RIP Jimmy Hansen

Sorry to read on Lew Stringer's Blimey! blog that Jimmy Hansen has died. Jimmy drew Skateboard Squad and later Speed Squad as well as a number of the Cheeky's Week elements in Cheeky Weekly, plus a one-off Disaster Des strip when he stood in for Des' regular artist Mike Lacey. Jimmy's work always had a lot of energy, particularly suited to the Squad strips, featuring comically-exaggerated facial expressions and bodily movements which contributed to the lively feel.

The Other Cheeky Artists – Jimmy Hansen

This unexpectedly late entry in the Other Cheeky Artists series is the result of my decision to reassign some Cheeky's Week artwork credits from Mike Lacey to Jimmy Hansen.

Jimmy Hansen had been the regular artist on Skateboard Squad since Cheeky Weekly's first issue. The Squad's adventures came to an end in the comic dated 12 May 1979, but Jimmy would return to drawing the characters when they adopted their new guise of Speed Squad two weeks later. Jimmy's first Cheeky's Week work appeared a week after Skateboard Squad came to an end. In that first post-Skateboard Squad issue, cover-dated 19 May 1979, Jimmy's art appeared in two Thursday elements. My guess is that, possibly due to a failure to communicate to Frank McDiarmid the news of the Skateboard Squad's termination, Frank's original Thursday page included a final panel that introduced the sensational skateboarders, as he had done many times before. Jimmy provided a substitute final panel and, appropriately given his long association with the Squad, he also furnished a half page teaser strip in which the toothy funster attempted to determine what the terrific trio were up to.

Jimmy Hansen's first Cheeky's Week work - final panel.
The rest of the page is drawn by Frank McDiarmid
Cheeky Weekly 19 May 1979

Continuation of Thursday from the same issue.
Art: Jimmy Hansen

The following week, in addition to illustrating Speed Squad's one-and-a-half page debut, Jimmy provided artwork on four Cheeky's Week pages. There was no further Cheeky's Week art from Jimmy until the comic dated 15 September 1979, in which Mr H delivered four more elements featuring our grinning pal.

In Cheeky Weekly dated 06 October 1979 Jimmy drew another four pages of Cheeky fun, and the edition dated 20 October 1979 contained Jimmy's final Cheeky's Week work, amounting to four elements plus the front cover encounter between the toothy funster and Manhole Man.

Jimmy's final Cheeky's Week page.
Cheeky Weekly 20 October 1979

In total Jimmy delivered 18 Cheeky's Week elements, plus one front cover. During his tenure as a Cheeky's Week artist, Jimmy also drew Speed Squad, which he continued to do after his Cheeky's Week contributions ended.

Cover Date	Page	Element	Artist
19-MAY-79	23	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
19-MAY-79	24	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	6	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	9	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	12	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	7	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	10	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	18	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	22	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	26	Friday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	30	Saturday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	31	Saturday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	7	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	10	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	18	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen

The Mike Lacey and Jimmy Hansen Crisis! Part 6 - Resolution!

Following my previous post, I have completed my re-evaluation of all the artwork that I previously attributed to Mike Lacey. This was an interesting project as my realisation that the work displayed in the link above wasn't Mike's enabled me to look at artwork that I have studied many times before in a new light. As a result the artwork credits associated with 130 Cheeky Weekly elements have been changed.

The question of course is, if these elements were not drawn by Mike Lacey, who was the artist? As discussed earlier in this series, the similarity of Jimmy Hansen's style on The Bumpkin Billionaires in the late 1980s to that of Mike's was what alerted me to the possible mis-attribution, and the very helpful comments from some readers of this blog also made it clear that the two artist's styles had been hard to distinguish for some time. Thus, my best guess is that Jimmy is the artist in question.

There were 2 episodes of Speed Squad that always seemed to me to be by an artist other than the regular one (who I now believe to be Jimmy) although I couldn't identify who was responsible, and therefore they remained uncredited. While studying these particular stories again, I came to the conclusion that the mystery artist is Colin Whittock, so I have updated these database entries as well.

This re-attribution of artwork credits has necessitated updates to the following posts...

• The Features - Skateboard Squad
• The Features - Speed Squad
• Cheeky Weekly Index
• Cheeky Weekly Artist Index
• Cheeky's Week artist roundup
• Cheeky's Week - Artists by issue and % 
• The Features - Pin-Up Pal
• Cheeky Weekly cover date 19 May 1979
• Cheeky Weekly cover date 26 May 1979

I have also tried to capture and update any sundry mentions of Mike, that I now believe to be Jimmy.

What I haven't yet done is re-generate any of the tables in the affected issue summary posts, aside from the 2 indicated above (these were the first two issues in which Jimmy contributed to Cheeky's Week  - I have yet to do a post about the third). Please accept my apologies for this. I've been aware for some time that I need to assign presently uncredited episodes of Creepy Sleepy Tale to Keith Reynolds, so I'll wait until I've done that before embarking on a mass update to the issue summary posts. UPDATE 17 November 2018 - I have now updated all the 'contents' tables in the issue summary posts covering Cheeky Weekly issues 1 to 96. This means that the contents now show Keith as the artist on the CST elements that he drew, and also Jimmy Hansen as the Skateboard Squad and Speed Squad artist for this run of comics. The summaries for issue 97 onward have shown the correct artist details for Speed Squad so they don't need amending.

For reference, these are the 128 130 131 135 136 (see below) Cheeky Weekly elements that I now believe were drawn by Jimmy...

(Update 04 October 2017 - I have now realised that when reassigning artwork credits from Mike Lacy to Jimmy Hansen I missed Jimmy's work on the 16 June 1979 Cheeky Hustle booklet, so have revised the table below to include those pages) 

Update 03 September 2020 - Reattributed the 'Skateboarders! Super News' artwork on the cover of the 28 January 1978 issue from Mike Lacey to Jimmy Hansen - I'd missed this when revising the credits back in 2016.

Update 06 September 2020 - Reattributed the 'Skateboard Issue' artwork on the cover, and the Skateboard Snap game, in the 04 February 1978 issue from Mike Lacey to Jimmy Hansen - I'd missed this when revising the credits back in 2016.

Update 15 September 2020 - Reattributed the 'Great News for Skateboarders' artwork on the cover of the 29 April 1978 issue from Mike Lacey to Jimmy Hansen - I'd missed this when revising the credits back in 2016.

CCD_DATE	CPE_PAGE	CE.CE_ELEMENT||''||CST.CST_STORY_TITLE	CP_NAME
22-OCT-77	4	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
29-OCT-77	4	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
05-NOV-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
12-NOV-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
19-NOV-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
26-NOV-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
03-DEC-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
10-DEC-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
17-DEC-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
24-DEC-77	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
31-DEC-77	4	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
07-JAN-78	4	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
14-JAN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
21-JAN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
28-JAN-78	1	Cover Feature Skateboarders! Super News	Jimmy Hansen
28-JAN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	1	Cover Feature Skateboard Issue	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	2	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	16	Skateboard Snap	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	17	Skateboard Snap	Jimmy Hansen
04-FEB-78	32	Skateboard Snap	Jimmy Hansen
11-FEB-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
18-FEB-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
25-FEB-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-MAR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
11-MAR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
18-MAR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
25-MAR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
01-APR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
08-APR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
15-APR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
22-APR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
29-APR-78	1	Cover Feature Great news for skateboarders	Jimmy Hansen
29-APR-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
06-MAY-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
13-MAY-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
20-MAY-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
27-MAY-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
03-JUN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
10-JUN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
17-JUN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
24-JUN-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
01-JUL-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
08-JUL-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
15-JUL-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
22-JUL-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
29-JUL-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
05-AUG-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
12-AUG-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
19-AUG-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
26-AUG-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
02-SEP-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
09-SEP-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
16-SEP-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
23-SEP-78	3	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
30-SEP-78	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
07-OCT-78	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
14-OCT-78	10	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
21-OCT-78	10	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
28-OCT-78	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-NOV-78	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
11-NOV-78	10	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
18-NOV-78	10	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
25-NOV-78	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
02-DEC-78	9	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
09-DEC-78	19	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
06-JAN-79	22	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
13-JAN-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
20-JAN-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
27-JAN-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
03-FEB-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
10-FEB-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
17-FEB-79	22	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
24-FEB-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
03-MAR-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
10-MAR-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
17-MAR-79	23	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
31-MAR-79	11	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
31-MAR-79	32	Pin-up pal Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
07-APR-79	7	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
21-APR-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
05-MAY-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
12-MAY-79	24	Skateboard Squad	Jimmy Hansen
19-MAY-79	23	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
19-MAY-79	24	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	6	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	9	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	10	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	11	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
26-MAY-79	12	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen
02-JUN-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
16-JUN-79	17	Cheeky Hustle	Jimmy Hansen
16-JUN-79	18	Cheeky Hustle	Jimmy Hansen
16-JUN-79	24	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
23-JUN-79	24	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
07-JUL-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
21-JUL-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
04-AUG-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
11-AUG-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
18-AUG-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
25-AUG-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
01-SEP-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
08-SEP-79	11	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	7	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	10	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	18	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen
15-SEP-79	24	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
22-SEP-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
29-SEP-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	22	Thursday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	26	Friday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	30	Saturday	Jimmy Hansen
06-OCT-79	31	Saturday	Jimmy Hansen
13-OCT-79	11	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
13-OCT-79	26	Disaster Des	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	1	Cover Feature Manhole Man	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	2	Sunday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	7	Monday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	10	Tuesday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	18	Wednesday	Jimmy Hansen
20-OCT-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
27-OCT-79	23	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
17-NOV-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
24-NOV-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
08-DEC-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
15-DEC-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
22-DEC-79	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
05-JAN-80	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
12-JAN-80	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
19-JAN-80	22	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
26-JAN-80	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen
02-FEB-80	28	Speed Squad	Jimmy Hansen

 Back to Part 1