran had been among the competitors during the 4-page colour set illustrated by Alan Rogers, who would go on to provide more robot-based fun in the Cheeky Annuals 1984 and 85.

Art:Alan Rogers
I like the robot equivalent of the Olympic rings

 

Over the page Bam, Splat and Blooie return, and like their first appearance it’s in colour. The strip ends rather violently with Bam (dog) about to feed Splat (cat) into a mincing machine, but thankfully we’re spared a full-colour rendition of the outcome. On this occasion the tussling trio share the page (and the colour printing) with a returning Cocky Doodle, whose tale concludes with his feathers being blasted off by a shotgun-wielding farmer.

After these rather disturbing events, it’s a relief to return to the relative peace of Krazy Town and witness July’s selection of funnies with Cheeky and pals. The 4 page sequence is rendered in full colour. At the end of the set Cheeky tells us that next month he’ll be holidaying at Sludgepool-on-Sea. This is the final colour set for now.

Next up is a ‘silent’ gag under the title Tim’ll Fix It (a play, from our current perspective an unfortunate one, on the TV series Jim’ll Fix It).

 

I don't know who the artist is.

 

Following this is a feature entitled ‘The Doors are Open’ which is the catchphrase of Cheeky Weekly regular, the Commissionaire. Or at least that would be his catchphrase if the stampeding cinema audience didn’t always trample him before he could complete the announcement. Apart from the cover and This Book Belongs To, this is the first work by Frank McDiarmid to be seen in the Annual. It’s likely, in view of what seems to be some altered text in the opening speech balloon, the reference to Cheeky Weekly, the lack of margins and the gap at the bottom of the page, that this feature was originally intended to appear in Krazy as a Cheeky’s Pal strip, in which the unfortunate cinema worker never appeared. Burpo introduces the subject of the strip for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the toothy funster’s weekly comic, who would have been Krazy readers if the strip was published as I suspect was originally intended - Commissionaire was linked to Cheeky's weekly trip to the cinema in his own comic, an event which never featured in Krazy. The Cheeky's Pal strips eventually evolved into The Burpo Special which commenced in Cheeky Weekly dated 09 December 1978. The reference by Burpo, by means of some altered text, to a Burpo Special in this Annual therefore prefigured the strip's appearance in the Weekly.

Commissionaire made his final Cheeky Weekly appearance in his role of doorman in the issue dated 02 December 1978, although he was the subject of the Pin-Up Pal poster in the 17 March 1979 edition.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

 

Over the page is another encounter with the telephonic tearaway, Ringer Dinger. The inevitable confusion ensues when, keen to assist with his dad’s podiatry problem, the young lad dials ‘corn’, and a scythe-wielding bumpkin appears. This tale, which is adjusted in the same way as previously in the Annual, is allocated the title, ‘A Slice of Bad Luck’.

Another Letratone-bound Soggy the Sea Monster reprint follows, which begins with the lovable leviathan complaining that the sea is cold, which could put the story somewhat at odds with the July/August weather that Krazy Town is experiencing at this point in the Annual, except that there is no indication in Soggy’s story of whereabouts in the world the watery events are unfolding.

We’re subjected to a multitude of molars on page 77, as 6 Cheeky ‘standard faces’ grin out at us, rather disconcertingly having been flipped sideways. Yes, it’s another ‘spot the similarities’ filler entitled Double Trouble, from which you’ll have guessed that only two of the teeth-packed fizzogs are identical (answer on page 110).

As promised, over the page our gagster chum commences his August seaside holiday (it’s a pity this sequence couldn’t have been set in July which would have allowed it to benefit from colour printing). It seems the folk of Krazy Town all share the same holiday destination each year; just as Cheeky’s pals descended on Cockleshell-on-Sea in the 1978 Cheeky Summer Special, they are present en masse in Sludgepool-on-Sea in this Annual (we know from the earlier April with Cheeky set that this Annual depicts events occurring in 1979). Having said that, Lily Pop is not in evidence in this 4-page feature.

Krazy Town’s belligerent baby is back on page 82 in a 2-pager entitled Baby Burpo Strikes Again, making good on his promise earlier in the Annual and once again taking on Cheeky’s role as gagster-in-chief (in the process managing to get a can past Goalie Cat – a considerable achievement).

Without the usual preamble that would precede it in Cheeky Weekly, a Creepy Sleepy Tale then unfolds over the next 4 pages. Drawn by Keith Reynolds, who was the artist for the majority of the CSTs to appear in the regular comic, the story relates how schoolboy Spike Miggiligoon blows himself up in a chemistry lesson, and afterwards in spectral form torments those around him. There is a scene in a theatrical agent’s office where, among the photos of his showbiz clients, we see a familiar toothy grin.

 

Art: Keith Reynolds

 

The now-deracinated Bloomers are next up, and the fearsome flowers crash a wedding reception in search of grub. This reprint is presented with a missing title panel as was Biddy's earlier escapade.

The leaves are falling as Cheeky embarks on his 4-page round of September silliness.

Wipe-Out’s skateboard skills bring him to the attention of a pair of ne’er-do-wells who kidnap the canine wonder and force him to work in a circus in the Skateboard Squad story which follows. Despite being adjacent to Cheeky’s September sequence, there is no introduction to the strip by Cheeky, which there would be in the weekly comic. Unlike the previous Squad strip in this Annual, this time their adventure is drawn by Paul Ailey. Needless to say, by the end of this 4-page tale, the terrific trio are reunited.

Now it’s October in Krazy Town and the inevitable 4 pages of fun with the toothy funster follow.

Gran turns crime-buster in the next set, as she hunts down a gang of crooks. As with her earlier adventure in this Annual, there is no Cheeky-watching-TV introduction on the preceding page. However, unlike Gran’s previous ‘79 Annual outing, which featured the same title panel as used in Cheeky Weekly, this strip carries a banner title and the name name 6,000,000$ Gran (someone seeming not to be aware of the convention of placing the currency symbol before the numerals). The title presents me with something of a quandary - should I record this anomalous entry in the Gran canon with its title as shown and thus risk failing to find it when running queries against my database? I decide to record it as 6 Million Dollar Gran. The synthetic senior citizen would of course later be known as $6,000.000 Gran at the commencement of her Whoopee! career. Nigel Edwards supplies the art again.

 

Art: Nigel Edwards

There’s a change to the presentation of the next Biddy’s Beastly Bloomers reprint – someone has realised that filling the space where the original title panel resided would be a good idea, and the page certainly looks much better this way.

 

Art: Sid Burgon

 

Following the herbaceous horrors, we’re back on the streets of Krazy Town to enjoy 4 pages of the toothy funster’s finest November witticisms.

The hapless handyman then returns to fix a broken curtain pole in the second and final Tim’ll Fix It on page 110.

James Bold, fearless investigator of the uncanny, had been one of the adventure strips in Cheeky Weekly, where his eerie adventures were framed within our grinning pal’s universe by being presented as a series of books which were read by the jersey-sporting japester or, in the case of Bold’s final investigation, a film series presented as part of the Saturday morning pictures sequence. Bold’s Cheeky Weekly run had concluded in the issue dated 05 August 1978, but the editor clearly felt that Annual readers would appreciate a helping of horror, so the sleuth of the supernatural is pitted against The Phantom in the bumper 10-page tale which follows. The story relates the terrifying plight of young Mike Foster…

I don't know who the artist is

Luckily for the youthful kidnap victim, James Bold is a friend of his dad’s, so the implacable investigator soon arrives at the island, along with his assistant Angel O’Mercy, in search of the youngster. The tale is very similar to the majority of those in Cheeky Weekly as it turns out that (spoiler alert) the ‘supernatural’ events are all faked. There is evidence that some of the Bold stories which were published in Cheeky’s comic were based on scripts originally written as Maxwell Hawke adventures that appeared in Buster, but I don’t know if that’s the case here. Regardless of the origin of the script, it’s pleasing that the editor, who could have resorted to a reprint to fulfil the requirement for an adventure story (as was the case with the 1978 Cheeky Summer Special), instead chose to include a feature prepared specifically for this Annual.

After the monochrome gloom of Castle Zarnoff it’s a relief to turn to the next page and witness a resumption of full colour as Cocky Doodle mistakes the artificial fruit on a lady’s hat for some real grub. Sharing the page with the ravenous rooster are Bam, Splat (seemingly fully recovered from his earlier mincer incident) and Blooie.

The search for a Christmas tree is occupying young Dinger over the page (very appropriate as we approach Cheeky’s December doings), in a story reprinted in colour and with a retrofitted title of ‘A Christmas Tree-t’. Then Soggy also benefits from colour for his third and final page in this Annual, and the preparation of this adventure for reprinting is more pleasing than the earlier two, as the strip occupies more of the page. Unlike Dinger, our behemoth buddy is not enjoying a Christmas-related escapade. Irmantas tells us that the final Soggy strip of his original run in Shiver and Shake was in the issue dated 16 February 1974. The Sogster squelched into the very first issue of S&S, dated 10 March 1973, so there was one opportunity, in December 1973, to involve our seaborne chum in a festive adventure. However, that opportunity was not taken as, in the Christmas S&S of that year, dated 29 December, there was no seasonal element in Soggy’s story. Therefore the Cheeky Annual editor was unable to source a festive Soggy tale from the cobweb-draped IPC archives.

 

Art: Robert Nixon

Seasonal concerns are very much on the mind of Cheeky, who we then join in December on page 124. This 4 pager is in colour and sees the culmination of a joke that has been running (or hopping) through the monthly Cheeky strips, wherein Baby Burpo was seen travelling on a pogo stick (a present he received for Christmas the previous year), terrorising Cheeky and pals. In December, fatigued after a year of use, the stick breaks but the kind folk of Krazy Town have a collection to raise the cash for a new springy conveyance, bringing the Annual to a suitably heart-warming conclusion.

 

Jim

 

Jim signs off

 

The back cover is a duplicate of the front.

This is a very nice first outing for Cheeky in Annual form. The monthly nature of the main Cheeky sequences mirrors the weekly format of his regular comic and is very apt for a once-a-year publication. It’s a pity that Frank McDiarmid wasn’t able to contribute more, but he was providing considerable amounts of work to Cheeky Weekly so was clearly unable to spare the time. Jim Petrie does a great job on the Cheeky pages in this Annual. Jim did deliver some Cheeky artwork in the weekly (the Diary and Spotter Book of Fun), but he never drew any Cheeky’s Week elements. However he handles Cheeky’s Year in fine style, capturing the zany feel that we associate with Frank’s version of Krazy Town. I think that, of all the artists who drew Cheeky and chums, Jim’s is the closest to Frank’s vision. It must have been very daunting for Jim when he undertook this project, as he would have had to research the character designs of the many funny folk who our toothy pal encountered over 12 months and 48 pages, plus a further 4 pages of Baby Burpo.

One aspect of the weekly comic that’s not reflected in the Annual are the framing devices. Whereas there was some attempt at framing in the 1978 Cheeky Summer Special, no such effort was made here.

There are a total of 130 elements in this Annual (128 pages, but 2 pages each consisting of 2 strips). 16 of those elements are reprints, making a total reprint percentage of 12.31. That’s an improvement on the Cheeky Summer Special 1978’s 33% reprinted content. However, Cheeky Annual 1979 cost £1.10 (or 1.10£ if you’re the person who designed the title for Gran’s story on page 101) for 128 pages = .0085p per page, whereas the regular comic dated 25 November 1978 cost 9p for 32 pages = .0028p per page, so readers (or more likely their parents) were paying a considerable premium to spend a year with their wisecracking chum, although to be fair there are no adverts in the Annual, it has board covers, more substantial paper than the weekly and 32 colour pages.

Overall, though this is a nice package, and I'm sure it was well received by Friends of Cheeky. As mentioned earlier, Annuals were traditionally given as Christmas presents, and generous Aunts, Uncles and other relatives would descend on newsagents to select Annuals for their youngsters in the family although in many cases without knowledge of which weekly comics the recipients favoured. Annuals were thus something of a showcase for the weeklies they represented, and if kids unfamiliar with the title liked an Annual, they may have been persuaded to start reading the regular comic on which it was based. It's therefore a little surprising that IPC didn't include some sort of ad for Cheeky Weekly. However, most kids who regularly haunted their local newsagent would have known the names of all the comics spread enticingly across the counter.

Which features in the Annual had concluded in Cheeky Weekly by the time of the Annual’s publication? I’m assuming the Annual was published on 01 September 1978 for the purposes of the following comparisons with the weekly comic.

Cheeky Annual 1979 Features ending earlier in Cheeky Weekly

Cheeky Annual 1979 Feature	Cheeky Weekly Dates
Home Movie	22-Oct-77 to 10-Jun-78
Creepy Sleepy Tale	22-Oct-77 to 26-Aug-78
Bam Splat and Blooie	29-Oct-77 to 17-Jun-78
Cocky Doodle	29-Oct-77 to 04-Mar-78
James Bold	22-Oct-77 to 05-Aug-78

 ...there had been a minor revision of the weekly's contents in June/July 1978.

 

Which Annual features were currently running?

Cheeky Annual 1979 Features Currently running in Cheeky Weekly

Cheeky Annual 1979 Feature	Cheeky Weekly Dates
6 Million Dollar Gran	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Mustapha Million	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Skateboard Squad	22-Oct-77 to 12-May-79

Which features were current in Cheeky Weekly but not included in the Annual?

Features Currently running in Cheeky Weekly but not in Cheeky Annual 1979

Cheeky Weekly Feature	Cheeky Weekly Dates
Archie's Angels	12-Aug-78 to 16-Sep-78
Calculator Kid	01-Jul-78 to 02-Feb-80
Cover Feature	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Easter Monday	01-Apr-78 to 21-Apr-79
Friday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Interval	22-Oct-77 to 02-Dec-78
Joke-Box Jury	10-Dec-77 to 02-Feb-80
Monday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Paddywack	08-Jul-78 to 26-Jan-80
Pin-up pal	22-Oct-77 to 31-Mar-79
Saturday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Sunday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Sunday evening	22-Oct-77 to 23-Sep-78
Teacher's Teasers	26-Aug-78 to 23-Sep-78
Thursday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Tuesday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
Tweety and Sylvester	21-Jan-78 to 02-Dec-78
Wednesday	22-Oct-77 to 02-Feb-80
What a Cheek	22-Oct-77 to 23-Sep-78
What's New, Kids	22-Oct-77 to 17-Nov-79
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?	24-Jun-78 to 30-Sep-78

...Calculator Kid and Paddywack, both of whom would go on to become stalwarts of the toothy funster's comic, were introduced into the weekly in early July '78 which was, because of the lead time required for preparation of Annuals, too late to be considered for inclusion into this Annual.

Which Annual features would run later in the regular comic? 

Cheeky Annual 1979 Features running later in Cheeky Weekly

Cheeky Annual 1979 Feature	Cheeky Weekly Dates
Ringer Dinger	06-Oct-79 to 02-Feb-80
Soggy the Sea Monster	17-Nov-79 to 02-Feb-80

 

Which Annual features never appeared in Cheeky Weekly?

Cheeky Annual 1979 Features never running in Cheeky Weekly

Cheeky Annual 1979 Feature

All Snails Are Alike?

April with Cheeky

August with Cheeky

Baby Burpo Strikes

Baby Burpo Strikes Again

Back Cover

Biddy's Beastly Bloomers

Cartoon Gallery

Cover

December with Cheeky

Double Trouble

February with Cheeky

January with Cheeky

July with Cheeky

June with Cheeky

March with Cheeky

May with Cheeky

Moon Loon

November with Cheeky

October with Cheeky

September with Cheeky

The "Girls"

The Doors Are Open

The Robot Olympics

This Book Belongs To

Tim'll Fix It

I'm grateful to the scanner of the Annual pages shown here - I didn't want to damage my own copy by scanning it.

Cheeky Annual 1979 Reprint Feature Elements by %

Total Feature Elements	Original Feature Elements	Reprint Feature Elements	Reprint %
130	114	16	12.31

 

 

 

	Cheeky Annual 1979 - published September 1978
Page	Details
1	Cover 'Ha-P-py Xmas' - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	This Book Belongs To - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	January with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
4	January with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
5	January with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
6	January with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
7	Bam Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster
8	Cocky Doodle reprint from Buster
9	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
10	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
11	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
12	February with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
13	February with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
14	February with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
15	February with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
16	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
17	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
18	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
19	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
20	March with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
21	March with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
22	March with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
23	March with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
24	Ringer Dinger reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Putt-ing on the Style' - Art Terry Bave
25	Biddy's Beastly Bloomers reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Sid Burgon
26	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
27	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
28	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
29	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
30	Home Movie 'Robin Hood' - Art Jack Clayton
31	Home Movie 'Robin Hood' - Art Jack Clayton
32	April with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
33	April with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
34	April with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
35	April with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
36	Cartoon Gallery - Art Sid Burgon
37	Cartoon Gallery - Art Sid Burgon
38	Baby Burpo Strikes - Art Jim Petrie
39	Baby Burpo Strikes - Art Jim Petrie
40	Soggy the Sea Monster reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Robert Nixon
41	Ringer Dinger reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'It's A Dog's Life' - Art Terry Bave
42	May with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
43	May with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
44	May with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
45	May with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
46	The "Girls" - Art Jim Watson
47	The "Girls" - Art Jim Watson
48	The "Girls" - Art Jim Watson
49	The "Girls" - Art Jim Watson
50	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
51	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
52	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
53	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
54	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
55	Moon Loon - Art Paul Ailey
56	All Snails Are Alike?
57	June with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
58	June with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
59	June with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
60	June with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
61	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
62	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
63	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
64	The Robot Olympics - Art Alan Rogers
65	The Robot Olympics - Art Alan Rogers
66	The Robot Olympics - Art Alan Rogers
67	The Robot Olympics - Art Alan Rogers
68	Bam Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster\Cocky Doodle reprint from Buster
69	July with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
70	July with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
71	July with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
72	July with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
73	Tim'll Fix It
74	The Doors Are Open - Art Frank McDiarmid
75	Ringer Dinger reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'A Slice Of Bad Luck' - Art Terry Bave
76	Soggy the Sea Monster reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Robert Nixon
77	Double Trouble - Art Frank McDiarmid
78	August with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
79	August with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
80	August with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
81	August with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
82	Baby Burpo Strikes Again - Art Jim Petrie
83	Baby Burpo Strikes Again - Art Jim Petrie
84	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
85	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
86	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
87	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
88	Biddy's Beastly Bloomers reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Sid Burgon
89	September with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
90	September with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
91	September with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
92	September with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
93	Skateboard Squad - Art Paul Ailey
94	Skateboard Squad - Art Paul Ailey
95	Skateboard Squad - Art Paul Ailey
96	Skateboard Squad - Art Paul Ailey
97	October with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
98	October with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
99	October with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
100	October with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
101	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
102	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
103	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
104	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
105	Biddy's Beastly Bloomers reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Sid Burgon
106	November with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
107	November with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
108	November with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
109	November with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
110	Tim'll Fix It
111	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
112	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
113	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
114	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
115	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
116	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
117	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
118	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
119	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
120	James Bold 'vs The Phantom'
121	Cocky Doodle reprint from Buster\Bam Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster
122	Ringer Dinger reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'A Christmas Tree-t' - Art Terry Bave
123	Soggy the Sea Monster reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Robert Nixon
124	December with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
125	December with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
126	December with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
127	December with Cheeky - Art Jim Petrie
128	Back Cover 'Ha-P-py Xmas' - Art Frank McDiarmid