The first of Cheeky's painful encounters with the business end of Libby's protest placard occurred on Friday
in the third issue of Cheeky Weekly. After accusing the toothy
funster of being a male chauvinist piglet due to his treatment of
Nosy Nora, Libby (whose attitude, name and placard were of course humorous references to the Women's Liberation Movement) literally struck a
blow for downtrodden females that left our grinning pal in need of
medical attention.
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| Libby's first cranium-crushing appearance Cheeky Weekly 05 November 1977 Art: Frank McDiarmid |
This set the trend for the majority of
Libby's 27 Cheeky Weekly appearances, as she responded violently to what she considered to be Cheeky's slights against female members of
the supporting cast.
Libby had actually made her comic debut the week before in the 29 October 1977 issue of Krazy.
Libby had actually made her comic debut the week before in the 29 October 1977 issue of Krazy.
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| Page from the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip, Krazy 29 October 1977 Art: Jim Watson Unfortunately Cheeky's final witticism is cut off at the bottom of the page. I have seen two copies of this Krazy issue and both have suffered from the same printing error. |
In a retaliatory move, our grinning pal deviously
engineered a titanic punch-up between Libby and Louise in the 03
December 1977 issue.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils |
On a few occasions Libby leapt to the
defence of Ursula, only to realise that the lumbering lolly lady was
more than capable of dealing with any insults.
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| Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
The first of Libby's front page
appearances was on the cover of the 17 December 1977 issue, where the
feisty feminist was seen threatening Cheeky, and in the same comic
she appeared throughout the Friday page.
In the 31 December 1977 edition, Libby
was one of the guests at the Vicar's Boxing Day party but thankfully
she appeared to have left her placard at home. However, Libby fetched
Cheeky a nasty knock on the noggin the following day, and was back
again on New Year's Eve, albeit only as a frightening figment of the toothy
funster's imagination as he pondered who would be the first across
the threshold of the Cheeky household at midnight. This issue
featured the highest number of elements in which Libby appeared in a
single edition of the comic. Unlike some of the Cheeky's Week cast, Libby never appeared throughout a whole week in a single issue (much to Cheeky's relief, no doubt).
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| I don't normally adjust the quality of my scans but the amount of ink soaking through from the other side of this page necessitated an attempt at corrective action. Art: Jim Watson |
A Cheeky's Pal strip (the forerunner of Cheeky Weekly's Burpo Special) was devoted to Libby in Krazy dated 28 January 1978.
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| Krazy 28 January 1978 Art: Jim Watson |
Libby suffered another unfortunate interval event in the 03 June 1978
issue.
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| Art: Jim Watson |
Libby's third and final Krazy appearance came in that comic's final issue dated 15 April 1978 as the toothy funster and his pals encouraged readers to follow them to Cheeky Weekly.
Back in Cheeky Weekly, the pugnacious protester was seen in the 24 June 1978 Skateboard Squad episode.
Libby made her second and final front
page appearance, as a member of the Joke-Box Jury panel, on the cover
of the 17 February 1979 edition and on the J-B J page, three
jokes elicited a 'snigger' from the placard-wielding wildcat.
The cantankerous campaigner appeared in only 4 issues in 1979; 13 January (with a note from Frank McDiarmid reading “Remember Libby, kids?” as her previous appearance had been in the 07 October 1978 comic), 17 February (the aforementioned Joke-Box Jury), 09 June and the Christmas issue dated 29 December, which was the final time she featured in the comic. However, I suspect that the Cheeky's Week pages that appeared in the 29 December 1979 issue were drawn for the Christmas 1978 edition, which failed to appear due to an industrial dispute. If I'm right, this would mean that Libby's 09 June 1979 outing was the last to be written and drawn. Maybe Hypno-Tessa's influence turned out to be permanent.
The cantankerous campaigner appeared in only 4 issues in 1979; 13 January (with a note from Frank McDiarmid reading “Remember Libby, kids?” as her previous appearance had been in the 07 October 1978 comic), 17 February (the aforementioned Joke-Box Jury), 09 June and the Christmas issue dated 29 December, which was the final time she featured in the comic. However, I suspect that the Cheeky's Week pages that appeared in the 29 December 1979 issue were drawn for the Christmas 1978 edition, which failed to appear due to an industrial dispute. If I'm right, this would mean that Libby's 09 June 1979 outing was the last to be written and drawn. Maybe Hypno-Tessa's influence turned out to be permanent.
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| Cheeky Weekly 09 June 1979 - Libby's real final appearance? Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils |
| Character | Total Issues | First Appearance | Final Appearance |
| Libby | 27 | 05-Nov-1977 | 29-Dec-1979 |
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Artist | Total Elements |
| Libby | Frank McDiarmid pencils | 12 |
| Libby | Frank McDiarmid | 9 |
| Libby | Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 | 4 |
| Libby | Barrie Appleby | 3 |
| Libby | Jim Watson | 2 |
| Libby | Mike Lacey | 1 |
| Libby | Dick Millington | 1 |
it seems it was a bad trim job on Jim's 'Ello, it's Cheeky page. I have just received a copy of the 29/10 issue, and my copy finishes with "Couple of Hundred lines" and that was it. I would be surprised if there was a copy with Cheeky's final line (if you'll pardon the pun) is intact. :(
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to print Krazy's Cheeky pages without the usual margins around the artwork.
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