An Ace Page Turner

Artwork by Ron Turner was seen in Cheeky Weekly's Archie's Angels, and in the Malice in Wonderland strip in the first Cheeky Summer Special. I'm far from being an expert on Ron's work - all I know is that I very much like what I've seen of his art.

Some of Ron's strips from the 1950s have recently been published by John Lawrence in Space Ace Volume 1. These sci-fi tales, taken from Lone Star Magazine and the Lone Star Annuals, originally appeared in black and white but in this collection have been coloured by John Ridgeway. As the title implies, the volume depicts daring pilot Space Ace hurtling into intergalactic action as he attempts to thwart the evil designs of an assortment of alien and human opponents.

The artwork is of course excellent, and the colouring really enhances Ron's work, lending the stories a cinematic appearance which deserves to be savoured in detail once each of the tales have been read.

This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of Turner collections. Ordering details (and examples of some of the internal art) can be found on the Bear Alley blog here.

A couple more interesting Ron Turner links; Irmantas has just posted an example of a Ron Turner humour strip which is a delightful revelation to me. I must admit that for the first couple of pages I couldn't see Ron's work, but as the story progresses the Turner hand becomes more apparent, and it's a cracking set, demonstrating the artist's adaptability. A delicious collection of Ron's cover art can be seen here.

The ads - Buster

Compared to IPC's long-lived Buster, Cheeky Weekly was a mere blip in the annals of comic history. Whereas the toothy funster's own comic managed a (by comparison) paltry 117 issues before expiring, Buster first appeared in newsagents in May 1960 and was published for almost 40 years, existing just long enough to stagger across the threshold of the new millennium as the last surviving IPC funny paper. Named after its cloth-capped cover star (introduced as being the son of Reg Smythe's Andy Capp, although direct references to this fact in the comic were limited to a few early issues), Buster over its long history absorbed many lesser IPC titles as their readerships dwindled to unsustainable levels.

Cheeky Weekly's 18 February 1978 issue was the first to feature an ad for Buster (which at that time still carried the title of its most recent acquisition as of November 1976, Monster Fun). This ad alerted prospective readers to a promotion in the following week's issue in conjunction with the manufacturers of Corona soft drinks. Corona themselves were concurrently running a series of animated TV ads featuring the punning strapline 'Every Bubble's passed its Fizzical', and the free stickers on offer to Buster readers in the upcoming issue tied into Corona's marketing campaign.



Seeking to retain any surge in Buster's readership resulting from kids who weren't normally readers buying the comic just to get their hands on the free stickers, the same Buster issue would include the first part of yet another of IPC's interminable line of cut-out-and-collect games. Enthusiasts wishing to complete a set of Match 'Em cards, and crucially obtain the all-important instructions, were obligated to buy the comic for the next 4 weeks. A pic of the titular character is featured in the ad, rather crudely pasted in. Why is he holding a pencil?

A variation on the same ad appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 25 February 1978, reminding readers of the toothy funster's comic that the stickers and Match 'Em game were in that week's Buster & MF. The cut-and-paste Buster, his pencil now cropped, returns in the ad.

Cheeky Weekly's next encounter with a Buster ad came in the 04 March 1978 comic, by which time Buster was halfway through its cut out game. This ad would therefore have had little appeal to readers who missed the first part of the game, and indeed the text is clearly aimed at encouraging those who saved part 1 to continue to the end (and, the publishers no doubt hoped, beyond). Some examples of the cards are shown, featuring faces of Buster & MF stalwarts Plunk, Big Brother (from the Big Brother is Watching You strip), Kid Kong, and Tony Broke (from Ivor Lott and Tony Broke). I can't identify the character whose face appears in the third box from the left in the top row. The torsos and legs on display were mixed up to demonstrate the fun to be had with the game. Young Master Capp is missing from the ad entirely.

With admirable/irritating persistence, IPC inserted another ad highlighting the Match 'Em promotion in the following Cheeky Weekly, reminding readers that the third part of the game was in that week's copy of Buster. A further 6 cards were shown, this time featuring Faceache, then there's a character who I suspect is supposed to be Little Brother from the Big Brother… strip, followed by The Leopard from Lime Street (Billy Farmer's feline alter-ego), Ray (of X-Ray Specs), The Ghostly Leg (surely the most bizarre strip of the entire Fleetway/IPC line) and Kid (of Kid Gloves). All the characters seem to have been paired with their correct legs (or leg in the case of the spectral lower limb). Buster himself is again absent.

IPC clearly saw the Match 'Em promotion as a high-profile affair, because Cheeky Weekly dated 18 March 1978 carried an ad for it in the fifth consecutive issue. Admittedly the cut-out game, which was by then in its final week, gets a smaller mention as, under the banner 'Buster Rules OK' (a reference to the inclusion of the Match 'Em rules this week), the ad concentrates on selling the strips and features which appear each week. Buster is present in the ad, which is dominated by a large pic of false-teeth wearing shark, Gums.

There followed a break from Buster ads, until Cheeky Weekly dated 03 June 1978 carried a plug for the Buster Holiday Fun Special. A pasted-in Buster and the Special's cover shared the ad with some text detailing the fun and thrills to be had in return for 30p. Although the weekly Buster still carried the Monster Fun title on its cover at this time, the Holiday Fun Special makes no mention of the other comic. The same ad appeared in the following 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly.

One might have expected there to be an advertisement as Christmas approached for the 1979 Buster Book, which was published in autumn 1978, but none appeared. While most IPC comics had hardback versions published in the run-up to the festive period, for many years Buster's annual Christmas offering had soft cardboard covers, and all were called Buster Book rather than Buster Annual.

Unlike the previous year's Buster Holiday Fun Special, 1979's Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special, which was advertised in Cheeky Weekly dated 14 April 1979, not only mentioned the title of the 'absorbee', but gave it greater emphasis than the host comic. I've never seen a copy of this special, so I can't comment on what might have made it, according to the blurb, 'unusual'. Probably it featured predominantly Monster Fun characters - the ad text and pics of Kid Kong and the skeleton from Terror TV suggest this may have been the case. As we have come to expect, a pasted-in Buster was also on display in this ad. A different image of Tin Teacher has been overlaid on the special's cover - the actual cover can be seen among the specials here. There was a 10p price hike since the previous year. The same ad returned in the following 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly.

My assumption about the Monster Fun bias of the aforementioned special would seem to be confirmed by the ad for Buster Holiday Special in the 02 June 1979 issue of Cheeky Weekly. There's no mention of Monster Fun on its cover, although MF's Kid Kong shared the front page with Buster, and another survivor from MF, Gums, was included in the ad, utilising the same image that appeared in the ad dated 18 March 1978. Like the advert for the Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special, this ad appeared in 3 consecutive issues of Cheeky Weekly.

The 1980 Buster Book was first advertised in Cheeky Weekly dated 06 October 1979. Under the strapline 'Take off with Buster!' (a reference to the events depicted on the Book's cover) a pasted image of Capp junior on roller skates has been used as presumably the staff member compiling the ad was unable to locate another image of Buster on skis. The ad also ran in Cheeky Weekly the following week.

Adverts Subject Buster

Issue Date	Page	Page Type	Advertiser	Subject
18-Feb-1978	31	Normal	IPC	Buster
25-Feb-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
04-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
11-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
18-Mar-1978	24	Normal	IPC	Buster
03-Jun-1978	18	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
10-Jun-1978	21	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
17-Jun-1978	8	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Fun Special
14-Apr-1979	15	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
21-Apr-1979	5	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
28-Apr-1979	15	Normal	IPC	Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special
02-Jun-1979	21	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
09-Jun-1979	29	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
16-Jun-1979	22	Normal	IPC	Buster Holiday Special
06-Oct-1979	27	Normal	IPC	Buster Book
13-Oct-1979	27	Normal	IPC	Buster Book

A Cheeky auction

Any Cheeky fans with 120 quid or thereabouts rattling around in their wallets may be interested in one of the items listed in the latest Comic Book Auctions Ltd catalogue - it's the IPC promotional material sent out to newsagents prior to publication of the first Cheeky Weekly. The publishers were understandably keen to have their new comic well-represented on newsagents' counters across the country on publication day. By distributing a sample of the first issue together with the first 2 free gifts, IPC hoped to demonstrate to owners of shops selling their titles that not only was the new arrival packed with laughs, thrills and chills, but early issues would bear added inducements in the form of freebies to lure kids into becoming regular purchasers. I don't have this nice item of Cheeky memorabilia, but I don't intend bidding for it

SOR = Sale or Return
Am I the only one to find Cheeky's message rather sinister?

At one time it was possible to locate scans of  the promotional version of Cheeky Weekly number 1 (which varied somewhat from the issue that was eventually published) by searching for 'Cheeky dummy issue'.

Cheeky Weekly wasn't the only comic to receive this treatment - included in the same auction is an earlier promotional pack that heralded the arrival of another comic from the IPC stable, Whoopee!, and a later one relating to adventure title Tornado.

Thanks to George over at Wacky Comics for blogging about the auction.

Cheeky Weekly cover date 10 February 1979

After last week's larger-than-normal-page-size issue, this week's comic reverts to its usual dimensions. Like the previous issue, the paper is of a marginally better quality than normal, with a slight sheen that's not usually evident.

Watery peril threatens Mystery Boy on Cheeky Weekly's front cover for a second time (see also 07 October 1978) and, as in his previous cover appearance, the artwork is lifted from a panel of the story inside. Cheeky and Baby Burpo share liquorice laughs in the Cheeky's Week…Sunday cover strip, before Yikky-Boo's customary exclamation brings the front page fun to a cacophonous conclusion.

For some reason the Sunday element on page 2 is missing the What did YOU do today? diary section that usually occupies the foot of the page. This is the first time Barrie Appleby has drawn an internal Cheeky's Week page since the 26 August 1978 issue and, as What did YOU do today? was introduced in the comic dated 30 September 1978, it may be that Barrie wasn't aware of the need to leave space for it. The presence of Cheeky's ugly mug at the bottom of the page meant WDYDT couldn't be shoehorned in. However, WDYDT is present where expected on all other Cheeky's Week pages this issue.

Art: Barrie Appleby

Joke-Box Jury enjoys a bumper 2-page spread, with the usual mix of old, bad and (from a 21st Century perspective) inappropriate material provided by readers who have won £2 for getting their funnies (and not-so-funnies) into print. The panel of judges seem untroubled by the dubious quality of some of the gags on offer.

Caution: some of the 'humour' on display here may offend.
I present it as a document of less enlightened times.

Also anticipating a £2 boost to their pocket money are the 3 readers whose winning witticisms appear on Paddywack's page. The jokes here aren't offensive, but the Paddywack character clearly exhibits national stereotyping that wouldn't be acceptable today.

Art: Jack Clayton

There's more questionable 'humour' as Cheeky meets Uncle Hamish on Wednesday...

Art: Barrie Appleby

 

Jokes of this type, while shocking to our 21st century sensibilities, were common in the media and in the playgrounds and workplaces of Britain of the late 1970s.

The Tub story on the Mystery Comic's cover is the source of the main pic on Cheeky Weekly issue 64's front page that 2 weeks ago left readers confused as to its relevance.

Reg Parlett and Joe McCaffrey continue to divide the artwork duties on Mustapha Million between themselves - this week Reg does the honours after a 4 week absence, providing the inks for what appears as a curious, partially-coloured strip. I suspect that the colouring was done this way as it was felt that to colour all the cards in the card shop would have overwhelmed the rest of the artwork. Maybe it would have been easier to colour this week's Elephant On The Run instead.

It's not just the readers of Cheeky Weekly who can provide bad jokes, as the final panel of Mustapha's story proves...

This week's Burpo Special focuses on dire dinner-lady Auntie Daisy's shortcomings in the culinary field. Burpo interviews diners as they emerge, reeling, from the school canteen. Even Yikky-Boo can only manage a feeble Yukky-Boo in reply.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

After the Saturday elements bring Cheeky's Week to a close (with the toothy funster and pals biking around Krazy Town), the comic rounds off with another back-page Pin-Up Pal. This time the poster features Baker's Boy, in a rather basic rendition.

Barrie Appleby provides 9 Cheeky's Week elements in this issue (this is the first time he's drawn the Cheeky's Week…Sunday cover strip), with Frank McDiarmid delivering a single Cheeky's Week element (The Burpo Special) plus the back cover poster (which I don't include as a Cheeky's Week element). This is the second consecutive week to break the rule of 'Cheeky's Week elements are to be drawn by only one artist (or artist/penciller team) in each issue', that seems to have been established as of the 30 September 1978 revamp issue (apart from 06 January 1979's standby issue which was probably compiled in a hurry).

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 10-Feb-1979, Issue 66 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Mystery Boy' 2 of 2 - Art John Richardson (final art on feature)\Cheeky's Week - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
2	Sunday - Art Barrie Appleby
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	Joke-Box Jury
7	Joke-Box Jury
8	Monday - Art Barrie Appleby
9	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
10	Tuesday - Art Barrie Appleby
11	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
12	Wednesday - Art Barrie Appleby
13	Tub 'Mystery Comic' 15 of 34 - Art Nigel Edwards
14	Why, Dad, Why? 'Mystery Comic' 12 of 28 - Art John K. Geering
15	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips 'Mystery Comic' 17 of 37 - Art John Richardson
16	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
17	Mustapha Million 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 34 - Art Reg Parlett
18	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
19	Elephant On The Run 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 34 - Art Robert Nixon
20	Disaster Des 'Mystery Comic' 16 of 30 - Art Mike Lacey
21	Your chance to vote\Ad: IPC 'Mickey Mouse' 10 of 18
22	What's New, Kids
23	Thursday - Art Barrie Appleby
24	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
25	Friday - Art Barrie Appleby
26	Eagle Eye reprint from Shiver and Shake
27	Eagle Eye reprint from Shiver and Shake
28	Chit-Chat
29	The Burpo Special 'Auntie Daisy' - Art Frank McDiarmid
30	Saturday - Art Barrie Appleby
31	Saturday - Art Barrie Appleby
32	Pin-up pal 'Baker's Boy' - Art Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 10-Feb-1979

Artist	Elements
Barrie Appleby	9
Frank McDiarmid	1

The features - Disaster Des

Art: Mike Lacey

In Cheeky Weekly's 30 September 1978 issue, readers were invited, by way of a caption atop the first appearance of a new feature, to 'Meet a lad who's a walking disaster area!' The ambulatory accident instigator in question was one Disaster Des.

Des was a seemingly innocent young lad, who enjoyed ambling around his home town (the ominously-named Doomsville), humming his trademark 'Doody Doom', or a variation thereof, as he went. Our hero (if one with Des' destructive influence can be described as such) seemed oblivious to the fact that he possessed a disaster-inducing power that spelled calamity for those in his vicinity. Panic would erupt among the rest of the populace whenever the juvenile jinx, helpfully wearing a jumper with a large D on the front, slouched into view. Seldom did Des acknowledge the misfortunes that occurred around him.

Des' first appearance: Art Mike Lacey

For the benefit of readers who may have been a bit slow to appreciate the premise of this new feature, the second strip commenced with a variation on the caption above the first episode, this time reading 'This lad makes things go wrong…without doing anything!'.

In Des' ninth outing, dated 02 December 1978, the desperate shopkeepers of Doomsville devised a plan to prevent further damage to their premises in the High Street - they clubbed together and raised the funds to send Des on a world cruise. Their plan suffered an inauspicious start as Des' presence on the cruise ship caused it to flatten the shops after being propelled inland on a tide of soap suds. At the commencement of the following week's strip, the patched-up cruise ship somehow made it across the Channel and thus began Des' world tour. During his globetrotting in this and the following 4 issues, Des' catastrophic influence rendered the Eiffel Tower into a pile of scrap metal, drained the Suez Canal, flooded the pyramids at Giza and toppled the Statue of Liberty.

The 03 February 1979 episode opened with Des, now back in the UK, heading home by bus. Meanwhile, the desperate citizens of Doomsville, frantic at the news that Des had returned, were attempting to seal off their town by using mechanical excavators to pile snow onto all approach roads. As Des alighted from the bus, which had been halted by one of the snowy mounds, the driver of a passing experimental snow plough, unaware of the townsfolk's plan, attempted to clear the way into town. Needless to say, the snow plough went out of control and demolished Doomsville High Street again.

Many of the stories showed concerned citizens trying to lure Des away from buildings or events in Doomsville, but in this episode from 07 July 1979 we see the people of Mudhole-On-Sea have a different plan.

Art: Mike Lacey

Des' strip in the 15 September 1979 comic opens with a Drainsylvanian visitor to Doomsville telling the Mayor that in his country they use doomwort, a smelly weed native to the swamps of Drainsylvania, to ward off disaster-bringers like Des. The Mayor despatches a team to the soggy source of the pongy vegetation, and they return with a 15-ton harvest of the reeking stuff. The Mayor orders that the town should be liberally covered in doomwort, and all are delighted when they see the approaching Des being repelled by the stink. However, concern mounts when a swarm of insects descends on Doomsville. The visitor informs the Mayor that the buzzing mass, now proceeding to chomp its way through town, consists of Giant Hairy Drainsylvanian Termites…

Art: Mike Lacey

Des was kidnapped by agents working on behalf of a foreign power intent on harnessing the juvenile jinx's destructive influence for nefarious ends in the 06 October 1979 tale. Of course the plan backfired as Des' presence on their military base resulted in the annihilation of the nation's stockpile of weapons. The only serviceable piece of equipment remaining was a helicopter, which barely lasted the journey as the agents desperately returned Des to Doomsville.

Art: Mike Lacey

All Cheeky Weekly episodes of Disaster Des were single-pagers. The mayhem-making moocher appeared on pages 6 and 7 of the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, but each page contained a separate story. Possibly there was a spare Des tale that the editor wanted to use before Cheeky Weekly bit the dust. It looks as though a new first panel has been added to the second story in place of the title frame. In the first DD tale of the final issue, Doomsville's Mayor, who was a recurring character during the strip's run, sought to protect his prize marrow from Des' influence (but of course failed), and in the second yet another of the Mayor's plans backfires, resulting in Des' arrival at the grand ball.

The final Des tale to appear in Cheeky Weekly
Art: Mike Lacey

The catastrophe-causing kid made his first appearance, as one of the strips in The Mystery Comic, in Cheeky Weekly dated 30 September 1978. His first 30 strips appeared within The Mystery Comic's pages (on 2 occasions - 13 January and 20 January 1979 - making it to TMC's cover), but when the comic-within-a-comic idea was dropped as of Cheeky Weekly dated 07 July 1979, Des continued to appear for a further 28 issues. All the Disaster Des strips in Cheeky Weekly were drawn by Mike Lacey, with the exception of the 13 October 1979 episode which was by Jimmy Hansen.

In addition to his 2 appearances on the cover of The Mystery Comic, Des featured in Cheeky Weekly's main cover pic on 25 November 1978. Des was seen in the Tub episode dated 19 May 1979 and he appeared as one of the guests at Pete and Pauline Potts' party in the 6 Million Dollar Gran strip in Cheeky Weekly dated 06 October 1979.

Mooching casually through Doomsville, the adolescent accident architect was the subject of the Pin-Up Pal poster by Mike Lacey in Cheeky Weekly dated 20 January 1979 (which can be seen on Bruce's blog). A Disaster Des spot the difference puzzle, showing two versions of a pic of Des strolling through a building site, was printed in the comic dated 17 March 1979 in place of a DD strip in that issue.

The quality of the Disaster Des scripts was well above average and the daft premise gave Mike Lacey lots of scope to pack the panels with comedic incident as calamity befell the long-suffering folk of Doomsville. Des was definitely one of the Cheeky Weekly highlights.

Our pariah pal made 5 extra appearances during Cheeky Weekly's run - a ghosted strip in the 1979 Cheeky Summer Special, two Star Guest outings (Whoopee! dated 21 April 1979 and Whizzer and Chips 09 June 1979) and 2 stories drawn by Mike Lacey in the 1980 Cheeky Annual.

Des suffered his own disaster when Cheeky Weekly came to an end, as he didn't survive the merge with Whoopee! However, he did return in the Cheeky Holiday Special of 1980 and the Cheeky Summer Specials of 1981 and 1982. All these appearances in the post-Cheeky-Weekly Specials featured ghosted artwork and the strips were rather weak. Des also appeared in the Cheeky Annuals dated 1981 (1 strip by Mike Lacey), 1982 (in 2 sets, one of which featured a cataclysmic meeting between Des and Bump-Bump Bernie drawn by Barrie Appleby, and the other drawn by Mike Lacey), 1983 (2 sets, both ghosted), 1984 (2 sets by Mr Lacey) and the final Cheeky Annual, dated 1985 (2 ghosted Des stories). Sadly, Des was past his prime in most of these annual appearances.

Bruce has more info on the Cheeky Specials and Annuals.

Disaster Des in the Cheeky Weekly Index

Feature	First Appearance	Final Appearance	Total Issues	Total Issues Missed In Run	Page History
Disaster Des	30-Sep-78	02-Feb-80	58	10	6,7,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20,21,26,27,28,29

Issues Missed In Run

18-Nov-78

17-Mar-79

24-Mar-79

21-Apr-79

05-May-79

26-May-79

02-Jun-79

04-Aug-79

08-Sep-79

12-Jan-80

Feature	Artist	Number of Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Disaster Des Mystery Comic	Mike Lacey	30	30-Sep-1978	30-Jun-1979
Disaster Des	Mike Lacey	27	07-Jul-1979	02-Feb-1980
Disaster Des	Jimmy Hansen	1	13-Oct-1979	13-Oct-1979

None but The Bave

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Terry's autobiography. Written in a warm, friendly style that won't surprise fans of his warm, friendly comic art, Terry recounts his life in cartoons, from his initial influences (Walt Disney's Snow White and Fantasia were early inspirations) to a detailed history of his
comic strips. There are plenty of examples of his work, ranging from Terry's first submission to a publication (The Daily Mirror, who rejected it!) in 1947, up to his strips for DC Thomson in the 2000s, plus birthday cards, posters and one-off gags. Several interesting examples of Terry 'ghosting' on strips he didn't usually draw are also featured.

Terry's wife Shiela's important role in the success of his cartoon work is apparent, and I was impressed to learn of the market research that the pair carried out when developing new strip ideas.

From a Cheeky perspective I was pleased to see that Calculator Kid isn't ignored. I did, however, notice a couple of errors in the publication dates given for Krazy and Cheeky Weekly.

Among the recollections in the book is the occasion on which Terry was surprised to read his own obituary!

Terry is frank about the contraction and eventual demise of IPC as the 20th century drew to an end. I particularly liked the title of the chapter covering Terry's move to DC Thomson as the IPC empire fragmented, 'Whizzer Has Its Chips and Winker Takes a Bow',

The 300-page book includes a comprehensive list of Terry's strips in weeklies, annuals and specials.

Highly recommended to the many fans of the mighty Mr Bave and anyone interested in the history of British comics, the book can be ordered here, and his blog lives here.

Whoopee welcomes Wow! (and loses its exclamation mark)

In February 1980 an ailing Cheeky Weekly, having notched up 117 issues, finally succumbed to the increasing burden of reprints and fillers, and was merged into IPC stablemate Whoopee! Inevitably, some of the strips which had featured in the toothy funster's comic were consigned to comics oblivion, but a select few managed, in a kind of comics version of survival of the fittest, to shoulder their way into the amalgamated titles.

Comic merges of this kind, where the most popular strips from a title whose circulation had fallen to unsustainable levels were shoehorned into a more successful comic, were a common occurrence in the early 1980s. Initially the cover of the amalgamated comic would carry the stronger comic's title above the name of the comic it had absorbed, but usually the secondary title would eventually be quietly dropped from the cover in readiness for any further merges that may ensue (assuming the comic was not itself absorbed into another title).

The final issue of Whoopee! to include a reference on the front cover to the Cheeky title was that dated 25 July 1981.

Veteran Whoopee! readers were therefore probably not surprised to learn at the end of June 1983 that their comic was about to consume another IPC funny paper, Wow!

All the Cheeky Weekly characters that survived
the merge into Whoopee! had continued to feature
in the combined comic, and all made the transition
into Whoopee and Wow!
However, in the move, some fared better than others.

Wow!'s publication history spanned issues dated 05 June 1982 to 25 June 1983, a life just half as long as that of Cheeky Weekly. This was probably a symptom of the increasingly harsh economic realities that confronted British comics as the 80s progressed; any under-performing titles were culled much more swiftly.

As mentioned earlier, when a merge occurred it was necessary for each title to drop their less popular strips in order to accommodate the best-performing features in the combined comic. Remarkably, however, all the strips that had transferred from Cheeky Weekly in its merge into Whoopee! also survived the absorption of Wow!

The first combined issue of Whoopee and Wow!, dated 02 July 1983, included the following strips that had originated in Cheeky Weekly;

• Stage School (still a 2-page feature and now promoted to pages 2 and 3)
• 6 Million Dollar Gran (now undergoing her second reboot in a strip titled Gran's Gang, but reduced from 2 pages to 1)
• Paddywack (a single row, 3-panel strip)
• Cheeky (ignominiously reduced to a single row on the Quick Strips page. Cheeky's strip had initially been 4 pages per week at the time of the merge with Whoopee! but had slowly been reduced until it was one page a week just prior to the merge with Wow!)
• Mustapha Million (still a 2-pager but demoted from pages 2 and 3 to 28 and 29)
• Calculator Kid (remaining a single pager)

Calculator Kid's spin-off strip, Calculator Corner, which had appeared after Cheeky Weekly merged into Whoopee!, also continued after the Wow! merge.

Representatives of all the ex-Cheeky Weekly strips could be found on the cover of the first combined Whoopee and Wow!, heading from the Whoopee Office towards a somewhat meagre celebratory feast considering the number of guests. Cheeky's peripheral position on the cover accurately reflected the reduced circumstances in which he now found himself.

Joining the combined comic from Wow! was Frank McDiarmid's 2-pages-per-week Boy Boss.

Evidently IPC felt an abundance of exclamation marks on its comic covers was something to be avoided, so Whoopee! lost the ! it had sported since its inception.