Krazy Kristmas Kountdown part 2

In the first part of our quick flick through the pages of Krazy dated 18 December 1976 in search of Cheeky's contributions, we didn't encounter any festive material. However, delving deeper into the comic the impending celebrations become more apparent, as on page 19 the forthcoming Krazy Christmas Number is given a plug ('number' being a rather archaic, even for the 1970s, comics way of referring to what today we would call an 'issue').

There is no Krazy Gang strip in this number issue, the gang probably having been bumped due to the presence of part 3 of the Krazy 1977 Diary. However fans of Cheeky's comic colleagues needn't be too upset as they do appear in the toothy funster's story this week (one of the aspects of Krazy that made it such a great comic was the regular crossing of characters from one feature to another - Cheeky had already done so in this issue as we saw in the previous post). Things start to get really Christmassy as the toothy funster is ejected onto the snowy streets of Krazy Town, and there's further crossing-over of characters as Cheeky meets Stumbly Fumbly, son of Detective Fumbly, whose Casebook was the subject of a weekly text feature in Krazy. Accident-prone Stumbly was a variation on Bump-Bump Bernie, who by this time had appeared once, in Krazy dated 31 October 1976.

Art: Frank McDiarmid
The bottom left panel is the payoff to the
gag set up on the page shown above.
Note background pee gag

Snail wasn't appearing every week yet - this is
his third appearance.
Note possible background pee gag in
panel 7 (in what manner was Willie
Cook's name inscribed in the snow?)
Note foreground pee gag

Frank renders a rather muscular Sporty

The Gang, including Cheeky who is wearing the same rather fetching red and white sweater he modelled on the cover, are also featured in the Krazy News Pound reader participation feature. Printing the gags in coloured ink is possibly not the best choice for legibility.

That concludes Cheeky's contributions to this issue. Hap-pee Christmas pals!

Revealed at Last - The Truth about Cheeky's Socks

No doubt you, much like myself, have spent an inordinate amount of your life asking yourself 'Will I ever find out what Cheeky's socks look like?'

This is the day you've been waiting for...

Art: Bob Hill

The above pages appeared in The Besssssst of Whizzer and Chips Monthly, December 1984. There are four 2-page Krazy Gang reprints in the Chips section of that issue, but in each case the first page has been paired with a wrong second page (I've matched the correct pages above). Fortunately all the correct concluding pages are present, albeit mismatched, so all four adventures can be enjoyed by flipping through the pages.

UPDATE 18 April 2019 - Many thanks to Stephen Archer who has identified Whizzer and Chips dated 08 December 1979 as the issue in which the above strip originally appeared.

Art - Sid's Snake: Mike Lacey, Joker - Sid Burgon

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 17

The 08 February 1986 issue of Whizzer and Chips was a sad milestone for all loyal Friends of Cheeky. But first, an explicatory wander down comics' memory lane...

Cheeky rose to fame during something of a late 1970s renaissance in British comics. Ground-breaking titles Action (1976-77) and 2000AD (1977 - present) are often cited as revivifying forces in what had become a somewhat staid comics scene, but there were equally mould-breaking humour titles appearing in the shops during the same period. The free-wheeling, madcap Krazy made its debut with an issue cover dated 16 October 1976. The toothy funster, who first appeared in that premiere edition, was pushing the envelope of comic convention from the start, featuring in 2 strips in Krazy every week – as a member of The Krazy Gang and also as the star of his own four-page strip 'Ello, It's Cheeky (later retitled 'Ello I'm Cheeky). Just a year later, Cheeky's career ascended to another level as his very own comic, the innovative Cheeky Weekly – in which he featured throughout - hit the newsagents. For a golden period of 26 weeks, comic readers could immerse themselves in Cheeky's gag-cracking world across two titles.

These glory days couldn't last forever, and it seems Krazy's unconventional style was not to everyone's taste, as that comic folded in April 1978. Following its demise, however, some of Krazy's features were assimilated into one of IPC's flagship titles, Whizzer and Chips. Among the Krazy survivors moving into the pages of that venerable comic were The Krazy Gang, still featuring our grinning pal as a member of the titular group.

Thus, despite the foundering of the comic that spawned him, fans of Cheeky continued to enjoy the grinning gagster in 2 comics each week because, undeterred by the fate of its progenitor title, Cheeky Weekly continued publication.

Sadly, the vicissitudes of the comics business were too much for even our toothy pal to withstand, and his own title just made it into the new decade before coming to an end with the issue dated 02 February 1980.

The 'merge' that inevitably resulted from the wreck of Cheeky's comic saw survivors from Cheeky Weekly scramble aboard another IPC stalwart, Whoopee! Somebody at IPC (possibly Bob Paynter, Group Editor of the IPC humour titles) clearly had a soft spot for our grinning chum, as Cheeky was allocated his own comic section at the centre of Whoopee!, into which the refugees from his former title settled, and within which Cheeky himself was given a whopping 4-page strip in which to carry on jesting.

Despite this change in Cheeky's fortunes, loyal fans were still able to buy 2 comics (Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee!) featuring the mighty-molared mirthster.

Cheeky continued to appear on 4 Whoopee! pages per issue until the title underwent a revamp commencing in the edition dated 12 September 1981, from which date Cheeky was reduced to 2 pages a week (although, ever the iconoclast, the grinning gagster appeared in multiple strips across those pages, sharing space with a strip devoted to his slimy sidekick, Snail).

From 1982, Cheeky suffered a further demotion that cut his strip to just a single Whoopee! page per week. Sadly, this was not be be the final indignity for a comic superstar who once had an entire comic devoted to his weekly adventures – as from Whoopee dated 02 July 1983 (the date of Whoopee's absorption of Wow! and the point at which the host comic lost its exclamation mark), Cheeky was relegated to the Quick Strips page where his presence in the comic was reduced to a single row of panels among 3 other strips (one of which featured his erstwhile Cheeky Weekly colleague Paddywack). Notwithstanding the ignominy, Cheeky was still able to boast weekly appearances in both Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee.

As the economic realities of the 1980s took hold, further upheavals in the comics industry were inevitable. Whoopee's final issue hit the newsagents five years after it absorbed Cheeky Weekly. As the British comics business contracted, there were fewer available titles into which defunct comics could be merged. Andy Boal's highly enlightening comment here gives an overview of how Fleetway/IPC's merges were allocated from the early 70s.

  

IPC management decided that Whoopee would merge into Whizzer and Chips. Sadly Cheeky, in his incarnation stretching back to the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in Krazy, did not survive this latest merge. However, The Krazy Gang, whose genesis also reached back to the origins of Krazy but via a diverging route, were among the strips that were retained in Whizzer and Chips.

Thus, the week of the first combined issue of Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee (cover dated 07 April 1985) was the first since October 1977 in which Cheeky had a regular strip in only one comic. This 7 year run of concurrent appearances by the same character in 2 comics (although not the same comics for the entirety of the run) must surely be some kind of record.

Cheeky, resolute in the face of this reversal of fortune, continued to play his part as a Krazy Gang team member until that strip came to an end in Whizzer and Chips dated 08 February 1986 (bringing this post back to where it started).

Whizzer and Chips 08 February 1986
Art: Bob Hill

Bleep art: Jim Barker

Thus ended, with no ceremony, Cheeky's nine and a half year presence in weekly British comics.

In that same issue, Mustapha Million suffered a pesky Whizz-kid interloper. Can you spot the gatecrasher?

Whizzer and Chips 08 February 1986
Art: Joe McCaffrey

 

Buuuut .... that wasn't quite the end of the influence of the toothy funster's comic, since Mustapha Million and Calculator Kid continued to appear in Whizzer and Chips beyond the demise of The Krazy Gang. Stage School limped from the wreckage of Whoopee into Whizzer and Chips, but only appeared in two issues.

OK, let's get this somewhat circuitous Whizzer and Chips Raids post back on track and do the admin. This would appear to be a revenge raid by Animalad on Mustapha, who had previously invaded the rather insipid, animal-morphing character in the 05 October 1985 edition (link in table below). At this stage our ex-Cheeky Weeky chums had been raided on 14 occasions, having perpetrated 8 incursions on those pesky Whizz-kids. We can only imagine what the effect of losing Cheeky in his guise as a Krazy Gang member will have on the future tally of raids. I have to admit, it's not looking good.

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

Artist's Wives

We're all familiar with strips including an artist self-portrait - always good fun although some depictions are more accurate than others, I suspect. Irmantas did a good series of posts on this subject a while back.

A subset of this category is the 'artist-and-wife self portrait'. Here's Mr and Mrs (Bob) Hill appearing in a Krazy Gang story from Whizzer and Chips, 15 September 1984.

Whereas in some artist self portrait stories the relationship between the character and their illustrator is quite relaxed, it would appear that Bob is undergoing some sort of breakdown as he clearly didn't expect to encounter the gang in 'real life'. I like the panel where Bob flees in terror, while the gang look on in surprise and Mrs Hill is shown to be up to her elbows in domestic chores. The bottle on the table would appear to be significant but the meaning of 'KG' eludes me.

UPDATE: The answer to the KG riddle has been supplied by Peter and Andy in the comments below (kicks self for missing it - ooyah!).

There's further fun to be had with the 'Merry Christmas, Dear' on the toolbox, reinforcing the fact that life in the Hill household is less than idyllic from the female perspective (wonder if Bob wrote the script himself?). By the end of the strip, Bob appears to have surrendered to his psychotic delusion and is settled in the Krazy Gang's world.

The only other husband and wife comic portraits of which I'm aware are those featuring Terry and Shiela Bave, covered by Irmantas here. However if anyone knows of any others, please get in touch.

No doubt you spotted the raid perpetrated on the above strip by a Jim Watson version of Bloggs from the Store Wars strip. Good job Bob didn't see that, I don't know what it would have done to him.

UPDATE 2: Peter has sent a link to a Krazy Gang strip which opens another category, 'stories containing caricatures of real people but who are they?'.

Jubilee Japes

Peter Gray has posted some lovely Cheeky work from the Silver Jubilee edition of Krazy (in the days when Cheeky still had a 'K' on his jumper - he changed his pullover to one bearing a 'C' as of Krazy dated 20 August 1977 in his own strip, although it was a week later before the toothy funster's C jumper appeared on the Krazy Gang pages).

Cheeky's Snappy Raid

The issue of Whizzer and Chips in which Store Wars made its debut (dated 05 September 1981 and referenced in an earlier post) also contained a 'raid' carried out by Cheeky. The toothy funster had been appearing in Whizzer and Chips as a member of The Krazy Gang since Krazy comic folded in April 1978, and the 05 September 1981 issue of course predates the post-Whoopee-merge period which I'm documenting in the Whizzer and Chips - the Cheeky Raids series. However, since I had the comic to hand and we can never have too much of a Cheeky thing, I thought I'd record in this post the occasion on which our grinning pal ventured into enemy Whizzer territory and brought back a trophy...

Whizzer and Chips 05 September 1981

Unlike the raids I'm covering in the series of posts mentioned above, this raid was perpetrated and announced within the same issue. Here's the Champ story from that same edition...

Whizzer and Chips 05 September 1981
Art:Paul Ailey

In the same issue Cheeky, along with the rest of The Krazy Gang, was involved in fruit-picking fun.

Whizzer and Chips 05 September 1981
Art: Bob Hill

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 8

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.

Whizzer and Chips had a long tradition of sending characters from the Chips section into Whizzer and vice versa. These cross-comic forays were known as 'raids'. In this series of posts I'm chronicling the raids involving the ex-Cheeky Weekly characters who made the transition into Whizzer and Chips, all of whom were allocated to the Chips section. For the purposes of this series, although this particular manifestation of the toothy funster didn't directly descend from Cheeky Weekly, I'm including Cheeky's Krazy Gang appearances as those of an 'ex-Cheeky Weekly character'.

Only one week after the previous raid involving one of our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums, the toothy funster was embroiled in a further cross-comic sortie, as a victim. Can you spot the Whizz-Kid raider in this Krazy Gang tale (in which Cheeky plays a vital role in exposing dastardly dairy doings) from the 13 July 1985 issue of Whizzer and Chips? Scroll down to see the rascally raider revealed...

Whizzer and Chips 13 July 1985
Art: Bob Hill

…it's that rich rustic, Pa Bumpkin.

Whizzer and Chips 20 July 1985
I like the Catnap strip - art by Colin Whittock

This is the third time (in the post-Whoopee-merge period) that the Krazy Gang have been raided, and means our ex-Cheeky chums have suffered a total of 6 raids while perpetrating 3.

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)

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 5

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.

Whizzer and Chips had a long tradition of sending characters from the Chips section into Whizzer and vice versa. These cross-comic forays were known as 'raids'. In this series of posts I'm chronicling the raids involving the ex-Cheeky Weekly characters who made the transition into Whizzer and Chips, all of whom were allocated to the Chips section. For the purposes of this series, although this particular manifestation of the toothy funster didn't directly descend from Cheeky Weekly, I'm including Cheeky's Krazy Gang appearances as those of an 'ex-Cheeky Weekly character'.

Well, it had to happen. Two weeks after intrepid Charlie and Calc infiltrated Odd-Ball's story, came the first issue of Whizzer and Chips wherein ex-Cheeky Weekly characters both perpetrated and fell victim to raids.

On the receiving end of a rascally raid was the toothy funster himself, in his role as a member of The Krazy Gang. Can you identify the wily Whizz-Kid interloper? Scroll down for the answer...

Whizzer and Chips 01 June 1985
Art: Bob Hill

...Animalad, sufferer from a peculiar animalady which allowed him to undergo bestial transformations.

The revenge raid was made on Boy Boss. Are you able to identify the courageous ex-Cheeky Weekly star who was called on to perform the heroic deed? Scroll down once again, where all will be revealed...

Whizzer and Chips 01 June 1985
Art: Frank McDiarmid

This was the second time our brave Bedouin buddy Mustapha embarked upon a cross-comic sortie. This issue also saw the second raid to be carried out upon the Krazy Gang (in the post-Whoopee-merge era which is the subject of this series).

The reciprocal raids in this issue of W&C mean the current tally of Ex-Cheeky Weekly raiders vsThe Rest remains a draw, with 3 incursions now chalked up for each team. 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

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 3

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.

Whizzer and Chips had a long tradition of sending characters from the Chips section into Whizzer and vice versa. These cross-comic forays were known as 'raids'. In this series of posts I'm chronicling the raids involving the ex-Cheeky Weekly characters who made the transition into Whizzer and Chips, all of whom were allocated to the Chips section. For the purposes of this series, although this particular manifestation of the toothy funster didn't directly descend from Cheeky Weekly, I'm including Cheeky's Krazy Gang appearances as those of an 'ex-Cheeky Weekly character'.

The previous raid covered in this series occurred in Whizzer and Chips dated 04 May 1985. Just seven days later another raid was perpetrated upon an ex-Cheeky Weekly character. This time it was Cheeky (in his role as a member of The Krazy Gang) who was among the victims. Can you spot the sneaky Whizz-Kid infiltrator? Scroll down for the answer...

Whizzer and Chips 11 May 1985
Art: Bob Hill

...Whizzer's resident prankster, Joker.

The current score is therefore Ex-Cheeky Weekly Raiders 1, Whizzer Raiders 2

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)

Nigel Edwards' Cheeky Christmas

In this blog I have barely mentioned Cheeky's life as a member of The Krazy Gang, who made their debut in the first issue of Krazy just over a year before the toothy funster's own comic was launched. When Krazy came to an end, the Gang's adventures (still including Cheeky) continued in Whizzer and Chips.

This festive frolic, from the Christmas 1982 issue of Whizzer and Chips (appropriately dated 25 December) and illustrated by Nigel Edwards, suggests that Cheeky was a published author, and that he had romantic feelings towards his fellow gang member, Liz (I hope Louise didn't find out).

The story makes reference to Bloggs' shop, the main setting of Whizzer and Chips' Open All Hours-inspired strip, Store Wars.

For further appearances of Cheeky in this issue of Whizzer and Chips see here.