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.

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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. ***
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Sunday 28 August 2016

Cheeky Weekly cover date 22 September 1979

Disaster Des is singled out for a front-page mention this week, and the ever-reliable Cheeky/Manhole Man double act gets this issue off to a cracking start with a helping of cereal-based humour. Surprisingly, Uncle Hamish is not to be found among the Caledonian consumers of porridge who adorn this cover. As always, the fertile mind of Frank McDiarmid generates several additional gags around the page.
















On Sunday the breakfast banter continues as Cheeky has another doorstep encounter with Bump-Bump Bernie.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils
 
Calculator Kid has a further grimy adventure (see the 16 June 1979 'Disco Special' issue), but with a happier outcome this time thanks to his electronic mate and a packet of Ker-Splat, the 'bionic' washing powder (as if it's not bad enough having 6 Million Dollar Gran repeatedly described as bionic despite her robotic nature, now the inappropriate adjective is being applied to laundry products).

Art: Terry Bave
 
Speaking of the mechanical marvel, this week's Gran story centres on Professor Potts' workplace (presumably he's still employed at the World Authority for Scientific Projects where he unveiled the aged automaton way back in Cheeky Weekly's first issue). Even the Prof himself is now describing the synthetic senior citizen as being bionic. Good to see Ian Knox drawing the traditional British comics' sausage-and-mash image, as well as the standard foreign spy.

Art: Ian Knox
 

I wonder why the third panel of the Monday page has been composed of Mike Lacey's drawing of Mr Mutton from the previous issue and what looks like a pasted-in Cheeky.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils and Mike Lacey

 
Coastal calamities abound as front-cover-boosted Des enjoys a day at the seaside.

Art: Mike Lacey

Elephant is still on the run in another agreeably bonkers escapade.

Art: Robert Nixon
 
On the Chit-Chat page, reader Ian Walding of Bury St. Edmunds claims his 'regular order' of Cheeky Weekly is delivered by the postman. This seems unlikely since the small print at the foot of the same page informs us that 'subscription facilities (inland and overseas) are not now available'. A regular order with the local newsagent would most likely be delivered by a kid (not unlike Cheeky himself, except maybe for the profusion of teeth) on a bike, rather than the employee of Royal Mail to which Ian refers. Since our young chum admits his copy of the toothy funster's comic is usually delivered while he's still in bed, I suspect he has never actually witnessed his favourite funny paper's arrival on the doormat, and thus may be unfairly attributing the partly-masticated nature of his reading material to feline activity. I suggest that the paperboy/girl, aggrieved at not being recognised as the true source of young Master Walding's weekly dose of Cheeky chuckles, may quite possibly be indulging in a surreptitious nibble of frustration.


The Wednesday page sees the artwork duties handed over from what I have designated as Frank McDiarmid pencils (i.e. someone other than Frank inking his artwork) to another artist who I'm not able to identify.

Artist unknown (to me).
The first panel of the bottom row is based on
 the distinctive Cheeky/Snail pose that
Frank McDiarmid drew in the 21 April 1979 issue,
and Dick Millington copied in the 28 July 1979 edition.

 
Page 29 contains Cheeky Weekly's first advert for the Cheeky Annual 1980, the ad's design leaning heavily on the previous year's promotional announcement.

There is no particular theme to Cheeky's Saturday this week - it's just a continuation of the usual daily gagfest. Snail of the Century is absent from the comic for the second time since it began in the 14 July 1979 edition, and its usual back page haunt is host to a colour episode of Why,Dad, Why?

The front cover is the only pure Frank McDiarmid art this week. The Cheeky's Week artwork duties on this issue are shared between Frank McDiarmid pencils (the last time this collaboration will provide art for the comic) and the unknown artist who I have designated as Not Known. This is the only issue to which this artist contributed.



Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 22-Sep-1979
Artist Elements
Not known5
Frank McDiarmid pencils3

Cheeky Weekly Cover Date: 22-Sep-1979, Issue 98 of 117
PageDetails
1Cover Feature 'Manhole Man' 4 of 7 - Art Frank McDiarmid
2Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils (final art on feature)
3Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
46 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
56 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
66 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils (final art on feature)
8Ad: Mr Bellamy's
9Joke-Box Jury
10Joke-Box Jury
11Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils (final art on feature)
12The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
13The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
14Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
15Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
16Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
17Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
18Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
19Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
20Chit-Chat
21Chit-Chat\Ad: IPC 'Puzzle Time' 5 of 6
22Wednesday - Art Not known (single art on feature)
23Speed Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
24Thursday - Art Not known (single art on feature)
25Ad: Barratt (final appearance) 'Oran-gee-tang' 2 of 2
26Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art John Richardson
27Friday - Art Not known (single art on feature)
28Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
29Ad: IPC 'Cheeky Annual' 4 of 6 Ad: 'Top Soccer' 1 of 3
30Saturday - Art Not known (single art on feature)
31Saturday - Art Not known (single art on feature)
32Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering

Thursday 11 August 2016

Stage School Erratum

My thanks to Stephen Archer who has pointed out my assertion that Stage School appeared only once in the post-Whoopee-merge Whizzer and Chips was not in fact correct, since our junior showbiz chums turned up for a second time in Whizzer and Chips dated 13 July 1985. Not quite sure how I missed this when I was reading through my Whizzer and Chips collection.

I have now updated my Stage School post with a correction, and have also amended the affected Whizzer and Chips Raids posts, as well as my post on Whoopee's merge into W&C.

This is the second correction I've had to make regarding Stage School and its W&C appearances!

As I begin to write out 'I must be more diligent when conducting research into the post-Cheeky-Weekly appearances of those characters who survived not only the collapse of the toothy funster's comic but of Whoopee as well' 500 times, I'll leave you with Stage School's second Whizzer and Chips outing.

Whizzer and Chips including Whoopee 13 July 1985
Art:Robert Nixon

Wednesday 10 August 2016

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 18

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. However, the Krazy Gang's Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986.
 
A week after Cheeky quietly slipped into comic history, Whizzer and Chips yet again featured a raid involving a survivor from Cheeky Weekly. Calculator Kid and Mustapha Million were by this point the only remaining representatives of the toothy funster's erstwhile comic.

Can you spot the unwelcome interloper? Scroll down, where the identity of the Whizz-kid weasel will be revealed...

Whizzer and Chips 15 February 1986
Art: Terry Bave
Reprinted from Cheeky Weekly 28 October 1978













How Lazy Bones summoned the energy to ascend to his aerial hiding place remains a mystery.

Looked at out of context, the panel into which Benny Bones has been pasted would seem to depict the result of the lethargic lad's decision to use the tree as an arboreal lavatory.

This brings to 15 the number of raids carried out on our ex Cheeky Weekly Chums, who had by this stage embarked on 8 revenge raids across the border into Whizzer.

More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date Raider Raided
06 April 1985Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
04 May 1985Bloggs (Store Wars)Mustapha Million
11 May 1985JokerThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985Calculator Kid & CalcOdd-Ball
01 June 1985
Animalad
Mustapha Million
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Boy Boss
08 June 1985Odd-BallCalculator Kid
06 July 1985Toy BoyCalculator Kid
13 July 1985Pa BumpkinThe Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985JokerMustapha Million
24 August 1985CheekySid's Snake
14 September 1985
Odd-Ball
Calculator Kid
Calculator Kid
Store Wars
05 October 1985Mustapha MillionAnimalad
19 October 1985Odd-BallMustapha Million
23 November 1985
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Sweeny Toddler
Calculator Kid
The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
Mustapha Million
18 January 1986Mustapha MillionSuper Steve
25 January 1986
Odd-Ball
Cheeky
Mustapha Million
Odd-Ball
08 February 1986
The Krazy Gang ends this issue
AnimaladMustapha Million
15 February 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid