Two Comic Flyers From The 70's

When looking through various 1970's issues of Whizzer and Chips I came across a couple of flyers promoting new titles. The first appeared in the issue dated 7th February 1976, advertising Action - "the paper of the 70's". The four pages promoted the stories and gifts - a red arrow in the first issue followed by a Hookjaw transfer and then 16 Soccer Superstar Cards.

The next flyer was led up to with no less than five clues over five issues. The first clue appeared in issue dated 10th September 1977; can you guess what it is?

If not, here are the next two clues:

Do you have it by now? If not, I'd be surprised if the fourth clue doesn't reveal all:

And here's the final clue, just in case you still haven't solved it:

Yes, it was of course Cheeky Weekly; the flyer for the first edition appeared in issue dated 15th October 1977. It was very similar in design to the Action flyer the year before; with the centre advertising the stories and the back page the free gifts. 

There were many other flyers produced over the years of course, promoting new comics, revamps/upgrades, new characters and free gifts.

This Week In: 1979 - Cheeky

One good thing about many of Fleetway's comics was the fact that they came out on a Monday. Monday is the worst day of the week as it's the day everybody has to go back to work or, more suitably for a comic, school, so the arrival of a new comic on a Monday was very welcome, the perfect way to beat those "Monday Blues"! Cheeky was another of the comics that came out on a Monday, a cheery and cheeky way to start the week!

I'll start with none other than Cheeky himself. If you've ever read an issue of Cheeky you'll know that Cheeky's strip is split up into seven parts and each part appears separately throughout the comic. There is one part for every day, starting on Sunday and finishing on Saturday, but for sakes of space I'll only show the 'Sunday' page here. Frank McDiarmid had a heavy workload as he drew all of Cheeky's pages week in week out!

Next up is Charlie, who you will know as Calculator Kid! Charlie is very lucky in that he has a talking calculator for a friend (and yes, he had real friends as well) that could predict the future - a very useful tool in Charlie's life that almost always led him to collecting a nice cash reward! Terry Bave was the illustrator here, and the strip would continue for a very long run continuing for several years after Cheeky in Whoopee.

My favourite strip in this issue has to go to The Gang. Although it doesn't have the most creative name in the world, this is a very well written strip, and it's well illustrated as well although I'm afraid I can't say who the artist is. The Cheeky Weekly blog tells me that The Gang is in fact a (poorly retitled) reprint of the Double Deckers from Whizzer and Chips.

Next up is Elephant On The Run, a strip about a man in a plastic mac who, for some unknown reason, is trying to capture our friendly elephant, who has lost his memory and has no idea why he's wanted! Bob Nixon is the artist.

The fantastic Mustapha Million, a great and extremely popular strip illustrated by Joe McCaffrey, took up the centre spread. Obviously the title of this strip is supposed to sound like "must have a million", but really the young lad must be a multi billionaire at least!

And finally, here's a queer advertisement for 'Mr. Bellamy's', showing all the (ahem) fun you can have with liquorice!

Cheeky On T.V!

Whilst watching an episode of George and Mildred the other day I noticed that during the church jumble sale Tristram Fourmile (played by Nicholas Bond-Owen) picked up a pile of comics. At first I thought the comics were Whizzer and Chips, but I soon spotted the recognisable 'Cheeky' logo. I now know it to be Cheeky issue three, confirmed by the Skateboard Squad Booklet on the back cover.

Scan from Cheeky Weekly site.

Cheeky appeared on T.V numerous times, and over on the Cheeky Weekly blog Niblet has found quite a few of them including, as I have just discovered and updated this post for, this appearance! But it's here for those of you who didn't see it over on the Cheeky blog.

http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com

http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com/2010/08/george-mildred-and-cheeky_18.html

Cheeky's Classic Comics

A nice feature in Cheeky Weekly was when Cheeky raided his dad's treasure trove of comics to show you something new, but old, each week! It first appeared in issue one, where Mike from Knockout was shown (see above), and continued until issue #37, where aftwerwards it was replaced by a pull-out mini comic and never seen again! A shame really, as it was a really nice fun feature! Below are a few more, including the very last one at the bottom of this post!

If you are a fan of Cheeky or want to learn more about the comic, make sure you check out the Cheeky Weekly website! Recently Niblet (the author of the site) wrote a brilliant post about The Missing Boy, a fantastic series which originally appeared in Whizzer and Chips!

http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com

As always click on the images to see them in full size!

A Wacky First Year!

A year ago today, I decided to start the very blog you are reading now! Not only have I generally discussed comics, but have met some great and intresting people along the way! Plus - just a few weeks ago I reached my original goal of 10,000 views! Wow! So a great big thank-you to everybody who has supported me through this first year - if you like the blog please let others know!

Some great (and supportive) blogs to check out:

http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com/

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com/

http://wizzkid97.wordpress.com/

www.andyfanton.com

And a whole host more can be found on the right <- and left -> hand side!!

Cheers!

George!

www.wackycomics.com