The most unpleasant thing to fill a nappy since Sweeny Toddler, Baby Burpo made Cheeky's Wednesday night babysitting sessions an ordeal. Our toothy hero always fell prey to the fiendish traps set by Burpo in his front garden, and further indignity would ensue as the infamous infant's parents accused Cheeky of playing too rough as he dangled from Burpo's net or disappeared into the pit which Burpo had excavated.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils |
When the toddler's parents had left, Cheeky sought to restore his shattered self-esteem with psychological warfare, selecting a terrifying
Creepy Sleepy Tale for Burpo's bedtime story, but the evening always ended with Cheeky running home, fearful of the evil happenings that he had just read.
Burpo first appeared in the 19 March 1977 issue of Krazy, and was the subject of the same comic's Cheeky's Pal feature in the 25 June 1977 edition.
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Burpo's debut - Krazy 19 March 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
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| Krazy 25 June 1977 - Frank again |
There was one thing that worried Cheeky more than the belligerent babe, and that was
Burpo's cousins, a gang of Burpo-alikes that exponentially increased the potential for nappy-based havoc.
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| Frank McDiarmid pencils |
In Cheeky Weekly dated 19 August 1978, Crystal Belle gives Cheeky a glimpse of his life forty years into the future. He meets the adult version of the nasty nipper, and we see that the future Cheeky is being terrorised by a whole new generation of Burpos.
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| Frank McDiarmid |
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| Unknown Cheeky artist |
Like Snail, the nefarious nappy-wearer graduated from Cheeky's Week to his own feature. '
The Burpo Special' first appeared in the issue dated 09 December 1978, with a format that saw Burpo interviewing, often with a carrot instead of a microphone, one of Cheeky's pals each week.
The tyrannical tot made guest appearances in the Skateboard Squad stories in Cheeky Weekly dated 01 April 1978 and 24 June 1978. He also appeared in the Calculator Kid strip dated 15 July 1978 and was one of the guests at Pete and Pauline Potts' party in the
6 Million Dollar Gran strip in
Cheeky Weekly dated 06 October 1979.
Burpo went head-to-head with Sweeny Toddler in the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, when the characters who would survive the merge with Whoopee! were greeted by their new fun-pals. As one might expect, the encounter between the terrible toddlers was a volatile one and the pair had to be separated by Frankie Stein.
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| Frank McDiarmid |
Character
| Total Issues
| First Appearance
| Final Appearance
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| Baby Burpo | 94 | 22-Oct-1977 | 02-Feb-1980 |
| Burpo's Cousins | 6 | 26-Nov-1977 | 23-Sep-1978 |
It was very insightful, I think, of IPC to realise that any meeting between Sweeney and Burpo would end up with fisticuffs; not so with Cuddles and Dimples’ first meeting in Dandy & Hoot 6 years later. Must get round to checking out at the BL at what point the two were taken, if not retconned, to be brothers if I can stand the agony of the Dandy’s Harry Hill-infested last knockings.
ReplyDeleteI was never a fan of the Dandy so know little about C&D.
Deleteand/or Hoot
DeleteEntirely googleable (or should that be goo-gooable – see that?): Cuddles began in Nutty in 1981 and when that comic ended on 14/9/85 he was given top billing on Hoot soon after on 26/10. Almost exactly a year later, and still calling itself “Britain’s bubbling new comic,” Hoot ended on 25/10/86, with Cuddles joining the Dandy’s Dimples, a stalwart of that comic since 27/10/84, on 1/11/86. The pair got up to mischief for the next 26 years: simple.
ReplyDelete