Cheeky Weekly


Cheeky Weekly was a British comic book magazine published every Monday by IPC Magazines Ltd. It ran for 117 issues from 22 October 1977 to 2 February 1980, failing to be published for 3 weeks in December 1978 due to an industrial dispute. It merged with stable-mate Whoopee!, initially as a 16-page pull-out section. The title character originated in an earlier comic called Krazy as a character in the strip Krazy Gang">Krazy (comics)">Krazy Gang and also the star of the 'Ello, It's Cheeky feature, and proved popular enough to get his own comic, which managed to outlive Krazy itself. The first issue came with a free "Red Jet Rattler". Its characters and strips included:
For many of the later issues of Cheeky his unnamed pet snail had the back page and met other garden creatures to exchange jokes.
The lead character Cheeky was portrayed in a red and black striped sweater with a large C on the chest. At one point the comic gave away a free knitting pattern so readers could knit their own.
One unusual aspect of Cheeky Weekly compared to its contemporaries was that the title character appeared in more than one strip. A typical issue would follow Cheeky through the week from Sunday through to the following Saturday in a series of one- or two-page strips. Often not so much a narrative as a series of random gags each episode was designed to lead into the ‘support’ strip which followed.
Some notable examples include:
  • Cheeky racing home to watch his favourite TV Show, usually arriving with seconds to spare.
  • Cheeky trying to read the latest James Bold book in the bookshop – this would lead into a two-page ‘drama’ strip which would then end abruptly as the bookshop owner chased Cheeky from the store.
On Wednesdays, Cheeky babysat for Baby Burpo, a mischievous child similar to Whoopee!’s Sweeny Toddler. Cheeky would read him a tongue-in-cheek ghost story in the hope of scaring the kid but this invariably backfired and Cheeky would end up running home in terror as if pursued by whatever menace had featured in that week's story.
Initially on Saturdays, Cheeky attended a Saturday morning picture show at his local cinema where he saw a cartoon followed by a drama serial, while exchanging jokes with his friends in the interval. After just over a year the cinema feature was dropped and subsequent issues showed Cheeky pursuing a variety of weekend activities instead.
"Cheeky Chit-Chat" was the readers' letter pages. Any reader who had their letter printed received £2 and a "Friend of Cheeky" badge.
The "Joke-Box Jury" page gave the readers a chance to send in jokes, with a prize of £2 if their joke was published.

''Whoopee!'' comic merger

For the first Whoopee! merged issue, Cheeky had the middle 16 pages. Cheeky himself had 4 pages. Six Million Dollar Gran, renamed "Robot Granny" had 2 pages. Calculator Kid had 1 page. Stage School also had 2 pages. Paddywack had half a page. The letters page was renamed "Whoopee Chit-Chat" and usually occupied one and a half pages.