Even the mighty Frank McDiarmid couldn't be expected to deliver a whole Cheeky's Week every issue so, as we have seen, a number of other artists stood in from time to time. While Frank was drawing Cheeky's escapades in Cheeky Weekly, he also drew 44 Cheeky pages in Krazy comic during the 26 weeks that Cheeky Weekly and Krazy shared space on the newsagents' shelves.
However, his work during this period wasn't limited to Cheeky Weekly and Krazy, in fact it wasn't even limited to publisher IPC - Frank was also illustrating Roger the Dodger for rival DC Thomson's iconic title, The Beano. Frank's gig on Roger lasted almost ten and a half years - an impressive run.
The McDiarmid style on Roger was restrained in comparison to his Cheeky work, no doubt to comply with Thomson's requirements, and Frank was clearly ghosting Ken Reid's style when drawing The Dodger's face. Again, this may have been at the request of Thomsons since Reid had been the original artist on the strip, or else it was Frank's homage to Roger's creator.
Here is the first of Frank's Roger strips, from The Beano dated 13 December 1975. Previous Roger artist Tom Lavery's title panel has been retained.
Here's Frank's Roger from The Beano dated 22 October 1977 - the same cover date as the first Cheeky Weekly.
This one's from The Beano with the same cover date as the final Cheeky Weekly - 02 February 1980.
Below is Frank's final Roger strip from The Beano dated 24 May 1986.
Frank also drew at least one Bash Street Kids story in The Beano in 1975.
Roger the Dodger is copyright DC Thomson & Co. Ltd.
Welcome to the Cheeky Weekly blog!
Welcome to the Cheeky Weekly blog!
Cheeky Weekly ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED was a British children's comic with cover dates spanning 22 October 1977 to 02 February 1980.
Quick links...
Basic Stats
Cheeky Weekly Index - Cheeky Annuals and Specials Index
Cheeky Weekly Artist Index
Features by Number of Appearances
Cheeky Weekly Timeline
Major Characters from the Cheeky pages
Features Ordered by Date of Commencement
*** ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used with permission. ***
*** CHEEKY WEEKLY, KRAZY, WHOOPEE!, WHOOPEE, WOW!, WHIZZER AND CHIPS and BUSTER ARE ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ***
Thanks for reading the blog.
Cheeky Weekly ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED was a British children's comic with cover dates spanning 22 October 1977 to 02 February 1980.
Quick links...
Basic Stats
Cheeky Weekly Index - Cheeky Annuals and Specials Index
Cheeky Weekly Artist Index
Features by Number of Appearances
Cheeky Weekly Timeline
Major Characters from the Cheeky pages
Features Ordered by Date of Commencement
*** ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used with permission. ***
*** CHEEKY WEEKLY, KRAZY, WHOOPEE!, WHOOPEE, WOW!, WHIZZER AND CHIPS and BUSTER ARE ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ***
Thanks for reading the blog.
Thursday 30 May 2013
Monday 27 May 2013
Cheeky Weekly cover date 10 March 1979
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Cheeky Weekly's 70th issue is the first with a cover entirely devoted to a comic strip – all cover
strips to date (initially What A Cheek, then Cheeky's Week....Sunday
as from the 30 September 1978 revamp issue) have consisted of a
single row of panels, sharing the front page with artwork promoting
the contents of the current issue. The usual 3-panel format is in
evidence on this week's front page despite the strip covering a
larger area. Manhole Man and Doctor Braincell are the toothy
funster's cover stooges this week.
Cheeky's diary entry
for Monday refers to the fact that Uncle Hamish has been staying chez
Cheeky for 'about three months now'. This is a reference to the
curmudgeonly Caledonian's reappearance in the 13 January 1979 issue
after a year's absence.
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
The Calculator Kid story takes place in a snowy Krazy Town, although there is no snow evident in the rest of this issue's Cheeky's Week strips. It's my suspicion that this week's Calculator Kid was originally intended for Cheeky Weekly's snow-themed 20 January 1979 issue. However, the CK strip in that issue was, if my theory here is correct, itself originally prepared for the lost 23 December 1978 issue. Thus the wintry CK story slated for 20 January 1979 got shunted forward to this issue.
Art: Terry Bave |
Art: Frank McDiarmid Do snails eat cake? |
Tub, the Mystery Comic's corpulent cover star, finds himself wedged in a cement mixer at the conclusion of his current adventure.
Four pages after Tub's
mixer mishap, Elephant On The Run suffers a similar predicament.
Barrie Appleby's work
graces The Burpo Special (in which the infant interviewer
interrogates Constable Chuckle) for the first and only time in the
comic's run.
As has become
customary, a Pin-Up Pal poster on the back cover brings the comic to
a conclusion. The father and son stars of Why, Dad, Why? are the
subject this week, with Dad contemplating silencing his
ever-inquisitive offspring by means of a swift knock on the noggin.
Wouldn't be allowed today.
Frank McDiarmid
delivers 9 Cheeky's Week elements in this issue, with Barrie Appleby contributing
The Burpo Special. Last week's comic was an all-Frank-McDiarmid Cheeky's Week issue, so this issue breaks the pattern of 'Frank on Cheeky's Week every other issue' which (barring a few hiccups) was established as of the 30 September 1978 revamp. For more details see here.
Cheeky Weekly | Cover Date: 10-Mar-1979, Issue 70 of 117 |
Page | Details |
1 | Cheeky's Week - Art Frank McDiarmid |
2 | Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
3 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
4 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
5 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
6 | Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
7 | Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave |
8 | Tease Break |
9 | Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
10 | Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton |
11 | Ad: Trebor 'Double Agents Identikit Promotion' 1 of 2 |
12 | Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
13 | Tub 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards |
14 | Disaster Des 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey |
15 | Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 21 of 37 - Art John Richardson |
16 | Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon |
17 | Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon |
18 | Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey |
19 | Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey |
20 | Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 28 - Art John K. Geering |
21 | Ad: IPC 'Smurfs Poster Magazine'Ad: 'Mickey Mouse' 11 of 18 |
22 | Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
23 | Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen |
24 | Joke-Box Jury |
25 | Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
26 | Menace of the Alpha Man reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury |
27 | Menace of the Alpha Man reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury |
28 | Chit-Chat |
29 | The Burpo Special 'Constable Chuckle' - Art Barrie Appleby (single art on feature) |
30 | Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
31 | Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
32 | Pin-up pal 'Why Dad Why' - Art John K. Geering (single art on feature) |
Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 10-Mar-1979
Artist | Elements |
Frank McDiarmid | 9 |
Barrie Appleby | 1 |
Thursday 23 May 2013
Frankly it's Frank on Frankie
Peter has posted a Frankie Stein strip drawn by Frank McDiarmid from the 1988 Whoopee! Summer Special.
Sunday 19 May 2013
The features – Tease Break
The Tease Break feature
was the third puzzle series to appear in Cheeky Weekly, following on
from the brief run of Teacher's Teasers (3 issues from 26 August to
23 September 1978) and the slightly longer-lived Cheeky's Pal Puzzle
(10 issues, 30 September to 02 December 1978). Whereas the
aforementioned series prominently featured Cheeky and pals and were clearly prepared specifically for Cheeky Weekly, Tease
Break had a somewhat generic feel about it, and was probably sourced
from publisher IPC's filing cabinet of old puzzles originally created for other titles. Cheeky and some
of his Krazy Town neighbours did appear sporadically during Tease
Break's run, but I suspect that this was as a result of some deft cut-and-paste work on the part of the art assistant tasked with compiling the
quiz. I'm fairly certain that the punning Tease Break title itself
was recycled from another comic. (UPDATE 23 October 2017 - A search for the word 'tease' on the Kazoop blog yields several occurrences of Tease Break, including this one). All this gives Tease Break a strong
feeling of 'filler', which is compounded by its intermittent nature,
appearing in only 9 issues spanning cover dates 17 February 1979 to
03 November 1979.
The first Tease Break was the only one printed in red and white - all the others were black and white. |
6 Tease Breaks occupied a full page, with the remainder being half pages.
Question 4's 'here is the answer, what is the question' format was cunningly designed to be used in any comic after a minor alteration to the text. Here, Cheeky's ugly mug has also been pasted in. |
During Tease Break's Cheeky
Weekly run, a page entitled Cheeky's Summer Tease Break appeared in
the 1979 Cheeky Summer Special. This was the only Special/Annual
Tease Break appearance.
Tease Break in the Cheeky Weekly Index
Feature | First Appearance | Final Appearance | Total Issues | Total Issues Missed In Run | Page History |
Tease Break | 17-Feb-79 | 03-Nov-79 | 9 | 29 | 5,8,11,15,21,22,24 |
Tuesday 14 May 2013
The One-Offs – Slurping Sophie
Slurping Sophie (sister
of deafening diner Crunching Chris) was seen once during Cheeky
Weekly's run, appearing during 18 February 1978's Interval. Her failure to
return was probably due to the limited scope for liquid laughs (at
least at the point of ingestion – Walter Wurx had of course
monopolised micturatory mirth).
Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Sid Burgon's Cheeky
Almost a year before
Cheeky Weekly was launched, the toothy funster had made his debut in
the pages of Krazy comic, where he had featured in 2 strips. Not only
was he the star of 'Ello It's Cheeky, which was very much the
template for the Cheeky's Week pages in Cheeky Weekly, but he was
also a member of The Krazy Gang who appeared in the strip of the same
name.
Despite (or possibly because of) its bold deviation from the traditional British humour comic format, Krazy ceased publication after a 19-month run. Following Krazy's final issue dated 15 April 1978, the most popular features decamped to
IPC's long-running Whizzer and Chips, which then became known as
Whizzer and Chips with Krazy (WCK). Whizzer and Chips had a
particular gimmick (evidently highly effective in view of the comic's
longevity) whereby it was presented as being two separate comics,
with Chips located in the centre of Whizzer (the same idea was
appropriated by Cheeky Weekly, although clearly much less
successfully, during the 37 issues in which The Mystery Comic was
found in its centre pages).
The Krazy Gang, still featuring the toothy funster, was one
of the strips that transferred from Krazy to WCK. Here's the
cover of the first combined issue, on which the Krazy refugees met
the stars of the host comic. Artist Sid Burgon is somewhat restrained when it comes to depicting Cheeky's trademark choppers.
Saturday 4 May 2013
Cheeky Weekly cover date 03 March 1979
The menacing, cowled
figure of The Alpha Man - anti-hero of this week's new adventure
strip on pages 26 and 27 – looms over the cover, while in lighter vein
Cheeky enjoys a wild west witticism with Six–Gun Sam, and a
piscatorial pun with Mr Haddock in the front page cartoon strip.
Cheeky pays a return visit to Krazy Town Harbour on Saturday, arriving just as ex Prime Minister Edward Heath is having a spot of maritime misfortune with his yacht, Morning Cloud.
This week's comic rounds off with the now-customary Pin-Up Pal poster, this time featuring compost connoisseur Dan-Dan the Lavender Man.
This is another all-Frank McDiarmid Cheeky's Week issue, with Frank delivering 10 daily elements plus the back cover poster. The apparent policy of having every other issue featuring a pure Frank McD Cheeky's Week, seemingly introduced as of September 1978 (bar a few minor deviations along the way), is still in effect .
6 Million Dollar Gran
takes the Potts kids to the cinema to see Jaws III this week, but
there's much disappointment when the movie house manager tells the
queuing patrons that the film has failed to arrive. Gran sets off to
track down the missing reels of celluloid and discovers that the
delivery van has been unable to cross a collapsed bridge. Heading
back to the cinema, Gran's grip on the film canisters proves
surprisingly weak and the film ends up in what the synthetic senior
citizen assumes is a Dolphinarium. It's actually the local shark
research facility (you mean there isn't one in your area?) and our
robotic pal fends off several of the fearsome fish to recover the
film and deliver it to the cinema. Jaws 2 had been released in the
UK on Boxing Day 1978, and the third film in the franchise, Jaws
3-D, would not burst through the big screen until 1983.
A late-for-school Charlie is dismayed to observe ferocious teacher Mister Thwackem prowling for tardy pupils at the school gate in this week's Calculator Kid tale. Ever-reliable Calc devises a plan to sneak Charlie past the grizzly gatekeeper without revealing his identity. Is that a cameo appearance by Shiver and Shake's somewhat-deficient-in-the-leg-department spider star Webster in the final panel?
Cover co-star Six-Gun Sam joins Teacher, Crunching Chris and The Vicar on this week's Joke-Box Jury panel of judges, none of whom seem to mind that there are 2 'fly in my soup' gags among the submissions up for scrutiny.
Art: Ian Knox |
A late-for-school Charlie is dismayed to observe ferocious teacher Mister Thwackem prowling for tardy pupils at the school gate in this week's Calculator Kid tale. Ever-reliable Calc devises a plan to sneak Charlie past the grizzly gatekeeper without revealing his identity. Is that a cameo appearance by Shiver and Shake's somewhat-deficient-in-the-leg-department spider star Webster in the final panel?
Art: Terry Bave |
Cover co-star Six-Gun Sam joins Teacher, Crunching Chris and The Vicar on this week's Joke-Box Jury panel of judges, none of whom seem to mind that there are 2 'fly in my soup' gags among the submissions up for scrutiny.
On page 9, the introductory extract
from Cheeky's diary shows the day as Shrove Tuesday. Of the two
Shrove Tuesdays which occurred during Cheeky Weekly's brief existence
– 07 February 1978 and the current issue's 27 February 1979 –
this was the only one to be referred to as Shrove Tuesday in the
comic - the other was just called Tuesday and included no pancake
reference. Shrove Tuesday 1979 was the only one to occur during the
period in which the Cheeky's Week title panel introduced the toothy
funster's daily adventures.
After a page of boneheaded bamboozlement courtesy of Paddywack, and a selection of perplexing posers on the Tease Break page, Cheeky's Week resumes with Ash Wednesday. As with Shrove Tuesday this was the only time Ash Wednesday got a specific mention in the comic's run.
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
After a page of boneheaded bamboozlement courtesy of Paddywack, and a selection of perplexing posers on the Tease Break page, Cheeky's Week resumes with Ash Wednesday. As with Shrove Tuesday this was the only time Ash Wednesday got a specific mention in the comic's run.
Footbal-mad feline Goalie Cat is the
source of this week's Mystery Comic.
There's a seismic collision between our portly pal Tub and the Fattest Girl in the World
on the Mystery Comic's cover. Rotund romance appears to ensue. I'm
not quite sure what the 'super-bulge' in the final panel refers to
but thankfully it's attributed to the female half of the couple.
Posh Claude is the
subject of this week's Burpo Special interview, and on Thursday
there's a reference to another movie blockbuster when Bump-Bump Bernie has a close encounter of the painful variety. Steven
Spielberg's Close Encounters had premiered in the UK almost a year
earlier on 14 March 1978.
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Page 22 sees Charlie and Calc encouraging readers to place a regular order for the toothy funster's comic.
Constable Chuckle makes an uncredited cameo in this week's Skateboard Squad tale, appearing in the final
panel to take into custody the smash -and-grab jewel thief that the
intrepid trio have apprehended.
The final panel of Friday's strip sees Cheeky sneaking a crafty read of Teacher's copy of Teacher's Weekly, as he has for each of the previous 7 issues. However, because the story he was previously reading (Eagle Eye) came to an end last issue, this week Teacher's Weekly serves as the framing device for the first instalment of Menace of the Alpha Man (reprinted from Shiver and Shake).
Art: Jimmy Hansen |
The final panel of Friday's strip sees Cheeky sneaking a crafty read of Teacher's copy of Teacher's Weekly, as he has for each of the previous 7 issues. However, because the story he was previously reading (Eagle Eye) came to an end last issue, this week Teacher's Weekly serves as the framing device for the first instalment of Menace of the Alpha Man (reprinted from Shiver and Shake).
Cheeky pays a return visit to Krazy Town Harbour on Saturday, arriving just as ex Prime Minister Edward Heath is having a spot of maritime misfortune with his yacht, Morning Cloud.
Art: Frank McDiarmid |
This week's comic rounds off with the now-customary Pin-Up Pal poster, this time featuring compost connoisseur Dan-Dan the Lavender Man.
This is another all-Frank McDiarmid Cheeky's Week issue, with Frank delivering 10 daily elements plus the back cover poster. The apparent policy of having every other issue featuring a pure Frank McD Cheeky's Week, seemingly introduced as of September 1978 (bar a few minor deviations along the way), is still in effect .
Cheeky Weekly | Cover Date: 03-Mar-1979, Issue 69 of 117 |
Page | Details |
1 | Cover Feature 'Menace of the Alpha Man' - Art Eric Bradbury (final art on feature)\Cheeky's Week - Art Frank McDiarmid |
2 | Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
3 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
4 | 6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox |
5 | Silly Snaps |
6 | Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
7 | Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave |
8 | Joke-Box Jury |
9 | Shrove Tuesday (single appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (single art on feature) |
10 | Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton |
11 | Tease Break |
12 | Ash Wednesday (single appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (single art on feature) |
13 | Tub 'Mystery Comic' 18 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards |
14 | Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 15 of 28 - Art John K. Geering |
15 | Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 20 of 37 - Art John Richardson |
16 | Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon |
17 | Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon |
18 | Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey |
19 | Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 34 - Art Joe McCaffrey |
20 | Disaster Des 'Mystery Comic' 19 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey |
21 | The Burpo Special 'Posh Claude' - Art Frank McDiarmid |
22 | Ad: IPC 'Cheeky Weekly: Want to win some extra cash?'Ad: 'Do you have trouble getting copies of Cheeky Weekly' 1 of 5 |
23 | Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
24 | Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen |
25 | Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
26 | Menace of the Alpha Man (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature) |
27 | Menace of the Alpha Man (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature) |
28 | Chit-Chat |
29 | Chit-Chat |
30 | Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
31 | Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid |
32 | Pin-up pal 'Dan-Dan The Lavender Man' - Art Frank McDiarmid |
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