Cheeky Weekly cover date 24 Dec 1977

The inspiration for this week's cover

Jogging Jeremy is the featured character on this week's cover, in a depiction which is based on a panel from the first issue of Cheeky Weekly. Snail is back after being absent from the front page last week. A Dick Millington Cheeky's Week completes the cover fun.

On page 3 Skateboard Squad foil a bank robbery and are promised a big reward, with which they plan to buy each other Christmas presents. A caption at the end of their story tells us we can see what they buy in next week's comic.

Gran is also in seasonal mood, and embarks on a Christmas shopping spree. In trying to help people she causes damage that has to be paid for out of her Christmas money but, in a storyline that seems remarkably familiar, she foils a robbery and is given a reward.

On Tuesday, Cheeky has a classic encounter with Walter Wurx, just before getting another mystifying call from the Telephone Pole Man.

There's further festive fun with Mustapha Million, but mercifully no robberies are either perpetrated or foiled in the course of the story.

Bubblegum Boy has now perfected the art of speaking with a mouth full of gum, and makes a comment on Friday, although why he doesn't shout for help remains a mystery.

Cover star Jogging Jeremy makes a brief appearance on Saturday, before falling through the slats of a drain.

On page 30, Cheeky invites us to spend Christmas with him and his pals (who are depicted in a selection of cut and pasted images) in next week's Christmas issue.

Rounding off this week's comic is the final part of the cut-out 1978 diary.

The majority of the Cheeky's Week artwork this week is handled by Dick Millington (9 full pages plus What A Cheek and the Wednesday conclusion). There's a single page of Frank McDiarmid pencils (Friday), and a single-panel conclusion to Saturday that is cobbled together from two previously published panels by Frank, from the 29 October 1977 and 03 December 1977 issues.

Let's hope that all this deputising and recycling has given Frank time to work on the Christmas issue.

There are 2 character debuts in Krazy Town this week. On Sunday, Baker's Boy chips in a joke while Cheeky is having a gag with mechanic, making this one of the rare occasions where the Baker's Boy doesn't lose a cake to our hero. Posh Claude's mum makes her first appearance on Wednesday, although her voice has previously been heard in the 26 November 1977 issue.

Daffy Duck makes his feature debut this week. I don't care much for these Warner Brothers filler strips.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 24-Dec-1977, Issue 10 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Jogging Jeremy' - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils\What a Cheek - Art Dick Millington (single art on feature)
2	Sunday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
5	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 10 of 11 - Art Lopez
6	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 10 of 11 - Art Lopez
7	Monday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
8	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
9	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
10	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
11	What's New, Kids
12	Tuesday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
13	Old Comic reprint from Tip Top 'Our Jean' reprint from Tip Top 'Artie'
14	Tuesday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)\Doug's Doodle - Art Terry Bave (final art on feature)
15	Wednesday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Dick Millington (single art on feature)
18	Joke-Box Jury
19	Thursday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
20	Home Movie 'Top Hat and Tails' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Saturday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
25	Daffy Duck (first appearance) 'Daffy's Diner'
26	Daffy Duck (first appearance) 'Daffy's Diner'
27	Interval - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
28	Space Family Robinson 'Black Menace' - Art John Richardson
29	Space Family Robinson 'Black Menace' - Art John Richardson
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid\Ad: IPC 'Cheeky Weekly: Next week, you're all invited to spend Christmas with me and my pals'
31	Diary (final appearance) - Art Jim Petrie (final art on feature)
32	Diary (final appearance) - Art Jim Petrie (final art on feature)

The Features - Home Movie

In the early issues of Cheeky Weekly, our toothy hero would view a home movie every Thursday.  These cinematic sensations were created by Cheeky's pal, Oscar.  However, in another of the many inconsistencies that are evident in Cheeky Weekly, the director we see in 'Colditch. The Great Escape' is clearly not Oscar.  This episode is also the only one where the film (denoted by sprocket holes around the comic panels) ends before the page concludes, allowing a few panels of 'real life' to intrude.

The home movies were spoofs of various film genres, but mishaps, usually caused by adults becoming unwittingly involved in the film, invariably occurred during shooting. Evidently Oscar didn't have great editing skills, as all the foul-ups were left in the final cut.

A cast list was shown at the end of the majority of episodes, the most regularly featured actors being Hooter Harrison and Tubby Thomson. An uncredited dog and worm also featured in many of the movies.


The final Home Movie strip carried the usual 'another Home Movie next week!' banner at the foot of the page.  In the following week's comic, Oscar invited Cheeky to view his latest offering, but Cheeky declined as he was hurrying to look at the skateboard competition on the following page.  Evidently Oscar saw this a a personal affront and stopped making movies as a result.

All the Home Movie pages were drawn by Jack Clayton.

Home Movie in the Cheeky Weekly Index

                                                                                                                                                         

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Home Movie	22-Oct-77	10-Jun-78	31	3	19,20,21,22

Issues Missed In Run

07-Jan-78

04-Mar-78

29-Apr-78

Story Title	Start	End
Hambush at Deadmanz Gulch	22-Oct-77	22-Oct-77
Airship Over England	29-Oct-77	29-Oct-77
The Mummy's Curse	05-Nov-77	05-Nov-77
Mac of the Mounties	12-Nov-77	12-Nov-77
Colditch. The Great Escape	19-Nov-77	19-Nov-77
The Vikings	26-Nov-77	26-Nov-77
The Boy from Atlantis	03-Dec-77	03-Dec-77
When Knights Were Bold	10-Dec-77	10-Dec-77
Tarzan of the Apes	17-Dec-77	17-Dec-77
Top Hat and Tails	24-Dec-77	24-Dec-77
Xmas Past	31-Dec-77	31-Dec-77
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp	14-Jan-78	14-Jan-78
Dr. Zuzz	21-Jan-78	21-Jan-78
Franky Stein	28-Jan-78	28-Jan-78
El Bullfighter	04-Feb-78	04-Feb-78
The Case of the Missing Lollipop	11-Feb-78	11-Feb-78
Rock Around the Block	18-Feb-78	18-Feb-78
Defeat of the Spanish Armada	25-Feb-78	25-Feb-78
The Mystery of Loch Ness	11-Mar-78	11-Mar-78
2001 A Space Oddity	18-Mar-78	18-Mar-78
The Thing from Another Planet	25-Mar-78	25-Mar-78
The Trojan Horsebox	01-Apr-78	01-Apr-78
A Bridge To Fear	08-Apr-78	08-Apr-78
Treasure Island	15-Apr-78	15-Apr-78
Mary Popkins	22-Apr-78	22-Apr-78
Z Carties	06-May-78	06-May-78
Moby Dick	13-May-78	13-May-78
The Scarlet Pimple	20-May-78	20-May-78
Dick Twerpin	27-May-78	27-May-78
Australian Adventure	03-Jun-78	03-Jun-78
Robinson Crusoe	10-Jun-78	10-Jun-78

Profile - Posh Claude

Claude felt he was a cut above the riff-raff that populated Cheeky's Week. Strutting around Krazy Town in his school cap and blazer, Claude would be accused by Cheeky of having a lifestyle that was one of moneyed extravagance.  The truth would then be revealed, often in comments made by Claude's mum, and Claude would suffer embarrassment as a result.

Claude's mummikins was indeed posh and had a Rolls Royce and fur coats, but his daddikins was shown to be a street vendor of hot dogs.  However, we see a different father driving the Rolls Royce.  Very strange.

Claude first appeared in Cheeky Weekly issue 3, dated 05 November 1977, and featured in 106 issues.

The scriptwriter wasn't averse to recycling posh jokes, either.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Posh Claude	106	05-Nov-1977	02-Feb-1980

Posh Claude - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Saturday	28
Wednesday	18
Friday	15
Tuesday	15
Thursday	14
Sunday	13
Monday	11
Sunday evening	4
What a Cheek	3
Boxing Day	2
Cheeky's Week	2
Interval	2
Happy leap year	1
Suddenly	1

Posh Claude - Number of appearances by Page

Page	Number of Appearances
12	15
2	13
30	12
31	12
10	7
19	7
1	6
15	6
26	6
20	5
21	5
7	4
18	4
23	4
4	3
6	3
9	3
28	3
5	2
8	2
22	2
11	1
13	1
17	1
25	1
29	1

The Other Cheeky Artists - Bob Hill

Bob Hill's work on Cheeky's Week was limited to a single issue late in the run.  He provided 4 pages in the 105th comic dated 10 November 1979.

One page of Bob's non-Cheeky art had earlier appeared in the issue dated 12 May 1979, which featured a 'Star Guest' feature devoted to Super Store, a strip Bob drew regularly in Whizzer and Chips.





Bob Hill's Cheeky's Week pages in Cheeky Weekly

Cover Date	Page	Element
10-Nov-1979	19	Thursday
10-Nov-1979	26	Friday
10-Nov-1979	30	Saturday
10-Nov-1979	31	Saturday

Cheeky Weekly cover date 17 December 1977

A rather striking cover this week, both in terms of the colour scheme and Libby's threat to do violence with her trusty placard. Snail, evidently in fear of a clout from the feisty feminist, is absent from the front page for the first time in the comic's run.

Inside, Skateboard Squad take a break from foiling international jewel thieves and the like, and instead rescue an incompetent skateboarder in a rather worthy public information film-type message-heavy script.  Unfortunately they don't exercise the same degree of care when forcing Cheeky to climb a lamp post to avoid them while they speed into action on the preceding page.

On Monday, as Cheeky races home to see 6 Million Dollar Gran, he passes Margaret Thatcher (Conservative leader), Jim Callaghan (Labour Prime Minister) and David Steel (Liberal leader) waiting for a bus.

Norman Wisdom appears on the Old Comic page in a reprint from a 1958 Radio Fun. Norman was one of Britain's biggest film stars in the 50s, so I'm not sure why he appeared in Radio Fun rather than Film Fun - I don't think he did much radio work.

The art on Cheeky's Week in this issue is a mix of pure Frank McDiarmid (3 pages), Frank's pencils (7 full pages plus the cover strip and the conclusion to Wednesday) and a single page by Dick Millington, his first to appear in the comic.  Dick's Friday page is where Libby gets to carry out her threat and fetches Cheeky a nasty knock on the nut.

As the comic settles into a regular routine, there are no character or feature debuts or departures this week.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 17-Dec-1977, Issue 9 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Libby' - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils (first art on feature)\What a Cheek - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
5	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 9 of 11 - Art Lopez
6	James Bold 'Fangs of Fear' 9 of 11 - Art Lopez
7	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
8	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
9	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
10	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
11	What's New, Kids
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
13	Old Comic reprint from Radio Fun 'Norman Wisdom'
14	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils\Doug's Doodle - Art Artie Jackson (first art on feature)
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
18	Joke-Box Jury
19	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
20	Home Movie 'Tarzan of the Apes' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Dick Millington (first art on feature)
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
25	Wile E Coyote 'Rage In A Cage'
26	Wile E Coyote 'Rage In A Cage'
27	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid
28	Space Family Robinson 'Death Leap' - Art John Richardson
29	Space Family Robinson 'Death Leap' - Art John Richardson
30	Saturday - Art Cut and Paste\Ad: IPC 'Whoopee' 1 of 9
31	Diary - Art Jim Petrie
32	Diary - Art Jim Petrie

Profile - Parachutist

One of the more obscure of Cheeky's pals, the parachutist appeared in 10 issues of Cheeky Weekly, early in the comic's run.  Like most of the cast of Cheeky's Week, the parachutist (code name 003 and-a-half) was essentially a one-joke character.  In his case the joke was that he was carrying out a daring covert operation, but each week touched down either at the wrong time or the wrong location.

Parachutist appeared weekly from 29 October to 26 November 1977.  His parachuting skills evidently got even worse the following week as he missed the 03 December comic entirely.  However, he was featured twice in the comic dated 10 December 1977, on Sunday evening and Thursday, two unrelated aeronautical mishaps.

He missed the 17 December 1977 issue, but was back on 24 and 31 December 1977, before missing another week then appearing on 14 January 1978.

We can only assume he was on a deep cover mission for some months, as his next landing was not until the comic dated 13 May 1978.  In this issue, the parachutist crashed through Cheeky's roof into the attic and prevented Cheeky's regular look at his dad's old comics.  This gross incompetence apparently resulted in his licence to thrill being revoked, as that was the parachutist's final appearance.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Parachutist	10	29-Oct-1977	13-May-1978

Parachutist - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Thursday	3
Sunday evening	2
Tuesday	2
Friday	1
Monday	1
Saturday	1
Wednesday	1

Parachutist - Number of appearances by Page

Page	Number of Appearances
19	3
4	2
13	2
8	1
12	1
21	1
26	1

Vote Burpo!

Over at Bruce's Toon Blog there's an opportunity to vote on one of the most contentious topics of our time; who is the top tiny terror - Baby Burpo or Sweeny Toddler?

I'm pleased to see that Bruce has placed himself firmly in the Burpo camp.  Burpo is undeniably the most terrifying of the two because of his skill in manipulating those around him while perpetrating his mischief.