All this week I’m posting some glimpses of one the titles on display on the racks of my time-travelling newsagent – visiting this week from the first full week of September 1978. Pop back tomorrow for another inky-fingered memory from when comics ruled the world.

‘Gunga Jim’, one of the recurring characters, is lazily named after a racial trope – typical of the day, and the sort of thing that makes a reprinting of Cheeky for a contemporary market seem unlikely. Thankfully the readers’ gags all seem pretty innocent!

Cheeky's a great nostalgia blast. Principal artist Frank McDiarmid was a unique talent, his strips so full of life and quirk (spot the Smurfs cameo). But a lot of the humour jars. There’s a cruelty there, mocking humour based on appearance or failings; less so in today's comics.

The Uncanny is a bit bonkers but really entertaining. Hope you enjoy!

All this week I’m posting some glimpses of one the titles on display on the racks of my time-travelling newsagent – visiting this week from the first full week of September 1978. Pop back tomorrow for another inky-fingered memory from when comics ruled the world.

Starlord showcased its roster of incredible creators with superior print quality on a higher grade of paper than most comics of its day. Look at the fantastic colour on this centre-page spread of Strontium Dog. Ian Gibson was the artist, John Wagner and Alan Grant the scribes.

Wakelin's cover trailed the latest instalment of psi-fi space opera Mind Wars, written by Alan Hebden and drawn by Jesus Redondo. Beautiful Spanish and South American art such as this was as influential for our generation as Manga is today.

All this week I’m posting some glimpses of one the titles on display on the racks of my time-travelling newsagent – visiting this week from the first full week of September 1978. Pop back tomorrow for another inky-fingered memory from when comics ruled the world.

This edition of Misty carried the third and final part of a stunning Misty board game, featuring art from Shirley Bellwood and a selection of covers and memorable moments.

I’ve put this together with parts one and two – something spooky to play as the nights draw in.

It’s possible some of the inspiration for this series may have come from the 1977 Amicus movie The Uncanny, in which Peter Cushing plays a writer narrating three stories of cats with devilish qualities. Great fun if you ever get to see it!

The cover illustrated the third instalment (of eleven) of The Cats of Carey Street. A pack of ferocious felines guard the only remaining residents of an estate listed for demolition.

This week they saw off the ‘Slum Demons’ gang – proper scary stuff for a young readership.

This issue of ROTR is one of the titles on display in the time-travelling newsagent from the first full week of September 1978. I’ll be posting about a few more of them over the next few days.

The back page of this week’s Roy of the Rovers carried this striking Smiths Crisps ad drawn by Paul Sample, creator of Ogri - a comic cult-hero in the biker community.

Roy did eventually go to Basran in the summer of 1986, and all the Rovers went with him (on a summer tour). Not all of them returned.

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The ‘comedy Arab’ is typical of broad-stroke 70s racial stereotyping, and Roy’s patronising of Penny is also pretty cringe.

The outlandish and sensational transfer scenario played out through the media of the day seems quite foresighted, however.

This copy of Whizzer and Chips is one of the titles on display in the time-travelling newsagent from the first full week of September 1978. I’ll be posting about a few more of them over the next few days.

The Louis Marx promo seems as though it was quite a big deal for IPC, who also advertised it heavily in this week’s Buster, Whoopee! and Cheeky. Here’s the competition page. Sadly, we’re all 47 years too late to enter.

In this week’s issue dentally-decayed confectionery aficionado Sweet-Tooth joined forces with The 12 1/2p Buytonic Boy Steve Ford to foil an elephant-riding crook. Kids in the seventies regularly received cash rewards for doing coppers’ jobs for them. Art by Bob Nixon.