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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Cheeky Weekly Index - Cheeky Annuals and Specials Index
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Major Characters from the Cheeky pages
Features Ordered by Date of Commencement

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*** 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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Monday 26 June 2017

Profile - Ah Sew

The final addition to the Cheeky's Week supporting cast, Ah Sew made his debut in Cheeky Weekly dated 27 October 1979. His name was of course a reference to the Japanese phrase 'Ah so' (although there were suggestions that he was in fact Chinese), punningly twisted in the Cheeky Weekly manner to allude to his profession as a tailor.

Ah Sew's debut, Cheeky Weekly 27 October 1979
Art: Frank McDiarmid

By the time of his second appearance (using Frank's artwork as featured in his debut), Ah Sew seemed to have been demoted to Tailor's Assistant...

Art: Dick Millington and Frank McDiarmid

I would guess that when Dick was given the script for the page above, he hadn't seen Frank's design for Ah Sew and as a consequence Frank's artwork from the previous week was cut and pasted in. It actually works well.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's sartorial stooge appeared in 9 editions of the toothy funster's comic, his final outing occurring in the penultimate issue dated 26 January 1980.

Ah Sew bows out - Cheeky Weekly 26 January 1980. This was the only occasion on which he was given a 'humorous' accent.
Art: Mike Lacey

Ah Sew was created for Cheeky Weekly and never appeared in Krazy.

See also Little Stitch.


Character Total Issues First Appearance Final Appearance
Ah Sew927-Oct-197926-Jan-1980

Sunday 18 June 2017

Cheeky Weekly cover date 03 November 1979

Art: Frank McDiarmid
Bubblegum Boy, still floating high above the streets of Krazy Town, makes his 13th and final front page appearance this issue, sharing the cover with a character whose natural environment diametrically opposes his own airy lair. Yes, it's that other front cover stalwart, Cheeky's subterranean stooge Manhole Man, enjoying his 27th (and penultimate) cover gag with our toothy pal. Frank McDiarmid does the honours for this osseous rib-tickler, depicting the skeletons, which must be time-consuming to draw, with his customary aplomb.














Dick Millington, who last provided some Cheeky's Week artwork in the 28 July 1979 issue, delivers his final Cheeky Weekly work in the current edition, drawing the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday elements.

Amusing detail in Calculator Kid - the hat which remains atop the post at the school gates.

Art: Terry Bave

Dick Millington gives us his Paddywack on the Monday page...
 
Art: Dick Millington
 
And on Wednesday Dick illustrates the only Cheeky Weekly appearance of Farmer Giles' Dad...

Dick again


John Geering provides the artwork on Mustapha Million this week, the only occasion on which John drew the strip.

Art: John Geering

 
Cheeky's message on the Chit-Chat page makes reference to this issue's Cheeky's Week artists Frank McDiarmid, Dick Millington and Mike Lacey.



Snail goes red with embarrassment at having to
encourage reader participation

There's another artist providing a one-off delivery of artwork this week, as Paul Ailey draws Speed Squad. Like Mustapha's ghost-drawn strip earlier in the issue, this Speed Squad escapade focuses on money, but whereas Mustapha had surplus moolah to distribute, the Squad are in pursuit of the precious pound with which they've been entrusted.

Art: Paul Ailey

Mike Lacey takes up the pen to furnish the visuals for the latter half of Cheeky's Week, including Friday, the occasion of Posh Claude's Dad's third and final appearance in the comic.

 
Art: Mike Lacey
 
Cheeky's Saturday is devoted to doing the shopping for his mum, after which attention turns once more to the back garden as Snail of The Century brings the hilarity to a conclusion for another week. Frank McDiarmid delivers the front and back covers, with Dick Millington and Mike Lacey each contributing 4 Cheeky's Week pages.


Cheeky Weekly Cover Date: 03-Nov-1979, Issue 104 of 117
PageDetails
1Cover Feature 'Manhole Man' 7 of 7 - Art Frank McDiarmid
2Sunday - Art Dick Millington (final art on feature)
3Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
46 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
56 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6Ad: IPC 'Cor Annual' 4 of 5 \Ad: Pop-A-Points
7Monday - Art Dick Millington (final art on feature)
8Joke-Box Jury
9Joke-Box Jury
10Tuesday - Art Dick Millington (final art on feature)
11Ad: IPC '5 Top Comics' 2 of 2
12The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
13The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
14Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
15Wednesday - Art Dick Millington (final art on feature)
16Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
17Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering
18Mustapha Million - Art John K. Geering (single art on feature)
19Mustapha Million - Art John K. Geering (single art on feature)
20Chit-Chat
21Chit-Chat\Ad: IPC 'Order Cheeky Weekly'
22Tease Break (final appearance)
23Speed Squad - Art Paul Ailey (single art on feature)
24Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
25Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
26Thursday - Art Mike Lacey
27What's New, Kids
28Friday - Art Mike Lacey
29Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
30Saturday - Art Mike Lacey
31Saturday - Art Mike Lacey
32Snail of the Century - Art Frank McDiarmid

Thursday 8 June 2017

The Pages – Page 25

The second page of Mustapha Million's debut adventure occupied page 25 in the first edition of Cheeky Weekly, and Mustapha's second page was again in the same location a week later. The Saturday element of Cheeky's Week came to rest on page 25 for the 2 subsequent editions, following which a Wile E Coyote strip represented the cartoon portion of that week's Saturday morning picture show.

Saturday's picture show was similarly located for the 5 subsequent issues, meaning that a variety of Warner Brothers animated characters were called into service to entertain Cheeky and his fellow youthful cinema patrons...

Date Details
26-Nov-77Henery Hawk (first appearance) 1/2 'Little Orphan Henery'
03-Dec-77Wile E Coyote 1/2 'Poll Fault'
10-Dec-77Henery Hawk 1/2 'A Peachy Idea'
17-Dec-77Wile E Coyote 1/2 'Rage In A Cage'
24-Dec-77Daffy Duck (first appearance) 1/2 'Daffy's Diner'

The placement of strips in the following week's Christmas issue was shaken up somewhat as a result of the festivities, leading to Joke-Box Jury making its first page 25 appearance. However, as things returned to relative normality seven days later, another run of cartoons commenced...

07-Jan-78Wile E Coyote (final appearance) 1/2 'Extra Long Division'
14-Jan-78Tweety (single appearance) 1/2
21-Jan-78Tweety and Sylvester (first appearance) 1/2
28-Jan-78Daffy Duck 1/2 'Ducking Out'

The Tweety and/or Tweety and Sylvester escapades listed above were untitled.

Saturday then returned to page 25 for 2 weeks following which the 'Beeps' of Warner Brothers' Road Runner appeared in the comic for the first time (in this strip the fleet-footed (if foot is the correct term for the thing at the end of an avian leg) bird was given the ability to speak, something he was lacking - as far as I'm aware – in the cartoons).

The following week a 9-issue run of Saturday commenced, a sequence that was interrupted in the comic dated 29 April 1978 by the appearance on page 25 of an advert for Funny Faces. If you're thinking that it was a bit early in the year to be promoting ice lollies, all will become clear when I reveal that this was not an ad for Wall's famous visage-based frozen treats, but instead a promotional push for packs containing a selection of cartoon-style eyes, ears noses and hats, plus a blank face on which to affix them. Sort of a 2-dimensional Mister Potato Head but without the carbs.

Saturday then returned for a week before being displaced again by an advert, this time notifying readers that a sufficient number of Trebor chew wrappers could be exchanged for Corgi Junior models of Batman's road, air and maritime conveyances. 60 wrappers would bag aching-jawed youngsters the whole Batload.

Saturday then resumed for what was to be a 3-week residency on page 25, until more advertising appeared there in the 10 June 1978 edition. This time it really was Wall's Ice Cream, who were hoping the summer weather would be conducive to emptying the nation's freezer-cabinets of their Tom and Jerry and Skateboard Surfer lollies.

Saturday returned for a week, but 7 days later the site under consideration was host to a competition of the 'spot the difference' variety, in which readers were tasked to identify the number of discrepancies between two similar images of Cheeky and Manhole Man, who were pictured enjoying a game of Gyro-Tennis as manufactured by M-Y Games. 30 of said bat-and-ball contrivances were on offer to the lucky winners. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), these games still seem to be in production.

Ads appeared on page 25 in the next 2 issues; 01 and 08 July 1978. The former saw Burton's promoting their Smax and Wagon Wheels products by way of a campaign in which skateboard posters could be obtained for 50p plus 4 tokens excised from the wrappers of the aforementioned comestibles. The latter ad was placed by Rowntree Mackintosh in relation to their wild-west-themed chewy confection known as the Texan Bar which at that time was, somewhat incongruously, offering purchasers a selection of prehistoric monster stickers.

The following issue saw Saturday commence another run, this time of 2 weeks' duration. Page 25 in the 29 July 1978 edition featured an ad for Trebor's Double Agents boiled sweets. Wrappers from the spy-inspired fruit drops could be exchanged for fingerprint kits. Parents would no doubt be delighted to find the furniture coated with fingerprint powder as a consequence.

A further week of Saturday ensued, and 7 days later Tweety and Sylvester pursued their ongoing feud in the subject location. In the comic dated 19 August 1978, Saturday began what was to be a 6 week run which brought to an end the feature's appearances on page 25 because the following issue introduced the Mystery Comic to its centre pages and Saturday was shunted further back as a result. Saturday was the second most regular feature to occupy the page in question, appearing there 27 times (including 01 April 1978's Saturday - April Fool's Day).

The following 2 issues saw Paddywack's particular brand of discombobulation abounding on page 24, but in the two subsequent issues Trebor were again encouraging widespread mastication of their products by offering what was described as 'jeans badges' (possibly they meant patches) in return for 20 wrappers.

Paddywack then resumed occupancy in the comic dated 28 October 1978, but this time sharing the page with a list of winners of the skateboard and tennis competitions that ran in the 17 and 24 June 1978 issues respectively.

The Friday element of Cheeky's Week then made its first visit to page 25, but its inaugural sojourn there proved to be brief, as 7 days later the welly-booted wonder Paddywack returned, although his was also just a single visit on this occasion as in the subsequent edition page 25 hosted an ad for Pirelli slippers.

Paddywack was featured on page 25 a week later, sharing that location with an ad for Cheeky Weekly's companion title Whoopee! Page 25 in the comic dated 02 December 1978 hosted the final appearance of Interval.

Luscious Lily Pop was to be found on page 25 in the following issue as she was grilled by Baby Burpo in the debut episode of The Burpo Special. Friday then returned, commencing what was to be something of a marathon run of 28 weeks in the location in question.

Readers' letters page Chit-Chat made a bid to secure page 25 in the comic dated 21 July 1979, and managed to hold on to the subject location for a further 3 weeks until obese oaf Tub made his only appearance in the site under review, his half-page adventure sharing that location with a list of winners of the Alpha Man competition. The following week saw Chit-Chat return to page 25, commencing a second run, which would extend to 3 issues. Yet more advertising of chewy confections ensued, as this time Barratt promoted their Oran-gee-tang bars for 2 issues.

Advertorial feature Whats, New Kids then moved in for 2 weeks, before Friday made its final visit to the subject location, bringing to 30 the number of times it graced page 25 (including 14 April 1979's Good Friday variant), making it the most regular occupant of the site under review.

What's New Kids returned the following week, after which the young performers of Stage School demonstrated their showbiz prowess for 3 editions. By this late stage in Cheeky Weekly's history, 6 Million Dollar Gran had suffered something of a demotion, as her stories had not only been reduced from 3 pages to 2 (and sometimes just 1), but the aged automaton had been relegated to the rear of the comic. Thus the synthetic senior citizen landed up on page 25 for 2 editions. Page 25 in the 01 December 1979 comic was home to 2 ads for IPC product; Look and Learn, which was running a competition to win an adventure holiday in Sudan, shared the location with an ad for that Christmas present stalwart, the mighty Whizzer and Chips Annual.

Robotic ructions were again in evidence on page 25 as Gran moved back commencing with the issue dated 08 December 1979 for what was to be a 3 week residency until a reprinted adventure featuring double-decker-dwellers The Gang displaced the creaky contraption. This was the only time that The Gang featured on page 25.

Gran returned to page 25 in the 05 January comic, and remained there for 2 issues until her normal strip was interrupted when she was the subject of a spot the difference puzzle.

6 Million Dollar Gran then resumed her page 25 run for the 2 issues that remained before Cheeky Weekly ceased publication. Gran was the third most regular occupant of the subject location, appearing there on 9 occasions in her normal strip and once as the spot the difference subject.

Warner Brothers' characters appeared on page 25 in a total of 12 issues, but since the strips were named after the individual characters, I haven't included them among the top 3 features. And as far as I'm concerned they were little more than filler material.

Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 25
Elements Total
Friday29
Saturday 1/226
6 Million Dollar Gran 2/29
Chit-Chat 2/2\Tub5
Advertisement: Trebor4
Wile E Coyote 1/24
Paddywack3
Stage School 2/23
What's New, Kids3
Advertisement: Barratt2
Chit-Chat 2/22
Daffy Duck 1/22
Henery Hawk 1/22
Mustapha Million 2/22
Tweety and Sylvester 1/22
6 Million Dollar Gran Spot the Difference1
Advertisement: Funny Faces1
Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC1
Advertisement: Pirelli1
Advertisement: Smax and Wagon Wheels1
Advertisement: Texan bars1
Advertisement: Wall's1
Good Friday1
Interval1
Joke-Box Jury1
Paddywack\Advertisement: IPC1
Paddywack\Winners of Skateboard and Tennis competitions1
Road Runner 1/21
Saturday - April Fool's Day 2/31
Tennis Competition1
The Burpo Special1
The Gang 2/21
Tub\Alpha Man competition results1
Tweety 1/21