Profile – Square Eyes

The phrase, coined in the early years of TV, “You'll get square eyes if you stare at that telly much longer...”, was uttered by parents in vain attempts to dislodge their cathode-ray tube-obsessed offspring from the sofa where they sat entranced by Tiswas, Doctor Who, the test card and just about anything that emerged from the flickering 405-or-625 lined box in the corner.

Square-Eyes' first appearance.
Cheeky Weekly 09 September 1978
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Thus was named Square-Eyes, Cheeky Weekly's box-goggler, who made his debut in issue number 47. So enamoured was he of the small screen that a portable telly was in his grasp at all times. Such an item was, in the late 1970s when most houses had only a single TV around which the whole family would gather at peak viewing times, something that most Cheeky Weekly readers could only dream of possessing.

Square-Eyes made it to Cheeky Weekly's cover in the second week of the Friends of Cheeky Snap Game (13 January 1979). The juvenile TV addict was one of the characters featured on the cut-out cards, and one such card was included on the front page to promote the game. The same image of  Cheeky's TV-loving chum featured on the Pin-Up Pal poster included in the 17 February 1979 issue.

Art: Mike Lacey

In the comic dated 27 January 1979 we learned that Square-Eyes had a family connection to the TV industry...

  

Mike again

The avid small-screen viewer was the subject of The Burpo Special in the 17 March 1979 comic...

Frank McDiarmid

 

..and a page later Square-Eyes was the source of that week's edition of The Mystery Comic...

 

Mike

 

Square-Eyes' final Cheeky Weekly appearance was in the issue dated 19 January 1980, the 34th issue in which Krazy Town's telly addict had appeared, and just 2 issues short of the final edition. 

Square-Eyes' final
CheekyWeekly appearance
18 January 1980
Frank McDiarmid

As time went on, Frank McDiarmid's renditions of Square-Eyes emphasised the telly-watcher's front teeth, and facially he came to resemble Krazy Town's feeble fitness fanatic, Jogging Jeremy (aside from Jeremy's lolling tongue).

Jogging Jeremy from the same issue as above.
Frank

Square-Eyes was created for Cheeky Weekly and never appeared in Krazy.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Square-Eyes	34	09-Sep-1978	19-Jan-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Square-Eyes	Frank McDiarmid	19
Square-Eyes	Mike Lacey	9
Square-Eyes	Frank McDiarmid pencils	8
Square-Eyes	Dick Millington	2
Square-Eyes	Barrie Appleby	1