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
Cheeky Weekly Artist Index
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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. ***
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Thursday 22 February 2018

Profile - Hypno-Tessa

Mini mesmeriser Hypno-Tessa made her debut in Cheeky Weekly dated 14 April 1979. A sceptical toothy funster doubted her hypnotic skills, but was forced to concede when Teacher was observed in romantic pursuit of Ursula (hope his wife didn’t find out).

Tessa's debut
Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils


Most regularly seen in a migraine-inducing, zig-zag patterned dress (always drawn as such by Frank McDiarmid except for the 04 August 1979 comic in which Tessa appeared in singlet and shorts while competing in a cross country race), Tessa’s subjects were initially limited to Cheeky’s pals who, when entranced, exhibited actions contrary to their customary behaviour, but as the weeks progressed she began to direct her 'fluence toward late 70s celebrity (and in one case later notoriety). See table below for a list of all those who fell under Tessa's spell.

Cover Date Tessa's Subject
14-Apr-79 Teacher
28-Apr-79 Uncle Hamish
05-May-79 Gloomy Glad
05-May-79 Teacher
12-May-79 Herman
19-May-79 Jogging Jeremy
26-May-79 Posh Claude and Burpo
02-Jun-79 Six-Gun Sam
09-Jun-79 Libby
09-Jun-79 During the Burpo Special - Burpo, cat, dog, Crunching Chris, Ursula
07-Jul-79 Magnus Pyke
14-Jul-79 Margaret Thatcher
21-Jul-79 A bull
28-Jul-79 Jimmy Savile
04-Aug-79 Cross-country running competitors
11-Aug-79 Cheeky’s mum
18-Aug-79 Björn Borg and Geoff Capes
25-Aug-79 The Incredible Hulk
01-Sep-79 Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
08-Sep-79 A dog
22-Sep-79 John Travolta
29-Sep-79 Windsor Davies
13-Oct-79 Tom Baker
20-Oct-79 John Cleese
03-Nov-79 Tom Baker and Dalek
10-Nov-79 Little and Large
17-Nov-79 2 football teams (persuaded to be polite)
01-Dec-79 Lester Piggott
15-Dec-79 Spook
12-Jan-80 Failed attempt to hypnotise some waxwork dummies

The third issue to feature Tessa, dated 05 May 1979, included two appearances by Cheeky’s new chum; one on Wednesday and another on Friday when Teacher was hypnotised into handing over his copy of Teachers’ Weekly to allow our grinning pal to read that week’s instalment of Menace of The Alpha Man.

Art: Frank
 
The 09 June 1979 issue was another highlight for fans of Tessa as she again appeared twice – first on Monday, and then as the subject of a full-colour Burpo Special.

Art: Mike Lacey

In the comic dated 08 September 1979, Tessa says ‘Just to prove I can hypnotise animals as well as humans, take a look at this’, indicating a confused-looking dog which she had induced into emitting a curious ‘Miaow!, Cheep!, Oink!, Mooooo!, Baaaaah!’. However, Cheeky and his readers had already witnessed a bull coming under Tessa’s spell in the 21 July 1979 edition, and a cat and dog were similarly entranced during the aforementioned Burpo Special in the comic dated 09 June 1979, although our grinning pal was not privy to those proceedings.

Art: Jimmy Hansen


It seems Tessa and Cheeky's mum both used the same hairdresser
 Art: Frank again
A


The humorous hypnotist's final Cheeky Weekly appearance was a somewhat downbeat one, as she failed to exercise her powers of persuasion.

Tessa's final Cheeky Weekly outing (issue dated 12 January 1980)
Art: Mike Lacey


Tessa never appeared in Cheeky's strips in Krazy, but featured in 28 issues of Cheeky Weekly.


Character Total Issues First Appearance Final Appearance
Hypno-Tessa2814-Apr-197912-Jan-1980

Count of elements by artist






Character Artist Total Elements
Hypno-TessaFrank McDiarmid15
Hypno-TessaMike Lacey5
Hypno-TessaFrank McDiarmid pencils4
Hypno-TessaJimmy Hansen2
Hypno-TessaDick Millington2
Hypno-TessaNot known1
Hypno-TessaBarrie Appleby1

Tuesday 13 February 2018

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 30

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. Calculator Kid survived a little longer, his run of reprints coming to an end in the 26 July 1986 edition and leaving Mustapha Million as the sole Cheeky Weekly survivor.


Just a week after suffering a raid by Toy Boy, Mustapha had his revenge. However, rather than a direct retaliation at the toy-loving tyke, our moneyed mate played a more subtle game and picked another strip from the fertile mind of Terry Bave, the stars of which didn’t smell a rat. This raid is not to be sneezed at - can you spot our ex-Cheeky Weekly chum?

Whizzer and Chips 13 December 1986
Art: Terry Bave


This is an unusual raid as Mustapha's probing digit seems to influence development of the plot - normally the interloper is seen but has no effect on the events unfolding in the strip.

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
15 March 1986Odd-BallCalculator Kid
29 March 1986Calculator KidMaster P Brain
05 April 1986Bumpkin BillionairesMustapha Million
12 April 1986AnimaladCalculator Kid
31 May 1986Lazy BonesCalculator Kid
07 June 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
28 June 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
26 July 1986
Calculator Kid ends this issue
No Cheeky-related raid this issueNo Cheeky-related raid this issue
16 August 1986Mustapha MillionJoker
23 August 1986Sweet ToothMustapha Million
18 October 1986Winnie the Royal NagMustapha Million
06 December 1986Toy BoyMustapha Million
13 December 1986Mustapha MillionOdd-Ball

Thursday 8 February 2018

Cheeky Weekly cover date 08 December 1979

Art: Mike Lacey
This week’s Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue gets a mention in the above-title banner – a bit of a cheek (pardon the pun) when the catalogue is just a cheap way of filling a couple of pages but IPC DO love a cut-out feature don’t they?

Front cover fave Manhole Man is on hand to set up a Saturday Night Fever gag as our toothy pal embarks on his regular paper round. Disco Kid enjoys a boogie with fowl friend, while Snail gets a close-up.














Over the page Frank McDiarmid gives us his Sunday, where Cheeky’s paper round continues and includes a delivery to Posh Claude’s mansion.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

On page 3 Calculator Kid is lacking the wherewithal to visit the flicks as “it’s the end of the week and my pocket money’s almost gone”, yet the previous page was Sunday so Charlie’s cash crisis must occur on either Sunday or Monday. Now I always believed that the first day of the week was Sunday, so was going to say that this story actually occurs early in the week, but it seems that Monday has officially been the first day of the week for some time, so clearly this Calculator Kid adventure occurs on Sunday and thus I withdraw my complaint. I was also considering raising an objection to the cinema being open on a Sunday, as in the late 1970s virtually all businesses in the UK would be closed on that day of the week, but it seems cinemas were given a dispensation to allow them to open their doors on what was known by some as 'The Lord's Day' as from the late 1950s.

Art: Terry Bave

Following the cinema fun is reprint Soggy the Sea Monster, located surprisingly (to me, anyway) near the front of the comic. I have always assumed (possibly wrongly) that comic publishers place their most popular strips in the early part of the comic (aside from those that required a specific location such as the centre pages). Maybe the Soggy reprints are proving popular - the banner above his introductory Cheeky Weekly episode indicates his Cheeky Annual outings had been well received. Soggy’s three previous Cheeky Weekly appearances were all on page 11. Actually, this issue was the closest the silly sea serpent got to the front of the comic – he subsequently returned to page 11, flirted briefly with pages 8 and 12 and finished up on page 17.

ISSUE_DATE
Soggy the Sea Monster page
17-NOV-79
11
24-NOV-79
11
01-DEC-79
11
08-DEC-79
4
15-DEC-79
11
22-DEC-79
11
29-DEC-79
8
05-JAN-80
11
12-JAN-80
12
19-JAN-80
11
26-JAN-80
12
02-FEB-80
17
 
I don’t often show Tub strips, mainly because it’s not one of my favourites, but here is our clinically obese pal having a camping crisis…


Art: Nigel Edwards

 
There’s mayoral merriment in Doomsville as Disaster Des leaves town. But all too soon there's very little to crow about.

Art: Mike Lacey

Following Des, on pages 13 and 14, is the front-cover-mentioned Comedy Catalogue, this week featuring the wild west witticisms of Six-Gun Sam.

On Friday Goalie Cat returns to once again test Cheeky’s skill with a tin can. The feline footballer was last seen in the 25 August 1979 edition. On this page we also witness Yikky-Boo ‘razzing’ rather than uttering his customary exclamation.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

On the Chit-Chat page our toothy pal is indeed very cheeky about Terry Bave’s age.


Cheeky's Saturday is devoted to supervising a toddlers' outing to the park playground. It doesn't end well as Baby Burpo is among the youngsters in the care of the toothy funster and pals.

More Frank

Snail of the Century again rounds off this issue, which features an all-Frank-McDiarmid Cheeky's Week.


Cheeky Weekly Cover Date: 08-Dec-1979, Issue 109 of 117
PageDetails
1Cover Feature 'Manhole Man and Disco Kid' - Art Mike Lacey
2Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
4Soggy the Sea Monster reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Robert Nixon
5Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
6Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
7Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
8Ad: Tente (single appearance)
9Tub - Art Nigel Edwards
10Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
11Joke-Box Jury\Ad: IPC 'Whoopee' 8 of 9
12Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
13Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue 'Six-Gun Sam Jokes'
14Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue 'Six-Gun Sam Jokes'
15Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
16Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
17Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
18The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
19The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
20Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
21Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering
22Ad: Peter Pan Playthings (final appearance)
23Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
246 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
256 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
26Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
27Ad: IPC 'Cor Annual' 5 of 5 Ad: 'Look and Learn' 16 of 16
28Speed Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
29Chit-Chat
30Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32Snail of the Century - Art Frank McDiarmid