Artist's Wives

August 18, 2015, 9:12 am

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We're all familiar with strips including an artist self-portrait - always good fun although some depictions are more accurate than others, I suspect. Irmantas did a good series of posts on this subject a while back.

A subset of this category is the 'artist-and-wife self portrait'. Here's Mr and Mrs (Bob) Hill appearing in a Krazy Gang story from Whizzer and Chips, 15 September 1984.

Whereas in some artist self portrait stories the relationship between the character and their illustrator is quite relaxed, it would appear that Bob is undergoing some sort of breakdown as he clearly didn't expect to encounter the gang in 'real life'. I like the panel where Bob flees in terror, while the gang look on in surprise and Mrs Hill is shown to be up to her elbows in domestic chores. The bottle on the table would appear to be significant but the meaning of 'KG' eludes me.

UPDATE: The answer to the KG riddle has been supplied by Peter and Andy in the comments below (kicks self for missing it - ooyah!).

There's further fun to be had with the 'Merry Christmas, Dear' on the toolbox, reinforcing the fact that life in the Hill household is less than idyllic from the female perspective (wonder if Bob wrote the script himself?). By the end of the strip, Bob appears to have surrendered to his psychotic delusion and is settled in the Krazy Gang's world.

The only other husband and wife comic portraits of which I'm aware are those featuring Terry and Shiela Bave, covered by Irmantas here. However if anyone knows of any others, please get in touch.

No doubt you spotted the raid perpetrated on the above strip by a Jim Watson version of Bloggs from the Store Wars strip. Good job Bob didn't see that, I don't know what it would have done to him.

UPDATE 2: Peter has sent a link to a Krazy Gang strip which opens another category, 'stories containing caricatures of real people but who are they?'.

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Cor!! what a poser!

August 23, 2015, 8:26 am

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I recently picked up these Cor!! annuals at a charity shop (well at 50p each it seemed impolite not to buy them), and it set me musing on a Cor!! curiosity...

...why did the Cor!! annuals start bearing the words 'comic annual' on their covers as of the 1976 edition? IPC's other annuals weren't called 'Whizzer and Chips Comic Annual' or 'Whoopee! Comic Annual'.

As has been documented elsewhere, the titular exclamation originated in days gone by when folk under duress sought a euphemistic substitute for the word God.

However, as time went on the word came to be employed as an expression of delight, such as 'Cor! What a lovely ice cream!' (which is the sense in which IPC intended its use, I suspect). But cor also became closely associated with male appreciation of the female form. Although such frank expressions are considered unacceptable today, back in less enlightened times it wasn't unusual to hear wolf-whistles and shouts of cor! as attractive females progressed along UK streets. The exclamation was also used in this way by leering characters in TV and film comedy.

My guess is IPC were concerned that, given the salacious connotations of its chosen title (emphasised by the double exclamation marks), some may have purchased the Cor!! annual expecting it to contain racy humour of the kind that featured in contemporaneous publication Funny Half Hour, which Lew Stringer mentioned in a recent post. I suspect IPC hoped to reduce the number of disappointed adult punters by including the 'Comic Annual' tag on the cover.

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 10

August 25, 2015, 8:29 am

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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 once) 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'.

Late Summer 1985 - it's time for sun, sea and snake as chief Whizz-kid Sid and his reptilian associate head to the coast. But who is the interloper? Scroll down for the answer should you require it - this is a blatant incursion.

Whizzer and Chips 24 August 1985 Art: Mike Lacey

Whizzer and Chips 31 August 1985 The Chip-ites section also included an enquiry about the Mustapha Million artists

This sortie into the pages of Whizzer was perpetrated by an uncharacteristically glum-looking Cheeky, clearly not enjoying his aquatic raiding experience. The depiction of our toothy chum looks to me to be the work of Bob Hill, who was of course drawing Cheeky as a member of the Krazy Gang at the time. My first suspicion was that the image was copied-and-pasted from a Gang strip, but I looked back through a year's worth of KG stories and was unable to find the pic in question. I therefore assume that Bob was asked to draw this bare-chested version of our usually-grinning pal specifically for the purposes of this raid.

Ex-Cheeky Weekly characters had by this time perpetrated 4 raids during the subject period while suffering 7.

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
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake

Great News For All Readers!

September 2, 2015, 7:23 am

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Don't worry, pals - this blog isn't about to merge into another. I just wanted to point you to a new entrant into the world of comic blogging.

Any blog that starts off with a pic of Cheeky is alright with me!

Profile – Cheeky's Dad

September 9, 2015, 1:44 am

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Krazy 23 October 1976

All art in this post is by the mighty Frank McDiarmid unless noted otherwise.

Cheeky's Dad first appeared as a distant silhouette hefting a hod of bricks up a ladder in Krazy dated 23 October 1976. This bout of hard graft evidently didn't suit the toothy funster's similarly be-choppered pa, as he wasn't seen again until the first issue of Cheeky Weekly a year later.

Cheeky Weekly issue 1, 22 October 1977

 

Cheeky's Dad's anti-comic sentiments prompted our hero to visit the attic wherein lay his father's clandestine collection of funny papers. Our grinning pal then presented Cheeky Weekly readers with a page from among his old man's hoard of humour, in an un-named feature that I dubbed Old Comic. This Cheeky's-Dad-disparaging-comics-and-Cheeky-heading-to-the-attic sequence of events became the regular introduction to Old Comic. Despite his declared antipathy to comics, it was clear Cheeky senior wasn't averse to immersing himself in the funny papers he ostensibly bought for his son.

Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1

 Cheeky was lucky enough to read more than one IPC title...

Art: Mike Lacey

Dad would sometimes apprehend his offspring in the attic, requiring some quick-thinking on the part of our toothy chum.

As can be seen above, aspiring artist Doodle Doug manipulated the Cheeky vs Dad comics vendetta to his advantage.

The first of Dad's cover appearances occurred on the front of Cheeky Weekly dated 03 December 1977 and scant weeks later he was again drafted into front cover gag duty for the 14 January 1978 edition.

Dad developed a secondary role as of that 14 January 1978 comic, whereby each Sunday evening he and Mum would be the victims of Cheeky's latest scheme to circumvent the 'early to bed ready for school tomorrow' house rule in order to watch the latest TV episode of 6 Million Dollar Gran. However, when Mum was out, it became evident that Dad was also a secret Gran fan, as he joined Cheeky in watching the adventures of the synthetic senior citizen.

The 24 June 1978 issue saw Dad make another cover appearance, yet again the victim of one of his son's unlimited supply of gags, and on the cover of the comic dated 15 July 1978, the joke really was(well, almost) corny.

During the 1978 summer holidays, Dad announced that the family were off on a surprise canal barge holiday, and he consequently appeared on 4 separate days during Cheeky's week, sporting a rather fetching nautical look in which a peaked cap replaced the flat variety he customarily wore.

Cheeky Weekly's 01 July 1978 issue was a significant one for the head of the Cheeky household, as it was the last to include the usual introduction to the Old Comic feature. Old Comic was absent from Cheeky Weekly from 08 July to 19 August 1978. On its return for a final time in the 26 August 1978 edition, the Old Comic was without its traditional intro.

Dad's (and Mum's) customary Sunday evening appearances were brought to an end when the Sunday evening feature was dropped from Cheeky's Week as of 30 September 1978. However, as Cheeky explained in that same issue, “They're putting [6 Million Dollar Gran] on in the middle of the day now!”, so Cheeky's parents continued to be on view as the toothy funster partook of Gran's mid-day screenings (although the shunt forward in transmission times meant there was no further need for subterfuge on Cheeky's part to secure a place in front of the TV).

Cheeky's pater was clearly getting a taste for the front cover, his toothy mug appearing there again on the 13 January 1979 comic as the Cheeky clan prepared to welcome the new year. During the party, Dad's deft about-turn concerning his son's bedtime prevented the premature conclusion of festivities. He was rewarded in a way that upset Mum – for the full story see here.

Cheeky senior's real moment in the spotlight came in 20 January 1979's Burpo Special. But even the investigative skills of Burpo couldn't prise the truth from devious Dad, although erstwhile Krazy readers would have been aware of the true occupation of Cheeky's old man.

However, we did learn of Pa's military past - having witnessed Dad's aversion to any form of exertion we must assume this was a period of National Service - thanks to a photo atop the TV in the comic dated 23 June 1979...

Cheeky Weekly dated 18 August 1979 saw the first of Dad's eight cameo appearances in the Snail of the Century strip, which centred on the back garden adventures of Cheeky's slithering sidekick, but always started and ended with the mirthful mollusc observing events chez Cheeky.

As Cheeky Weekly entered its final months, appearances by Cheeky's Dad became less frequent. However, he did turn up on 4 pages in the 29 December 1979 Christmas issue (3 Cheeky's Week pages as Mum threw Cheeky and Dad out of the house while she prepared a celebratory lunch for the toothy funster and his pals, and a Snail of the Century). The following week our grinning chum's pater featured on 2 pages (once for the Cheeky household's annual new year bash, then again in Snail of the Century).

The final time Cheeky's Dad appeared in the comic was a Snail of the Century cameo in the concluding issue, dated 02 February 1980. This brought to 73 the total editions in which Dad appeared.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Cheeky's Dad	73	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980

Cheeky Weekly cover date 04 August 1979

September 17, 2015, 10:48 am

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Art: Frank McDiarmid

I've commented several times in the past when 6 Million Dollar Gran has been described as bionic within the pages of our favourite comic despite it being clearly established in the first issue that she's a robot. Well, it's happened again, this time in the banner atop the cover of this edition. Now, maybe I'm mellowing as the years advance, but in this instance I can understand that the editor is hoping to exploit the fan-base of The Six Million Dollar Man, bionic hero of the TV programme which Gran spoofs. The small-screen adventures of astronaut Steve Austin, titular technologically-enhanced star of the show, came to an end in the US as of March 1978 (I've been unable to source the UK broadcast dates but I would imagine 6MDM came to an end at roughly the same time in this country). Ed is no doubt hoping that any Austin fans who are undergoing withdrawal symptoms due to the absence of their slo-mo hero (video recorders being at the time as rare as sports trophies in Jogging Jeremy's display cabinet) will snap up the toothy funster's comic to sate their lust for anything vaguely bionic.

Also on the cover, some bright spark has come up with a CHEEKY acronym. The Yeah! on the end is a bit desperate, so I award 6 out of 10 for effort. The cover pic shows Cheeky and Mechanic sharing a (slightly uncomfortable from a 21^stcentury perspective) jalopy joke and we're off on another week of Corny Hilarity, Excellent Entertainment and Kids' Yocks. Yocks - you know, laughs. Alright - 7 out of 10?

There are some words that are only ever encountered in comics. Spifflication is one (I prefer the double-f spelling), and Boilk (a sound uttered by comic characters in digestive distress) is another. On page 2, the latter emerges from Cheeky's alimentary canal as he contemplates Auntie Daisy's latest culinary concoction. In addition to the gags with Cheeky's pals, there is, as always, fun to be had with the names of the newspapers our toothy pal delivers on his round – Sunday Souffle (Daisy), Sunday Sawdust (Mr Chips), Sunday Shy Boy (Hid Kid) and Sunday Snooty (Posh Claude). Sunday Sob is of course the name on Cheeky's newspaper-stuffed shoulder bag.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Stage School teacher has the customary difficulties while trying to educate his showbiz-obsessed pupils. The young impressionist gives his Oliver Hardy, fez-wearing comic Tommy Cooper, TV boffin Dr Magnus Pyke gesticulating frantically and trilby-topped sports presenter Eddie Waring. Teacher's intention of visiting violence upon his young charges (an Ofsted inquiry would result if he tried that behaviour today) is mercifully foiled by the kids' various talents, which ultimately see the egregious educator dispatched into the ether. No doubt he'll rematerialise in time to inflict further torment next week.

Art: Robert Nixon

Sharing page 12 with ads for Adams Freshen-Up chewing gum (whose publicity department seem to be going for a Smash martians vibe), Star Wars action figures and stamp-mongers DJ Hanson Ltd, is a coupon on which readers are asked to rank their top 5 and least favourite members of the Cheeky's Week supporting cast as well as a similar selection of their 'fun stories'. By specifying that the vote is restricted to strips of the fun variety, are IPC effectively saying 'we know most of you don't like the adventure story (Mystery Boy), but it's a reprint so it's cheap and anyway to create some new material to wrap it up quickly would cost us money and we can't drop it in mid-story so you're stuck with it until it reaches the conclusion'? And was there an additional reason? Read on below the page which follows...

Unlike some other titles, Cheeky Weekly didn't regularly canvass readers on the relative popularity of its contents, so this rare appearance of a voting coupon makes me wonder whether IPC management, possibly having decided by this point that the toothy funster's comic would come to an end within 6 months, intended to use the responses to determine which of Cheeky's pals and strips would continue to feature after the impending merge into Whoopee. This would explain why the vote was restricted to funnies - the Mystery Boy reprints concluded in Cheeky Weekly dated 13 October 1979, about 4 months before the comic ceased publication. No new adventure story replaced it, and Whoopee had no adventure content as of the merge. 

Charlie and Calc are on the beach and in colour for crustacean capers...

Art: Terry Bave

Erk (panel 8). That's another comics-only word.

Having mentioned Cheeky Weekly's World War 2 amnesiac earlier, this episode sees things looking hairy as he and his canine companion unexpectedly find themselves in occupied France.

Art: Sorry, don't know

The funnies conclude with Cheeky and pals embarking on a cross-country run, during which our toothy chum employs some devious strategies in order to secure first place. 

Art: Frank again

I like the way Walter's running so fast in pursuit of a P that he's almost off the page.
 
Snail of the Century has been dislodged from its usual back page location (and bumped from the comic) by an ad.

Frank McDiarmid draws all 8 Cheeky's Week elements in this issue (2 pages of Saturday). It's the first all-Frank Cheeky's Week for a month, and it's a corker. Pity we missed out on Snail of the Century.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 04-Aug-1979, Issue 91 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Mechanic' - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
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	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
8	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
9	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
10	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
11	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
12	My favourite Cheeky pals (single appearance)
13	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
14	Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
15	Ad: Palitoy 'Pippa' 4 of 4
16	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
17	Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering
18	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
19	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips
20	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
21	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
22	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
23	Speed Squad - Art Mike Lacey
24	Chit-Chat
25	Chit-Chat\Tub - Art Nigel Edwards
26	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
27	What's New, Kids
28	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
29	Ad: WH Smith
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Ad: The Great Rail Club (single appearance)

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 11

September 23, 2015, 7:04 am

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≪ Previous: Cheeky Weekly cover date 04 August 1979

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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 once) 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'.

Three weeks after the toothy funster staged a seaside raid on Sid and his serpentine sidekick, other Cheeky Weekly alumni were involved in raiding activities, and this time there was an immediate retaliatory strike.

A Calculator Kid reprint (seeing the light again almost exactly 6 years after its original publication) was besmirched by a rotten raider - can you spot the miscreant? Scroll down, where the interloper will reveal himself...

Whizzer and Chips 14 September 1985 Art: Terry Bave Reprinted from Cheeky Weekly 15 September 1979

In the above story, clearly written in response to public concern over the high rate of birthday cake thefts in the late 1970s, Odd-Ball cunningly avoided a nasty surprise from Charlie's bicycle pump by arriving at the party pre-inflated.

However, there wasn't just one raid perpetrated that week. Can you identify the heroic ex-Cheeky Weekly star exacting revenge in the Store Wars strip? Answer below...

Whizzer and Chips14 September 1985 Art: Jim Watson

Woah, there's no need for that, Charlie

Yes, plucky Charlie refused to be cowed by the unbidden intrusion of the alien sphere, and in a retaliation to make all friends of Cheeky proud, he took the fight right to the heart of Whizz-kid territory.

There's obviously some sort of feud developing between Calculator Kid and Odd-Ball, as Charlie and his electronic chum raided the rubbery red rascal in the 18 May 1985 issue, while this week's is the second raid Odd-Ball has carried out on Charlie and Calc.

This is also the second time that erstwhile Cheeky Weekly stars have suffered and perpetrated raids in a single W&C issue (although it is the first time the same star has been the instigator and victim in a single edition).

The latest double raid brings the total incursions carried out by ex-Cheeky folk to 5, while the Whizz-kids have notched up 8. Watch out for the next raid 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
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake
14 September 1985	Odd-Ball Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid Store Wars

The Ads – John Menzies

September 30, 2015, 10:09 am

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The shops of retailer John Menzies were, in terms of stock, very similar to those of WH Smith. Books, magazines, comics, records and stationery filled the shelves in outlets of both companies. WH Smith placed 11 adverts in the pages of Cheeky Weekly, only one of which featured in two issues. John Menzies placed two ads in the toothy funster's comic, both of which were the same.

  

The above ad appeared in the run-up to Christmas 1978 (issues dated 18 and 25November), and a glance at the banner would suggest Menzies were promoting toys linked to the Star Wars phenomenon which had developed since the first film made its UK debut a year earlier. However, there's not a Vader, Skywalker or droid to be seen - the ad promotes a selection of boxed games. Pursuits of this type would be usurped by the silicon-chipped gadgetry proliferating in homes across the country before too long.

The highly inflationary economy of the late 70s meant that retailers often included small print intimating that prospective purchasers may like to pack some extra cash before venturing out, as the prices shown may no longer apply by the time they got to the shops. WH Smith did the same in their Cheeky Weekly ads.

The Scottish name Menzies is, I understand, often pronounced 'mingiss' by those north of the border. Most people in the London area pronounced the name to rhyme with 'frenzies'. The company provides their own pronunciation guide here.

Debate on the high street over how the name should be spoken became somewhat irrelevant after John Menzies' retail outlets were bought by WH Smith (wisely choosing a name over whose enunciation there was little dispute) in 1998. Menzies continue to operate distribution and aviation businesses.

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A Cheeky trip down memory lane

October 3, 2015, 8:59 am

≫ Next: The Rejects – Wally the Waiter

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The Great News For All Readers blog is currently taking a nostalgic stroll along the streets of Krazy Town to revisit a certain youthful gagster with prominent teeth and a stack of crazy chums. The post nicely encapsulates the elements which constituted the toothy funster's comic and reminds us why Cheeky Weekly was so great. Not only that, there's a super free gift!

The Rejects – Wally the Waiter

October 6, 2015, 7:25 am

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In this latest post in the Rejects series, in which I'm examining the named characters who appeared in Cheeky's strips in Krazy but failed to make a transition into Cheeky Weekly, the spotlight falls on Wally the Waiter.

Wally the Waiter appeared in just a single 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in Krazy (cover date 12 March 1977), but what an appearance it was. The dynamic dinner-deliverer set a new record for culinary quippage as he wisecracked his way around a restaurant, dispensing gustatory gags and mealtime mischief.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Frank again

Wally was adjudged by a celebrity panel consisting of Cheeky and Roy Castleto have served up 14 waiter wisecracks, but despite this prodigious feat of feasting fun, Wally never returned to the pages of Krazy. One can imagine the gag-cracking garcon being easliy assimilated into the ranks of Cheeky's pals in the toothy funster's own comic, with Cheeky's wanderings around Krazy Town including a saunter past the local restaurant, but Wally was entirely absent from Cheeky's own title.

Maybe Wally's record attempt in Krazy exhausted the scriptwriter's supply of restaurant raillery. It's possible the Cheeky Weekly editor felt that Auntie Daisy dished up sufficient food fun for one comic. Or maybe Cheeky believed his plate-wrangling pal's adroitness with the funnies threatened his own seat at the top table of comic jokesters.

The Pages - page 21

October 21, 2015, 8:09 am

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Page 21 was the site of the toothy funster's Thursday adventures in the first two issues of Cheeky Weekly, but Friday muscled into the same location for issue 3. Seven days later the first page of Mustapha Million's story came to rest on page 21, after which Friday returned for a 6-week run.

In the 31 December 1977 Christmas issue, Mustapha again occupied the subject location with a tale in which a plan to visit his pals on a sleigh pulled by two camels was thwarted by a heavy fall of snow. Friday then resumed, this time for 4 issues. Home Movie then made its single page 21 appearance ( a film entitled 'El Bullfighter' was on show), following which Friday was back again, this time for a marathon 11 week stint.

Our pecunious pal Mustapha then made another of his irregular page 21 visits, before Friday again took up residence, this time for 5 issues. Page 21 in the comic dated 10 June 1978 was shared by a half-page Joke-Box Jury and, as the summer months commenced, an ad for that year's Buster Holiday Fun Special.

  

Friday returned for 2 weeks before being dislodged once more by Mustapha, who this time was a little more determined and managed to hold on to page 21 for 4 issues. Friday then moved back in for one week, after which Mustapha resumed control, but only for one issue.

A previously-unseen-on-page-21 combo then arrived in the 12 August 1978 comic, when advertorial feature What's New, Kids shared the page with the gag-evaluating panel of Joke-Box Jury. This particular combination of elements would not be seen again on the page under examination. A week later the subject page was again host to a page 21 one-off as Cheeky Weekly's silicon-chipped sage and human owner Charlie turned up on the page for a single time.

Our middle-eastern moneybags mate Mustapha then re-established his presence for a 5-week run. This was followed, in the 30 September 1978 issue (which was the subject of  some upheaval as a result of the commencement of the Mystery Comic in the centre pages), by Thursday returning for 9 issues. The comic dated 02 December 1978 included an ad on page 21 for Trebor Double Agents boiled sweets. Consumers of the spy-themed confectionery could send off two wrappers and a 90p postal order and in return receive a super, cap-firing Spy Gun.

 

The following week page 21 returned to some sort of normality as Friday resumed occupancy, but this was to be the final time that Friday appeared in that location, bringing the number of Fridays on page 21 to 31, and making Friday the most regular occupant of the site under investigation.

  

Seven days later Thursday moved in again. However it was all change once more in the subsequent edition dated 13 January 1979 as two ads for IPC titles shared the page in question; Roy of the Rovers was marking the new year by printing part one of Roy Race's 1979 Calendar, whereas Tiger's celebratory scissor-snipping sales incentive was the first instalment of the 6-part Sports Diary 1979.

In a surprise move, filler feature Silly Snaps assumed control of page 21 for 3 issues before being ousted by yet another page consisting of two elements. The first was an ad for IPC's Mickey Mouse comic which that week was offering two packs of stickers based on Walt Disney's animated-and-live-action feature, Pete's Dragon. The same title had two weeks earlier given away a free Panini Pete's Dragon sticker album in which to stow the sticky-backed images (on that occasion the ad was on page 8 of Cheeky Weekly). The second half of page 21 in that 10 February 1979 issue contained a message from Cheeky asking readers to name their favourite celebrity. The responses would be used to compile a cut-out-and-keep Top Ten poster, which was eventually published in the four April 1979 cover-dated issues of the toothy funster's comic.

Thursday then returned for a week, followed by Silly Snaps for a week, after which The Burpo Special made its sole visit to page 21. The infant interrogator's subject that week was Krazy Town's snootiest citizen, Posh Claude.

In the 10 March 1979 issue, page 21 was again host to two advertisements. This time an ad for the Smurfs Poster Magazine Special shared the subject location with another advert for Mickey Mouse comic, which was by this time running a competition to win a trip to Disney World, Florida. In order to participate in the excitement, readers of the squeaky-voiced rodent's title had to collect a four-part Walt Disney World Giant Poster, which would later be the subject of questions. Readers supplying correct answers to the Disney posers would be in with a chance of a transatlantic trip to meet Mickey and his pals.

 

Page 21 in the following issue was again the subject of fillage, as a Tease Break came to rest in that location, on its only outing to that part of the comic.

 

Thursday's final page 21 appearance happened in the 24 March 1979 issue, bringing its total visits to that location to 14 and making Thursday the third most regular page 21 resident.

 

The next week saw another pair of ads turn up on page 21. The first was publicising the commencement of IPC's 'Comics Go Pop' cut-out-and-keep promotion in Whoopee, Whizzer and Chips and Cheeky Weekly as of the next week's issues (Cheeky would begin printing the Top Ten poster mentioned earlier). The second ad was for the second issue of IPC's short-lived adventure title Tornado, which came with a free cardboard gift, the Mayday Pack.

The presence of the Top Ten poster instalments in the April 1979 issues resulted in the contents of The Mystery Comic being somewhat displaced. Thus Disaster Des rocked up for a week, after which our alliteratively-monikered mate Mustapha Million resumed occupancy for 2 weeks, then World War 2 amnesiac and Whizzer and Chips reprint Mystery Boy made his sole page 21 appearance.

As things got back to normal in the 05 May 1979 edition, page 21's contents consisted of a half-page Joke-Box Jury and a cartoon-strip ad for North Pacific Flyers, a range of model 'planes, kites and 'whizz rings' marketed by Hales.

  

There were more ads on page 21 in the following issue, as IPC's 'Free Milkshake' promotion entered its third week, and it was the turn of Whizzer and Chips readers to enjoy a refreshing lactic libation courtesy of Kellogg's (who only provided the flavoured mix, the milk had to be sourced from the family fridge). Also on page 21 that week was an ad for the Frankie Stein Holiday Special, tempting prospective readers with the promise of 'the freakiest fun special ever'.

even days later the same advert for Frankie's special appeared on page 21, but this time its companion ad was publicising IPC's new entrant into the humour/adventure comic category (the same group into which Cheeky Weekly fell) – Jackpot, the third issue of which was in the shops that week, with a less-than-scintillating 'magic numbers' card game as the free gift. In the following Cheeky Weekly issue there were no ads on the page under scrutiny, but neither was there a comic strip – the second cut-out instalment of the Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around (a rather boring variation on the I-Spy books, in which Cheeky Weekly readers were invited to spot such objects as a street lamp or, rather less common on the streets of Britain, a French onion seller!), the launch of which coincided with Cheeky Weekly's turn to offer a sachet of Milkshake mix, came to rest in that location.

Page 21 in the 02 June 1979 comic was again the site of 2 ads, one for the Buster Holiday Special, and the other for North Pacific Flyers (although it was a different version of the NPF ad to that mentioned earlier). The final part of he Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around fetched up a week later.

 

This 6-week run of ads or cut-outs on page 21 came to an end in the 16 June 1979 edition when Joke-Box Jury moved back in. The judges of joviality were in fact in control of the subject location for 2 weeks, but there followed 2 issues in which page 21 again hosted a pair of ads for Summer Specials. On these occasions the identical pairing of ads promoted holiday hilarity of the Cheeky and Whizzer and Chips varieties.

After 10 weeks of ads, cut-outs and Joke-Box Juries, comic strip capers returned to page 21 in the form of Lolly Pop, although as the tight-fisted tyrant was in fact publicising his home comic, Whoopee, as part of the Star Guest promotion, there was an element of advertising to this resumption of strip activities. For the next 3 editions, wealth continued to be the subject examined on page 21, but unlike miserly Pop, our chum Mustapha Million was back and generously splashing his cash and dishing his dosh.

The teeny entertainers of Stage School (a then made a speculative visit to page 21 but evidently didn't like the location as they never returned to that part of the comic. Our wealthy Arab chum clearly had no such reservations and turned up for another 3-week sojourn which in fact brought to an end his visits to the page under review. This made Mustapha Million the second most regular inhabitant of page 21, having clocked up 21 visits.

The feuding father and son team from Why Dad Why?, having been freed from the confines of Cheeky Weekly's centre section when the Mystery Comic concept ended in the 30 June 1979 issue, then made a surprise bid to take control of page 21 in the 08 September 1979 edition, but were ousted a week later by a shared page consisting of Chit-Chat letters and the corpulent comedy of Tub. Seven days later, Chit-Chat was sharing the page with an ad for IPC's magazine aimed at those who enjoyed putting their mental faculties to the test, Puzzle Time.

The 29 September 1979 edition saw Disaster Des make his second and final page 21 outing, after which the Chit-Chat/Tub combination appeared in that location for 3 issues. The third page of an extended Joke-Box Jury came to rest on page 21 in the 27 October 1979 comic, but the following week Chit-Chat shared the page with a coupon inviting readers to place a regular order to ensure their weekly dose of Cheeky chuckles.

There then followed the final Chit-Chat/Tub combo to appear on page 21, after which our portly pal got the whole of page 21 to himself for the first time. However, the heavyweight humour was short-lived as Why Dad Why? Moved back in and monopolised page 21 for a 6-week run. Tub then moved back in for the 5 weeks remaining before Cheeky Weekly was cancelled.

Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 21

Elements	Total
Friday	31
Thursday	14
Mustapha Million 2/2	12
Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC	7
Why, Dad, Why?	7
Tub	6
Chit-Chat 2/2\Tub	5
Mustapha Million 1/2	5
Mustapha Million	4
Cheeky Spotter Book of Town and Around 1/2	2
Chit-Chat 2/2\Advertisement: IPC	2
Disaster Des	2
Joke-Box Jury	2
Silly Snaps	2
Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: North Pacific Flyers	1
Advertisement: Trebor	1
Calculator Kid	1
Home Movie	1
Joke-Box Jury 3/3	1
Joke-Box Jury\Advertisement: IPC	1
Joke-Box Jury\Advertisement: North Pacific Flyers	1
Mystery Boy	1
Silly Snaps 2/2	1
Silly Snaps\What's New, Kids	1
Stage School 2/2	1
Star Guest	1
Tease Break	1
The Burpo Special	1
What's New, Kids\Joke-Box Jury	1
Your chance to vote\Advertisement: IPC	1

Throwing a Wobbly

October 28, 2015, 8:04 am

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≪ Previous: The Pages - page 21

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One of the benefits of being a comic collector is that Christmas fun can be enjoyed at any time of year. Just select a festive issue from the nearest available pile of funny papers and you'll soon be experiencing the echoes of excitement from Santa's visits of long ago.

At the time of writing, Christmas 2015 is still a couple of months in the future, but I've just emerged from wallowing in the seasonal slapstick and holiday humour which comprised the Christmas 1987 issue of Whizzer and Chips (while doing the research for my Whizzer and Chips – The Cheeky Raids series of posts).

As of Christmas '87 Whizzer and Chips stars the Bumpkin Billionaires were as ever engaged in their futile quest to return to their former impoverished state, and their bank manager was continuing to thwart every money-losing scheme that the wealthy wurzel-munchers would devise. The manager, who was never named in the strips as far as I know, had an assistant named Miss Wobblethrope. I like Miss Wobblethrope – she could have been depicted as a glam secretary, but she's pleasingly ordinary. But mainly I like her for her name. A lesser imagination would have conjured an obvious, Bond-referencing name and called her Miss Moneypudding or similar. She could have been called Miss Wobblethorpe, which would have been funny enough, but someone had the genius idea to call her Wobblethrope, which must be one of the great comedy names in comics.

So I'm always pleased to see the divine Miss W (she's not in every strip), and it was great to see her delivering a few, plot-driving lines with typical aplomb during this Christmas tale...

Whizzer and Chips 26 December 1987 Art: Jimmy Hansen

 ..I don't know if someone on the W&C payroll had partaken of a few too many mince pies before committing this festive fable to paper, but they got their 'thropes' and 'thorpes' a bit confused.

Cheeky Weekly cover date 11 August 1979

November 11, 2015, 8:35 am

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Art: Frank McDiarmid

Bubblegum Boy, still dangling from his chewy dirigible, makes a return to the cover (his previous front page appearance was on the 02 June 1979 issue) while below, Cheeky shares a joke with Gunga Jim, who last graced the cover as of the 17 March 1979 edition. Cheeky is holding a copy of The Sunday Snigger, but Jim's paper seems to be called simply Sunday. The space below the title suggests that Frank McDiarmid was intending to insert a title but maybe forgot, or inspiration wasn't forthcoming before deadline time.

Aged automaton 6 Million Dollar Gran is on the golf course this week. The scriptwriter's apparent confusion over Gran's robotic origin continues, as the caption in the final panel on page 2 refers to the synthetic senior citizen's 'computer-like brain'  It IS a computer! Gah!

 

Art: Ian Knox

I suspect the artwork on the third Gran page above has been altered. The hatching at the bottom of the tweed jacket in the second panel of row 2 seems to have been added later, suggesting that the final panel has been moved to the right, probably to compensate for the removal of a 'Cheeky watching the 6 Million Dollar Gran closing credits' final panel which was the traditional conclusion during the period that Gran's adventures appeared as a TV show watched by the toothy funster. However, as examined here, the Cheeky's week framing devices were gradually dropped, with the final 'official' 6MDG link appearing in the 30 June 1979 issue (one later closing Gran link appeared, as a result of an error I suspect, in the comic dated14 July 1979).

Gran's golf gags put me in mind of similar links larks perpetrated by the mighty Norman Wisdom in his 1965 saga of feuding milkmen, The Early Bird. Norman, arriving at the golf course in the guise of a man of the cloth, disrupts the recreationaltour of the greens planned by rival dairy owner, Mr Hunter (played by splendid comic foil Jerry Desmonde).


 

The What's New, Kids advertorial feature is this week devoted to books. I bought a copy of the 'Superman from the 30s to the 70s' collection which is among the publications being promoted, and parts of it proved to be an interesting reading experience due to the pages being assembled in the wrong order.

Barry Glennard stands in for regular Elephant On The Run artist Robert Nixon this week. Yahglubb (uttered by The Man In The Plastic Mac as he's smothered in cement) is another word you only ever see in comics.

Art: Barry Glennard

Disaster Des causes a crash in the housing market...

Art: Mike Lacey

Also enjoying a colour adventure is Calculator Kid. This is one of those rare occasions when Calculator's electronic scheming turns out less than optimally for Charlie.

Art: Terry Bave

 

There are two pages of Chit-Chat letters this week. Reader Amanda Bullock asks for a Pin-Up Pal poster of Cheeky. The toothy funster omits to mention in his reply that he was the subject of a double-page centre spread posterway back in Cheeky Weekly number 1, but he does allude to an upcoming event of the cut-out-and-keep variety.

...and all is revealed on page 27...

Cheeky Weekly readers had been invited to send in their guesses as to the Alpha Man's true identity in the 16 June 1979 Disco issue.

On Saturday our toothy chum is laid low by a severe case of the sniffles. Doctor Braincell is evidently not available, but after being visited by a selection of his chums, our pyjama-d pal perks up as Dadprescribes this week's Cheeky Weekly (and the cover of the comic in the clutches of our sniffly mate is indeed that of this very issue). I'm sure the fact that Cheeky will already know all the jokes he told this week won't stop him from enjoying a chucklesome read.

Art: Frank McDiarmid Hypno-Tessa and Cheeky's mum must go to the same hairdresser

Back cover strip Snail Of The Century was never linked to a specific day of the week. If we assume the events depicted below to have occurred after those seen on Saturday above, it appears Cheeky was cheered up enough to emerge from his bed, although clearly still not firing on all cylinders.

Art: Frank again

This brings to a conclusion a pleasingly all-Frank-McDiarmid Cheeky's Week, the second such issue in a row.

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 11-Aug-1979

Artist	Elements
Frank McDiarmid	9

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 11-Aug-1979, Issue 92 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Gunga Jim' 1 of 5 - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
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	What's New, Kids
7	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
8	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
9	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
10	Joke-Box Jury
11	Joke-Box Jury
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Elephant On The Run - Art Barry Glennard (single art on feature)
14	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
15	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
16	Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
17	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
18	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
19	Mystery Boy reprint from Whizzer and Chips
20	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
21	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
22	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
23	Speed Squad - Art Mike Lacey
24	Chit-Chat
25	Chit-Chat
26	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
27	Ad: IPC 'Poster next week'
28	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
29	Ad: WH Smith
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Snail of the Century - Art Frank McDiarmid

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 12

November 18, 2015, 7:11 am

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≪ Previous: Cheeky Weekly cover date 11 August 1979

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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 once) 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'.

Three weeks after the momentous events depicted in the raid-and-retaliatory-strike issue, Whizzer and Chips dated 05 October 1985 witnessed another daring sortie into Whizz-kid territory by an ex-Cheeky Weekly star. Can you spot the intrepid infiltrator? Scroll down to see the answer.

Whizzer and Chips 05 October 1985 Art: Roy Mitchell

Not quite sure why Mustapha wasn't able to make his own announcement, but I suppose it's an honour to have the proclamation made by chief Chip-ite Shiner

The image of Mustapha dangling perilously from a hot air balloon, as used in the above raid, originally appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 10 March 1979.

Art: Joe McCaffrey

 This latest event brings the tally of raids perpetrated by ex-Cheeky Weekly stars to 6, while those wily Whizz-kids have struck 8 times. 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
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake
14 September 1985	Odd-Ball Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid Store Wars
05 October 1985	Mustapha Million	Animalad

You can't whack The Slipper

November 24, 2015, 10:27 am

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≪ Previous: Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 12

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During my journeyings around the internet in pursuit of Cheeky-related nuggets I found this nice post on the Slipper blog. Have added the blog to my blog list.

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Profile – Bubblegum Boy: Part One - The Krazy Years

November 25, 2015, 6:42 am

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Bubblegum Boy was a familiar sight as he floated above the streets of Krazy Town throughout Cheeky Weekly's run. At least he was a familiar sight to readers of the toothy funster's comic – most citizens of Cheeky's home town seemed entirely unaware of his aerial predicament. However, the accidentalaeronaut was first seen in Krazy, the title which spawned spin-off Cheeky Weekly.

Krazy issue 13, dated 08 January 1977, was certainly an unlucky one for Bubblegum Boy, as this was the comic in which, unnoticed by Cheeky and pals, over-enthusiastic bubble-inflation caused the hapless gum-chewer to take to the skies.

Krazy 08 January 1977 Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the artwork in this post

BB became a regular fixture in Cheeky's strips in Krazy, observing events from high above Krazy Town, initially unable to call for assistance since to loosen the seal between his lips and his gummy mode of aerial transport would result in a painful plummet onto the street below.

Krazy dated 19 March 1977 was the first issue in which BB uttered a cry for help. Due to the aforementioned restriction on his vocalisations, this appeal for assistance was unintelligible, although readers were able to ascertain his meaning thanks to a helpful thought bubble.

 

Krazy 19 March 1977 If that was BB's mum on the pavement,  she evidently took no action to get him down  as he continued to float above the street

 

At the request of Krazy reader Neil Bastian, a close-up of Bubblegum Boy was featured in the issue dated 09 April 1977.

By Krazy's24 September 1977 edition, BB had developed ventriloquial skills that allowed him to be understood while maintaining the vital oral grip on his sticky aircraft, and on the same page readers enjoyed a Bubblegum-Boy-viewpoint of a Knock-Knock joke in progress.

BB was absent from Krazy dated 22 October 1977, the same week that the first issue of Cheeky Weekly went on sale, but he did get to feature on the front cover of that debut edition of the toothy funster's comic.

An eventful Cheeky's Pal strip appeared in Krazy dated 10 December 1977, in which Bubblegum Boy's name was revealed to be Fred.

...Louise got her Krazy issue number wrong – it was the 13^thedition in which Fred first took to the air.

 

Bubblegum Boy's final Krazy appearance came in the 25 March 1978 Easter edition, three weeks before that comic's final issue.

A profile of Fred's career in the pages of Cheeky Weekly will appear soon.

Profile – Bubblegum Boy: Part Two - The Cheeky Weekly Era

December 2, 2015, 7:55 am

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For a profile of Bubblegum Boy's career in the pages of Krazy, see here.

Bubblegum Boy had the honour of appearing on the cover of Cheeky Weekly's debut issue, where he narrowly avoided a collision with the flying free gift. Inside that same edition, BB's appearance on the Sunday page saw him musing philosophically on Krazy Town's signage before drifting away on the breeze. From thereon BB continued to float, silent and unnoticed for the most part, across the cartoon skies as depicted in Cheeky Weekly, in exactly the same way as he had in Cheeky's strip in Krazy prior to the launch of Cheeky's own title. Indeed, our aerial chum continued to appear in Krazy while concurrently floating across the pages of Cheeky Weekly.

Cheeky Weekly No 1 Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the art in this post, unless noted otherwise

Soon after the debut of the toothy funster's comic, BB was honoured with his own episode of the Cheeky's Pal feature in Krazy's 10 December 1977 edition, wherein it was revealed that the reluctant aviator's name was Fred, although this fact was never referred to again in Krazy, and only once more in Cheeky Weekly.

A month after his cover appearance on the first Cheeky Weekly, Fred was again on the front page of the 19 November 1977 issue.

Fred's third cover appearance occurred on Cheeky Weekly dated 03 December1977, and his fourth on 28 January 1978.

 

Thanks to a note from Frank McDiarmid which appeared in Cheeky Weekly dated 18 February 1978, readers learned that Fred's surname was Holroyd.

Young Master Holroyd was back on the front cover of the 22 April 1978 comic, where his likeness was in fact the same image that had appeared on the cover of the first issue.

Our airborne chum made yet another front page appearance on the edition dated 13 May 1978.

  

A catastrophic mid-air clash between BB and B-BB occurred on Monday in the 05 August 1978 comic.

In Cheeky Weekly's '60 years into the future' edition, it was prophesiedthat an aged Fred will still be airborne in the year 2038.

The hapless chewer was again on the cover of the 14 October and 28 October 1978 issues, on these occasions observing events within the front page gag strips.

  

The cinema Commissionaire employed a gum-bubble to evade his customary Saturday trampling in the issue dated 04 November 1978.

Art: Mike Lacey BB first took to the skies in Krazy dated 08 January 1977, so by November 1978 he hadn't been aloft 'over two years' but no doubt the aerial banishment seemed longer to him.

The reluctant aviator was once again on the cover of the comic dated 25 November 1978, and he narrowly avoided a rapidly-descending Tub on the 27 January 1979 cover.

 

High-flying Fred was yet again witness to front page frolics as of the 02June 1979 edition.

A plaintive cry from the sky on Sunday in the 09 June 1979 edition revealed that our airborne chum's birthday was the 2^ndof June.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

 

Bubblegum Boy's aerial wanderings took him to the coast in Cheeky Weekly dated 07 July 1979, just in time for a wee joke with Walter Wurx.

 

Our drifting pal had a speaking role on the cover of the 11 August 1979 issue.

 

Six-Gun Sam caused BB some concern

Fred joined Cheeky Weekly's front cover fun for the final time as of the 03 November 1979 issue, and his final appearance within the pages of the toothy funster's title was on the Friday page of the last issue dated 02 February 1980.

BB's final Cheeky Weekly outing. The mystery was revealed later in the comic to be the imminent merge with Whoopee!

This last appearance brought to 73 the number of Cheeky Weekly issues through which our soaring pal drifted, 13 of which featured BB on the front cover.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Bubblegum Boy	73	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Bubblegum Boy	Frank McDiarmid	96
Bubblegum Boy	Frank McDiarmid pencils	25
Bubblegum Boy	Barrie Appleby	6
Bubblegum Boy	Mike Lacey	3
Bubblegum Boy	Jim Watson	2
Bubblegum Boy	Dick Millington	1
Bubblegum Boy	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	1
Bubblegum Boy	Nigel Edwards	1

We Whiz You A Merry Chipmas - Part One

December 6, 2015, 10:25 am

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Excited youngsters lifting the 1986 Christmas issue of Whizzer and Chips from the newsagents' shelf would, while enjoying the cover depicting a seasonal truce between rivals Sid (Whizz-kid leader) and Shiner (chief Chip-ite), have wondered what '2 fab fun packages' lay in store as they commenced their Yuletide reading. This cover teaser heralded an unusual festive edition of the long-running two-in-one comic, wherein the Whizzer and Chips sections each contained a running storyline that continued across the individual strips in the constituent parts.

The Whizzer plotline began on page 2 where Mr Superstore from the Store Wars strip was, as usual, finding it hard to compete with neighbouring retailer, Bloggs...

Art: Jim Watson

 

Sneaky Superstore's first prospective customer was Sweeny Toddler...

Art: Tom Paterson

 

The action continued overleaf, as sugar-craving Sweet-Tooth seemed about to visit Superstore in search of his Yuletide glucose fix...

Art: Trevor Metcalfe

 

On Winnie, The Royal Nag's page, the titular equine heroine was required to pull Charles and Di's carriage as they visited Superstore, intent on a regal Christmas shopping spree.

Art: Ian Knox

Toy Boy was Mr. Superstore's next target, and things were looking good for the shifty shopkeeper...

Art: Terry Bave

 

Likeable loafer Lazy Bones seemed to have generated a sale, but ended up being given a ride home courtesy of Bloggs' assistant Ted and his delivery bike. This strip was also the subject of a seasonal sneaky raid by a Chip-ite invader – can you spot the infiltrator?

Art: Bob Hill

Next up was Whizz-Kid leader Sid and his serpentine sidekick Slippy.

Art: Mike Lacey

Mr Superstore then turned his attention to Joker.

Art: Sid Burgon

Surely the Bumpkins, always keen to dispose of their unwanted millions, were only too willing to bestow their fortune on Mr Superstore?

Art: Jimmy Hansen

A great Odd-Ball page followed...love how the Odd-Balls from the surround merge into the first panel of row 3.

Art: Terry Bave

 

Sadly, Mr Superstore didn't undergo a Scrooge-like redemption as the story came to a conclusion (the strip had to continue as normal in the new year, after all) but at least things ended on a traditional Christmas slap-up feed. Were the years of festive face-filling finales in British comics inspired by the Cratchits dining on Turkey at the end of A Christmas Carol? Discuss. But not here.

Art: Jim Watson

Part 2 of this examination of Whizzer and Chips' Christmas 1986 edition will be a little more on-topic as I report on, among other things, Mustapha Million's role in the Chips section of this issue.

We Whiz You A Merry Chipmas - Part Two

December 19, 2015, 9:22 am

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Following on from my examination of the contents of the Whizzer section of the Christmas 1986 Whizzer and Chips, I'm now going to scrutinise the festive doings which occurred within the Chips portion of that same Yuletide publication.

As was the case with that week's copy of Whizzer, a story ran through the pages that constituted Chips. Chips' resident sleuth, Mizz Marble, was called upon to investigate the apparent theft of Shiner's Christmas presents to his Chip-ite chums.

 

Art: Jimmy Hansen

Unlike the Whizzer section, where apart from the usual raider, no characters from the rival title appeared, the Chips story included cameos by several Whizz-kids as the investigation got under way on the Junior Rotter page.

Art: Trevor Metcalfe

Over the page, Phil Fitt chased a couple of suspects but neither turned out to be the present pilferer.

Art: Mike Lacey

 

Titchy Chip-ite Sammy Shrink was the next to be embroiled in the mystery, and our pint-sized pal placed a suitably seasonal message in the border around his strip.

Art: Terry Bave, master of the Christmas border

Mizz Marble then enlisted Town Tarzan in the search.

Art: Trevor Metcalfe

There then followed a 2-page break to allow for readers' Christmas messages to friends and family, but the search resumed as Mustapha Million (by this time the sole survivor from Cheeky Weekly) recruited fictional sleuths Inspector Clueless (Clouseau), Sherlock Holmes (with Doctor Watson), Kojak, Cagney and Lacey, Magnum P.I. plus Crockett and Tubbs (from TV series Miami Vice). I think the glasses-wearing guy in the baseball cap is meant to be the helicopter pilot from either the Blue Thunder film or the subsequent spin-off TV series of the same name. Not only that, the strip concludes with a reference to vintage American TV police comedy Car 54 Where Are You?

Art: Barry Glennard

The action then moved to the Bottom Of The Class page. This strip's title would later contract to 'Bottom' (some years before Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson appropriated the title for their own comedic purposes), and the stories would then revolve around protagonist Rock's unfortunate habit of tearing or splitting his trousers, but at this point the humour usually focused on the titular lad's surname and resultant posterior-based hilarity. However at the end of this particular episode Rock is trapped under the mistletoe by ugly Cynth and suffers a selection of slobbery kisses...

Art: Nigel Edwards

 

...hence the hideous sucking noises originating off-panel at the commencement of Creepy Comix which, as well as participating in the ongoing investigations, also contained the conclusion to the JR/Bumpkins subplot that commenced earlier.

Art: Reg Parlett

The Case of The Missing Presents then reached its dramatic climax as all was revealed. Like the Whizz-Kids, our Chip-ite pals enjoyed a well-deserved traditional festive nosh-up at the conclusion of their storyline.

Art: Colin Whittock

But that wasn't quite the end of the riddles, as on the following page readers were challenged to identify the contents of the recovered Chip-ite parcels. The Whizz-kids had an equivalent page in their section which consisted of instructions for the party games as played at their Christmas get-together.

Art: Jack Oliver

The Christmas 1986 Whizzer and Chips was a real Yuletide treat, and the extra effort that was no doubt required from the creators paid off very well. As far as I know it was the only IPC comic to feature plotlines running across the various strips in a single issue (I think DC Thomson may have done something similar on one or two occasions). This edition was so fun-packed that it featured no internal adverts at all – there was just a Weetabix ad on the back cover. Also, as Stephen Archer commented on part one of this post, this edition was, unusually, entirely free from reprints. The running storylines also meant that the strips presented here were very unlikely to be used as reprints themselves.

P.S. Rather ironically I forgot to include reference to the Memory Banks strip in the first part of this two-part post. I have now made a minor update to rectify my omission.

Mini Comics - Cheeky mini comic in Whizzer and Chips

January 8, 2016, 7:27 am

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Way back in July 2011 I concluded my series on IPC's Cheeky Weekly-related entries in their Mini Comics promotion of 1978. Unfortunately I seem to have prematurely drawn the series of posts to an end, as I've now realised that I never presented the Cheeky Weekly mini comic that appeared in Whizzer and Chips dated 22 July 1978 (the final week of the promotion).

Here then is that missing post...

As was the case with the Cheeky mini comics in Whoopee!and Buster and Monster Fun (but curiously not the one in Mickey Mouse), this weeny version of the toothy funster's title featured on its cover artwork lifted from one of the Pin-Up Pal posters– in this case Frank McDiarmid's rendition of comical cowpoke Six-Gun Sam, which originally appeared in Cheeky Weekly a couple of months before this mini comic was published (the issue dated 13 May 1978). Below our lasso-wielding pal is an original What A Cheek gag strip by Frank.To the left of the 'fold here' line, on the mini comic's back cover, is a Bam, Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster. As I have noted in my conclusion to the Star Guest series of posts, the choice of strips used in these supposedly readership-boosting campaigns can sometimes be baffling. The reduction in the size of the strip, necessary to fit it onto this condensed comic, does the artwork no favours but if any Whizzer and Chips readers had been sufficiently enamoured of it to seek further cat, dog and bird antics within the pages of Cheeky Weekly, they would have been sorely disappointed since BS&B had come to an end in the issue of our grinning pal's comic dated 17 June 1978, a month before this mini comic appeared.

There then follows the first page of a 6 Million Dollar Granstory by Nigel Edwards, who at this point over at Cheeky Weekly had deputised twice for regular artist Ian Knox. As was so often the case, even within the pages of the toothy funster's regular-sized funny paper, Gran is described as bionic when her origin story made it clear she was a robot. After a good gag from the museum attendant, Gran's fossil frustrations are interrupted by the Skateboard Squad, who manage to wrap up their pursuit of some purloined moolah within a single page. Art by Cheeky Weekly's regular Squad pencil-pusher, Mike Lacey.

Our monied mate Mustapha Million is the next to be recruited for this visit to Whizzer and Chips, in a rather unsettling story which culminates with our Bedouin buddy gleefully surveying the injuries suffered by some (albeit unpleasant) kids. Not really the kindly Mustapha to whom regular Cheeky Weekly readers were accustomed, and the strip gives those unfamiliar with the character little clue of its original premise. Although the illustration of MM alongside the title is drawn by Reg Parlett, Joe McCaffery (who that very week, in the toothy funster's comic, had stood in for original Mustapha artist Reg for the third time) provides the artwork on this story. Joe became the regular artist on the strip in February 1979. Adjacent to Mustapha's uncharacteristic outing, Gran's Paleozoic panic reaches its chaotic conclusion.

Occupying this mini comic's centre pages is the toothy funster himself, drawn by Dick Millington, whose work had graced four issues of Cheeky Weekly at this stage. Mini comic cover star Six-Gun Sam is on hand to deliver a wild west witticism, following which the toothy funster fulfils his contractual obligation to plug the comic, before an appearance by Teacher brings Cheeky's mini centre-spread gagfest to an end.

Thanks to hankshanklin whose question over at the Comics UK Forum caused me to realise I had omitted to cover this Cheeky mini comic.

All the mini comics posts can be found here.