So the cover features Cheeky cutting through one of Auntie Daisy's (The school dinner lady) 'cement' cakes (or some other completely solid substance), yet more brilliant artwork from the pen of Frank McDiarmid!Then I opened up thecover,and noticed that on page three which has January with Cheeky,has no price in the clipcorner! It is simply an empty triangle! Just to make sure that this wasn't a one off mistake I double checked with my tattier Cheeky annual of the same year. It was exactly the same!
Here's my copy of a christmas Buster comic, dated 23rd December 1972.
And now compare it with the image from www.bustercomic.co.uk. See the difference? Their issue has a price on it under 'Every Monday' of three and a half pence, whereas mine doesn't!?
And it's the same story with my other Buster comic from around that time! This issue from 1974 should have a price of 4p written in the centre under the Buster logo, but instead there is just a blank space? And in both these issues it clearly states: "BUSTER and JET must not be sold at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover." Explanations, anybody?
Anyway, were getting a bit side-tracked, so lets return to Cheeky!
So now I move onto colouring. Of course, unlike today's comics, this annual isn't printed in full colour. Printing anything in full-colour back then would have cost a lot of money. (If you want a black and white 80's feel annual try this years Viz.)Looking through the thirty odd pages that are in colour (its a 128 page annual if you include the covers), I thought that the colouring was excellent. The only thing I don't like (that was even used by the Beano up until recently) is the fact that on some boxes they use grey outlines instead of black.
Of course, it's not as bad as some of the colouring that IPC attempted at, here's part of a Mighty Mouth strip from Buster 16th December 1989, drawn by Terry Bave to give you an example.
For much more information on Cheeky comic, check out this brilliant website:
http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com/
5 comments:
I have this annual. It would've been nice if you went into a bit more detail on the annual's content as it's a very good annual with some very good humour, especially the Cheeky through the Year stories. :)
I love the Mighty Mouth colouring, hilarious! XD
I have a Cuddles strip from a 1982 Nutty which has the colouring really out! Appalling!
Also about the prices on the comics, any chance you've been conned and they're actually copies? It seems to be the only explanation...
Enjoyed your look at the 1980 Cheeky Annual. My copy does have a price on it, I have no idea why one of yours doesn't. Where did you get it from? Thanks for the mention of the Cheeky blog, I just posted a mention of this article there.
Its the printing in those days..the putty must of moved which it often did which made the colouring miss the target..
Interesting the no prices..
I'll add you to my blog list at the site
Hey Harry, I will probably go on and do a review about the contents soon! Watch this space!
I'm not too sure about that, I did buy them secondhand and they are quite scruffy and browned.. but why would anybody go through the trouble of printing the whole comic and removing the price? They coud sell them for a bit more cash but surely kids in the shops would notice if it went up in price. I know that Buster did put in messages in the issue before 'warning' readers of the price raise??
Niblet: Thanks for the link - really appreciate it :D
I have two 1980 Cheeky annuals, and neither of them have prices inside. I picked up a scruffy copy from a second-hand shop and then a better copy online. Weird!
Peter Gray: Thanks for the link!
I've never seen comics like these before - I did buy the Buster's second-hand at an auction online. Maybe they took the prices out to sell in countries outside the U.K?
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