Yikky Two!

Many thanks to Stephen Archer for this interesting info regarding the similarities between Cheeky's pal Yikky-Boo and a character who appeared in DC Thomson's Nutty some years later;

"Looking at Nutty in the British Library yesterday, I noticed there was a (fairly brief) villainess that Bananaman encountered in 1982 by the name of Yicky-Boo. Given John Geering’s connection to both Nutty and Cheeky this slightly shocked me, as he’d have surely told his editor about the similarity: they were both pests who yelled the same thing! I studied the speech panels closely to see if the female version was VICKY-Boo but no, spelt the same. This was late in 1982, by which time the party had been over for Cheeky for almost three years so perhaps someone thought they’d get away with it – or nobody would care. I did…"

Here are the strips in question drawn, as Stephen says, by John Geering;

I think we can allow Mr Geering the benefit of the doubt since, although he did draw for Cheeky Weekly, he never worked on the Cheeky pages so was quite possibly unaware of the original Yikky-Boo. John's no doubt busy schedule probably didn't allow him time to purchase and read all the comics in which his work appeared (he added swiftly, hoping to avoid legal action).

Bananaman is copyright DC Thomson & Co Ltd (he added even more swiftly).

P.S Yikky wasn't the only one to suffer appropriation - I see there are also references in the Bananaman strip to FOOM and ZOWEE BOWEE! Just joking! (he added in a frenzy of litigation - preventing notes).

Yikky-Boo - Supplemental

I forgot to include this bit in my post on Yikky-Boo...

Yikky's name and exclamation may have been inspired by the Lurgi Strikes Britain episode of vintage BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. In that programme, victims of the dreaded Lurgi are heard to exclaim 'Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo' as they succumb to the malady. A transcript can be found here and an excerpt can be heard here.

Profile - Yikky-Boo

The oddest of the human characters populating the streets of Krazy Town was Yikky-Boo, a kid with a disproportionately large head, elongated tongue and robust lungs whose usual contribution to Cheeky's week was to bellow YIKKY-BOO! at an unsuspecting member of the cast (most frequently Cheeky) with the intention of inducing a shock.

Yikky first Booed in the 21 January 1978 issue of Cheeky Weekly...

Art: Frank McDiarmid

The loud lad wasn't always successful in his scare attempts - an abortive attack on Ursula during the cinema interval in the 25 February 1978 comic resulted in him being Yikky-Booted out of the picture house by the lumbering lolly lady, much to the delight of the Commissionare.

Frank McDiarmid

A more successful encounter with Nosy Nora in the 25 March 1978 issue (seen here) seems to have traumatised the schoolgirl snooper into abandoning what had been a 23-issue run in which she dogged Cheeky's weekly search for the Mystery Comic.

Art: Mike Lacey

Granny Gumdrop encased the strident stripling in a knitted Yikky-Boo cosy in the 20 May 1978, 31 March 1979 (the jersey edition) and 12 May 1979 issues. Yikky-Boo was unable to rouse somnolent schoolgirl Snoozin' Susan from her slumbers in the 24 June 1978 comic.

By the year 2038, Yikky's Boos are rather enfeebled.
Art: Frank McDiarmid

In the 16 September 1978 edition, the raucous rapscallion's exclamation launched Cheeky into a tree wherein our toothy pal discovered that week's copy of the Mystery Comic. It was Yikky's turn to get a fright (emitting a Yikky-Yike!) in the comic dated 09 December 1978 when he had an unexpected close-up encounter with Ursula.

Frank McDiarmid

The resonant runt's first front cover appearance was on the 10 February 1979 issue, the same edition in which he appeared, somewhat under the weather, in a Burpo Special focusing on Auntie Daisy whose cooking had elicited a Yukky-Boo! The loud lad was on the front page of the 14 July 1979 comic, inside which he was unwise enough to sample another of Aunty Daisy's culinary concoctions, this time generating a Yikky-Groogh! The noisy nutcase was the subject of the cover illustration of the comic dated 25 August 1979, and his final front page appearance was on 05 January 1980's new year edition in which, on the Sunday page, he was seen being pursued by all the people he had frightened during 1979.

Teacher suffers the effects of drinking too much cake
Art: Dick Millington

Yikky appeared on the Pin-Up Pal poster in the comic dated 17 June 1978, where he was seen intruding upon the slumbers of one of the many Krazy Town cats, and the egregious ear-splitter was the subject of 06 January 1979's Burpo Special.

Frank McDiarmid

Yikky-Boo appeared in the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, the 99th issue to feature his cacophonous contribution. He never appeared in Krazy comic.

Yikky's name and exclamation may have been inspired by the Lurgi Strikes Britain episode of vintage BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. In that programme, victims of the dreaded Lurgi are heard to exclaim 'Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo' as they succumb to the malady. A transcript can be found here and an excerpt can be heard here.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Yikky-Boo	99	21-Jan-1978	02-Feb-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Yikky-Boo	Frank McDiarmid	54
Yikky-Boo	Mike Lacey	18
Yikky-Boo	Frank McDiarmid pencils	15
Yikky-Boo	Barrie Appleby	8
Yikky-Boo	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	3
Yikky-Boo	Dick Millington	3
Yikky-Boo	Jim Watson	3
Yikky-Boo	Bob Hill	1
Yikky-Boo	Not known	1