On this day, 7 July 1979: Cheeky — GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS!

Jul 7

Jul 7 On this day, 7 July 1979: Cheeky

On this day, 7 July 1979 … I love a ‘New Look’ issue nearly as much as a merger issue, so this colourful edition of Cheeky is of interest, although it’s a sad one in some respects as the new layout means that The Mystery Comic insert that had been Cheeky’s comic-within-a-comic for the previous nine months was no more. From this point, the strips that had been a part of The Mystery Comic – Tub, Why, Dad, Why?, Mystery Boy, Elephant on the Run, Mustapha Million and Disaster Des – would be dispersed throughout the comic in more conventional form and Cheeky lost a little bit more of what made it unique.

There’s still plenty to enjoy though, in each of those strips mentioned (Disaster Des is a particular favourite of mine – reminding me of a real-life someone I have to deal with on a regular basis), not to mention Ian Knox’s bonkers 6 Million Dollar Gran and of course Cheeky’s regular stroll around Frank McDiarmid’s Krazy Town. There’s a brand new story too and a Robert Nixon two-pager is not to be sniffed at; Stage School would have a long life, surviving subsequent mergers into Whoopee! then (very briefly) Whizzer and Chips.

The cover of this issue promises two new stories, although the second was a little bit of a damp squib. The Gang, despite nice art from Robert McGillivray, was, like Mystery Boy, a reprint of an old Whizzer and Chips’ strip – in this case The Double Deckers (yes, adapted from the kids’ TV series Here Come the Double Deckers) with the title panel changed. Niblet has the full story on his blog here.