Profile – Bubblegum Boy: Part Two - The Cheeky Weekly Era

For a profile of Bubblegum Boy's career in the pages of Krazy, see here.

Bubblegum Boy had the honour of appearing on the cover of Cheeky Weekly's debut issue, where he narrowly avoided a collision with the flying free gift. Inside that same edition, BB's appearance on the Sunday page saw him musing philosophically on Krazy Town's signage before drifting away on the breeze. From thereon BB continued to float, silent and unnoticed for the most part, across the cartoon skies as depicted in Cheeky Weekly, in exactly the same way as he had in Cheeky's strip in Krazy prior to the launch of Cheeky's own title. Indeed, our aerial chum continued to appear in Krazy while concurrently floating across the pages of Cheeky Weekly.

Cheeky Weekly No 1
Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the art in this post,
unless noted otherwise

Soon after the debut of the toothy funster's comic, BB was honoured with his own episode of the Cheeky's Pal feature in Krazy's 10 December 1977 edition, wherein it was revealed that the reluctant aviator's name was Fred, although this fact was never referred to again in Krazy, and only once more in Cheeky Weekly.

A month after his cover appearance on the first Cheeky Weekly, Fred was again on the front page of the 19 November 1977 issue.

Fred's third cover appearance occurred on Cheeky Weekly dated 03 December1977, and his fourth on 28 January 1978.

 

Thanks to a note from Frank McDiarmid which appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 18 February 1978, readers learned that Fred's surname was Holroyd.

Young Master Holroyd was back on the front cover of the 22 April 1978 comic, where his likeness was in fact the same image that had appeared on the cover of the first issue.

Our airborne chum made yet another front page appearance on the edition dated 13 May 1978.

  

A catastrophic mid-air clash between BB and B-BB occurred on Monday in the 05 August 1978 comic.

In Cheeky Weekly's '60 years into the future' edition, it was prophesied that an aged Fred will still be airborne in the year 2038.

The hapless chewer was again on the cover of the 14 October and 28 October 1978 issues, on these occasions observing events within the front page gag strips.

  

The cinema Commissionaire employed a gum-bubble to evade his customary Saturday trampling in the issue dated 04 November 1978.

Art: Mike Lacey
BB first took to the skies in Krazy dated 08 January 1977,
so by November 1978 he hadn't been aloft 'over two years'
but no doubt the aerial banishment seemed longer to him.

The reluctant aviator was once again on the cover of the comic dated 25 November 1978, and he narrowly avoided a rapidly-descending Tub on the 27 January 1979 cover.

 

High-flying Fred was yet again witness to front page frolics as of the 02June 1979 edition.

A plaintive cry from the sky on Sunday in the 09 June 1979 edition revealed that our airborne chum's birthday was the 2^nd of June.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

 

Bubblegum Boy's aerial wanderings took him to the coast in Cheeky Weekly dated 07 July 1979, just in time for a wee joke with Walter Wurx.

 

Our drifting pal had a speaking role on the cover of the 11 August 1979 issue.

 

Six-Gun Sam caused BB some concern

Bubblegum Boy appeared on the Pin-Up Pal poster featuring Disco Kid that appeared in the 16 September 1978 comic.

Fred joined Cheeky Weekly's front cover fun for the final time as of the 03 November 1979 issue, and his final appearance within the pages of the toothy funster's title was on the Friday page of the last issue dated 02 February 1980.

BB's final Cheeky Weekly outing.
The mystery was revealed later in the comic to
be the imminent merge with Whoopee!

This last appearance brought to 73 the number of Cheeky Weekly issues through which our soaring pal drifted, 13 of which featured BB on the front cover.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Bubblegum Boy	73	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Bubblegum Boy	Frank McDiarmid	96
Bubblegum Boy	Frank McDiarmid pencils	25
Bubblegum Boy	Barrie Appleby	6
Bubblegum Boy	Mike Lacey	3
Bubblegum Boy	Jim Watson	2
Bubblegum Boy	Dick Millington	1
Bubblegum Boy	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	1
Bubblegum Boy	Nigel Edwards	1

Profile – Bubblegum Boy: Part One - The Krazy Years

Bubblegum Boy was a familiar sight as he floated above the streets of Krazy Town throughout Cheeky Weekly's run. At least he was a familiar sight to readers of the toothy funster's comic – most citizens of Cheeky's home town seemed entirely unaware of his aerial predicament. However, the accidental aeronaut was first seen in Krazy, the title which spawned spin-off Cheeky Weekly.

Krazy issue 13, dated 08 January 1977, was certainly an unlucky one for Bubblegum Boy, as this was the comic in which, unnoticed by Cheeky and pals, over-enthusiastic bubble-inflation caused the hapless gum-chewer to take to the skies.

Krazy 08 January 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the artwork in this post

BB became a regular fixture in Cheeky's strips in Krazy, observing events from high above Krazy Town, initially unable to call for assistance since to loosen the seal between his lips and his gummy mode of aerial transport would result in a painful plummet onto the street below.

Krazy dated 19 March 1977 was the first issue in which BB uttered a cry for help. Due to the aforementioned restriction on his vocalisations, this appeal for assistance was unintelligible, although readers were able to ascertain his meaning thanks to a helpful thought bubble.

 

Krazy 19 March 1977
If that was BB's mum on the pavement, 
she evidently took no action to get him down
 as he continued to float above the street

 

At the request of Krazy reader Neil Bastian, a close-up of Bubblegum Boy was featured in the issue dated 09 April 1977.

By Krazy's 24 September 1977 edition, BB had developed ventriloquial skills that allowed him to be understood while maintaining the vital oral grip on his sticky aircraft, and on the same page readers enjoyed a Bubblegum-Boy-viewpoint of a Knock-Knock joke in progress.

BB was absent from Krazy dated 22 October 1977, the same week that the first issue of Cheeky Weekly went on sale, but he did get to feature on the front cover of that debut edition of the toothy funster's comic.

An eventful Cheeky's Pal strip appeared in Krazy dated 10 December 1977, in which Bubblegum Boy's name was revealed to be Fred.

...Louise got her Krazy issue number wrong – it was the 13^th edition in which Fred first took to the air.

 

Bubblegum Boy's final Krazy appearance came in the 25 March 1978 Easter edition, three weeks before that comic's final issue.

A profile of Fred's career in the pages of Cheeky Weekly can be seen here.