Revamp 3

Revamp 3, which was introduced in the 'new look' issue dated 07 July 1979, was not as extensive as the previous overhaul that Cheeky Weekly underwent 9 months earlier. Possibly this was because it was felt by IPC's management that Cheeky Weekly was doing pretty well at the time so only needed minor tweaking. Alternatively, (and more likely in my opinion in the light of what was to occur in subsequent months) the view at executive level may have been that the comic was on its last legs and thus little more than a desultory attempt at a revival was appropriate. The main focus of those in IPC's comic office at that time was probably being directed towards the latest addition to their humour/adventure stable, Jackpot, which had made its debut just a couple of months earlier.

The most noticeable change as of revamp 3 was the loss of the Mystery Comic as a conceptual grouping of features in the centre pages (the comic-within-a-comic idea was one that IPC/Fleetway flirted with a number of times, seemingly attempting to emulate the success of their 2-in-1 comic Whizzer and Chips). However, all the former Mystery Comic strips would continue, but distributed around the comic.

3 features came to an end as of the previous issue in order to free up space for new strips. These were;

• The Cheeky's Week...Sunday cover strip, which was replaced with a series of untitled, single-panel cover gags, sometimes sharing the front page with news of various promotions
• Reprint from Shiver and Shake (see, I told you IPC returned to the 2-in-1 comic idea on multiple occasions), Menace of the Alpha Man
• The Burpo Special

Three 'new' strips were welcomed aboard as part of the overhaul, two of which featured characters who hadn't previously appeared in the comic; Stage School and The Gang, the latter being a re-titled reprint of The Double Deckers from Whizzer and Chips. The third new strip (which didn't actually make its debut until the 14 July 1979 issue) starred Cheeky's slithering sidekick in the punningly-titled Snail Of The Century.

Cheeky's daily pages were re-designed, losing the introductory Cheeky's Week title panel as well as the What did YOU do today? Diary section at the foot of the page (no doubt to the relief of reader Emily Jacob, who had expressed her dislike of this aspect of revamp 2 in the 12 May 1979 issue).

Cheeky Weekly's unique feature - the linking of all the non-Cheeky strips into the toothy funster's universe by various framing devices (such as Creepy Sleepy Tale being a bedtime story that Cheeky read to Baby Burpo, and Space Family Robinson being a film series shown during the Saturday morning pictures) expired as of this revamp (with the exception of Snail of the Century which, starring as it did Cheeky's mollusc mate was clearly linked to Krazy Town and often featured our grinning pal.)

Another small but familiar element was also dropped as of the 07 July 1979 issue - the little dates corresponding to each issue's cover date that had previously been printed on Cheeky Weekly's pages ceased to appear.

Rather surprisingly (to me, anyway) revamp 3 took place during the course of IPC's 1979 Star Guest promotion. One might have expected Cheeky Weekly's editor to delay the comic's refashioning (such as it was) until after the final Star Guest strip had appeared, just 3 weeks later in the 28 July 1979 issue. It would also have been nice to delay the metamorphosis of Skateboard Squad into Speed Squad for a few weeks until the revamp, but maybe the scriptwriter had exhausted all board-based ideas by May '79.

The table below compares the contents of the Revamp 2 issue (30 September 1978) and the Revamp 3 issue, It matches the features included in both (the first 17 rows), then goes on to...

• List those which started after Revamp 2 but which continued beyond Revamp 3 ('X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins DD-Mon-YYYY'),
• List those that were running as of Revamp 2 but expired before Revamp 3 ('X - Ended DD-Mon-YYYY')
• List those that were absent from the Revamp 3 issue but would return later ('X - Will return')
• List those which started after the commencement of Revamp 2 and ended before Revamp 3, ordered by the date on which they finished  ('Started and finished within dates')

Comparison of features: Issues 30-Sep-1978 and 07-Jul-1979

30-Sep-1978	07-Jul-1979
6 Million Dollar Gran	6 Million Dollar Gran
Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid
Cover Feature	Cover Feature
Disaster Des	Disaster Des
Elephant On The Run	Elephant On The Run
Friday	Friday
Joke-Box Jury	Joke-Box Jury
Monday	Monday
Mustapha Million	Mustapha Million
Mystery Boy	Mystery Boy
Paddywack	Paddywack
Saturday	Saturday
Sunday	Sunday
Thursday	Thursday
Tub	Tub
Tuesday	Tuesday
Wednesday	Wednesday
X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins 09-Dec-1978	Chit-Chat
X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins 26-May-1979	Speed Squad
X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins 07-Jul-1979	Stage School
X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins 31-Mar-1979	Star Guest
X - New after 30-Sep-1978: Begins 07-Jul-1979	The Gang
X - Started before 30-Sep-1978, Ends 17-Nov-1979	What's New, Kids
Cheeky's Pal Puzzle	X - Ended 02-Dec-1978
Cheeky's Week	X - Ended 30-Jun-1979
Hoi! What do you get up to all week	X - Ended 30-Sep-1978
Interval	X - Ended 02-Dec-1978
Silly Snaps	X - Will return
Skateboard Squad	X - Ended 12-May-1979
Tweety and Sylvester	X - Ended 02-Dec-1978
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf	X - Ended 30-Sep-1978
Why, Dad, Why?	X - Will return
Started and finished within dates	Ghouldilocks Start 14-Oct-1978, End 14-Oct-1978
Started and finished within dates	Hey Presto! Magic Show Start 21-Oct-1978, End 21-Oct-1978
Started and finished within dates	Winners of Skateboard and Tennis competitions Start 28-Oct-1978, End 28-Oct-1978
Started and finished within dates	Who's your Super-Star Start 18-Nov-1978, End 18-Nov-1978
Started and finished within dates	Big Four Saint Competition Start 02-Dec-1978, End 02-Dec-1978
Started and finished within dates	Feature Omitted Start 02-Dec-1978, End 02-Dec-1978
Started and finished within dates	The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure Start 07-Oct-1978, End 02-Dec-1978
Started and finished within dates	Laugh and Learn Start 07-Oct-1978, End 09-Dec-1978
Started and finished within dates	Chutes Away competition winners Start 06-Jan-1979, End 06-Jan-1979
Started and finished within dates	Goonburger Maze Start 20-Jan-1979, End 20-Jan-1979
Started and finished within dates	Spaghetti Junction maze Start 27-Jan-1979, End 27-Jan-1979
Started and finished within dates	Snap Game Start 13-Jan-1979, End 03-Feb-1979
Started and finished within dates	Train Track Maze Start 03-Feb-1979, End 03-Feb-1979
Started and finished within dates	Your chance to vote Start 27-Jan-1979, End 17-Feb-1979
Started and finished within dates	Eagle Eye Start 06-Jan-1979, End 24-Feb-1979
Started and finished within dates	Ash Wednesday Start 03-Mar-1979, End 03-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Shrove Tuesday Start 03-Mar-1979, End 03-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Disaster Des spot the difference Start 17-Mar-1979, End 17-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Saint competition results Start 24-Mar-1979, End 24-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Smurfs competition results Start 24-Mar-1979, End 24-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Cheeky's Jersey Pattern Start 31-Mar-1979, End 31-Mar-1979
Started and finished within dates	Easter Saturday Start 14-Apr-1979, End 14-Apr-1979
Started and finished within dates	Good Friday Start 14-Apr-1979, End 14-Apr-1979
Started and finished within dates	Top Ten Poster Start 07-Apr-1979, End 28-Apr-1979
Started and finished within dates	Top Ten Poster instructions Start 07-Apr-1979, End 28-Apr-1979
Started and finished within dates	Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around Start 19-May-1979, End 09-Jun-1979
Started and finished within dates	Cheeky Hustle Start 16-Jun-1979, End 16-Jun-1979
Started and finished within dates	Who Is The Alpha Man Start 16-Jun-1979, End 16-Jun-1979
Started and finished within dates	Menace of the Alpha Man Start 03-Mar-1979, End 30-Jun-1979
Started and finished within dates	The Burpo Special Start 09-Dec-1978, End 30-Jun-1979

Cheeky Weekly Cover Date 07 July 1979 - the New Look!

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Here it is – the much-vaunted (well slightly-vaunted in last week's comic, anyway) 'new look' issue. The cover doesn't have an exceptionally new look about it, apart from the legend '* New Look * New Funnies' at the top of the page. Below the comic title (the style of which hasn't been refashioned) are teasers as to the nature of our 'new fun friends' (although one story will turn out to be not so new). The Cheeky's Week...Sunday cover strip has been dispensed with in favour of a single-panel gag but despite the overhaul, the inimitable Cheeky/Manhole Man double-act return to the front page to make their 20^th appearance on page 1.

Turning to page 2 we see that Sunday is still featuring Cheeky's paper round but there is a change in the layout as the What did YOU do today? section at the foot of the page, introduced into the Cheeky's Week features way back in the 30 September 1978 issue, is absent. This will please reader Emily Jacob of Rainham. The different style of lettering in Cheeky's speech bubble in the final panel suggests that the original text has been altered for some reason (we've seen this on a number of occasions before). Maybe in this case Cheeky originally introduced 6 Million Dollar Gran.

Frank again

However, page 3 reveals Calculator Kid has survived the revamp, as he enjoys a day's fishing with help from his battery-powered buddy. Also unscathed is What's New Kids which follows Charlie and Calc.

Any readers worried that Gran had been dropped from the comic will be relieved to see her commence a 3-page adventure on page 5, following which Cheeky and pals enjoy a titter-packed Monday. Further chuckles (some of dubious taste) follow in the form of stalwart feature Joke-Box Jury.

Cheeky Weekly welcomes the first of its newcomers on pages 10 and 11. It's The Gang, but older readers may recognise the strip as it's a retitled reprint of The Double Deckers (based on the TV series Here Come The Double Deckers) which originally appeared in Whizzer and Chips in 1971/72

Art: Robert MacGillivray

    

After a chortlesome Tuesday with our toothy pal, Disaster Des proves he didn't suffer the ultimate disaster that can befall characters at the time of a revamp, by appearing on page 13. However, Des is normally confined within the Mystery Comic which has traditionally appeared after Cheeky's Wednesday page, so something's afoot. We then encounter the second of our new groups of pals, the showbiz wannabe kids of Stage School.

Art: Robert Nixon

Following this new strip by Robert Nixon is a Cheeky Weekly stalwart by the same artist - Elephant, who is still running and enjoying an adventure in the centre pages. This is the second erstwhile Mystery Comic strip which has turned up before we've even seen the cover of that perplexing publication. We then witness the Wednesday element of Cheeky's Week, but there's no introduction to the Mystery Comic in the final panel as there has been every week since the comic dated 30 September 1978. However, the Mystery Comic's ongoing serial Mystery Boy continues on page 19, following which is a selection of Paddywack gags.

Our toothy pal returns on page 22 with Thursday's collection of corny quips, and then we discover that the Star Guest promotion continues despite the revamp, as Cheeky Weekly is paid a prank-packed visit from Whizzer and Chips' resident japester, Joker.

On the Chit-Chat page, Cheeky solicits reader opinion on the new look explaining, as we have come to suspect, that the Mystery Comic characters have been assimilated into the main comic. Overleaf we share Friday with the toothy funster, then there's picnic fun with Mustapha Million, followed by high-velocity humour at the zoo with Speed Squad.

Our chubby chum Tub, now freed from the confines of the centre pages, lumbers towards the rear of the comic, sharing page 29 with an ad for Dunlop outdoor sports equipment, after which we enjoy 2 pages of Saturday at the beach with Cheeky and his pals. Our toothy pal gets things flowing with a classic Walter Wurx gag... 

Frank once again

A back cover ad for Mr Bellamy's Liquorice Novelties brings this revamp issue to a conclusion.

As revamps go, this one isn't particularly drastic (compare it for example to the previous Cheeky Weekly overhaul). The only strips to have been dropped as of the previous issue in preparation for the overhaul are...

• The front cover's Cheeky's Week...Sunday feature, which is replaced with an untitled single-panel gag,
• The Burpo Special which had become something of a fixture on the back cover, occupying page 32 for 12 out of the last 13 issues.
• Adventure/competition feature Menace of the Alpha Man which reached its conclusion last week.

Despite losing the Mystery Comic as a grouping of strips in the middle pages, all the former MC features continue (despite not appearing this week, Why, Dad, Why? will return). Having lost the Mystery Comic we have also lost the last remaining link between the Cheeky's Week strips and the other features in the comic - remember when the comic started all the non-Cheeky strips were in some way linked to the toothy funster's world. Thus James Bold was a story that Cheeky read (later a film series), 6 Million Dollar Gran was a TV show he watched, Home Movie was a film made by Oscar etc). Now we have no such linked stories (although Snail of the Century which will start next week, starring as it does Cheeky's sidekick, will become the sole direct connection although not 'framed' by the Cheeky's Week strips as were the original linked stories).

We have of course gained 2 'new' strips, one of which is in fact being recycled. Another change is the loss of the introductory panel and What did YOU do today? sections from the Cheeky's Week pages. The remaining framing devices have also been dispensed with.

Frank McDiarmid delivers all 8 Cheeky's Week elements in this issue.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 07-Jul-1979, Issue 87 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'New Look: Stage School and The Gang' 'Manhole Man' 2 of 7 - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
4	What's New, Kids
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
8	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
9	Joke-Box Jury
10	The Gang (first appearance) reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray (first art on feature)
11	The Gang (first appearance) reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray (first art on feature)
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
14	Stage School (first appearance) - Art Robert Nixon (first art on feature)
15	Stage School (first appearance) - Art Robert Nixon (first art on feature)
16	Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
17	Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
18	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
19	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art John Richardson
20	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
21	Ad: IPC 'Cheeky Summer Special' 6 of 6 Ad: 'Whizzer and Chips Summer Special' 3 of 3
22	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
23	Star Guest 'Joker' - Art Sid Burgon (final art on feature)
24	Chit-Chat
25	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
26	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
27	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
28	Speed Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
29	Tub - Art Nigel Edwards\Ad: Dunlop Playsport (final appearance) - Art Nick Baker (final art on feature)
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Ad: Mr Bellamy's

Cheeky Weekly cover date 07 October 1978

One of the newcomers who made their Cheeky Weekly debut in last week's revamp issue gets pride of place on the cover of The Comic With EVERYTHING!!  Yes it's a watery predicament for World War II amnesiac Mystery Boy.  This cover features two things we haven't seen on the front page since 25 February 1978 - an adventure strip being promoted on the coveted main cover feature, and the appearance thereon of a blown-up panel from inside the comic.  Beneath the main feature, in the Cheeky's Week…Sunday cover strip, Manhole Man emerges from his aperture for some repartee with our toothy hero, who then enjoys a wild west witticism with Six-Gun Sam.

In this week's 6 Million Dollar Gran episode, the synthetic senior citizen comes to the aid of Miss Vera Strict, headmistress of Nollege End School.  The headmistress is distraught because Mister Thrashem, the feared PE teacher, is unaccountably absent.  Ever-enthusiatic Gran steps in to take the PE class and soon the exhausted pupils realise that Old Thrashem wasn't so bad after all.

On Monday, Cheeky is made to stand in the corner for arriving late at school, just as Teacher introduces the first episode of new 'edutainment' feature, Laugh and Learn.  This week's episode concerns prehistoric creatures, and Cheeky's humorous interjections into the podgy pedagogue's lecture certainly seem to have originated in the paleozoic era.

Jogging Jeremy makes a guest appearance in this week's Skateboard Squad strip, and this is the first time we've seen Squad leader Skipper without his crash helmet.

On Wednesday, Flash Harry tells a worried Cheeky that this week's Mystery Comic was printed in disappearing ink.  Fortunately for Cheeky (and us readers who would otherwise be confronted with blank pages in the centre of the comic), the funny photographer hands Cheeky the snaps he took of the mysterious publication before the contents faded away.

Inside said mysterious publication, evacuee cover star Mystery Boy emerges from the train wreck which occurred at the climax of last week's episode, to find that he has no memory of his identity.

Also engaged in a frantic search to uncover his own past is The Mystery Comic's other amnesiac, Elephant On The Run.  The bewildered tusker is still unable to fathom why he's being pursued by The Man In The Plastic Mac.

A new film serial starts this week, so on Saturday Cheeky and pals settle down in the cinema to watch the first episode of spooky pirate tale, The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure.  After this thrilling debut, Cheeky emerges from the cinema onto the back page where this week's Cheeky's Pal Puzzle is set by compost-encrusted school gardener, Dan-Dan the Lavender Man.

Two new features commence this issue in a continuation of the revamp which began last week - Laugh and Learn and The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure (which is in fact a reprint from Shiver and Shake).

Mike Lacey has had a busy week, drawing all 10 Cheeky's Week elements, as well as his usual strips Skateboard Squad and Disaster Des.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 07-Oct-1978, Issue 51 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Mystery Boy' 1 of 2 - Art John Richardson (first art on feature)\Cheeky's Week - Art Mike Lacey (first art on feature)
2	Sunday - Art Mike Lacey
3	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
4	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	Ad: IPC 'Soccer Monthly' 2 of 5 Ad: '2000AD and Starlord' 1 of 2
7	Monday - Art Mike Lacey
8	Laugh and Learn (first appearance) - Art Brian Walker (first art on feature) - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
9	Laugh and Learn (first appearance) - Art Brian Walker (first art on feature) - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
10	Tuesday - Art Mike Lacey
11	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
12	Wednesday - Art Mike Lacey
13	Tub 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards
14	Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 28 - Art John K. Geering
15	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 37 - Art John Richardson
16	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
17	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
18	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
19	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
20	Disaster Des 'Mystery Comic' 2 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey
21	Thursday - Art Mike Lacey
22	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
23	What's New, Kids\Ad: IPC 'Krazy Annual' 1 of 4
24	Friday - Art Mike Lacey
25	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
26	Saturday - Art Mike Lacey
27	Tweety and Sylvester 'Beaned by a Bell'
28	Tweety and Sylvester 'Beaned by a Bell'
29	Interval - Art Mike Lacey
30	The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature)
31	The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure (first appearance) reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Eric Bradbury (first art on feature)
32	Saturday - Art Mike Lacey\Cheeky's Pal Puzzle 'Dan-Dan The Lavender Man' - Art Mike Lacey (first art on feature)

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 07-Oct-1978

Artist	Elements
Mike Lacey	10

Revamp 2

A full-blown revamp hit Cheeky Weekly's 50th issue dated 30 September 1978.  Rather similarly to the first revamp, this second upheaval took place around a cut-out feature.  In the case of the first revamp, the changes had occurred around 1978's mini comics promotion, while revamp 2 was instigated around the 4-week Crack-A-Joke game promotion which began in the 02 September 1978 issue.

Features to end in preparation for revamp 2;

• Creepy Sleepy Tale and related strip, Wednesday (conclusion), both had their final appearances in the comic dated 26 August 1978, as did Old Comic.  The demise of these features freed up space for the Crack-A-Joke Game to begin the following week.
• Archie's Angels came to an end in the 16 September 1978 issue, the penultimate issue to carry elements of the Crack-A-Joke Game.
• Sunday evening, Teacher's Teasers and What A Cheek all ended in the 23 September 1978 issue, the final issue before the revamp.
• The Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf reprint from Cor!! made its second and final Cheeky Weekly appearance in the 30 September 1978 issue, although the cartoon supporting feature element of Saturday's cinema show continued with Warner Brothers cartoon strips.

New features appearing during revamp 2;

• Silly Snaps began in the 02 September 1978 issue
• Cheeky's Pal Puzzle and Cheeky's Week started on 30 September 1978.
• The most significant new component of the comic as of revamp 2 was the Mystery Comic section in the centre pages.  This new section, which made its debut in the 30 September 1978 issue, was home to newcomers Disaster Des, Elephant On The Run, Mystery Boy, Tub and Why, Dad, Why?.

A couple of features emerged, blinking, from IPC's vaults for a single time before being summarily returned to oblivion, as the comic geared up for the revamp;

• Hickory Dickory Doc, another reprint from Cor!! that was used to represent a supporting feature cartoon, made its sole Cheeky Weekly appearance in the 16 September 1978 issue, and Sonny Storm, yet another reanimated Cor!! character, blew into and out of the comic dated 23 September 1978.

Although Archie's Angels and Sonny Storm, both strips whose role in Cheeky Weekly had been to represent the adventure serial element of Cheeky's weekly cinema visit, had come to an end by 30 September 1978, the cinema serial idea had not been dropped.  A new (to Cheeky Weekly, anyway) adventure strip would commence in the 07 October 1978 issue.

In addition to the new features, revamp 2 saw a change in the design of the Cheeky's Week pages.  Previously, each day of the week was introduced with a caption above the top row of artwork, as from revamp 2 a more conventional title panel, reading Cheeky's Week and including an entry from Cheeky's Diary, kicked off each new day.  In addition to this, a new element was introduced at the bottom of the first of each of the Cheeky's Week pages, with a caption reading What did YOU do today?, and giving a space in which readers were invited to record their daily doings.

Cynics among Cheeky Weekly's readership may have considered that the introduction of these new elements onto Cheeky's pages had an ulterior motive. Taken over a whole issue, the space lost to the new title panel and reader's diary would amount to a whole page or more, reducing the workload for the toiling artists working to fill a whole Cheeky's Week each issue, and of course saving money for IPC.

As can be seen here, revamp 2 had the effect of reducing the total number of Cheeky's Week elements from a pre-revamp average of 13 elements per issue to 10.

The revamp continued in the following week's issue, as the 07 October 1978 comic saw the introduction of 2 more new strips; Laugh and Learn, and The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure, a reprint from Shiver and Shake.

A new policy on Cheeky's Week artists appeared to have been instigated at this revamp. Whereas previously the majority of issues had seen multiple artists contribute to each comic's Cheeky strips, as of 30 September 1978 only one artist (or collaboration) from the usual pool of illustrators provided each issue's Cheeky's Week content. The issues and artists can be seen here.

As of revamp 2, the number of Cheeky's Week elements per issue was reduced to 11, from a previous average 13, then down to 10 as of early 1979. This reduction in Cheeky elements probably made the editor confident that the new 'one Cheeky artist per issue' policy could be maintained, but it began to break down in early 1979.

Revamps were common in comics of the period, as editors tried to fine-tune the contents of their titles to yield maximum readership.  It's interesting that readers were invited to fill out a popularity poll in the comic dated 09 September 1978, a mere 3 weeks before 30 September's reshuffle.  Surely by 09 September, the new features had already been completed.  Maybe the changes introduced at revamp 2 were in response to the first readers' poll in the issue dated 10 December 1977.  Alternatively, the changes may have been made as a consequence of unsolicited reader feedback, or possibly the Cheeky Weekly editor decided to introduce a comic-within-comic to emulate long-running IPC stablemate Whizzer and Chips, which had adopted a 2-comics-in-one approach from its first issue.

Comparison of features: Issues 26-Aug-1978 and 30-Sep-1978

26-Aug-1978	30-Sep-1978
6 Million Dollar Gran	6 Million Dollar Gran
Archie's Angels	X - Final appearance was 16-Sep-1978
Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid
Cover Feature	Cover Feature
Creepy Sleepy Tale	X - Final appearance was 26-Aug-1978
Friday	Friday
Interval	Interval
Joke-Box Jury	Joke-Box Jury
Monday	Monday
Mustapha Million	Mustapha Million
Old Comic	X - Final appearance was 26-Aug-1978
Paddywack	Paddywack
Pin-up pal	X - Will return
Saturday	Saturday
Skateboard Squad	Skateboard Squad
Sunday	Sunday
Sunday evening	X - Final appearance was 23-Sep-1978
Teacher's Teasers	X - Final appearance was 23-Sep-1978
Thursday	Thursday
Tuesday	Tuesday
Tweety and Sylvester	Tweety and Sylvester
Wednesday	Wednesday
Wednesday (conclusion)	X - Final appearance was 26-Aug-1978
What a Cheek	X - Final appearance was 23-Sep-1978
What's New, Kids	X - Will return
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Cheeky's Pal Puzzle
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Cheeky's Week
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Disaster Des
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Elephant On The Run
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Hoi! What do you get up to all week
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Mystery Boy
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 02-Sep-1978	Silly Snaps
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Tub
X - Started before 26-Aug-1978, Ends 30-Sep-1978	Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
X - New after 26-Aug-1978: Begins 30-Sep-1978	Why, Dad, Why?
Started and finished within dates	Crack-A-Joke Game Start 02-Sep-1978, End 23-Sep-1978
Started and finished within dates	Hickory Dickory Doc Start 16-Sep-1978, End 16-Sep-1978
Started and finished within dates	Marx Toys Competition Start 16-Sep-1978, End 16-Sep-1978
Started and finished within dates	Readers poll Start 09-Sep-1978, End 09-Sep-1978
Started and finished within dates	Sonny Storm Start 23-Sep-1978, End 23-Sep-1978

Cheeky Weekly cover date 30 September 1978

As we reach Cheeky Weekly's 50th issue, there are signs on the cover that big changes are afoot.  It appears that the whole Mystery Comic is on view inside, and a new cover feature, Cheeky's Week…Sunday, takes over from What A Cheek, although the three-panel gag format of the previous strip continues.

Flipping over to page 2 reveals some more changes - there's no title to the Sunday page - we're now to infer that it follows on from the cover's Cheeky's Week…Sunday feature, and a What Did YOU Do Today? diary-type section occupies the bottom of the page.  It also appears that Cheeky's favourite TV show, 6 Million Dollar Gran, has been moved to a mid-day time slot, which is fortunate for us readers as the Sunday evening element of Cheeky's Week came to an end last week.

On page 6, Cheeky explains the purpose of the new diary section of his pages.  I think his rather ill-mannered Hoi! is something he picked up from Snail.

There's another new development when we arrive at the Monday feature - a panel reading 'Cheeky's Week…Monday' and displaying an extract from Cheeky's diary now introduces the strip instead of the Monday caption across the top of the page which appeared previously.  This, together with the What Did YOU Do Today diary area at the bottom of the page, appears once for each of the remaining days of Cheeky's Week in the comic (it doesn't appear on the Interval or second Saturday pages).

The Skateboard Squad title panel which appeared for the first time last week has been dropped in favour of a more streamlined banner-style introductory panel showing the team proudly flying a, er, banner.  The fact that the title panel now spans the width of the page means that the name of the strip can be displayed in full rather than being broken down into three words as it was last week.

On Wednesday, Cheeky dials 1978 in the time-travelling phone box and skips back a couple of days to the moment when the single copy of this week's Mystery Comic came off the printing press.  Never having seen a complete issue of this mysterious publication, we eagerly turn the page to view the cover, and get our first look at the Tub strip.  Next up is the first episode of Why, Dad, Why?, followed by the debut of adventure serial Mystery Boy (a retitled reprint of the Who Is Sandy? strip from Whizzer and Chips, 1971).

The following Mystery Comic page introduces us to the peripatetic pachyderm and his plastic-clad pursuer in the first instalment of Robert Nixon's 2-page Elephant On The Run, after which we encounter good old Mustapha Million, the only Mystery Comic character that we had seen up until now.

Rounding off the Mystery Comic section is another newcomer, juvenile jinx Disaster Des.

Page 21 returns us to Cheeky's Week for a look at the toothy funster's doings on Thursday, and Calculator Kid, who evidently survived the revamp, enjoys a robbery-foiling adventure on page 22.  Another non-Cheeky strip to remain is Paddywack, who fills page 25 with his customary confusion.

In the final panel of page 26, Cheeky tells us that there's an all-cartoon programme in this week's cinema show.  So after an interruption on the following page featuring an advertisement for The Superkids Club, promoting the Superkids range of boots and shoes, the first cartoon, in the form of a Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf reprint from Cor!!, hits the screen.  After the interval, the second cartoon starts and the bad news is that those blasted Warner Brothers cartoon strips have survived the revamp.  This week it's flippin' Tweety and Sylvester again.

The post-cinema conclusion to Saturday occupies the back cover, and includes a new feature within the page - a puzzle introduced by one of Cheeky's pals.  It's presented by Herman, and apparently he got it from The Traffic Warden's Bumper Fun Book.

All of the Mystery Comic features with the exception of Mustapha Million are new this week, as is the Cheeky's Pal Puzzle idea on the back cover.  The Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf feature makes its second and final Cheeky Weekly appearance.

There are no debuts or departures among the Cheeky's Week cast in this issue.  As always seems to be the case with special issues (for which we're all grateful), all the Cheeky's Week art this week is pure Frank McDiarmid.  I don't include Cheeky's appearance on page 6 (which is a Barrie Appleby rendition of the toothy funster) as a Cheeky's Week feature.

In the table below, the identifier 'Mystery Comic' after a feature indicates that it appears as part of The Mystery Comic.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 30-Sep-1978, Issue 50 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Mystery Comic'\Cheeky's Week (first appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (first art on feature)
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
4	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	Hoi! What do you get up to all week? (single appearance)\Ad: IPC 'Knockout Annual' 1 of 3
7	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
8	Silly Snaps
9	Silly Snaps
10	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
11	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
12	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Tub (first appearance) 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards (first art on feature)
14	Why, Dad, Why? (first appearance) 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 28 - Art John K. Geering (first art on feature)
15	Mystery Boy (first appearance) reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 37 - Art John Richardson (first art on feature)
16	Elephant On The Run (first appearance) 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon (first art on feature)
17	Elephant On The Run (first appearance) 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon (first art on feature)
18	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
19	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
20	Disaster Des (first appearance) 'Mystery Comic' 1 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey (first art on feature)
21	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
22	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
23	Joke-Box Jury
24	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
25	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
26	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
27	Ad: Superkids Club (single appearance)
28	Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? (final appearance) reprint from Cor!!
29	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid
30	Tweety and Sylvester 'Tabs Keeping Tabby'
31	Tweety and Sylvester 'Tabs Keeping Tabby'
32	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid\Cheeky's Pal Puzzle (first appearance) 'Herman' - Art Frank McDiarmid (first art on feature)

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 30-Sep-1978

Artist	Elements
Frank McDiarmid	10

Revamp 1

Something of a minor revamp occurred in June/July 1978, but it took place around the disruption to the normal contents of Cheeky Weekly resulting from the mini comics promotion in July, so let's have a closer look at the changes which occurred in this period.

The features that came to an end were;

Home Movie, which reached its final showing in the 10 June 1978 issue.

Space Family Robinson, who had returned to Earth in the comic dated 24 June 1978, the issue before the 4-week mini comics promotion began.

Suddenly, which also came to an end on 24 June 1978.  This feature was of course related to the James Bold strip, but as the framing device for Bold's final adventure commencing on 01 July 1978 was a film serial rather than a novel, there was no further requirement for the newsagent-based Suddenly feature.

New features commencing were;

Calculator Kid, which started on 01 July 1978.

Paddywack, which started on 08 July 1978.

You might have noticed that the losses amount to 4 pages worth of features (since Space Family Robinson was a 2-page-a-week feature), yet the replacements amount to 2 pages only (at least at this stage - Paddywack did extend to 2 pages in 6 later issues).  The reason for the apparent shortfall is explained by the number of one-off features that were vying for space among the 32 pages in the comic;

17 June 1978 - Father's Day Messages and Skateboard competition, each occupying a full page.

24 June 1978 - Tennis competition (full page again).

...followed by 4 weeks of mini comics, during which an ad for the upcoming 5 Papers competition took up a whole page in the 15 July issue, followed by a whole page for the competition itself in the following issue.  Also, the number of full-page paid-for ads (i.e. not IPC ads) reached its all-time Cheeky Weekly peak in the issues dated 08 and 15 July 1978, with 4 such ads appearing in each issue.