Let's go Krazy!

    "Krazy" was an attempt to move the Fleetway fun comic in a
    new, wackier direction. It was chock-full of witty asides, and
    tiny printed jokes and illustrations tucked between the panels.
    And inbetween the regular strips there were a host of one-off
    twisted tales, silly spoofs and loopy guides. The back covers
    were given a twist too. Each was "disguised" in some
    ridiculous way; the first issue like a maths exercise book,
    the second like a naff place mat, etc.

     

    The stars were supposed to be the Krazy Gang. They
    introduced each of the strips in the first issue, popping up
    one at a time in the first panel of each strip to say a word
    or two about the new arrival. Notice the term "supposed"
    back there. That's because one of their number quickly
    usurped their crown. He was the fool, Cheeky, who always
    had a cheeky thing to say about everyone and everything.
    He even had his own strip "Ello, It's Cheeky" which took
    its cue straight from the seaside piers and music hall
    tradition. It was stuffed to the rafters with corny puns
    and jests, "Knock-Knock" and "Doctor, Doctor" jokes
    and it featured a host of straight men and women and
    kids for Cheeky to play off - many of whom were also
    given a starring turn in the spotlight via their own
    spin-off tales.

    Such was Cheeky's spectacular rise to fame, he soon
    outgrew the comic and within the year he had been given
    his very own standalone weekly, "Cheeky Weekly".

    But Cheeky wasn't the only star.The Buytonic Boy,
    Scaredy Cat, Birdman & Chicken, Pongalonapongo and
    Hit Kid were all first class strips. And Detective Fumbly
    had moments of sheer genius within its mad ramblings.
    Then there wre those one-off wonders, fleshing out the title.
    You never knew what was coming next. Maybe that selfsame
    daring worked against the comic. Maybe folks wanted the
    regularity of the other fun comics, with the same strips,
    week after week, and less tomfoolery?

    That might explain why "Krazy" was published for just
    eighteen chucklesome months before it was merged with
    Whizzer and Chips in April 1978. As for our Cheeky, well,
    he got the last laugh because his own comic hung around
    until 1980 when it was swallowed up by Whoopee!

    How ironic that, today, Krazy is one of the more keenly
    collected titles in the fun comic back catalogue. Maybe it
    was just a comic ahead of its time?    

    

    Krazy stuff
    
    All the characters in Krazy comic were supposed to dwell
    in the same  fun town, called - you guessed it - Krazy Town. 
    The very first issue printed a doublepage snapshot of the place,
    accompanied by the Krazy Town shield. And each week a
    "Flick Strip" was printed in the top right-hand corner of every
    page. You flicked the pages to watch a silly short
    animated scene.

    

    And how about this for an entrance? The panel below
    features Cheeky's very first appearance - see? - he's fooling
    with a hose, cheeky boy!