Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - Part 8 - 1987

There was no 'Great News Inside, Pals!' announcement on the cover of Whizzer and Chips dated 29 August 1987, although the following issue would see a change as momentous as any of the numerous merges that the comic underwent in its illustrious history. Only the most observant of Whizz-kids and keenest-eyed Chip-ites would have noted that the publisher of their favourite 2-comics-in-one had ceased to be IPC Magazines and as of the 05 September 1987 issue was now Fleetway Publications.

 

29 August 1987

05 September 1987

 

This change was due to the sale of IPC's comics division (hived off under the Fleetway name) to Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Holdings. The purpose of this series of posts is to discover what, if any, Cheeky-related material appeared in the Whoopee Specials and Annuals published following the toothy funster's own comic's absorption into Whoopee in early 1980. However, presumably as the result of a review of the state of the company following its acquisition by Pergamon, production of Whoopee Annuals was halted in the years 1987 to 1990 inclusive, (the tradition of forward-dating each Annual's cover date by 1 year from its publication means that the missing Annuals would have carried cover years from 1988 to 1991 inclusive). A final Whoopee Annual appeared during 1991 (dated 1992). Despite this curtailment of Annuals, Whoopee Holiday Specials continued to occupy newsagents' shelves each spring.

A half-page advert solely devoted to the 1987 Whoopee Special (with Mustapha getting top billing) appeared twice in Whizzer and Chips during 1987 (the 04 and 11 April editions), and a full-page ad in which perennial prankster Joker preyed upon his Whizzer and Chips colleagues (including Mustapha Million) although the ad refers by means of a selection of beach-based puns to several other Special titles, appeared in the 11 July and 01 August issues of that year.

 

Art: Sid Burgon

Just a note to any readers who might be joining this blog for the first time and wondering why I'm mentioning Whizzer and Chips when the subject of this series of posts is Whoopee Specials and Annuals, well that's because the weekly version of Whoopee was cancelled and 'merged' into Whizzer and Chips in 1985.  By 1987 the sole weekly survivor of Cheeky Weekly was Mustapha Million, who continued to appear in Whizzer and Chips.

Whoopee Holiday Special 1987

 

The cover of this Special, which hit the streets before the takeover so was published by IPC, is somewhat similar to last year's, featuring as it does a swimming pool and chute. However, 1986's front page pool protagonist, Sweeny Toddler, was terrorising swimmers, whereas this year the other recurring cover stars, the munificent Bumpkins, are delighting those taking a dip, although in the interests of buoyancy I'd advise the bathers to avoid stowing too much cash in their swimming cozzies. Mike Lacey is again the creator of the cover scene.

Cheeky-related fun kicks off (as does the bully who is the focus of the episode) on page 2 as Mustapha Million is involved in a seasonal seaside caper drawn by Barry Glennard, who has been the main weekly artist on the character since Whizzer and Chips dated 05 April 1986. Pleasingly this isn't a reprint.

A 2-page Robot Granny adventure commences on page 10, reprinted from Whoopee! dated 23 January 1982. The titular synthetic senior citizen failed to survive the collapse of Whoopee, where she had undergone a couple of revisions to finish up as a human. However, since her weekly demise, Gran's most recent appearance prior to this one was in the Whoopee Annual cover-dated 1987, where she enjoyed an outing as her human self in a Gran's Gang episode.

 

Art:Ian Knox

Our moneyed mate Mustapha returns on page 12, where he's involved, along with fellow ex-Cheeky Weekly star Charlie Counter aka Calculator Kid, in a series of fiendish, grey-matter-taxing challenges created by the master of comic conundrums, Jack Oliver. We'll wait while you attempt to answer them all. NO TURNING THE PAGE UPSIDE DOWN TO READ THE ANSWERS UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED.

Charlie and his prognosticating pal were also survivors of Cheeky Weekly's demise, transferring to Whoopee and thence to Whizzer and Chips. However the feature lapsed into reprints of Cheeky Weekly strips as from Whizzer and Chips dated 29 June 1985, and the reprints continued up to and including CK's final Whizzer and Chips appearance in the edition dated 26 July 1986. I'm a bit worried that Calc will end up cemented into the wall.

A Calculator Kid adventure that has previously been seen on the back cover of Whoopee! dated 23 January 1982 occupies page 14, reprinted in monochrome but let's examine its original colour version. For its reprinting, the space originally occupied by the small print at the foot of the page has been filled instead with a gag related to the preceding adventure, 'Where do Generals keep their armies?' The punchline to this hoary old joke has actually been botched, as it is given as 'Up their sleeves' whereas we all know that it should read 'Up their sleevies'.

Art: Terry Bave

This is proving to be something of a bumper collection of features with a link to Cheeky, as on page 22 we encounter our old Cheeky Weekly pal, Paddywack. The braces-wearing buffoon was among the characters to transfer to Whoopee following the cancellation of the toothy funster's comic, continuing there until Whoopee itself was terminated. This particular full-page escapade is, like the Gran and CK episodes above, a reprint from Whoopee! dated 23 January 1982. Prior to this reprinted outing, Paddywack's most recent appearance was a reprint from Whoopee! and Cheeky in the Whoopee Holiday Special of 1986.

 

Art: Jack Clayton

 

2 pages further on in this Special sees more ex-Cheeky Weekly funny folk, this time the kids and teacher of Stage School, in a fruity fable originally presented in Whoopee! dated (no, not 23 January 1982 again) 09 January 1982. The aspiring showbiz stars survived the wreck of Cheeky Weekly to continue entertaining readers of Whoopee until that title too succumbed to the harsh economics of the 1980s. The teeny troupe made 2 further appearances in Whizzer and Chips during 1985, after which their most recent appearances were in the Whoopee Holiday Special of 1986 (in a reprint from Whoopee! and Cheeky), and the Whoopee Annual cover-dated 1987 (a new 3-page episode).

 

Art: Robert Nixon

Charlie and Calc, Stage School's Sir, Gran, Mustapha and Paddywack are among the Whoopee stars depicted in a centre pages sunny seaside scene drawn by Sid Burgon. Frankie Stein appropriates the 'mixing cement with sand' gag employed earlier by Mustapha.

 

Two of Whoopee's financially-focused features combine on page 34 to present the Whoopee Money Quiz. The ever-generous Mustapha Million, looking somewhat dazed a as he sets out on his global tour, joins the equally bountiful Pa Bumpkin (whose motivation for dispensing large amounts of moolah is his aversion to wealth, whereas our middle-eastern chum's generosity is a result of his altruism) in presiding over a selection of cash conundrums. This page is followed by a half page feature entitled Money Matters in which the third of Whoopee's triumvirate of cash-driven characters, and most definitely the least bountiful, the avaricious Lolly Pop, sets readers questions in order to determine their attitudes to wealth.

Charlie (this time minus Calc - I bet he's stuck in the brickwork) and Mustapha return on another of Jack Oliver's Wit-Teasers pages.

 

Our review of this Special has now arrived at page 44, whereon we find the first page of another Robot Granny 2-page episode, this one sourced from Whoopee! dated 30 January 1982 (i.e. a week later than the edition in which the earlier Robot Granny strip originated).

 

Art: Ian Knox

Mustapha Million enjoys a colour escapade on pages 48 and 49, and like the earlier strip featuring our beneficent buddy, this is new material drawn by Barry Glennard. A number of 'star guest' cameos are in evidence during this soccertastic adventure, some of whom are identified in the script. Unnamed characters occupying the second panel of the second page of the story are Timothy Dalton, (who assumed the role of suave screen superspy 007 in summer 1987's Bondbuster The Living Daylights which premiered after publication of this Special, but Dalton's adoption of the Bond mantle had received considerable publicity prior to the film's opening), a generic Shakespeare-style thespian, and TV weatherman Ian McCaskill.

A few pages later our affable Arab pal is swindled by a conman who 'sells' Tower Bridge to the wealthy and too trusting youngster in a 2 -page story which originally graced Whoopee! dated 09 January 1982. The pencil 'tache-sporting fraudster is of course brought to justice by the end of the tale.

Art: Joe McCaffrey

Immediately following Mustapha is a Paddywack page in which the welly-wearing wally's TV viewing is interrupted by visits from two unlikely visitors. Long-time Whoopee fans may remember this strip from the 30 January 1982 edition.

Art: Jack Clayton

 

The penultimate page of this Special sees the final outing of a Cheeky-related feature, as Charlie's desire for a new kite (echoing the kite theme in the above Granny instalment) is fulfilled by Calc's directions to the location of a balloon, the retrieval of which will furnish the necessary cash (the reference to dollars in the panel below is due to the bag of gas having been released skyward by a kid in the USA). Whoopee dated 20 February 1982 was where this Calculator Kid story of aerial aspiration originally took flight.

 

Art: Terry Bave

Well, we certainly can't complain of a lack of representation by ex-Cheeky Weekly chums in this Special. We could complain that most of the material featuring our toothy pal's former colleagues consists of reprints, but recycled material has always been used to pad out IPC Annuals and Specials, and one improvement in that regard is the cessation of the practise of resizing old material by means of adjustments to the original artwork. It's fitting that Mustapha should be the character to enjoy 2 new strips in this Special, since he's still featuring in new material weekly in Whizzer and Chips and therefore must be popular. It's just a shame that Cheeky himself doesn't show up. He failed to transfer into Whizzer and Chips, so clearly wasn't as popular as his former colleagues who did. Another factor which possibly deterred the editor from reviving our punster pal was the large cast of supporting characters that was such a part of Cheeky's successful years; an audience unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of Gloomy Glad, Jogging Jeremy, Baker's Boy et al may have been a bit mystified by the toothy funster's gag-cracking progress along the streets of Krazy Town.

Join me again soon when I'll be delving into the Whoopee Holiday Special of 1988.

Other posts in this series;

• Part 1 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1980

• Part 2 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1981

• Part 3 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1982

• Part 4 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1983

• Part 5 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1984

• Part 6 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1985

• Part 7 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1986

• Part 8 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1987

• Part 9 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1988

• Part 10 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1989

• Part 11 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1990

• Part 12 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1991

• Part 13 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1992

• Part 14 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1993

 

Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - Part 7 - 1986

1986 was a significant, but sad, year for fans of the toothy funster, as it saw Cheeky's presence as a weekly comic character come to an end. The 08 February issue of Whizzer and Chips carried the final weekly instalment of The Krazy Gang, among whose members was our cheery chum. Thus concluded a creditable nine and a half year run in which the grinning gagster jested his way, for 7 years appearing in 2 titles simultaneously, through the pages of Krazy, Cheeky Weekly, Whoopee (all of which, by the time of the final Krazy Gang episode, had been cancelled), and Whizzer and Chips.

Despite no longer appearing as a weekly comic by 1986, Whoopee continued to have a presence in newsagents twice during the year - in April as a Holiday Special and, as Christmas approached, an Annual. The purpose of this series of posts is to discover whether any Cheeky-related material appeared in those biannual collections.

As of January 1986 Whizzer and Chips introduced a new strategy for publicising IPC product, with the launch of the 'Comic News' feature, the first appearance of which adopted a sort of  'advertorial' approach.

The first Comics News,
Whizzer and Chips 04 January 1986

The advertorial style was dropped after the first appearance, and all subsequent Comics News instalments (one a month from February to June 1986) were very basic, consisting of tables carrying details of forthcoming publications. Below are all the Comics News which contained references to Specials. The summer 1986 demise of Comics News of course meant that none of its appearances contained details of Annuals, so also included below are all Whizzer and Chips' Annual ads to appear during 1986.

Whizzer and Chips 05 April 1986

Whizzer and Chips dated 03 May 1986 presented a dilemma for comic fans with an interest in vintage aviation and also partial to a cinema visit - how many Holiday Specials (all on offer here priced at 65p) could they afford and still have enough cash to secure a ticket to see that year's would-be movie blockbuster, Biggles? The decision was complicated by the ABC cinema chain's recondite '£1 off' promotion, requiring the consideration of so many permutations of age of cinemagoers and times of attendance as to render the achievement of a conclusion highly problematic. However, reviews suggest any prospective cinema patrons would have been wise to forego the opportunity to experience Biggles on the big screen (the film would eventually appear on TV) and instead invest all their available cash in some Specials.

Whizzer and Chips 03 May 1986

Whizzer and Chips 31 May 1986
Quizmaster by Roy Mitchell,
reprinted from Whoopee! 01 January 1983

Whizzer and Chips 13 September 1986

The presence of a 4-page Fleetway Annuals supplement boosted the page count of Whizzer and Chips dated 29 November 1986 to 36.

Whizzer and Chips 29 November 1986

Unlike their 1986 Specials, IPC's Annuals came in a variety of price points, possibly intended 'to suit all pockets' provided one's trousers were sufficiently capacious to accommodate a minimum of £2.50.

Whizzer and Chips 20 December 1986

Whoopee Holiday Special 1986

Sweeny Toddler is once again the cover star, and Mike Lacey is again the artist, depicting the pool pandemonium resulting from chute shark shenanigans.

Our quest for Cheeky-related material is rewarded just a few pages into this Special, as we encounter the toothy funster's former Cheeky Weekly colleague Mustapha Million, enjoying a tale typical of his misunderstanding-British-terminology storylines. Reprinted from Whoopee! and Cheeky dated 30 August 1980 (where it originally boasted red spot colour), this episode is drawn by Joe McCaffrey.

The weekly edition of Whizzer and Chips cover-dated 05 April 1986 (the publication date of this Special) saw Mustapha being drawn by Barry Glennard, taking over the artwork duties from Robert Nixon who drew the adventures of our munificent mate for 6 weeks when the run of Mustapha reprints which had commenced back in Whoopee and Wow! dated 07 April 1984, and continued when Whoopee was amalgamated into Whizzer and Chips, came to an end. Barry had previously drawn just one Mustapha episode, occupying 3 pages, in the 1979 Cheeky Summer Special.

More Cheeky-related fun is to be found in Stage School, the showbiz-fixated kids who attend the titular educational establishment revisiting a story they originally performed in the 16 August 1980 edition of Whoopee! and Cheeky, coupled with the Paddywack (another Cheeky Weekly alumnus) gag which originally accompanied the same Stage School adventure. At the time of its original appearance, Paddywack gags were provided by the readers, and the offer of £1 to those who submitted jokes that were used in the comic, which appeared in the title panel, has been over-written and the credit to scriptwriter Matthew Scott of Bristol in the final panel has been obliterated.

At the time of publication of this Special, Stage School no longer had a weekly presence in Whizzer and Chips, their most recent appearance there (the second of only 2 W&C outings for the aspiring entertainers) having been in the 13 July 1985 issue. Paddywack wasn't among the characters chosen to make the transition into Whizzer and Chips so his most recent previous appearance was in the final issue of Whoopee, dated 30 March 1985.

The IPC staff member tasked with selecting previously-published material to bulk out this Special obviously scoured at least 3 issues of Whoopee! and Cheeky, as the 20 September 1980 issue is the source of the next Cheeky-related treat. The Calculator Kid story from that edition is resurrected in monochrome on the Special's page 29, but we'll enjoy its original colour outing below...

 

 

Calc and Charlie continued to appear in the weekly Whizzer and Chips as of the publication date of this Whoopee Special, although their adventures had slipped into reprints sourced from Cheeky Weekly commencing in the 29 June 1985 edition.

 

That concludes the appearances of ex-Cheeky Weekly funny folk in this year's Whoopee Special, but there are a couple of additional delights which can't be ignored, both featuring work by Cheekmeister General Frank McDiarmid. The first is a 3-page episode of Boy Boss, a feature which began in the 07 August 1982 issue of the short-lived Wow!, appeared in all subsequent editions, only two episodes not drawn by Frank, and was among the features which transferred from that comic into Whoopee following the customary post-cancellation 'merge'. The BB 3-pager below appeared in the 1986 Whoopee Holiday Special, but the angularly-coiffed  young executive (not, of course to be confused with fellow IPC star Tiny Tycoon whose moolah-accumulating machinations were of a more modest nature, as were his follicular attributes) also appeared in the same year's Wow! Holiday Special, in a 2-page, full-colour episode drawn by Frank.

 

Despite clearly being a character popular with readers, cover star Sweeny Toddler appears in just one story in this Special, rendered by the sure hand of Mr McDiarmid. From the style of drawing, I'm guessing this is a reprint of material that originally appeared some time in the 1970s. Given the subject matter I'd be tempted to suggest that the original must have appeared in a Summer or Holiday Special, but in all of Stephen Archer's research into the source of reprints featured on this blog (and my own investigations in that regard), I don't recall anything other than the weekly issue of a comic as being the source of recycled material. In fact I've just checked and with Stephen's help I have recorded 516 comic elements as having originated in specific earlier issues, and all of those source issues are weeklies. If anyone can verify that the strip below is a reprint, please get in touch. I do know that a panel from this story was the basis of the cover of July 1987's edition of The Best of Whoopee Monthly, although the episode from which it was taken was not among the contents.

Whoopee Annual 1987

 

Whereas many would fill their pockets with the cash on offer, a highly-principled bus company employee refuses bundles of Bumpkin banknotes on this cover by the reliable Mike Lacey.

The first of the Cheeky-related Annual content is an appearance by the star-struck kids of Stage School, drawn on this occasion by Nigel Edwards, the first time the aspiring acts and exasperated educator have been rendered by this artist. Those of us who appreciate a stylishly-sported cravat will be disappointed that the kids' showbiz teacher is depicted with a bow tie instead of his usual rakish neckwear, and is rather more formally clad than we are used to. This may be due to the character's somewhat rare appearances in the weekly episodes, meaning he was possibly absent from the strip(s) to which Nigel referred when preparing to draw this set, and thus Nigel assumed that the mortar board and gown worn by Sir was the attire of all the teachers at the establishment in question. The title banner is the 20th Century Fox-inspired one which appeared on 4 occasions during Stage School's Whoopee run.

Page 90 is the location of an appearance by Gran, in her human Gran's Gang persona, This rather weak single-page story, which doesn't reflect the 'competition between the generations' nature of the Gran's Gang premise during its Whoopee run (in fact the panel showing Gran punching through the TV harks back to her earlier robotic incarnations), is drawn by an artist I can't identify.

Gran was not among the characters selected to transfer into Whizzer and Chips (she was never particularly popular in Whoopee so her selection for inclusion in this Annual is a little surprising), and her most recent appearance was in the final issue of Whoopee dated 30 March 1985.

Four pages later Mustapha Million commences a new escapade, involving his long-term chum with the inconsistent hair colour, Jimmy. This is the first time our pecunious pal has been drawn by Ian Knox, who was the regular artist on Gran's Gang. Maybe Ian declined to illustrate the Gran script above due to its poor quality.

My quest to identify any Cheeky-related content in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials will continue.

Other posts in this series;

• Part 1 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1980

• Part 2 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1981

• Part 3 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1982

• Part 4 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1983

• Part 5 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1984

• Part 6 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1985

• Part 7 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1986

• Part 8 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1987

• Part 9 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1988

• Part 10 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1989

• Part 11 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1990

• Part 12 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1991

• Part 13 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1992

• Part 14 - Cheeky-related characters in the Whoopee Annuals and Specials - 1993

 

A Cheeky look back 44 years

The Great News For All Readers spotlight falls on a February 1979 edition of Cheeky Weekly.