Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 9

New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which the Gang originated, expired in April 1978.

Whizzer and Chips had a long tradition of sending characters from the Chips section into Whizzer and vice versa. These cross-comic forays were known as 'raids'. In this series of posts I'm chronicling the raids involving the ex-Cheeky Weekly characters who made the transition into Whizzer and Chips, all of whom were allocated to the Chips section. For the purposes of this series, although this particular manifestation of the toothy funster didn't directly descend from Cheeky Weekly, I'm including Cheeky's Krazy Gang appearances as those of an 'ex-Cheeky Weekly character'.

Two weeks after the previous raid involving an ex-Cheeky Weekly character, Mustapha Million's adventure (in which we meet his cousin Ahmed) was intruded upon by a rotten raider. Can you spot the infiltrator? Scroll down for the answer.

Whizzer and Chips 27 July 1985
Art: Joe McCaffrey

It's that pesky Whizz-Kid prankster, Joker.

The Mustapha story above reminds me of a joke that was often heard in the 1970s and directed at a UK car manufacturer that underwent a series of misfortunes during that troubled decade...

1^st Man: I'm getting my little boy a cowboy outfit for Christmas.

2^nd Man: Really?

1^st Man: Yes, I'm buying him British Leyland.

For the benefit of any mystified overseas readers, the joke plays on an alternate, informal use of  'cowboy', meaning incompetent, inefficient, dishonest.

No doubt there were other versions of the joke aimed at British Rail, The Post Office etc. 'Mickey Mouse outfit' was also often substituted.

This was the second time that Mustapha had been raided, but he had been a raider on two previous occasions. Ex-Cheeky Weekly characters had by this time perpetrated just 3 raids while suffering 7.

More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date	Raider	Raided
06 April 1985	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
04 May 1985	Bloggs (Store Wars)	Mustapha Million
11 May 1985	Joker	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985	Calculator Kid & Calc	Odd-Ball
01 June 1985	Animalad Mustapha Million	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Boy Boss
08 June 1985	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
06 July 1985	Toy Boy	Calculator Kid
13 July 1985	Pa Bumpkin	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985	Joker	Mustapha Million

The Rejects – Big Strong Sam\Steve

In previous instalments of this series of 'The Rejects' posts, I've examined supporting characters from the 'Ello, it's Cheeky\'Ello I'm Cheeky pages of Krazy who, despite being given a name, didn't accompany the toothy funster into the pages of his own comic. However, the character coming under the spotlight today failed to make the break into Cheeky Weekly even though he was given two names.

Scrap yard worker Big Strong Sam made his debut in Krazy issue 2, dated 23 October 1976. All the artwork below is by Frank McDiarmid.

Krazy 23 October 1976
This page also saw the debut of
Manhole Man

A week later the Big Strong one returned, but now called Steve and seemingly the sibling of a Cheeky Weekly stalwart who made his debut on this page. This time Cheeky's muscular mate featured across a whole page, so at this point it looked as though he may become one of the regular cast of Cheeky's pals (if only the scriptwriter could sort his name out).

Krazy 30 October 1976

Sam\Steve was back in Krazy dated 27 November 1976 where he was unnamed among the Krazy Town FC 'supporters' at Saturday's match.

Krazy 27 November 1976

In the 04 December 1976 issue the mighty metal merchant reverted to his original name...

Krazy 04 December 1976

...but by the time of his next appearance in Krazy dated 26 February 1977 his name had changed back again...

Krazy 22 February 1977

And Steve it remained for his next Krazy outing...

Krazy 26 March 1977

Sam\Steve was then absent from Krazy until his final appearance, a silent and unnamed cameo in the first birthday issue dated 08 October 1977...

Krazy 08 October 1977

So despite a promising start, Cheeky's scrapyard stooge eventually fell into obscurity. Maybe the scriptwriter couldn't think of many 'strong' jokes. If Sam\Steve had transferred into Cheeky Weekly there would have been the opportunity to develop him into Ursula's boyfriend.

Features Ordered by Date of Commencement

This is something that I should have posted a long time ago, but only started thinking about recently as I began looking at the latter few months of Cheeky Weekly in my series of issue summaries.

Here's a list of all the features to have appeared in Cheeky Weekly, ordered by the issue date in which they commenced (and in the case of multiple features commencing in the same issue, further sorted by the page number on which they made their debut within that edition). The feature's end date is also shown, as is its original source(s) in the case of reprints. The first column shows the feature's position in the sequence. A link to the the appropriate blog post (where available) is also provided.

Most recent update - 25 October 2020: Added blog links for Giant Cheeky Poster and Top Ten Poster.

Update - 13 October 2017: I had previously named the feature in the 21 April 1979 issue which gave assembly details for the Top Ten poster as 'Poster instructions', whereas all the other 3 appearances of the same feature I had named 'Top Ten poster instructions'. Changed the name of the 21 April 1979 instance to match the others.

Update 29 September 2017: I had previously individually named each of the joke booklets which commenced in Cheeky Weekly dated 17 November 1979. For example 'Farmer Giles booklet', 'Knock-Knock booklet' etc. I have now given them all the name Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue, since that's the name under which they appeared.

Ordinal	Feature	Start	End	Reprinted From
1	Cover Feature	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
2	What a Cheek	22-Oct-1977	23-Sep-1978
3	Hiya I'm Cheeky	22-Oct-1977	22-Oct-1977
4	Sunday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
5	Skateboard Squad	22-Oct-1977	12-May-1979
6	Sunday evening	22-Oct-1977	23-Sep-1978
7	James Bold	22-Oct-1977	05-Aug-1978
8	Monday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
9	6 Million Dollar Gran	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
10	Tuesday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
11	Doug's Doodle	22-Oct-1977	14-Jan-1978
12	What's New, Kids	22-Oct-1977	17-Nov-1979
13	Pin-up pal	22-Oct-1977	31-Mar-1979
14	Wednesday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
15	Creepy Sleepy Tale	22-Oct-1977	26-Aug-1978	Monster Fun
16	Wednesday (conclusion)	22-Oct-1977	26-Aug-1978
17	Thursday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
18	Home Movie	22-Oct-1977	10-Jun-1978
19	Friday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
20	Mustapha Million	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
21	Saturday	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980
22	Wile E Coyote	22-Oct-1977	07-Jan-1978
23	Interval	22-Oct-1977	02-Dec-1978
24	Space Family Robinson	22-Oct-1977	24-Jun-1978
25	Hello again	29-Oct-1977	29-Oct-1977
26	Old Comic	29-Oct-1977	26-Aug-1978	Chips,Comet,Film Fun,Jingles,Radio Fun,School Friend,Sun Weekly,Swift,TV Fun,The Jester,Tiger,Tip Top,Whizzer and Chips,Wonder
27	Bam Splat and Blooie	29-Oct-1977	17-Jun-1978	Buster
28	Cocky Doodle	29-Oct-1977	04-Mar-1978	Buster
29	Skateboard booklet	05-Nov-1977	26-Nov-1977
30	More joke strips	12-Nov-1977	12-Nov-1977
31	Friends of Cheeky competition	26-Nov-1977	26-Nov-1977
32	Henery Hawk	26-Nov-1977	04-Feb-1978
33	Diary	03-Dec-1977	24-Dec-1977
34	Joke-Box Jury	10-Dec-1977	02-Feb-1980
35	Daffy Duck	24-Dec-1977	11-Mar-1978
36	Christmas Morning	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977
37	Christmas Dinner	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977
38	Christmas Day	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977
39	Boxing Day	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977
40	Creepy Pantomime	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977
41	New Year's Eve	31-Dec-1977	07-Jan-1978
42	Suddenly	07-Jan-1978	24-Jun-1978
43	The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun	07-Jan-1978	28-Jan-1978
44	Tweety	14-Jan-1978	14-Jan-1978
45	Tweety and Sylvester	21-Jan-1978	02-Dec-1978
46	4 Comics competition	28-Jan-1978	28-Jan-1978
47	Skateboard Snap	04-Feb-1978	04-Feb-1978
48	Chimp on a skateboard photo	04-Feb-1978	04-Feb-1978
49	Oi! What is My Name?	11-Feb-1978	11-Feb-1978
50	Road Runner	18-Feb-1978	03-Jun-1978
51	Basil Brush competition	11-Mar-1978	11-Mar-1978
52	500 T-Shirt Winners	11-Mar-1978	11-Mar-1978
53	Easter Sunday	01-Apr-1978	01-Apr-1978
54	Easter Monday	01-Apr-1978	21-Apr-1979
55	Saturday - April Fool's Day	01-Apr-1978	01-Apr-1978
56	Name the Snail results	22-Apr-1978	22-Apr-1978
57	Skateboard competition	29-Apr-1978	29-Apr-1978
58	Send a Father's Day message	29-Apr-1978	29-Apr-1978
59	Kite Competition winners	13-May-1978	13-May-1978
60	Hid Kid what does he look like	27-May-1978	27-May-1978
61	Basil Brush competition winners	03-Jun-1978	03-Jun-1978
62	Father's Day Messages	17-Jun-1978	17-Jun-1978
63	Skateboard Competition	17-Jun-1978	17-Jun-1978
64	Tennis Competition	24-Jun-1978	24-Jun-1978
65	Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?	24-Jun-1978	30-Sep-1978	Cor!!
66	Whizzer and Chips mini comic	01-Jul-1978	01-Jul-1978
67	Calculator Kid	01-Jul-1978	02-Feb-1980
68	Buster mini comic	08-Jul-1978	08-Jul-1978
69	Paddywack	08-Jul-1978	26-Jan-1980
70	Whoopee mini comic	15-Jul-1978	15-Jul-1978
71	5 Papers Competition	22-Jul-1978	22-Jul-1978
72	Mickey Mouse Mini Comic	22-Jul-1978	22-Jul-1978
73	Draw Hid Kid winners	05-Aug-1978	05-Aug-1978
74	Archie's Angels	12-Aug-1978	16-Sep-1978	Whizzer and Chips
75	Teacher's Teasers	26-Aug-1978	23-Sep-1978
76	Silly Snaps	02-Sep-1978	20-Oct-1979
77	Crack-A-Joke Game	02-Sep-1978	23-Sep-1978
78	Readers poll	09-Sep-1978	09-Sep-1978
79	Smurfs competition	09-Sep-1978	09-Dec-1978
80	Marx Toys Competition	16-Sep-1978	16-Sep-1978
81	Hickory Dickory Doc	16-Sep-1978	16-Sep-1978	Cor!!
82	Sonny Storm	23-Sep-1978	23-Sep-1978	Cor!!
83	Cheeky's Week	30-Sep-1978	30-Jun-1979
84	Hoi! What do you get up to all week?	30-Sep-1978	30-Sep-1978
85	Tub	30-Sep-1978	02-Feb-1980
86	Why, Dad, Why?	30-Sep-1978	02-Feb-1980
87	Mystery Boy	30-Sep-1978	13-Oct-1979	Whizzer and Chips
88	Elephant On The Run	30-Sep-1978	02-Feb-1980
89	Disaster Des	30-Sep-1978	02-Feb-1980
90	Cheeky's Pal Puzzle	30-Sep-1978	02-Dec-1978
91	Laugh and Learn	07-Oct-1978	09-Dec-1978
92	The Terrible Trail to Taggart's Treasure	07-Oct-1978	02-Dec-1978	Shiver and Shake
93	Ghouldilocks	14-Oct-1978	14-Oct-1978	Jag
94	Hey Presto! Magic Show	21-Oct-1978	21-Oct-1978
95	Winners of Skateboard and Tennis competitions	28-Oct-1978	28-Oct-1978
96	Who's your Super-Star?	18-Nov-1978	18-Nov-1978
97	Feature Omitted	02-Dec-1978	02-Dec-1978
98	Big Four Saint Competition	02-Dec-1978	02-Dec-1978
99	Chit-Chat	09-Dec-1978	02-Feb-1980
100	The Burpo Special	09-Dec-1978	30-Jun-1979
101	Chutes Away competition winners	06-Jan-1979	06-Jan-1979
102	Eagle Eye	06-Jan-1979	24-Feb-1979	Shiver and Shake
103	Friends of Cheeky Snap Game	13-Jan-1979	03-Feb-1979
104	Goonburger Maze	20-Jan-1979	20-Jan-1979
105	Your chance to vote	27-Jan-1979	17-Feb-1979
106	Spaghetti Junction maze	27-Jan-1979	27-Jan-1979
107	Train Track Maze	03-Feb-1979	03-Feb-1979
108	Tease Break	17-Feb-1979	03-Nov-1979
109	Shrove Tuesday	03-Mar-1979	03-Mar-1979
110	Ash Wednesday	03-Mar-1979	03-Mar-1979
111	Menace of the Alpha Man	03-Mar-1979	30-Jun-1979	Shiver and Shake
112	Disaster Des spot the difference	17-Mar-1979	17-Mar-1979
113	Saint competition results	24-Mar-1979	24-Mar-1979
114	Smurfs competition results	24-Mar-1979	24-Mar-1979
115	Cheeky's Jersey Pattern	31-Mar-1979	31-Mar-1979
116	Star Guest	31-Mar-1979	28-Jul-1979
117	Top Ten Poster	07-Apr-1979	28-Apr-1979
118	Top Ten Poster instructions	07-Apr-1979	28-Apr-1979
119	Good Friday	14-Apr-1979	14-Apr-1979
120	Easter Saturday	14-Apr-1979	14-Apr-1979
121	Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around	19-May-1979	09-Jun-1979
122	Speed Squad	26-May-1979	02-Feb-1980
123	Cheeky Hustle	16-Jun-1979	16-Jun-1979
124	Who Is The Alpha Man?	16-Jun-1979	16-Jun-1979
125	The Gang	07-Jul-1979	02-Feb-1980	Whizzer and Chips
126	Stage School	07-Jul-1979	02-Feb-1980
127	Snail of the Century	14-Jul-1979	02-Feb-1980
128	My favourite Cheeky pals (character/feature popularity poll)	04-Aug-1979	04-Aug-1979
129	Giant Cheeky Poster	18-Aug-1979	08-Sep-1979
130	Alpha Man competition results	18-Aug-1979	18-Aug-1979
131	Poster instructions	08-Sep-1979	08-Sep-1979
132	James Bond competition	08-Sep-1979	08-Sep-1979
133	Ringer Dinger	06-Oct-1979	02-Feb-1980	Whizzer and Chips
134	Booklet instructions	17-Nov-1979	17-Nov-1979
135	Soggy the Sea Monster	17-Nov-1979	02-Feb-1980	Shiver and Shake
136	Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue	17-Nov-1979	26-Jan-1980
137	Cheeky Chuckles	15-Dec-1979	15-Dec-1979
138	Junior Jet Club Competition	22-Dec-1979	22-Dec-1979
139	Christmas Card	29-Dec-1979	29-Dec-1979
140	Christmas Quiz	29-Dec-1979	29-Dec-1979
141	6 Million Dollar Gran Spot the Difference	19-Jan-1980	19-Jan-1980
142	Jogging Jeremy's Weakly Exercise Routine	19-Jan-1980	19-Jan-1980

Put a sock in it

Bruce has posted a classic Elephant On The Run episode.

Cheeky Weekly Star Guests in Whoopee! (part 8)

Even-numbered weeks of IPC's 1979 Star Guest promotion saw representatives of Cheeky Weekly visiting Whoopee! and as we've reached week 16 of the sales-boosting sallies into companion comics, the only question is who has been chosen from the ranks of CW superstars to promote their comic. Stepping forward to do his duty for the second consecutive week (the previous week in Whizzer and Chips) and his third time as a Whoopee! Star Guest is the toothy funster himself.

Whoopee! 14 July 1979
Art: Frank McDiarmid
Many thanks to Irmantas for this scan

Disco Kid's 'Leaf Carrot' joke mystifies me. Anyone? Update - Peter and Bruce have solved the riddle - see the comments below.

Like Cheeky's promotional outing in last week's Whizzer and Chips, this strip is actually a mash-up, re-using previously published Frank McDiarmid art to present some new gags. This time the majority of the art was originally seen in Cheeky Weekly dated 03 March 1979 (an issue in which the toothy funster sported a long scarf).

This page and those below are from
Cheeky Weekly 03 March 1979.
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Any Whoopee! readers who failed to be enticed by the toothy funster's visit would have enjoyed 29 further weeks untroubled by Cheeky's corny gags. No doubt those same Whoopee! readers would have been dismayed to learn in their comic dated 02 February 1980 that our grinning pal, and a retinue of fellow Cheeky Weekly survivors, would be seeking refuge in the pages of their comic of choice as of the following week.

Sounds like a R.I.O.T.

I've been asked by performing arts company PanicLab to pass on some info regarding their upcoming show called R.I.O.T. which is about comic books.

Here's a link for more info, and here's a review. All the best to PanicLab for the show.

Cheeky Weekly Cover Date 14 July 1979

Art: Mike Lacey

It's GREAT, it's FUN, it's Cheeky Weekly issue 88, one week after the introduction of the new look (which will be completed this issue as we shall see later). The comic commences with a front-page reminder that, despite the revamp, reader participation features Paddywack, Joke-Box Jury and Chit-Chat continue to offer £2 prizes to successful contributors. Also on the cover is a Mike Lacey depiction of Cheeky suffering a typically traumatic encounter with Yikky-Boo, in an image sourced from the Thursday page of Cheeky Weekly dated 24 February 1979.

On Sunday Cheeky introduces a new member of the supporting cast – it's Welsh wag Taff the Laff.

Art: Mike Lacey

On page 3, Calculator Kid is beset by that dilemma which regularly troubles comic characters – the supposedly inaccessible sporting event. Trust Charlie's silicon-chipped sidekick to devise a method of entry.

Art: Terry Bave

Nigel Edwards deputises for Ian Knox on this week's 6 Million Dollar Gran episode, in which the synthetic senior citizen foils an attempt to divert an aeroplane, by landing a punch on the hi-jacker through the fuselage while the 'plane is in flight. Rather a risky strategy for all concerned but it pays off.

Art: Nigel Edwards

On Tuesday Yikky-Boo is, due to a culinary misadventure, somewhat less ebullient than during his front page appearance. There then follows some hypnotic humour involving new Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Conservatives had won the recent general election on 03 May 1979, taking control of the country from Labour, led by Prime Minister James Callaghan (hence Cheeky's concluding joke, which wouldn't work so well as a spoken gag since the ousted PM's name was pronounced 'Callahan').

Art: Mike again

The centre pages are taken up by a colour road safety ad in the form of a comic strip entitled Football Crazy and starring the Green Cross man.

This week's Star Guest is Lolly Pop (with of course his exasperated offspring, Archie), giving his home comic of the time, Whoopee, a plug. This story, drawn by Barry Glennard, is Pop's second Star Guest visit to Cheeky Weekly – Pop kicked off the Star Guest run back in the special 31 March 1979 issue of the toothy funster's comic, illustrated on that occasion by the strip's then regular artist - Sid Burgon.

On this week's Chit-Chat page, Cheeky's message gives us some insight into the tribulations of producing a comic, and then the toothy funster has to apologise to reader Julie Mock for omitting her name from the list of Smurf Competition winners back in the 24 March 1979 comic.

Nosy Nora makes her final Cheeky Weekly appearance (in a non-speaking role), as one of Cheeky's classmates in the second panel of the Friday page. Nora's relevance to Cheeky's Week no longer exists as her role related to the Mystery Comic concept which was dropped as of last week.

Mike again

On Saturday Cheeky is sent to do the shopping, and is given an even more onerous task in the final panel where, thanks to some deft copy-and-paste work, he informs readers of impending strain on their pocket money.

Mike, with a Frank McDiarmid Cheeky
pasted into the final panel

The comic rounds off with a new strip elevating Cheeky's mollusc mate to become the star of his own feature.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

The two new strips which commenced last week (The Gang and Stage School) are joined by Snail of the Century to complete the 'new look'. It would seem Snail's debut in his own feature was delayed by 7 days due to the presence of a colour advertisement on last week's back page.

Mike Lacey delivers 8 Cheeky's Week elements in this issue, a figure which includes Mike's reprinted cover art as one element (but the 2-page Saturday is also counted as a single element, so it kind of compensates), with Frank McDiarmid supplying the artwork for Snail of the Century, a new addition to the Cheeky's Week roster as of this edition. However, Frank's contribution of a Cheeky in the final panel of Saturday is not included in the count.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 14-Jul-1979, Issue 88 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'It pays to read Cheeky Weekly' 'Yikky-Boo' 1 of 2 - Art Mike Lacey
2	Sunday - Art Mike Lacey
3	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
4	Ad: Weetabix
5	What's New, Kids
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards
8	Monday - Art Mike Lacey
9	Joke-Box Jury
10	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
11	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
12	Tuesday - Art Mike Lacey
13	Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
14	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
15	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
16	Ad: Department of Transport 'Green Cross Code - Football Crazy' 1 of 2
17	Ad: Department of Transport 'Green Cross Code - Football Crazy' 1 of 2
18	Wednesday - Art Mike Lacey
19	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art John Richardson
20	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
21	Star Guest 'Lolly Pop' 2 of 2 - Art Barry Glennard
22	Thursday - Art Mike Lacey
23	Ad: IPC 'Whoopee Summer Special' 1 of 2 Ad: 'Jackpot Summer Special' 1 of 2
24	Chit-Chat
25	Friday - Art Mike Lacey
26	Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering
27	Tub - Art Nigel Edwards\Ad: IPC 'Do you have trouble getting copies of Cheeky Weekly' 3 of 5
28	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
29	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
30	Saturday - Art Mike Lacey
31	Saturday - Art Mike Lacey
32	Snail of the Century (first appearance) - Art Frank McDiarmid (first art on feature)

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 14-Jul-1979

Artist	Elements
Mike Lacey	8
Frank McDiarmid	1