Cheeky Weekly chat......did you buy it at the time...

[Peter Gray]

I'm uploading all the covers which I have in my collection....
Mapping out Cheeky Weekly

Let celebrate this bright fun comic...
Did anyone here enjoy the comic at the time.......
I think the comic really speaks directly to the reader...
Also Frank McD layouts of pages are great fun...characters in different angles...poses...it was never the same...love that ..

From my blog
Cheeky Weekly is a great comic wished I was older enough (3 yers old in 1977) it really interacted with the reader. It was a diary of the week...you could even add at the bottom of the page your own day...


Frank McDiarmid drew the Cheeky strip and met many zany characters to tell and recieve jokes from. You'll see all of them on the covers which will be uploaded on the blog. I also liked how the artist mentioned the writer or himself which broke down the barriers between reader and artist.

Strips were also intergrated in like Cheeky watching the telly to see Six million dollar Gran by Ian Knox(wonder if it inspired Super Gran telly program)
a mate of his shows his cartoon of Paddywack....or a friend shows a film to Cheeky the home movie story both by Jack Clayton.
They go to the cinema on Sat to see a film which shows the adventure story like Space Family Robinson...
Or Cheeky goes to the attic to read his Dads old comics and we get to see a highlight from the past..like from Tv Fun...Film Fun...Knockout 1950's

so you can see it was all very clever and you enjoyed it with Cheeky.

Lily Pop was hot......

[Raven]

This was one of my weekly comics from issue one. It had a unique format, and the way of introducing the different strips was clever and refreshing - I certainly used to enjoy it.

[Toonpooch]

Don't you mean "McDiarmid Weekly"? - That man was churning out the pages each week. Cheeky was just fab. And like you say, Peter, the strips were so clever; talking out the panels to us and breaking "The Fourth Wall"...

Frazer
http://www.toonhound.com

[Peter Gray]

Loved the gag....when Cheeky is leaning in mid air the snail is puzzled....then a panel later the artist goes.Whoops! I forgot to put in the wall he is leaning on....the snail says we need a new artist...all this happen whie Cheeky is talking and joking to a friend unaware...

Also his panels being wonky...triangler...the editor saying the artist is having another funny moment....

I love jokes like this...

Frazer love your item on Toy Boy...
hope you like seeing all the covers of Cheeky...Krazy...Jackpot...
I'm sticking to comics which are not numbered...and Fleetway...as DC Thomson has numbered all theres...
I'm often buying duplcates so its useful guide to me and I hope for others..
Just need help with covers missing in my collection.then it will be completely mapped out..

Nice to show Franks work as well....good fun covers..

[SOS]

thanks for putting those covers up! great to see again.

[tolworthy]

Yes, I bought it! And so did my best friend! And we both had big Cheeky Jerseys, courtesy of a friendly granny! My friend reckoned that he was the real Cheeky, since his Dad, like Cheeky's, had a secret collection of comics in the attic.

And it was the first comic I ever bought with my own money. My previous two comics, Monster Fun and Krazy, were bought for me by my parents. But Cheeky was where I declared my financial independence!

Even at the time I realised it wasn't the world's best comic maybe, but I liked it. Frank McDiarmid's work (the thought just strikes me - I bet it isn't said the way it's spelled...) and the comic strip each day, especially Tuesday with the attic classic... inspired. Fondly remembered. And of course it was the genetic link with Krazy.

And wasn't there some kind of secret joke wallet free gift early on?

Funnily enough, one reason why I didn't buy the old classics like Buster and Whoopee was because I figured they'd been around for decades and new readers would be at a disadvantage. Which was pretty silly really, especially since I was recently shocked to learn that Whoopee had only been running since 1974.

Ah, happy memories. Tinged with great sadness as I remember my old comic collection and how I foolishly let it go for pennies.
This is me, aged 16. The Cheely Weeklies would be on one of those piles...

[img:353:460:ce99f8ed18]http://enterthestory.com/images/comics_me_aged_16.jpg[/img:ce99f8ed18]

[Raven]

[quote:9e15821a4e="tolworthy"] gift early on?

Funnily enough, one reason why I didn't buy the old classics like Buster and Whoopee was because I figured they'd been around for decades and new readers would be at a disadvantage. [/quote:9e15821a4e]

Hang on a minute; that looks like two towering great piles of Buster in the pic! (Or were just the two copies on top Busters?)

[Peter Gray]

Wow that was a lot of comics you had as a kid...

My Mum knitted me a Gnasher Jumper.....Mike Read advertised it...
Loved that jumper...

issue 2 was the wallet.....I also will be putting up the issue with the knit a jersey one...

Reading them a fresh now...theres a smurf theme issue...
In the annual of Cheeky he takes you through the whole year month by month..


Skateboard theme issue where all the characters are skate boarding...
[img:245:320:d24608b09b]http://bp3.blogger.com/_fU62jYYMnHo/R7x ... Cheeky.jpg[/img:d24608b09b]

Theres a nice giant poster of Cheeky in 4 parts..with all the characters he meets around him...hope Frazer from Toonhound can put that giant up at the poster section of Fleetstreet....my issues have missing centre pages...so someone must have put it up on the wall...RATS for me...


[img:252:320:d24608b09b]http://bp3.blogger.com/_fU62jYYMnHo/R7s ... mber+2.jpg[/img:d24608b09b]

[Lew Stringer]

[quote:87798c81aa="tolworthy"]
Funnily enough, one reason why I didn't buy the old classics like Buster and Whoopee was because I figured they'd been around for decades and new readers would be at a disadvantage. [/img][/quote:87798c81aa]

I understand that this was the reason IPC didn't put numbers on most of their titles, so that readers wouldn't be put off by "old" comics. (Obviously it failed in your case. ) Also, when they did a merger they could pretend that "Buster and Jet" for example was truly an equal merger and a new start, (but everyone knew it was still the same old Buster really, with "and Jet" or "and Cor!!" tagged onto it for a while).

Great photo by the way!

Lew

[tolworthy]

[quote:8a959de469="Raven"]Hang on a minute; that looks like two towering great piles of Buster in the pic! (Or were just the two copies on top Busters?)[/quote:8a959de469]
What I meant was buying new. I think I only ever bought one new Buster (can't remember why, but it was a pretty amazing issue). The only comics I ever bought new every issue were Monster Fun, Krazy, Cheeky, Buddy, and the US Fantastic Four.

Most of my comics were from jumble sales. Back in the old days before car boots and eBay, every week had at least one good jumble sale, and every good jumble sale would have a pile of comics somewhere. Man, I miss those things. I have never smoked, and never intend to, but I love the smell of certain brands of cigarette, because it reminds me of waiting in queues in corridors filled with nicotine stained old ladies, waiting for jumble sales to open.

[Peter Gray]

[img:248:320:8220196dcf]http://bp2.blogger.com/_fU62jYYMnHo/R8G ... Cheeky.jpg[/img:8220196dcf] Heres the knitting one...hmmm its a little bit like Dennis jersey....though looks completely different with a yellow C on it

[tolworthy]

That's the one! Wow. This forum is a regular time machine.

(edit): I wonder if they could get away with that sexism today? I am sure that some men knit. Though probably not too many.

[Peter Gray]

[img:238:320:3bded9cd56]http://bp2.blogger.com/_fU62jYYMnHo/R7x ... Cheeky.jpg[/img:3bded9cd56]

Might be useful for your super Badtime bedtime book website...if you want the inside bit I can scan and put up here and you can use for the site...let me know..

I hope they do a reprint book of all of them....so many Monster Fun have the centre pages missing .......I only have the punch one which you saw on BBC 4 program....

[Peter Gray]

I've uploaded it..in a min go to my blog..feel free to use the images for your website.....

[tolworthy]

Thanks! I will! Yo have a fabtastic blog there. I sometimes wonder how safe these things are being stored on blogs, since a blog seems such a temporary thing and it would be a crime for these to be lost. On the other hand, the big name free content providers seem to last forever. I recently discovered that my earliest websites from Geocities (circa 1997) are still online, long after other free providers folded.

I just uploaded some more stuff (only four badtime books to go!!) and if this goes on I may have to split the main badtime checklist into two parts - making a special page for the "next generation" stuff.

Somebody just told me that they seem to remember Whoopee and Whizzer and Chips having more mini-comics after that period, and speculating that this may have bene influenced by the badtime books. Does anyone else remember pull-out mini-comics from this period? I have vague recollections but can't pin anything down.

Back on the subject of Creepy Sleepy Tales...

I find them especially interesting because they clearly illustrate what was special about the badtime books. I was a great fan of the badtime boks, and I bought every issue of Cheeky Weekly, yet I completely forgot about the Creepy Sleepy tales. They just didn't grab me.

In theory they were just like the badtime books: very similar name, attempt to be "scary," different set of characters each time, with hints of classic stories (as far as I can tell from the two I've seen). Those parts are identical. BUT they were shorter (so had less time to develop a story) and didn't give the special feeling of creating a special comic - that was a tactile, discovery thing that was crucial to the authentic badtime book experience I think.

Also, I don't remember any real classic Creepy Sleepy Tales. There was nothing that stood out from other strips.

I'm certainly interested in learning more though, and will upload anything I can get my hands on (with your permission of course).

PS the missing badtime books are issues 18 (Star Truck), 25 (Jaques Custard), 30 (Dick Twittington) and 47 (Cooljock). Also, some of the existing books don't have inside scans, but I don't want to publicize which ones do (apart from the few I highlight on the site), for fear of annoying Egmont by putting their complete canon online.